Method and system for managing and retrieving data

• US 20040167963A1
• Filed: 02/21/2003
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Kulkarni, Suhas Sudhakar
• Granted Patent: US 7,346,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A method and a system for managing and retrieving data within an electronic mail editor and/or an application external of the electronic mail editor are provided. In conventional systems, a user needs to sieve through their e-mail messages to locate messages of a same subject and thereafter to identify a most current or his required information. In the present invention, a reference data tag is inserted in an e-mail message and is linked to tag values stored in an appropriate database. The data tag may have one or more instances inserted in other messages at different times and assigned a different data tag value at the time of insertion. The data tag may be represented by similar indicia. To retrieve a most current value among the different values, a user merely accesses any of the indicia in any of the messages.

Claims

1. A method of managing and retrieving data comprising:

inserting a data tag in a first message, the data tag represented by a first indicium;

having another instance of the data tag in a second message, the data tag represented by a second indicium;

assigning different values to the data tags in the first and the second message; and

accessing any of the first indicium or the second indicium for retrieving a most current value among the different values.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the data tags and the different values in a database.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

transmitting the message to a plurality of recipients; and

enabling the plurality of recipients to access the database.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein accessing the indicium further includes retrieving at least two of the different values.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing an interface within an electronic mail editor or an application external of the electronic mail editor or both for retrieving the most current value.

6. A system for managing and retrieving data comprising:

a data tag inserted in a first message and assigned a first value;

another instance of the data tag inserted in a second message and assigned a second value; and

means provided in the first and the second message for retrieving a most current value between the first and the second value.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

a database for storing and retrieving therefrom the data tag and the first and the second values.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the electronic mail message is transmitted to a plurality of recipients, and the database is accessible to the plurality of recipients.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the means in the first and the second message is an indicium.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the means in the first and the message includes means for retrieving at least the first and the second value.

11. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

means provided within an electronic mail editor or an application external of the electronic mail editor or both for retrieving the most current value.