Decoupling an attachment from an electronic message that included the attachment
First Claim
1. In a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, a method for determining if an attachment is to be deleted in response to a deletion command requesting deletion of a corresponding electronic message, the method comprising:
- an act of receiving a body portion of an electronic message;
an act of receiving an attachment associated with the electronic message;
an act of receiving a delete command requesting deletion of the electronic message;
an act of deleting the electronic message in accordance with the received delete command; and
an act of referring to a data field of the attachment to determine if the attachment is to be deleted.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention extends to methods, systems, computer program products, and data structures for decoupling an attachment from an electronic message that included the attachment. Generally, data fields of electronic messages and attachments are created in accordance with an electronic message schema hierarchy. Attachments are configured to have a data field indicating if the attachment is to persist when a corresponding electronic message is deleted. When an attachment persists, a user may be able to locate and use the attachment after a corresponding electronic message has been deleted (even if the attachment has not been expressly saved). Attachments are configured to include attachment metadata indicating properties of an electronic message that included the attachment. Accordingly, a user can access information (e.g., sender, subject, date, etc) associated with an electronic message (e.g., that included the attachment) even after the electronic message has been deleted.
156 Citations
21 Claims
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1. In a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, a method for determining if an attachment is to be deleted in response to a deletion command requesting deletion of a corresponding electronic message, the method comprising:
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an act of receiving a body portion of an electronic message;
an act of receiving an attachment associated with the electronic message;
an act of receiving a delete command requesting deletion of the electronic message;
an act of deleting the electronic message in accordance with the received delete command; and
an act of referring to a data field of the attachment to determine if the attachment is to be deleted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. In a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, a method for identifying an attachment in response to a message related query, the method comprising:
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an act of receiving a query for message related data that satisfies query criteria;
an act of identifying an attachment that satisfies the query criteria not withstanding that an electronic message associated with the attachment was deleted prior to receiving the query; and
an act of returning at least a link to the attachment in response to the query. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer program product for use in a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, the computer program product for implementing a method for determining if an attachment is to be deleted in response to a deletion command requesting deletion of a corresponding electronic message, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the following:
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receive a body portion of an electronic message;
receive an attachment associated with the electronic message;
receive a delete command requesting deletion of the electronic message;
delete the electronic message in accordance with the received delete command; and
refer to a data field of the attachment to determine if the attachment is to be deleted.
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21. A computer program product for use in a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, the computer program product for implementing a method for identifying an attachment in response to a message related query, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the following:
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receive a query for message related data that satisfies query criteria;
identify an attachment that satisfies the query criteria not withstanding that an electronic message associated with the attachment was deleted prior to receiving the query; and
return at least a link to the attachment in response to the query.
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Specification