Actionable email documents

• US 20060129592A1
• Filed: 12/15/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bould, Jason A., Poozhiyil, Suraj T., McDowell, Richard Shawn, Lucovsky, Mark H., Balsara, Cyrus R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A received reply email document enables some action to be effectuated using data included in the email document responsive to field identifiers associated with the data and corresponding to fields of metadata. The associated field identifiers that correspond to known fields of the metadata provide some expectation as to the semantic meaning and/or syntactic constraints of the data to which the field identifiers are associated. In a described implementation, an actionable email documents module creates an email document having blocks that are mapped to fields of metadata. The email document is transmitted to one or more recipients. Each recipient adds data to the blocks so that the data becomes mapped to the fields of the metadata. The recipients return a reply email document having the field-mapped data. Upon receipt, the module can effectuate some action using the field-mapped data responsive to the mappings.

Claims

1. One or more processor-accessible media comprising processor-executable instructions that include an actionable email documents module, the actionable email documents module capable of interacting with metadata and an email program to create an email document;

wherein the actionable email documents module is adapted to include a data collection form as part of the email document, the data collection form comprising a block for data population that is associated with a field identifier, the field identifier corresponding to a field of the metadata.

2. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 1, wherein the actionable email documents module is further capable of processing a reply email document that includes data populating the block that is associated with the field identifier;

wherein the actionable email documents module is further adapted to effectuate an action using the data populating the block and responsive to the field identifier.

3. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 2, wherein the action is selected from a group comprising:

inserting the data populating the block into the metadata, inserting the data populating the block into a spreadsheet, transferring the data populating the block to another email document, producing another file with the data populating the block, managing one or more workflows, validating the data populating the block, forwarding contents of the email document using the data populating the block, and uploading contents of the email document based on the metadata.

4. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 2, wherein the actionable email documents module is further adapted to insert the data populating the block into the field of the metadata that corresponds to the field identifier.

5. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 4, wherein the actionable email documents module comprises:

an email document creation module that creates the email document; and

a collected data insertion effectuator module that inserts the data populating the block into the field of the metadata that corresponds to the field identifier.

6. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 5, wherein:

the email document creation module comprises part of a database program; and

the collected data insertion effectuator module comprises a plug-in of the email program.

7. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 1, wherein the email document includes a linkage identifier that maps to the metadata.

8. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 7, wherein the actionable email documents module comprises a mapping module that implements a mapping between (i) the block for data population that is associated with the field identifier and (ii) the field of the metadata using the linkage identifier.

9. The one or more processor-accessible media as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processor-accessible media comprise at least one of (i) one or more storage media or (ii) one or more transmission media.

10. A device comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more media including processor-executable instructions that are capable of being executed by the at least one processor, the processor-executable instructions adapted to direct the device to perform actions comprising;

establishing a mapping between metadata and blocks of an email document;

transmitting the email document via an email mechanism;

receiving via the email mechanism a reply email document with data populating the blocks; and

effectuating an action with the data populating the blocks of the reply email document using the mapping.

11. The device as recited in claim 10, wherein the establishing action comprises:

including a linkage identifier with the email document that links the email document to the metadata; and

storing the linkage identifier in association with the metadata at the device.

12. The device as recited in claim 11, wherein the linkage identifier comprises a globally unique identifier (GUID).

13. The device as recited in claim 10, wherein the establishing action comprises:

establishing the mapping between respective ones of fields of the metadata and respective ones of the blocks of the email document.

14. The device as recited in claim 10, wherein the establishing action comprises:

adding field identifiers to the email document in association with the blocks of the email document, the blocks of the email document capable of accepting data from a recipient of the email document;

wherein respective ones of the field identifiers of the email document correspond to respective ones of fields of the metadata.

15. The device as recited in claim 14, wherein the effectuating action comprises:

inserting the data populating respective ones of the blocks of the reply email document into respective ones of the fields of the metadata using respective ones of the field identifiers.

16. The device as recited in claim 10, wherein the processor-executable instructions are adapted to direct the device to perform a further action comprising:

creating the email document as a new email document having a data collection form.

17. The device as recited in claim 16, wherein the processor-executable instructions are adapted to direct the device to perform further actions comprising:

enabling a user to indicate at least one destination address for the new email document; and

enabling the user to select one or more fields from the metadata for inclusion in the data collection form.

18. The device as recited in claim 10, wherein the effectuating action comprises:

effectuating an action selected from a group comprising;

inserting the data populating the blocks into the metadata, inserting the data populating the blocks into a spreadsheet, transferring the data populating the blocks to another email document, producing another file with the data populating the blocks, managing one or more workflows, validating the data populating the blocks, forwarding contents of the email document using the data populating the blocks, and uploading contents of the email document based on the metadata.

19. The device as recited in claim 10, wherein the effectuating action comprises:

receiving a new mail event notification upon receipt of the reply email document;

accessing a linkage table to extract a database using a linkage identifier of the reply email document;

ascertaining the metadata from a table of the extracted database; and

inserting into the metadata the data populating the blocks of the reply email document.

20. The device as recited in claim 10, wherein the metadata comprises at least one of (i) a schema, (ii) a data source, or (iii) one or more instances of a workflow state.

21. The device as recited in claim 20, wherein the data source comprises at least a portion of a database.

22. An arrangement for actionable email documents, the arrangement comprising:

creation means for creating an email document that includes blocks that are mapped to metadata; and

effectuation means for effectuating an action using data, which is returned in the blocks of a reply email document, responsive to the mapping to the metadata.

23. The arrangement as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

the email document including collection means for collecting data with the blocks that are mapped to the metadata, the collection means including field identifiers that are associated with the blocks and that correspond to fields of the metadata.

24. The arrangement as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

access means for accessing the metadata; and

email means for sending and receiving emails, including the email document;

wherein the creation means interacts with the access means, and the effectuation means interacts with the email means.

25. The arrangement as recited in claim 22, wherein the creation means comprises:

means for adding the blocks to the email document; and

means for adding field identifiers in association with the blocks, the field identifiers corresponding to fields of the metadata.

26. The arrangement as recited in claim 22, wherein the creation means comprises:

means for including a linkage identifier with the email document, the linkage identifier linking the email document to the metadata.

27. The arrangement as recited in claim 26, wherein the creation means further comprises:

means for storing the linkage identifier in association with the metadata in a linkage table and/or in a database information table.

28. The arrangement as recited in claim 22, wherein the effectuation means comprises:

effectuation means for effectuating an insertion of the data into the metadata responsive to the mapping.

29. The arrangement as recited in claim 28, wherein the effectuation means further comprises:

map means for mapping the data in the blocks of the reply email document to fields of the metadata based on field identifiers in the reply email document that are associated with the blocks.

30. The arrangement as recited in claim 22, wherein the arrangement comprises at least one of (i) one or more processor-accessible media or (ii) at least one device.

31. A method comprising:

adding blocks that are capable of accepting data to an email document;

including field identifiers in association with the blocks in the email document, respective ones of the field identifiers corresponding to respective ones of fields of metadata; and

effectuating an action using data populating the blocks in a received reply email document.

32. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

transmitting the email document toward a destination email address; and

receiving the reply email document via an email mechanism.

33. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

enabling a user to select the fields of the metadata, each selected field being represented in the email document by a corresponding included field identifier and an associated added block.

34. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

including a linkage identifier with the email document, the linkage identifier linking the email document to the metadata.

35. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

appending current data values from the fields of the metadata to the email document.

36. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

appending a hints section to the email document, the hints section indicating an expected content and/or format of data that is to populate one or more of the blocks.

37. The method as recited in claim 31, wherein the effectuating comprises:

effectuating an action selected from a group comprising;

inserting the data populating the blocks into the metadata, inserting the data populating the blocks into a spreadsheet, transferring the data populating the blocks to another email document, producing another file with the data populating the blocks, managing one or more workflows, validating the data populating the blocks, forwarding contents of the email document using the data populating the blocks, and uploading contents of the email document based on the metadata.

38. The method as recited in claim 31, wherein the effectuating comprises:

inserting the data populating respective blocks of the reply email document into respective fields of the metadata that correspond to respective field identifiers that are respectively associated with the blocks.

39. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

including a linkage indentifier with the email document, the linkage identifier linking the email document to the metadata;

transmitting the email document toward a destination email address; and

receiving the reply email document via an email mechanism, the reply email document including the linkage identifier and the field identifiers associated with the blocks that are populated with data;

wherein the effectuating comprises;

ascertaining the metadata using the linkage identifier of the reply email document;

determining the fields of the metadata using the field identifiers of the reply email document; and

inserting the data populating the blocks of the reply email document into the fields of the metadata based on the determining.