System and method for enabling a user to select documents from a display of a summary view of documents and to create a list of the selected documents

• US 20040205654A1
• Filed: 01/03/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Eisen, Jeffrey N.
• Granted Patent: US 7,447,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/530
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A computer system and computer implemented method that allows a user to select one or more of the documents that are listed in a summary view of documents and creates a list of the selected documents. Advantageously, for each selected document, the list includes document summary data pertaining to the selected document and a hyperlink to the selected document.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising the steps of:

displaying a summary view of one or more documents to a user;

enabling the user to select one or more of the documents listed in the summary view;

receiving an indication from the user that the user desires to have the computer create a list of the documents selected by the user and store the list in a system clipboard; and

creating a list of the selected documents and storing the list in the system clipboard in response to receiving the indication from the user, wherein

for each document selected by the user, the list includes document summary data pertaining to the selected document and a hyperlink to the selected document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the document summary data pertaining to a selected document and the hyperlink to the selected document are combined so that the user can click on the document summary data itself to activate the hyperlink.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more documents are electronic mail messages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more documents are documents that were found by an Internet search engine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more documents are messages that are included in a discussion thread.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of enabling the user to select one or more of the documents comprises the step of displaying a check-box for each of the one or more documents, wherein the user selects a document by placing a mark in the check-box associated with the document.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating a table, wherein the step of creating the list includes the step of inserting the document summary data and the hyperlinks included in the list into one or more rows of the table, and the step of storing the list in the system clipboard includes the step of storing the table in the system clipboard.

22. A computer signal embodied in a carrier wave readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process performing the method recited in claim 1.

8. A computer system, comprising:

means for displaying a summary view of one or more documents to a user;

means for enabling the user to select one or more of the documents listed in the summary view;

means for receiving an indication from the user that the user desires to have the computer create a list of the documents selected by the user and store the list in a system clipboard; and

means for creating a list of the selected documents and storing the list in the system clipboard in response to receiving the indication from the user, wherein

for each document selected by the user, the list includes document summary data pertaining to the selected document and a hyperlink to the selected document.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the document summary data pertaining to a selected document and the hyperlink to the selected document are combined so that the user can click on the document summary data itself to activate the hyperlink.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more documents are electronic mail messages.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more documents are documents that were found by an Internet search engine.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more documents are messages that are included in a discussion thread.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the means for enabling the user to select one or more of the documents comprises means for displaying a check-box for each of the one or more documents, wherein the user selects a document by placing a mark in the check-box associated with the document.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising means for creating a table, wherein means for creating the list includes means for inserting the document summary data and the hyperlinks included in the list into one or more rows of the table, and the means for storing the list in the system clipboard includes means for storing the table in the system clipboard.

15. A computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code for displaying a summary view of one or more documents to a user;

computer readable program code that enables the user to select one or more of the documents listed in the summary view;

computer readable program code for receiving an indication from the user that the user desires to have the computer create a list of the documents selected by the user and store the list in a system clipboard; and

computer readable program code for creating a list of the selected documents and storing the list in the system clipboard in response to receiving the indication from the user, wherein

for each document selected by the user, the list includes document summary data pertaining to the selected document and a hyperlink to the selected document.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the document summary data pertaining to a selected document and the hyperlink to the selected document are combined so that the user can click on the document summary data itself to activate the hyperlink.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more documents are electronic mail messages.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more documents are documents that were found by an Internet search engine.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more documents are messages that are included in a discussion thread.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program code for enabling the user to select one or more of the documents comprises computer readable program code for displaying a check-box for each of the one or more documents, wherein the user selects a document by placing a mark in the check-box associated with the document.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising computer readable program code for creating a table, wherein the computer readable program code for creating the list includes computer readable program code for inserting the document summary data and the hyperlinks included in the list into one or more rows of the table, and computer readable program code for storing the list in the system clipboard includes computer readable program code for storing the table in the system clipboard.