GRANULARLY SELECTING A SUBSET OF RECIPIENTS WHO CAN REPLY TO A SENDER'S E-MAIL
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- automatically assigning a first reply status to an e-mail being transmitted to one or more first e-mail recipients, said first reply status allowing a reply e-mail from the one or more e-mail recipients to be returned to a primary location corresponding to an e-mail address from which the e-mail is being transmitted; and
associating a second reply status to the e-mail transmitted to second e-mail recipients that are not among the one or more first e-mail recipients, said second reply status causing a reply to the e-mail from the second e-mail recipients to be dynamically routed to a secondary location.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method, system, and computer program product for assigning reply status to an outgoing electronic mail (e-mail) message. While creating an e-mail message, an interface is provided for granularly assigning or denying reply privileges to recipients of an outgoing e-mail message. Reply status is assigned by selecting a subset of recipients by name, e-mail address, and/or e-mail group who may reply to the e-mail. As the recipient'"'"'s reply status is modified, the outgoing e-mail is updated, revising the reply e-mail address for each recipient. When the recipient is granted reply status, the e-mail address of the original sender is provided as the reply e-mail address. However, in the event the recipient is not granted reply status, the e-mail address of an automated, unmanned e-mail account is provided as the reply e-mail address.
48 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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automatically assigning a first reply status to an e-mail being transmitted to one or more first e-mail recipients, said first reply status allowing a reply e-mail from the one or more e-mail recipients to be returned to a primary location corresponding to an e-mail address from which the e-mail is being transmitted; and associating a second reply status to the e-mail transmitted to second e-mail recipients that are not among the one or more first e-mail recipients, said second reply status causing a reply to the e-mail from the second e-mail recipients to be dynamically routed to a secondary location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer program product comprising:
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a computer readable medium; and program code on the computer readable medium that when executed by a processor provides the functions of; automatically assigning a first reply status to an e-mail being transmitted to one or more first e-mail recipients, said first reply status allowing a reply e-mail from the one or more e-mail recipients to be returned to a primary location corresponding to an e-mail address from which the e-mail is being transmitted; and associating a second reply status to the e-mail transmitted to second e-mail recipients that are not among the one or more first e-mail recipients, said second reply status causing a reply to the e-mail from the second e-mail recipients to be dynamically routed to a secondary location. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20)
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19. An electronic device comprising:
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a processor component; an input/output (I/O) mechanism that enables entry of e-mail reply status; a mechanism for transmitting and receiving e-mails and reply e-mails from and to a mail user agent (MUA) executing on the device; and a utility executing on the processor component and which comprises codes that enables completion of the functions of; automatically assigning a first reply status to an e-mail being transmitted to one or more first e-mail recipients, said first reply status allowing a reply e-mail from the one or more e-mail recipients to be returned to a primary location corresponding to an e-mail address from which the e-mail is being transmitted; and associating a second reply status to the e-mail transmitted to second e-mail recipients that are not among the one or more first e-mail recipients, said second reply status causing a reply to the e-mail from the second e-mail recipients to be dynamically routed to a secondary location, wherein said associating includes; detecting a first selection of the second e-mail recipients; detecting a second selection of the second reply status; and linking the secondary location as the reply address for copies of the e-mail transmitted to the second e-mail recipients; wherein the primary location is automatically assigned as the reply address to the e-mail, and copies of the e-mail to be transmitted to the second e-mail recipients are subsequently assigned the secondary location; wherein when the primary location is the inbox of the e-mail address and the secondary location is the junk mailbox of the e-mail address; receiving a reply e-mail to the e-mail; and performing one of a sequence of processes from among; (1) checking the reply address within the reply e-mail;
when the reply address is the primary location, forwarding the reply e-mail to an inbox of the mail user agent; and
when the reply address is the secondary location, forwarding the reply e-mail to the secondary location; and(2) checking the “
sent from”
address within the reply e-mail to determine whether the reply e-mail originated from one of the primary or secondary e-mail recipients;
when the sent from address is one of the primary e-mail recipients, forwarding the reply e-mail to an inbox of the mail user agent (MUA); and
when the sent from address is one of the secondary e-mail recipients, forwarding the reply e-mail to the secondary location;
wherein reply privilege to the inbox of the MUA is denied to reply e-mail originating from the secondary e-mail recipients for whom reply privilege has not been assigned.
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Specification