System and method for group electronic mailbox

• US 20020087646A1
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Published: 07/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: CollegeNET Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CollegeNET Incorporated
• Inventors: Wolfston, James H., Hickey, Matthew W.
• Application Number:
  US09/999,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087646A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• 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 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A group electronic mail (e-mail) mailbox is provided to enable multiple users to work collaboratively and simultaneously with one or more electronic communications received in the group e-mail mailbox. The group e-mail mailbox provides tools that allow members of a group to access and manipulate the received electronic communications. Status information associated with the received electronic communications is provided to active members of the group. To allow the active members of the group to simultaneously monitor the status of the received electronic communications, the status information being presented to the active members of the group can be selectively updated. Predefined responses in response to such electronic communications may be prepared and/or sent automatically. The contents of the predefined responses are determined from the received electronic communication or may be determined according to the contents of a filter specifying a criterion or criteria. Alternatively, one or more members can reply in response to the received electronic communication. Any users including the sender can be selectively notified either automatically when a received electronic communication meets a prespecified criteria defined in the filter or by any member of the group.

Claims

1. A method for assisting members of a group to share electronic communication information, the method comprising:

receiving a group specification, the group specification comprising identifying information for each member of the group and a corresponding group identifying information to associate the group identifying information with a group mailbox;

receiving inbound electronic communication information comprising one or more electronic communications from a remote connection over a communication network, said each electronic communication comprising a distribution;

processing said distribution to derive distribution information for one or more recipients of the electronic communication, said distribution information comprising recipient identification information;

determining from the recipient identification information one or more intended recipients of the electronic communication; and

directing the group intended electronic communication to the group mailbox wherein said group mailbox being shared by the members of the group.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the identifying information for each member of the group is an electronic address and the identifying information for the group is a group identification number.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the group comprises a list of identifying information of the members of the group.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the group mailbox comprises separate storage areas for maintaining sets of electronic communications.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the electronic communication information comprises one or more electronic mail messages.

6. The method of claim 1 in which directing the group intended electronic communication includes delivering the received one or more electronic communications to an inbox of the group electronic mailbox.

7. The method of claim 1 in which directing the group intended electronic communication includes deriving from an item profile of each of the received electronic communications a plurality of attributes to identify sender identifying and item associated information.

8. The method of claim 1 in which directing the group intended electronic communication includes assigning a status to each of the received electronic communications to indicate the status of the received electronic communication to a first member of the group.

9. The method of claim 8 is further comprising:

displaying to the first member, on a display screen, the group intended electronic communication and a menu including a plurality of user selectable action items wherein each action item corresponds to a function to execute a predetermined set of instructions.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

displaying on the display screen to the first member attribute and status information for enabling the first member to operate on the received electronic communication.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

updating on the display screen to the first member the status information associated with the received electronic communication being operated on a ongoing basis by the members of the group including the first member.

12. The method of claim 9 in which the display screen comprises a window to present the group intended electronic communication and the menu.

14. The method of claim 13 in which the display screen comprises a window to display the received electronic mail and the menu.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 in which the completed template is submitted for storage in a database.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 in which the group electronic mailbox comprises an inbox to receive one or more electronic communications delivered to the group electronic mailbox.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 in which each of the received electronic communications comprise an item profile with a plurality of attributes for the sender identifying and attribute information.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 in which a status indicator indicates a status assigned to each of the received electronic communications for presenting the received electronic communications to a first member of the group.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 further comprises for displaying to the first member, in a window on a display screen, a menu including a plurality of user selectable action items wherein each action item represents a function.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 for displaying in the window to the first member the attribute and status information allows the first member to operate on the received electronic communication.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 updates in the window to the first member the status information associated with the received electronic communication being operated on a ongoing basis by the members of the group including the first member.

13. A method for assisting members of an electronic mail group in an electronic mail system to access electronic mail within a group electronic mailbox, the method comprising:

receiving inbound electronic mail from a remote connection over a computer network, said inbound electronic mail comprising an item profile;

processing said item profile to derive distribution information for one or more recipients of the received inbound electronic mail, said distribution information comprising recipient address information;

determining from the recipient address information one or more intended recipients of the received electronic mail;

delivering the received electronic mail to the group electronic mailbox wherein said group electronic mailbox being shared by the members of the electronic mail group;

deriving from the item profile of the received electronic mail a plurality of attributes to identify the sender address information and the attribute information;

assigning a status to the received electronic mail to indicate the status of the received electronic mail to a first member of the group;

displaying to the first member, on a display screen, the received electronic mail and a menu including a plurality of user selectable action items, each action item representing a function;

p1 displaying in the display screen to the first member the attribute and status information for allowing the first member to operate on the received electronic mail; and

updating on the display screen to the first member the status information associated with the received electronic mail being operated on by the members of the electronic mail group including the first member of the group.

15. An apparatus for distributing and sharing of electronic communication information to allow multiple users to work collaboratively and simultaneously with the electronic communication information, the apparatus comprising:

a central processing unit;

a computer memory, the computer memory storing instructions for;

providing to a first user a template to create a group comprising a plurality of members by selecting identifying information for each of said members;

completing the template with identifying information for each of said members to specify the group, the group assigned to a group identification number for associating the group identification number with a group electronic communication mailbox;

receiving inbound electronic communication information from a remote connection over a computer network, said inbound electronic communication information comprising a distribution;

processing said distribution to derive distribution information for one or more recipients of the inbound electronic communication information, said distribution information comprising recipient identification information;

determining from the recipient identification information one or more intended recipients of the inbound electronic communication information; and

directing the inbound electronic communication information to the group electronic communication mailbox wherein said group electronic mailbox being shared by the members of the group.

23. In a computer readable medium, software for distributing and sharing of electronic communication information to allow multiple users to work collaboratively and simultaneously with the electronic communication information, the medium comprising:

software for providing to a first user a template to create a group comprising a plurality of members by selecting identifying information for each of said members;

software for completing the template with identifying information for each of said members to specify the group, the group assigned to a group identification number for associating the group identification number with a group electronic communication mailbox;

software for receiving inbound electronic communication information from a remote connection over a computer network, said inbound electronic communication information comprising a distribution;

software for processing said distribution to derive distribution information for one or more recipients of the inbound electronic communication information, said distribution information comprising recipient identification information;

software for determining from the recipient identification information one or more intended recipients of the inbound electronic communication information; and

software for directing the inbound electronic communication information to the group electronic communication mailbox wherein said group electronic mailbox being shared by the members of the group.