LARGE DISTRIBUTION MESSAGE HANDLING

• US 20090019116A1
• Filed: 07/09/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Niebuhr, Rene
• Granted Patent: US 8,204,943 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

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for large distribution message handling. Data characterizing an intended distribution load of a message being greater than a threshold indicator may be received, a determination may be made to set a flag in response to the data; and an action may be performed in response to the flag being set. Determining a distribution load may involve determining a number of intended recipients of a distribution list, a size of a message across a number of intended recipients, and the like. Actions to be performed may include suppressing auto-replies, notifying a client, and denying distribution of a message.

Claims

1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program product being operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a message comprising a flag characterizing the message as being intended to have a distribution load greater than a threshold indicator;

determining the flag has been set; and

performing an action in response to determining the flag is set.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein the threshold indicator is a threshold number of intended recipients.

3. The product of claim 1, wherein the threshold indicator is a threshold data volume.

4. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether to set the flag.

5. The product of claim 4, wherein determining whether to set the flag comprises determining whether a distribution list of the message is greater than a threshold indicator being a threshold number of recipients.

6. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether to set the flag at the server.

7. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether to set the flag at a client.

8. The product of claim 1, wherein the performing the action comprises:

suppressing auto-reply in response to receipt of the message.

9. The product of claim 1, wherein the performing the action comprises:

denying distribution of the message.

10. The product of claim 1, wherein the performing the action comprises:

notifying a client the flag is set.

11. The product of claim 1, wherein the flag indicates the message is to be evaluated at a client-side message server to determine whether the message requires special processing based on a load imposed by an intended distribution.

12. The product of claim 1, wherein the threshold number of recipients is subjectively defined by a user.

13. The product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing an interface to configure a definition of the distribution load, the threshold, or both.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a message comprising a flag characterizing the message as being intended to have a distribution load greater than a threshold indicator;

determining the flag has been set; and

performing an action in response to determining the flag is set.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the threshold indicator is a threshold number of intended recipients.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the flag indicates the message is to be evaluated at a client-side message server to determine whether the message requires special processing based on a load imposed by an intended distribution.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

providing an interface to configure a definition of the distribution load, the threshold, or both.

18. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program product being operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving data characterizing a message as being intended to be sent to a distribution list having distribution greater than a threshold number of recipients;

incorporating the data into the message; and

transmitting the message to a message server, the message server to process the data to perform an action based on the message incorporating the data.

19. The product of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing an interface to configure the threshold.