E-MAIL ROLE TEMPLATES FOR CLASSIFYING E-MAIL

• US 20090125600A1
• Filed: 01/05/2009
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fitzpatrick, Gregory P., Gusler, Carl Phillip, Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Lebowitz, David B.
• Application Number:
  US12/348,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20090125600A1
• 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

An e-mail categorization system can include a plurality of role templates, each role template being associated with an e-mail account and defining a plurality of categories for categorizing e-mail messages. An authorized account holder can establish the plurality of categories and can designate programmatic actions that are to be selectively executed by an e-mail receiving application upon the receipt of e-mail messages. The selection of actions can be based upon categories of the received e-mail messages. Role templates can be distributed to e-mail originators so that when e-mail originators direct e-mail messages to an account associated with a role template, the originators are prompted to select one of the categories defined by a corresponding role template.

Claims

1. An e-mail categorization system comprising:

a plurality of role templates, each role template being associated with an e-mail account and defining a plurality of categories for categorizing e-mail messages, wherein an authorized account holder establishes the plurality of categories and designates programmatic actions that are to be selectively executed by an e-mail receiving application upon the receipt of e-mail messages based upon categories of the received e-mail messages, and wherein role templates are distributed to e-mail originators so that when e-mail originators direct e-mail messages to an account associated with a role template, the originators are prompted to select one of the categories defined by a corresponding role template.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an originator module associated with an e-mail application of one of the e-mail originators, the originator module having machine-readable code that directs a computing device to;

detect an e-mail origination event;

responsive to the origination event and for each e-mail recipient that is to be conveyed an e-mail message, identify a role template associated with the e-mail recipient; and

when a role template is detected, prompt the e-mail originator to designate one of the categories defined by the identified role template that pertains to the e-mail message.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an account holder module associated with an e-mail application of one of the e-mail account holders, the account holder module having machine-readable code that directs a computing device to;

receive account holder provided input that defines the categories for the associated e-mail account;

establish one of the role templates in accordance with the received input; and

use the established categories when handling e-mail messages received from e-mail communicators.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a role manager module configured to mark selected categories defined by a role template as stale and to prevent new e-mail messages from being associated with a categories marked as stale.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the role manager module further defines actions that an account holder is to take when receiving e-mail messages associated with a stale category, wherein one of said actions includes conveying an e-mail notification to the e-mail originator to inform the e-mail originator that a stale role has been designated against an e-mail message.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a template distribution module configured to disseminate role template information and updates to the e-mail originators.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a template editor module configured to provide an interface through which authorized parties are capable of establishing and editing role templates.

8. A computerized e-mailing method comprising the steps of:

identifying a role template for an e-mail account, wherein said role template establishes a plurality of account holder defined categories for an e-mail account; and

prompting an e-mail originator to designate one of the categories based upon said role template when said e-mail originator directs an e-mail message to said e-mail account, wherein the designated category is conveyed to the e-mail account along with the e-mail message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the designated category is specified within metadata of the e-mail message.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

specifying e-mail originator identification information within said metadata.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

detecting an attempt to disseminate said role template;

validating the role template; and

responsive to the validating step, selectively accepting the role template, wherein accepting the template results in a category pop-up interface item populated with categories defined by the role template to appear when the e-mail originator attempts to send an e-mail message to the e-mail account associated with the role template.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

before the prompting step, querying the e-mail account for updates to said role-template; and

updating said categories based upon query results, wherein said prompting step utilizes updated category information from the updating step.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a different role template for a different e-mail account, wherein said different role template establishes a plurality of account holder defined categories for a the different e-mail account; and

prompting the e-mail originator to designate one of the different account categories based upon said different role template when the e-mail originator directs an e-mail message to the different e-mail account, wherein the designated category is conveyed to the different e-mail account along with the e-mail message.

14. A computerized e-mailing method comprising the steps of:

receiving account holder provided input that defines a plurality of categories for an e-mail account;

establishing a role template in accordance with the received input;

distributing the role template to a plurality of e-mail communicators; and

using indicators from the e-mail communicators that designate one of the categories defined by said role template to handle e-mail messages received from the e-mail communicators.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said using step comprises the steps of:

receiving an e-mail message;

examining an indicator associated with the e-mail message to determine a category specified for the received e-mail message;

comparing the determined category against a list of current categories associated with the role template; and

performing at least one previously defined programmatic action based upon results of said comparing step.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the comparing step determines that the determined category is not one of the categories included within the list of current categories, said performing step further comprising the step of:

automatically rejecting said received e-mail.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the comparing step determines that the determined category is not one of the categories included within the list of current categories, said performing step further comprising the step of:

automatically conveying an e-mail message to an originator of the e-mail message that indicates that a valid category for the e-mail message is to be selected in order for the e-mail to be conveyed to the intended recipient.

18. The method of claim 17, said performing step further comprising the step of:

conveying said role template to the originator of the e-mail message.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

receiving account holder provided input that modifies the role template;

updating the role template in accordance with the received input; and

distributing the updated role template to said plurality of e-mail communicators.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving an e-mail message, determining whether an originator of the e-mail message has a current version of said role template; and

when the originator does not have a current version, automatically conveying a current version of said role template to the originator.