Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer conferencing – Demand based messaging
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-10
2002-10-01
Le, N. (Department: 2858)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer conferencing
Demand based messaging
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06460074
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to electronic mail systems, including electronic mail systems that are designed to reduce the incidence of errors in transmitting electronic mail.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electronic mail (“e-mail”) is now extensively used as a business and professional tool. Although it was at first largely used in research and engineering circles to share technical information, as the reach of the Internet has expanded, so too have the uses for e-mail. Business people now commonly use it to negotiate and even enter into business transactions. Physicians, attorneys, and accountants, use it to communicate with their patients or clients. And government officials use it to communicate in their official capacities.
The use of e-mail for such tasks is not without risk. Ill-considered criticisms sent by e-mail within an organization or without (sometimes known as “flaming”) can be disruptive or damaging to the organization. Misdirected messages or messages that lack essential components (such as cc's or file attachments) can create inefficiencies, either because multiple messages have to be sent to accomplish their original purpose or because recipients are subjected to redundant or unnecessary messages. Even worse, organizations may be subject to lawsuits by recipients alleging that they have been harassed, libeled, or discriminated against by the contents of e-mail messages sent by its employees. Carelessly drafted e-mail messages may create unintended contractual liabilities or bad will for an organization. Misrouted or misaddressed messages can divulge confidential business information, and may result in the permanent loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property rights.
As a result, a large number of corporate and governmental organizations have implemented e-mail use policies for their employees, and many of these organizations have also set up some type of employee e-mail monitoring procedure. But because of the amount of effort required, such procedures generally fall short of a detailed review of all messages sent by employees. Instead, an employee's e-mail is often only carefully evaluated once there is some indication that his or her communications present a risk or have already created a problem.
Systems have also been proposed that detect individual words or phrases without human intervention. One of these systems filters e-mail messages to detect sexually explicit or otherwise objectionable language patterns, and returns any messages that include such patterns to the user's in-box. But while these systems may be able to detect crude language usage or other potentially undesirable keyword patterns, language that is harassing or insulting, or that breaches an organization's confidentiality or creates other business risks, can be quite subtle.
Moreover, both human and automated pattern monitoring can be completely ineffective when applied to individual messages. This is because any particular message may only be viewed as objectionable or otherwise problematic in view of the context of other communications. And these other communications are often not available to the software, or even a human reviewer. The use of e-mail by individuals or by employees of an organization therefore can still pose a substantial risk.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one general aspect, the invention features an electronic mail system that includes an electronic mail utility with a message creation interface responsive to user input to create an electronic mail message. The system also includes a reconsideration prompting module that is operative to extract one or more intended information elements from the message and to present them to the user in a display area. A reconsideration prompting control allows the user to confirm reconsideration of the meaning of the intended information elements from the message before sending it, and a network interface is responsive to approved messages.
In preferred embodiments, the reconsideration module can be operative to extract one or more addressee identifiers from the message and to present them to the user, with the prompting control being operative to confirm reconsideration of the user's selection of the addressees. The reconsideration module can be operative to extract one or more carbon copy recipient identifiers from the message and to present them to the user, with the prompting control being operative to confirm reconsideration of the user's selection of the carbon copy recipients. The reconsideration module can be operative to extract one or more blind copy recipient identifiers from the message and to present them to the user, with the prompting control being operative to confirm reconsideration of the user's selection of the blind copy recipients. The reconsideration module can be operative to extract one or more attachment identifiers from the message and to present them to the user, with the prompting control being operative to confirm reconsideration of the user's selection of attachments corresponding to the attachment identifiers. The reconsideration module can be operative to present at least a part of the content of the attachments corresponding to the attachment identifiers. The reconsideration module can be operative to extract one or more potentially sensitive strings from the message and present them to the user, with the prompting control being operative to confirm reconsideration of the user's selection of the potentially sensitive strings. The reconsideration module can be operative to select prompting actions based on an attribute of one or more recipient identifiers for the message. The reconsideration module can be operative to select prompting actions based on an attribute of one or more attachments to the message. The reconsideration module can be operative to select prompting actions based on a mismatch between one or more attributes of one or more of the attachments with one or more attributes of one or more recipient identifiers for the message. The reconsideration module can be operative to select prompting actions based on intended content in the message. The reconsideration module can be operative to select prompting actions based on the detection of potentially sensitive content in the message. The reconsideration module can be operative to select prompting actions based on a mismatch between attributes of one or more of the attachments with content in the message. The reconsideration module can be operative to select prompting actions based on a mismatch between attributes of one or more intended recipient identifiers for the message with content in the message. The reconsideration module can include a plurality of prompting controls each responsive to user input to confirm reconsideration of the meaning of one or more of the intended information elements from the message. The reconsideration module can be operative to delay reconsideration for a predetermined period of time. The reconsideration module can be operative to delay reconsideration for a user-selected period of time. The mail utility and the reconsideration module can be separate programs, with the reconsideration module being an application extension operative to interact with the mail utility. The reconsideration module can be responsive to a user profile to determine its prompting behavior. The system can include an administrative module operative to define different prompting behavior for the reconsideration module for different users. The administrative module can include a group control operative to select prompting behavior for the reconsideration module for groups of users. The electronic mail utility can include an addressing control responsive to user input to associate an address with the message and a completion control responsive to user input to indicate completion of the message, with the prompting module being responsive to the completion control.
In another general aspect, the invention features an electronic mailing method that includes steps of creating
Benson Walter
Elbing Kristofer E.
Le N.
LandOfFree
Electronic mail system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Electronic mail system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electronic mail system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2977472