System and method for providing an importance filter for electronic mail messages

• US 20080195717A1
• Filed: 02/14/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Brown, Jeremy Ray
• Application Number:
  US11/705,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195717A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A system and method for implementing an importance filter in an electronic mail message system are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving an incoming email message; rating the received email message in accordance with at least one criterion; and responsive to the rating, displaying in the email inbox an entry corresponding to the received email message in a manner indicative of a result of the rating.

Claims

1. A method for providing an importance filter for an electronic mail (“

email”

) inbox display, the method comprising;

receiving an incoming email message;

rating the received email message in accordance with at least one criterion;

responsive to the rating, displaying in the email inbox an entry corresponding to the received email message in a manner indicative of a result of the rating.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one criterion relates to the importance of the received email message.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one criterion is specified by a user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one criterion is a default criterion.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the displaying in the email inbox an entry corresponding to the received email message in a manner indicative of a result of the rating comprises displaying the corresponding entry using at least one visual cue indicative of a relative importance of the message.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one visual cue is a visual cue selected from the group consisting of color, font size, font attribute, animation, and highlighting.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one visual cue comprises a relative position of the entry in the email inbox.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one visual cue is specified by a user.

9. A system for implementing an importance filter for an electronic mail (“

email”

) inbox display, the system comprising;

means for rating a received email message in accordance with at least one criterion relating to an importance of the received email message;

means responsive to the rating for displaying in the email inbox an entry corresponding to the received email message in a manner indicative of a result of the rating.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the at least one criterion is specified by a user.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the at least one criterion is a default criterion.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the means for displaying in the email inbox an entry corresponding to the received email message in a manner indicative of a result of the rating comprises means for displaying the corresponding entry using at least one visual cue indicative of a relative importance of the message.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the at least one visual cue is a visual cue selected from the group consisting of color, font size, font attribute, animation, and highlighting.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the at least one visual cue further comprises a relative position of the entry in the email inbox.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the at least one visual cue is specified by a user.

16. A computer program product comprising computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for:

rating a received email message in accordance with at least one criterion relating to an importance of the received email message; and

responsive to the rating, displaying in the email inbox an entry corresponding to the received email message in a manner indicative of a result of the rating.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the at least one criterion is specified by a user.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the at least one criterion is a default criterion.

19. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the instructions for displaying in the email inbox an entry corresponding to the received email message in a manner indicative of a result of the rating comprise instructions for displaying the corresponding entry using at least one visual cue indicative of a relative importance of the message, wherein the at least one visual cue is a visual cue selected from the group consisting of color, font size, font attribute, animation, and highlighting.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the at least one visual cue further comprises a relative position of the entry in the email inbox.