U.S. patent number RE45,184 [Application Number 13/767,476] was granted by the patent office on 2014-10-07 for sectional e-mail transmission.
This patent grant is currently assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. The grantee listed for this patent is International Business Machines Corporation. Invention is credited to Yen-Fu Chen, John Hans Handy-Bosma, Mei Yang Selvage, Keith Raymond Walker.
United States Patent |
RE45,184 |
Chen , et al. |
October 7, 2014 |
Sectional E-mail transmission
Abstract
A process of segmenting a single email so that portions of it
may be directed to or away from select recipients is disclosed. The
sender highlights portions of the email and right clicks (or key
command, button, or menu item) and selects an option to select
recipients. The operator interface then provides the sender with
the option of selecting recipients from their address book or the
server's address book. To speed the process along, the sender may
select those already on the To, Cc, or Bcc distribution lists. The
sender then selects whether those chosen will receive the
highlighted portion or if they will be excluded from receiving it.
Lastly, the sender will have the option of providing text that is
unique to each of the selected groups.
Inventors: |
Chen; Yen-Fu (Austin, TX),
Handy-Bosma; John Hans (Cedar Park, TX), Selvage; Mei
Yang (Austin, TX), Walker; Keith Raymond (Austin,
TX) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
International Business Machines Corporation |
Armonk |
NY |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
International Business Machines
Corporation (Armonk, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
35910815 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/767,476 |
Filed: |
February 14, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
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10922249 |
Aug 19, 2004 |
|
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Reissue of: |
12175280 |
Jul 17, 2008 |
7890593 |
Feb 15, 2011 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/206; 709/246;
709/207 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q
10/107 (20130101); H04L 51/063 (20130101); H04L
51/28 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
15/16 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;709/206-207,246 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
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/. cited by applicant.
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Primary Examiner: Chan; Wing F
Assistant Examiner: Thieu; Benjamin M
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Yee & Associates, P.C. Vallone;
Mark C.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A computer program product for segmenting an email addressed to
a plurality of original email recipients without the need to send
separate emails, the computer program product comprising: a
computer readable storage device; first program instructions for
selecting a section of the email; second program instructions for
selecting a recipient for the section from the plurality of
recipients; third program instructions for inserting, responsive to
selecting the recipient for the section, a section information that
identifies the recipient for the section and a starting and an
ending character of the section into a header of the email; fourth
program instructions for sending the email to an email server, the
email server comprising a processor and a memory; fifth program
instructions for receiving the email at the email server; sixth
program instructions for parsing, at the email server, the header
for the section information; seventh program instructions for
sending, at the email server, the email to the recipient for the
section; and eighth program instructions for sending, at the email
server, the email without the section and the section information
to the plurality of original recipients that have not been selected
for receiving the section so that the plurality of original
recipients cannot see that the section was removed; wherein the
first through the eighth program instructions are stored in the
computer readable storage device; and wherein the section
information is adapted to automatically prefix the section with an
explanatory text to inform the section recipient that the section
is being transmitted only to the section recipient, and wherein the
explanatory text is adapted to be indented and colored.
2. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:
ninth program instructions for displaying, responsive to passing a
cursor over the selected section of the email, a window showing a
recipient of the selected section; wherein the ninth program
instructions are stored in the computer readable storage
device.
3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein selecting a
section of the email is responsive to a user highlighting a portion
of the email and right clicking on the highlighted portion.
4. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:
tenth program instructions for displaying, responsive to selecting
the section of the email, a window having the plurality of
recipients for identifying the section recipient of the section;
wherein the tenth program instructions are stored in the computer
readable storage device.
5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the starting
character and the ending character are adapted to designate a word,
a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph.
6. A computer implemented method for segmenting an email addressed
to a plurality of original email recipients without the need to
send separate emails comprising: selecting a section of the email;
selecting a recipient for the section from the plurality of
recipients; responsive to selecting the recipient for the section,
inserting a section information that identifies the recipient for
the section and a starting and an ending character of the section
into a header of the email; sending the email to an email server,
the email server comprising a processor and a memory; at the email
server, performing steps including: receiving the email; parsing
the header for the section information; sending the email to the
recipient for the section; sending the email without the section
and the section information to the plurality of original recipients
that have not been selected for receiving the section so that the
plurality of original recipients cannot see that the section was
removed; wherein the section information is adapted to
automatically prefix the section with an explanatory text to inform
the section recipient that the section is being transmitted only to
the section recipient, and wherein the explanatory text is adapted
to be indented and colored.
7. The computer implemented method of claim 6 further including
responsive to passing a cursor over the selected section of the
email, displaying a window showing a recipient of the selected
section.
8. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein selecting a
section of the email is responsive to a user highlighting a portion
of the email and right clicking on the highlighted portion.
9. The computer implemented method of claim 6 further including
responsive to selecting the section of the email, displaying a
window having the plurality of recipients for identifying the
section recipient of the section.
10. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the
starting character and the ending character are adapted to
designate a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph.
11. A data processing system comprising: a bus; a communications
unit connected to the bus; a computer readable storage device
connected to the bus; a processor unit connected to the bus and to
a computer readable memory; first program instructions for
selecting a section of the email; second program instructions for
selecting a recipient for the section from the plurality of
recipients; third program instructions for responsive to selecting
the recipient for the section, inserting a section information that
identifies the recipient for the section and a starting and an
ending character of the section into a header of the email; fourth
program instructions for sending the email to an email server, the
email server comprising a processor and a memory; fifth program
instructions for receiving the email at the email server; sixth
program instructions for parsing, at the email server, the header
for the section information; seventh program instructions for
sending, at the email server, the email to the recipient for the
section; and eighth program instructions for sending, at the email
server, the email without the section and the section information
to the plurality of original recipients that have not been selected
for receiving the section so that the plurality of original
recipients cannot see that the section was removed; wherein the
first through the eighth program instructions are stored in the
computer readable storage device for running via the computer
readable memory; and wherein the section information is adapted to
automatically prefix the section with an explanatory text to inform
the section recipient that the section is being transmitted only to
the section recipient, and wherein the explanatory text is adapted
to be indented and colored.
12. The data processing system of claim 11 further comprising:
ninth program instructions for displaying, responsive to passing a
cursor over the selected section of the email, a window showing a
recipient of the selected section; wherein the ninth program
instructions are stored in the computer readable storage device for
running via the computer readable memory.
13. The data processing system of claim 11, wherein selecting a
section of the email is responsive to a user highlighting a portion
of the email and right clicking on the highlighted portion.
14. The data processing system of claim 11 further comprising:
tenth program instructions for displaying, responsive to selecting
the section of the email, a window having the plurality of
recipients for identifying the section recipient of the section
wherein the tenth program instructions are stored in the computer
readable storage device for running via the computer readable
memory.
15. The data processing system of claim 11, wherein the starting
character and the ending character are adapted to designate a word,
a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph.
Description
.[.CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION.].
This application is .[.related to co-pending.]. .Iadd.a
continuation of .Iaddend.U.S. .[.utility.]. patent application
entitled "System And Method for Sectional E-Mail Transmission"
filed on Aug. 19, 2004 and accorded Ser. No. 10/922,249, which is
entirely incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related to the field of electrical computers and
digital processing systems to transfer data via one or more
communications media in general, and specifically, to a
demand-based messaging system for simultaneous transmission of
sections of an email to different recipients without the need to
send separate emails.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A demand-based messaging system is any communication system that
enables a person to exchange electronic messages with another
person over a communications media. Demand-based messaging systems
typically comprise a network of data processing machines and a
messaging program operable on at least one machine to transfer
electronic messages over the network to one or more of the other
machines. Electronic messages typically are composed of a variety
of information, including message data and transmission data. As
those terms are used here, "message data" generally refers to the
substance of the message, such as text or images, while
"transmission data" generally refers to the information required to
deliver or respond to the message, such as the correspondents'
electronic addresses. Electronic messages also may include status
information, such as the time and date that the message was
composed, sent, or received.
LOTUS NOTES, MOZILLA, and MICROSOFT OUTLOOK are exemplary messaging
programs that enable users to exchange electronic mail messages
through networked computers. Instant messaging ("IM") programs such
as MSN MESSENGER and YAHOO! MESSENGER, which have gained popularity
in recent years, exemplify another embodiment of messaging programs
that enable users to exchange electronic messages in real-time
through networked computers.
Electronic mail messages are often sent to a group of recipients.
Such recipients fall into three categories: the addressee, the
copied recipient, and the recipient who receives a blind copy. The
addressee receives the message and sees who has been copied. The
recipient who has been copied receives the message and knows to
whom the message was directed. The recipient who receives a blind
copy receives the message, knows to whom the message was directed
and who received copies, but the addressee and the copied
recipients do not know the identity of the blind copy
recipient.
An originator may want to send a bulk message to all recipients,
but a small section unique to each individual recipient. For
example, a user may send instructions to coordinate an event, with
a unique time assignment to each recipient who receives the email.
Sometimes a need arises to vary the message sent to one or more
recipients. A sender of an email may not want its entire contents
to go to all recipients. Normally, the sender would have to break
up the email and send it in segments. Having to send multiple
emails wastes the sender's time as well as wastes disk space on the
server and bandwidth on the network.
An originator may desire to send an email where only a portion is
intended for all recipients, another portion only for select
recipients, and a final portion that is not to be sent to certain
other recipients. Perhaps the material sent to the select
recipients is confidential. The material not to be sent to some
recipients may be attachments that are already available to them on
their server.
An originator may desire to send an email containing a section of
text that is of common interest to all the recipients followed by
text that is specific to each recipient. Perhaps the specific text
is the recipient's new password. The desire is to send the specific
text only to the intended recipient. The common text would go to
all recipients.
The need to vary the message can arise with a group of recipients
in one status grouping or in more than one status grouping. For
example, the sender may want to provide additional information for
a recipient who is less familiar with the context of the message
than other recipients. Likewise, a user may want to send special
instructions to a recipient such as a reminder to a blind copy
recipient not to reply because the user does not want the other
recipients to know he included the blind copy recipient. Presently,
varying message text requires sending separate messages.
Sending separate messages requires time to create the separate
electronic messages and to copy and paste the content of the
separate messages. Since the messages are sent separately, some of
the reply messages will not go to all of the recipients. In
particular, reply messages will not go to all recipients when the
reply comes from a message sent only to a subset of the overall
group of recipients. In order to solve this problem, the sender
could include the subset of recipients on both emails. In that
event, the subset of recipients receives redundant emails. Sending
multiple electronic messages consumes more network bandwidth and
storage space. Increased consumption of network bandwidth and
storage space increases costs. Costs further increase when the
email is large or has large attachments. If an originator of an
email had an easy way to segment a single email, the originator
would save time as well as network disk storage space and
bandwidth. Therefore, a need exits for an improved electronic
messaging system that allows transmission of e-mail segments to
different recipients.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,856 discloses receiving an email and
automatically forwarding it to a remote device. The forwarding is
done by an act of the recipient, not the sender. The forwarding may
be limited to a selective portion of the original email. This
patent is primarily concerned with forwarding received emails to a
cell phone or a text pager. The forwarding is based on the content
of the message. For example, the forwarding may be done based on a
particular sender.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,118 discloses a system for receiving email
while away from your computer without having to subscribe to a
"commercial, public network" such as SkyTel. A portion of the
email, such as the header, may be all that is transmitted to an
email notification device. Other, limited information, like message
size and when the message was originally received, may also be
transmitted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention that meets the needs described above is a process of
segmenting a single email so that portions of it may be directed to
or away from select recipients. The sender highlights portions of
the email and right clicks (or key command, button, or menu item)
and selects an option to select recipients. The operator interface
then provides the sender with the option of selecting recipients
from their address book or the server's address book. To speed the
process along, the sender may select those already on the To, Cc,
or Bcc distribution lists. The sender then selects whether those
chosen will receive the highlighted portion or if they will be
excluded from receiving it. Lastly, the sender will have the option
of providing text that is unique to each of the selected
groups.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to those
skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a
preferred embodiment of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set
forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as
well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages
thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following
detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 depicts a computer network in which the invention may be
employed;
FIG. 2 depicts a representative computer memory in which the
invention may reside;
FIG. 3 depicts an example e-mail applying the invention;
FIG. 4 depicts a dialog box with a select recipients option;
FIG. 5 depicts a window for the select recipients option;
FIG. 6 depicts a window for entering a recipient address;
FIG. 7 depicts recipient display;
FIG. 8 depicts a copy recipient display;
FIG. 9 depicts a flow chart of the Client Sectional E-Mail
Program;
FIG. 10 depicts a flow chart of the Server Sectional E-Mail
Program;
FIG. 11 depicts a flow chart of the Client E-mail Clearance
Program;
FIG. 12 depicts a flow chart of the Server E-Mail Clearance
Program; and
FIG. 13 depicts a flow chart of the Cursor Display Program.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the
present invention may be implemented in a variety of software and
hardware configurations. It is believed, however, that the
invention is described best as a computer program that configures
and enables one or more general-purpose computers to implement the
novel aspects of the invention.
As used herein, "attachment" means a file that is transmitted with
an email that is not part of any messages in the email itself.
As used herein, "blind copy recipient" means a recipient whose
identity is not to be disclosed to other recipients of the same
message.
As used herein, "computer" means a machine having a processor, a
memory, and an operating system, capable of interaction with a user
or other computer, and shall include without limitation desktop
computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, personal digital
assistants (PDAs), servers, handheld computers, and similar
devices.
As used herein, "copy recipient" means a recipient for whom a
message is not primarily intended but who is included in the
distribution list to be kept informed, and may be synonymous with
secondary recipient.
As used herein, "electronic mail" or "email" means direct
user-to-user transmission of messages between user computers over a
network.
As used herein, "electronic messaging" means the creation,
transfer, storage, and retrieval of text, graphics, images, or
voice data by electronic means.
As used herein, "header" means the portion of a message that
contains control information for the message.
As used herein, "recipient" means anyone or any location that
receives data, and a user of a demand-based messaging system to
whom a message is addressed.
As used herein, "section" means a message or a portion of a
message.
As used herein, "message" means an electronic mail message
transmitted over a network.
FIG. 1 illustrates a common prior art architecture for connecting
various hardware devices to create a network for transferring data.
Computer network 100 comprises local workstation 101 electrically
coupled to network connection 102. In FIG. 1, local workstation 101
is coupled electrically to remote workstation 103 via network
connection 102. Local workstation 101 also is coupled electrically
to server 104 and persistent storage 106 via network connection
102. Network connection 102 may be a simple local area network
(LAN) or may be a larger wide area network (WAN), such as the
Internet. While computer network 100 depicted in FIG. 1 is intended
to represent a possible network architecture, it is not intended to
represent an architectural limitation.
The internal configuration of a computer, including connection and
orientation of the processor, memory, and input/output devices, is
well known in the art. FIG. 2 represents the internal configuration
of a computer having the computer program of the present invention
loaded into memory 200. The computer program of the present
invention is depicted as SEP 210. As will be discussed further
below, SEP 210 includes without limitation Client Sectional E-Mail
Program (CSEP) 220, Client E-mail Clearance Program (CECP) 230,
Server Sectional E-Mail Program (SSEP) 240, Server E-Mail Clearance
Program (SECP) 250, and Cursor Display Program (CDP) 270. Memory
200 also has messaging program 270. Memory 200 is only illustrative
of memory within a computer and is not meant as a limitation.
Memory 200 may reside in a client computer such as local
workstation 101 or in a server computer such as server 104.
In alternative embodiments, SEP 210 can be stored in the memory of
other computers. Storing SEP 210, in the memory of other computers
allows the processor workload to be distributed across a plurality
of processors instead of a single processor. Further configurations
of SEP 210 across various multiple memories and processors are
known by persons skilled in the art.
FIG. 3 depicts an example e-mail 300. E-mail 300 has originator
section 310, addressee section 320, message section 330, first tab
340 and second tab 350. Addressee section 320 has recipient address
section 322, copy recipient address section 324, blind copy
recipient address section 326 and subject section 328. Message
Section 330 has first message section 332, second message section
334, and attachment 336. Recipient address section 322 has first
recipient address 322A shown as customer1@customer.com and second
recipient address 322B shown as "customer2@customer.com." Copy
recipient address section 324 has first copy recipient address 324A
shown as SalesRep1@ibm.com and second copy recipient address 324B
shown as SalesRep2@ibm.com. Blind copy recipient address section
326 is empty. Subject section 328 shows "Product Demonstration."
First message section 332 shows an example message intended for
internal use only, "Below is the email I am sending to the
customer." First message section 332 also contains information only
for the copy recipient addressees explaining to them that they are
not receiving the attachment sent to the recipients, "The
attachment is hidden from your view since you already have it on
your hard drives." Second message section 334 contains information
for the recipient addresses regarding an invitation to a product
demonstration.
Originator 310 normally would create one email to the customers
shown in recipient addressee section 322 and create another email
to the copy recipient addressees shown in copy recipient address
section 324. However, SEP 210 allows originator 310 to create one
email and to sectionalize that one email in the following
manner.
In order to sectionalize the email, originator 310 highlights first
message section 332 and, using a mouse, right clicks (or such other
means known to person skilled in the art such as a key command
button or menu item) to receive a display of options from which the
originator selects "select recipients." Upon selecting "select
recipients" a dialog box appears asking the originator to identify
who will receive the section. Referring to FIG. 4, dialog box 400
has a number of prior art options for selection and a new option
appearing in dialog box 400, select participants 410. Upon
activating select recipients 410 a further selection window, window
500 appears providing selection options.
Referring to FIG. 5, window 500 has Select all To 510, Select all
Cc 520, Select all Bcc 530, Select from address book 540, and
Select User defined 550. Activation of Select All To 510 means that
the highlighted portion of the e-mail will only be received by
those recipients identified in recipient address section 322.
Activation of Select All Cc 520 means that the highlighted portion
of the e-mail will only be received by those recipients identified
in copy recipient address section 324. Activation of Select All Bcc
530 means that the highlighted portion of the e-mail will only be
received by those recipients identified in blind copy recipient
section 326.
Alternatively, upon selection of select recipients window 410 from
dialog box 400, a list of all recipients in the recipient address
section 322, copy recipient address section 324, and blind copy
recipient address section 326 may be presented so that the user can
select recipients using drag and drop, highlighting, checkboxes,
add/remove buttons, and other means known to persons skilled in the
art.
Activation of Select from Address Book 540 means that originator
310's address book will be displayed so that originator 310 can
select addressees to receive the highlighted portion of the e-mail,
and those selected will be the only ones that will receive the
highlighted portion. SEP 210 may be configured to display the
user's local or server address book. In addition, originator 310
may add recipients from the address book to names selected from
other options in window 500. Activation of Select User Defined 550
means that an entry field window, such as Enter recipient window
600 will appear. Referring to FIG. 6, enter recipient window 600
has entry field 620 for originator 310 to enter a recipient email
address. Persons skilled in the art will be aware of multiple ways
in which information may be presented, and multiple ways in which
selections may be made by originator 310.
Once originator 310 makes selections, the email appears in its
entirety to originator 310, but the recipients will only receive
and be able to read those portions designated for them to receive
and read. Originator 310 may review the e-mail by passing the
cursor over the various portions of the email. For example, passing
the cursor over second section 334, causes second recipient window
700 (see FIG. 7) to appear displaying the recipients designated to
receive second section 334. Likewise, passing the cursor over first
section 332 causes a window to appear, such as copy recipient
window 800 (see FIG. 8), displaying the recipients designated for
first section 332.
FIG. 9 depicts a flow chart for the CSEP 220. CSEP 220 begins and
determines whether originator 310 has made a selection (910). If
not, CSEP 220 goes to step 928. If originator 310 made a selection,
then a determination is made whether originator 310 chose a field
(912). If originator 310 chose a field, then the selected field is
saved (914) and CSEP 220 goes to step 918. If not, CSEP 220
determines whether originator 310 wants to choose an address from
an address book (918). If so, CSEP 220 saves the address selected
by the user (920) and goes to step 926. If not, CSEP 220 determines
whether the user wants to enter an address (922). If so, CSEP 220
enters the address (924) and goes to step 926. If not, an error
message is displayed (923) and CSEP 220 goes to step 928. At step
926, CSEP 220 inserts section information into the email header
(926). The section information embedded in the email header
designates the section by starting and ending character. By
designating starting and ending characters, the originator can
specify sections by word, phrase, sentence or paragraph. In other
words, the originator can specify sections with total granularity.
The originator may have the option to prefix the selected sections
with explanatory text to inform the recipients that the section is
being transmitted only to them. Moreover, standard explanatory text
may be automatically inserted with a section that has been
designated for specific recipients. The preferred implementation of
such optional text would be hypertext markup language (HTML)
formatting with indenting and coloring capability. A determination
is made whether there is another segment (928). If so, CSEP 220
goes to step 910. If not, CSEP 220 sends the email to the server
(930) and stops (940).
FIG. 10 depicts a flow chart of Server Sectional Email Program
(SSEP) 240. SSEP 240 begins, and receives an email (1010). SSEP 240
parses the header of the email (1020) and determines whether
recipient is designated (1030). If not, SSEP 240 stops (1090). If
so, SSEP 240 determines whether there is a section header for the
recipient (1040). If so, SSEP 240 goes to step 1080. If not, SSEP
240 removes the section (1050), removes the header (1060) and sends
the email to the messaging program (1070). In other words, SSEP 240
sends to the recipient only the text and/or attachments of the
section that have been specified for that recipient.
Correspondingly, SSEP 240 strips from the email the text and
attachments of the section for those who are not specified to
receive the section. When stripping text and attachments for those
message recipients that are not to receive the section, SSEP 240
also removes the header information so that the recipient cannot
see that there were sections the recipient did not receive.
However, for sections the recipient does receive, the email retains
the header which provides additional functionality as described in
FIG. 13. SSEP 240 determines whether there is another recipient
(1080). If so, SSEP 240 goes to step 1040. If not, SSEP 240 stops
(1090).
Since CSEP 220 sends the email to the server with instructions on
segmenting the email, and SSEP 240 then segments the email
according to the instructions in the header and sends the separate
emails to the respective recipients, network bandwidth and storage
are conserved.
FIG. 11 depicts a flow chart of Client E-mail Clearance Program
(CECP) 230. CECP 230 starts (1102) and parses the header of an
email (1110). CECP 230 determines whether approval is required
(1120). If not, CECP 230 stops (1150). If so, CECP 230 holds the
email (1130), sends the email to an approver (1140) and stops
(1150). Persons skilled in the art are aware that CECP 230 may be
enabled or disabled. Furthermore, CECP 230 may be configured so
that a criteria is established for determining which emails require
approval. Approval criteria may include emails to a certain domain,
such as a customer's domain, time, location, keywords, recipients,
or any other criteria that would support management functions.
FIG. 12 depicts a flow chart of Server E-mail Clearance Program
(SECP)250. SECP 250 starts (1202) and receives a reply from the
approver (1210). SECP 250 determines whether the reply is correct
(1220). If the reply is not correct, an error message is displayed,
and SECP 250 goes to step 1280. If the reply is correct, SECP 250
determines whether approval has been granted (1230). If not, SECP
250 cancels the email (1240), sends a status to the approver
(1250), sends a status to the originator (1260), and stops (1290).
If so, SECP 250 sends the email to the messaging program (1270).
SECP 250 then determines whether there is another reply (1280). If
so, SECP 250 goes to step 1220. If not, SECP 250 stops (1290).
Persons skilled in the art are aware of multiple methods by which
the approver may reply. For example, approval may consist of a
reply from the approver, or an action such as changing the subject
to "Approve" or "Yes." Likewise, denial can be controlled by
changing the subject to "Deny" or "No" along with optional comments
in the body of the email.
Once section information has been inserted into the header of the
email, a user may hover the mouse over a given section of email and
obtain information regarding who received or did not receive that
section. FIG. 13 depicts a flow chart of the Cursor Display Program
CDP 270. CEP 270 starts (1302) and determines whether SEP is
running (1310). If not, CDP 270 stops. If so, CDP 270 determines
whether the user has placed a cursor over the email (1320). If not,
CDP 270 goes to step 1350. If so, CDP 270 determines whether the
cursor is over a selected section (1330). If not CDP 270 goes to
step 1350. If so, CDP 270 displays the recipients for the selected
section (1340). At step 1350, CDP 270 determines whether the cursor
has moved (1350). If so, CDP 270 goes to step 1320. If not, CDP
goes to step 1310.
In an additional embodiment, SEP 210 may he configured to block a
recipient from replying or forwarding an email that was sent only
to that recipient. Such an embodiment may prevent accidental
disclosure of information intended only for specified
recipients.
In an alternate embodiment, SEP 210 may be employed only in the
client computer. In such an embodiment, the client computer
segments the email and sends separate emails as provided by the
originator. Such an embodiment does not save bandwidth and disk
storage space, but it does save the originator's time by
automatically preparing the separate messages. In addition, such an
embodiment allows for a pure client implementation, at reduced
functionality, without requiring a server implementation.
A preferred form of the invention has been shown in the drawings
and described above, but variations in the preferred form will be
apparent to those skilled in the art. The preceding description is
for illustration purposes only, and the invention should not be
construed as limited to the specific form shown and described. The
scope of the invention should be limited only by the language of
the following claims.
* * * * *
References