SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CUSTOMIZING ELECTRONIC MESSAGES

• US 20070162867A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 07/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RhythmOne LLC (Nexxen International Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Pinball Acquisition Corporation
• Inventors: Dobronsky, Oren
• Granted Patent: US 8,285,982 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/779
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A plug-in is provided to existing electronic message programs, such as electronic mail message programs, to provide a virtual toolbar therein. The virtual toolbar includes one or more virtual buttons that allow a user to select multimedia content to be added to an electronic message. The multimedia content may include, without limitation, any one or more of graphics, audio, animation, video and text selections. The multimedia content may further include customizable templates in which business messages may be generated. The virtual buttons may be each be assigned to one category of related content, such as: Backgrounds for providing graphic backgrounds to a message, Holiday Themes for providing multimedia content associated with particular holidays, Animations for including FLASH animations or the like to a message, and Text for including pre-formatted text to a message. The content, appearance and number of virtual buttons may automatically be changed or updated by a content provider from time to time when the installed plug-in accesses a content server over a computer network, such as the Internet.

Claims

1-56. -56. (canceled)

57. A method for customizing electronic mail messages by a computing device, comprising:

providing a plug-in to a desktop electronic mail message program; and

executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic mail message program, for display within the electronic mail message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server, and the at least one virtual button being associated with at least one item or one category of available content.

58. The method of claim 57, the executing program instructions further comprising:

providing at least one automatically executable instruction with the plug-in for associating the plug-in with the electronic mail message program.

59. The method of claim 58, the at least one automatically executable instruction for inserting a programming call by the electronic mail message program for the virtual toolbar from the plug-in.

60. The method of claim 57, the at least one virtual button for implementing a programming instruction for displaying the content.

61. The method of claim 57, the category of available content including, without limitation, one of the following:

holiday-themed content, visual images, animations, audio content, audio/visual content, and business-formatted content.

62. The method of claim 61, the business-formatted content comprising at least one of content and formatting for internal electronic mail messages of a business entity;

and content and formatting for external electronic mail messages of a business entity.

63. The method of claim 57, wherein the electronic mail message program and the plug-in are developed by separate manufacturers.

64. The method of claim 57, further comprising updating content available to a plurality of users without updating the plug-in or the electronic mail message programs stored by the plurality of users.

65. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a virtual button from a user terminal; and

transmitting a plurality of selectable content associated with the virtual button for display to the user.

66. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

transmitting at least one advertisement for display to the user after the executing.

67. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for customizing electronic messages, the method comprising:

providing a plug-in to a desktop electronic mail message program;

executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic mail message program, for display within the electronic mail message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server, and the at least one virtual button being associated with at least one item or category of available content.

68. A computer-implementable method for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:

receiving executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in an electronic mail message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic mail message program, separate from a native toolbar; and

receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic message generated by the user from the electronic message program, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server, and the at least one virtual button being associated with at least one item or category of available content

69. The method of claim 68, wherein the selectable content is displayed in a separate window to a user.

70. The method of claim 68, further comprising:

updating the selectable content at the remote content server, without updating the plug-in or the electronic mail message program.

71. The method of claim 68, wherein the virtual button is displayed to a user with an indication of a category of selectable content.

72. The method of claim 71, wherein the indication of the category may be changed by the remote content server.

73. The method of claim 68, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the selectable content from the user; and

transmitting the selected content for display to the user in a message input field of an electronic mail message.

74. The method of claim 73, further comprising:

embedding a call to the content in the electronic mail message for transmission to a second user, whereby when the second user opens the electronic mail message, the content is retrieved from the content server and displayed in the electronic mail message to the second user.

75. The method of claim 68, the selectable content including one of the following for association with an electronic mail message:

holiday-themed content, visual images, animations, audio content, audio/visual content, and business-formatted content.

76. The method of claim 75, wherein the visual images include a plurality of animations.

77. An apparatus for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:

means for providing executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in an electronic mail message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic mail message program, separate from a native toolbar; and

means for receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message generated by the user from the electronic mail message program, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server, and the at least one virtual button being associated with at least one item or category of available content.