E-mail client system and method

• US 20050050147A1
• Filed: 05/17/2004
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: iCode Inc.
• Original Assignee: iCode Inc.
• Inventors: Shah, Sanjay, Jani, Ali, Vadher, Nayan
• Application Number:
  US10/848,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20050050147A1
• 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 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

An e-mail client system and method are described. The e-mail client enables organizations to store e-mail communication as part of the business software database and those stored e-mail communications would be available to any user of the software within the organization, so that the communication carried out historically can be referenced, retrieved and/or reused. The invention allows the business software users to communicate internally with other users as well as external contacts/entities such as customers and vendors.

Claims

1. A method to integrate an e-mail client with a business software application and its database, the method comprising:

setting up one or more e-mail accounts for each user of the business software wherein each account is configured for the preferences of each user;

combining a global address book from a e-mail server, a user'"'"'s personal address book and the e-mail addresses of contacts in the database of the business software together to generate a centralized database of e-mail addresses;

associating an e-mail message with a contact in the database of the business software;

storing the e-mail message in the centralized database of the business software according to the contact associated with the e-mail message; and

retrieving messages from the centralized database based on a selected contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the e-mail message further comprises storing the e-mail message and its attachments into the database of the business software.

3. A method of claim 1, wherein the messages formats used are Plain Text, Rich Text Format and Hypertext Markup Language.

4. An e-mail client system comprising a computer program configured to execute on a processor, the computer program further comprising:

instructions that set up one or more e-mail accounts for each user of the business software wherein each account is configured for the preferences of each user;

instructions that combine a global address book from a e-mail server, a user'"'"'s personal address book and the e-mail addresses of contacts in the database of the business software together to generate a centralized database of e-mail addresses;

instructions that associate an e-mail message with a contact in the database of the business software;

instructions that store the e-mail message in the centralized database of the business software according to the contact associated with the e-mail message; and

instructions that retrieve messages from the centralized database based on a selected contact.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein instructions that store the e-mail message further comprises instructions that store the e-mail message and its attachments into the database of the business software.

6. A system of claim 4, wherein the messages formats used are Plain Text, Rich Text Format and Hypertext Markup Language.

7. An e-mail client system comprising:

means for setting up one or more e-mail accounts for each user of the business software wherein each account is configured for the preferences of each user;

means for combining a global address book from a e-mail server, a user'"'"'s personal address book and the e-mail addresses of contacts in the database of the business software together to generate a centralized database of e-mail addresses;

means for associating an e-mail message with a contact in the database of the business software;

means for storing the e-mail message in the centralized database of the business software according to the contact associated with the e-mail message; and

means for retrieving messages from the centralized database based on a selected contact.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the storing means further comprises means for storing the e-mail message and its attachments into the database of the business software.

9. A system of claim 7, wherein the messages formats used are Plain Text, Rich Text Format and Hypertext Markup Language.

10. An e-mail client system of claim 7, wherein the combining means further comprises means for integrating the address retrieval element of the e-mail client with the metadata of the entities stored in the database.

11. An e-mail client system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the associating means further comprises means for identifying the relevant metadata of the entity in the business database and means for storing a copy of the e-mail data in the database, the e-mail data being attached and indexed to the data of the particular entity to which the e-mail is sent.