Method and system for E-mail sender chain history by adding...

Details Method and system for E-mail sender chain history by adding... Method and system for E-mail sender chain history by adding...

2000-09-28

2004-11-23

Alam, Hosain (Department: 2155)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput

Computer conferencing

Demand based messaging

C709S245000, C345S215000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06823368

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the arts of electronic message and e-mail transmission and reception, and especially to the arts of automatic address generation for e-mail composers and readers for replying to e-mail messages which have been chain-forwarded.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic mail and electronic messaging have become key and integral to everyday life, both in personal lives and business lives, for millions of users worldwide. The speed and accuracy with which electronic messages and e-mails are delivered is unrivaled by other forms of messaging, such as paper mail, overnight express mail, facsimile, and voice messaging.
Prior to the widespread proliferation of the Internet and Internet-based e-mail, there were many proprietary formats of electronic messaging systems, such as IBM's Lotus Notes system, Novel's DaVinci system, and others.
However, due to global acceptance and adoption of the Internet, the Internet's e-mail protocol has become the most common electronic messaging protocol in use today. The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”) provides for a quick, error-free and robust method for transferring electronic messages from one e-mail server to another. SMTP is primarily based upon two standards proliferated by the Internet Architecture Board (“IAB”), specifically RFC-821 “Simple Mail Transfer Protocol” and RFC-822 “Standard for the format of ARPA Internet text messages”. These standards and protocols are well-known in the art. RFC-821 describes the protocol used for transferring electronic messages from one server to another, and RFC-822 describes a corresponding format for those electronic messages.
Turning to
FIG. 1
, the basic arrangement of client browser computer or client e-mail computers and web servers is shown. A client computer (
1
) may access a web-based e-mail server (
5
) via any computer network, such as the World Wide Web (
3
), or an Intranet (
6
) such as a LAN or WAN. This access may be made through a modem and a dial-up Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), or through a “dedicated” direct connection to the Internet. The client computer (
1
) is normally equipped with an e-mail composer and reader program, such as Quailcomm's Eudora, Netscape's Messenger, or Microsoft's Outlook programs. These and many other widely available programs are compliant with the SMTP standards, and interoperate with e-mail servers over computer networks such as the World Wide Web.
Turning to
FIG. 2
, the arrangement (
20
) as defined by the RFC's of a sender server (
23
) and a receiver server (
25
) using the SMTP protocol is shown. A user (
21
) may author a SMTP-compliant message and send that message to an e-mail sender server (
23
). Using a series of SMTP commands (
24
) which are communicated to a receiver SMTP server (
25
) via a computer network, the electronic message is transferred from the sender SMTP (
23
) to the receiver SMTP server (
25
).
The receiver SMTP (
25
) server typically stores the received electronic message within its file system (
26
) for later retrieval by the intended recipient. The addressing and routing scheme used by e-mail servers to transmit and route electronic messages to each other using of this protocol are well-known within the art, and are also defined in the public RFC documents of the IAB.
Eventually, the recipient uses his computer (
28
) to download the messages from the receiver server (
25
), and to read, reply, or forward the messages. His computer (
28
) is usually equipped with e-mail reading and authoring software, which may include an e-mail address book (
27
).
The generalized message format of an electronic message is shown in Table 1. An electronic message is typically divided into two portions, a header and a body. Within the header are multiple tags or fields which indicate the source and destination of the message and other useful information.
TABLE 1
Generalized Electronic Message Format
Received: from source by local_server; time_of_day
From: senders_name <senders_email_address>
Reply-to: <senders_email_address>
To: recipients_name <recipients_email_address>
Subject: text_of_the subject_line
Content-type: type_of_content_such_as_MIME
Text of the actual message
In the example generalized message format shown in Table 1, there is a “Received” header field, a “From” header field, a “Reply-To” field, and a “To” field. These are also followed by a “Subject” field and then finally by the text of the actual message. These fields are generated by the e-mail composer on the originator's computer, and they are used by the various e-mail servers within the computer network to route the messages to the correct recipient.
As shown in Table 1, the “Received:” message header field shows information regarding which server received the message and at what time of day it was received by the local server. The “From” field in the message header shows the originator's or the sender's name and address. The “Reply-To” field shows the sender's e-mail address for use in replying to the sender. The “To” field shows the intended recipient's name and/or recipient's e-mail address. And, the “Subject” field shows a text string to be displayed when the e-mail is viewed among other e-mails in a mail box.
Most e-mail composer and reader programs allow messages to be forwarded to second, third, and subsequent recipients. For example, a sender may author an original message and send it to a first recipient. The first recipient may read that message, append comments to it and forward it to a second recipient. Table 2 shows a generalized message format for forwarded electronic messages which uses using a method of forwarding called “inline content”.
TABLE 2
Generalized Forwarded Electronic Message
Format using Inline Type of Forwarding
Received: from source by local_server; time_of_day
From: first_recipients_name <first_recipients_email_address>
Reply-to: <first_recipients_email_address>
To: second_recipients_name <second_recipients_email_address>
Subject: FWD:text_of_the_subject_line_written_by_the_originator
Content-type: type_of_content_such_as_MIME
Content-disposition: inline
Text of the message written by the first recipient intended for the second
 recipient
Boundary_tag
Received: from source by local_server; time_of_day
From: originator_name <originators_email_address>
Reply-to: <originators_email_address>
To: first_recipients_name <first_recipients_email_address>
Subject: FWD:text_of_the_subject_line_written_by_the_originator
Content-type: type_of_content_such_as_MIME
Text of the actual message written by the originator and intended for the
 first recipient
Boundary_tag
This forwarded message format resembles the generalized message format of Table 1, especially in the initial message header, including the “received” field, “from”, “reply-to”, “to”, and “subject” fields. However, most programs modify the text contained in the “subject” field to include an indication that this is a forwarded message, such as appending the letters “FWD” prior to the actual text of the originator's subject line. Following this message header, the text of the comments authored by the first recipient and intended for the second recipient are given. Then, according to the inline forwarding method, a boundary tag is given which indicates the beginning of the actual forwarded message. Following the first boundary tag, another set of message header fields are shown which are the message header fields from the original message from the original sender of the message. These message fields are then followed by the text of the original message from the originator, and is concluded by a closing boundary tag.
Another method for forwarding an electronic message to another recipient is by “attaching” the original message to the new message. The SMTP protocol allows for files of all types to be “attached” to an electronic message, and as such, one method for forwardin

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