Electronic messaging changed recipients detection and notification

• US 10,013,674 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2006
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Adams, Neil, Brown, Michael S., Babu, George
• Primary Examiner(s): JAKOVAC, RYAN J
• Application Number:
  US11/457,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20070073871A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,373 Days
• Field of Search: 709206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A method carried out by an electronic device enabled to send and receive electronic messages over a network, including: determining if a new electronic message received by the device is part of a message thread that includes the new message and at least one prior electronic message previously received at the device; and if the new message is determined to be part of a message thread, comparing address information of the new message with address information of the at least one prior electronic message in the message thread to determine if there has been a change in addressed recipients between the new message and the at least one prior electronic message, and if so, providing a notification to a user of the device of the existence of the change.

Claims

1. An electronic communications device comprising:

a display screen;

a user input device;

a communications system receiving over a communications network messages having at least one recipient address and a date-time stamp;

a storage storing the messages received through the communications system; and

a messaging module configured to;

receive, through the communications system, a new message having recipient addresses and a date-time stamp, said new message identifiable as belonging to a common thread of messages;

receive, through the user input device, a request to display said new message;

responsive to receiving said request, compare the recipient addresses of said new message to at least the recipient addresses of a most recent prior message belonging to the common thread of messages to, thereby, detect an added recipient address;

receive, through the user input device, a request to send a reply-to-all message composition derived from said new message; and

responsive to receiving said request to send, generate a user notification message on said display screen that identifies said added recipient address, wherein said generating a user notification message comprises presenting additional information in a separate dialog window including a plurality of options, the dialog window superimposed over the reply-to-all message composition.

2. The communications device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said separate dialog window identifies said added recipient address.

3. An added recipient indication method carried out by a message system, the system including a messaging application permitting a user to take actions in relation to messages, a set of said messages identifiable as belonging to a common thread and each of the messages having at least one recipient address and a date-time stamp, the method comprising:

receiving a new message having recipient addresses and a date-time stamp, said new message identifiable as belonging to the common thread of messages;

receiving a request to display a said new message;

responsive to said receiving said request, comparing the recipient addresses of said new message to at least the recipient addresses of a most recent prior message belonging to said set of messages;

detecting, based on said comparing, an added recipient address in said new message;

receiving a request to send a reply-to-all message derived from said new message; and

responsive to said receiving said request to send, providing a notification message of said added recipient address, wherein said generating a notification message comprises presenting additional information in a separate dialog window including a plurality of options, the dialog window superimposed over the reply-to-all message composition.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the comparing comprises comparing the recipient addresses of said new message only to the recipient addresses of said most recent prior message.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the comparing comprises comparing the recipient addresses of said new message to the at least one recipient address of all messages in said set of messages.

6. A method carried out by an electronic device enabled to send and receive electronic messages over a network, comprising:

determining that a new electronic message received by the device is part of a message thread that includes the new message and at least one prior electronic message previously received at the device;

receiving a request to display said new message;

responsive to said receiving said request, detecting, based on comparing recipient addresses of the new message with recipient addresses of the at least one prior electronic message in the message thread, that there has been a change in addressed recipients between the new message and the at least one prior electronic message;

receiving a request to send a reply-to-all message derived from the new message; and

responsive to the receiving the request to send, providing a notification message of the existence of the change in addressed recipients, wherein said providing a notification message comprises presenting additional information in a separate dialog window including a plurality of options including an option for modifying recipient addresses of the reply-to-all message to change the addressed recipients thereof.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein, before the comparing the recipient addresses of the new message with the recipient addresses of the at least one prior electronic message, the method further comprises receiving a request to display the new message.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the dialog window includes information identifying recipients that have been added to, or deleted from, the addressed recipients of the new message compared to the at least one prior message.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the message thread includes at least two prior electronic messages previously received at the device, and wherein the comparing comprises comparing only the recipient addresses of the most recent of the prior electronic messages in the message thread with the recipient addresses of the new electronic message to determine if there has been any change in addressed recipients.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the message thread includes at least two prior electronic messages previously received at the device, and wherein the comparing comprises comparing the recipient addresses of all of the prior electronic messages in the message thread with the recipient addresses of the new electronic message to determine if there has been any change in addressed recipients.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the determining if the new electronic message received by the device is part of a message thread comprises comparing content of a subject line of the new electronic message with content of subject lines of the at least one prior electronic message previously received at the device.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein previous electronic messages in a message thread are included in a body of subsequent electronic messages in a message thread.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein the comparing the recipient addresses of the new message with recipient addresses of the at least one prior electronic message in the message thread comprises determining that a new recipient addresses has been added to the new message relative to the at least one prior electronic message.

14. The method of claim 6 wherein the comparing the recipient addresses of the new message with recipient addresses of the at least one prior electronic message in the message thread comprises determining that a recipient address has been deleted from the new message relative to the at least one prior electronic message.

15. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium carrying program code that, when executed by a processor of a device, causes the processor to:

determine that a new electronic message received by the device is part of a message thread that includes the new message and at least one prior electronic message previously received at the device;

receive a request to display said new message;

responsive to receiving said request, detect, based on comparing recipient addresses of the new message with recipient addresses of the at least one prior electronic message in the message thread, that there has been a change in addressed recipients between the new message and the at least one prior electronic message;

receive a request to send a reply-to-all message derived from the new message; and

provide a notification message of the existence of the change in addressed recipients, wherein said providing a notification message comprises presenting additional information in a separate dialog window including a plurality of options including an option for modifying recipient addresses of the reply-to-all message to change the addressed recipients thereof.

16. An electronic communications device comprising:

a display screen;

a user input device;

a communications system receiving over a communications network messages having at least one recipient address and a date-time stamp;

a storage storing the messages received through the communications system; and

a messaging module configured to;

receive, through the communications system, a new electronic message having at least one recipient address and a date-time stamp, said new message identifiable as belonging to a common thread of messages;

receive a request to display said new message;

compare, responsive to receiving the request to display, recipient address information in the new message to recipient address information in at least one prior message in the common thread of messages to determine that there is a change in the addressed recipients between the new message and the at least one prior message;

receive, through the user input device, a request to send a reply-to-all message composition derived from said new message; and

generate, responsive to receiving the request to send, a separate user notification dialog window on the display screen that indicates the change in the addressed recipients has been detected, wherein said separate user notification dialog window includes a plurality of options including an option for modifying recipient addresses of the reply-to-all message to change the addressed recipients thereof.

17. The communications device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the messaging module, when comparing the recipient address information in the new message to the recipient address information in at least one prior message in the common thread of messages detects if any recipient addresses have been deleted from the recipient address information of the new message.

18. The communications device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the messaging module, when comparing the recipient address information in the new message to the recipient address information in at least one prior message in the common thread of messages detects if any recipient addressed have been added to the recipient address information of the new message.

19. The communication device as claimed in claim 16 wherein the device is a mobile hand-held device.