AUTO REPLY EMAIL AND AUTO REPLY EMAIL METHOD

• US 20080235344A1
• Filed: 06/04/2008
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: PAUL, GARY B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,032,600 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Auto reply email and auto reply email methods are disclosed. A particular email message includes a no-reply origination address and a message body. Characteristics of the message body are selected based at least partially on a previous email message sent to the no-reply origination address.

Claims

1. An email message, comprising:

a no-reply origination address; and

a message body, wherein characteristics of the message body are selected based at least partially on a previous email message sent to the no-reply origination address.

2. The email message of claim 1, wherein the previous email message was sent in response to an original message received from the no-reply origination address.

3. The email message of claim 2, wherein the no-reply origination address includes information about an application that generated the original message.

4. The email message of claim 2, wherein the no-reply origination address includes a region identifier of the original message.

5. The email message of claim 2, wherein the no-reply origination address includes a count of a number of replies sent to the no-reply destination address related to the original message.

6. The email message of claim 1, wherein the message body includes at least a portion of text of the previous email.

7. The email message of claim 1, wherein the message body includes a customer response form including information from a body of the previous message.

8. The email message of claim 1, wherein the message body includes:

an HTML message block including an HTML template selected based at least partially on the no-reply origination address; and

a text message block including a text template selected based at least partially on the no-reply origination address.

9. The email message of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the message body comprise at least one template selected based on the no-reply origination address, a subject line of the previous email and a body of the previous email.

10. The email message of claim 1, wherein the no-reply origination address includes control information, and wherein content of the message body is selected based on the control information.

11. A method, comprising:

receiving an incoming email message from an origination address, the incoming email message having an incoming message body and a no-reply destination address;

determining whether the incoming email message has a particular pattern based at least partially on the incoming message body and control information in the no-reply destination address; and

when the incoming email message does not have the particular pattern, sending an outgoing email message to the origination address.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the incoming email message is a reply to a previous outgoing email message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether the incoming email message has a particular pattern comprises examining the control information to determine an application that generated the previous outgoing email message.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether the incoming email message has a particular pattern comprises examining the control information to determine whether a reply count of the control information meets a threshold value.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the incoming email message has the particular pattern when the incoming email message includes an out-of-office reply.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the incoming email message has the particular pattern when the incoming email message includes an unsubscribe request.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the incoming email message has the particular pattern when the incoming email message includes an invalid address reply.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting a template for the outgoing email message based at least partially on the incoming message body and the control information.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating the outgoing email message based at least partially on the selected template and the incoming message body.

20. A computer-readable medium, comprising:

computer-executable instructions, that when executed, causes a computer to determining whether an incoming email message has a particular pattern based at least partially on an incoming message body of the incoming email message and based on control information in a no-reply destination address of the incoming message body; and

computer-executable instructions, that when executed, causes the computer to send an outgoing email message to the origination address when the incoming email message does not have the particular pattern.