Electronic Messaging Systems Having Time-Critical Messages
First Claim
1. A method of creating an incentive for a user of a target system to respond to a time-critical electronic message received from a user of a source system comprising:
- initiating a timing operation upon receipt of the time-critical electronic message at the target system; and
changing functionality of the target system if the timing operation completes before a response to the time-critical electronic message is transmitted by the target system.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
To encourage recipients of electronic messages to respond in a timely manner, certain messages can be designated as time-critical messages. Such messages are delivered with an allowable response time attribute. If the recipient responds to the message within the allowable response time, nothing happens. If the recipient fails to respond within the allowable response time, the functionality of the recipient'"'"'s system is altered in a way that gives the recipient an incentive to respond. For example, the recipient'"'"'s system may be inhibited from receiving any further messages until the recipient responds to the time-critical message. Embodiments are described for implementing time-critical messaging in e-mail, instant messaging and voicemail systems.
8 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of creating an incentive for a user of a target system to respond to a time-critical electronic message received from a user of a source system comprising:
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initiating a timing operation upon receipt of the time-critical electronic message at the target system; and changing functionality of the target system if the timing operation completes before a response to the time-critical electronic message is transmitted by the target system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer program product for creating an incentive for a user of a target system to respond to a time-critical electronic message received from a user of a source system, said computer program product including a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, said computer usable program code comprising:
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computer usable program code configured to initiate a timing operation upon receipt of the time-critical electronic message at the target system; and computer usable program code configured to change functionality of the target system if the timing operation completes before a response to the time-critical electronic message is transmitted by the target system. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A electronic messaging system for creating an incentive for a user of a target system to respond to a time-critical electronic message received from a user of a source system comprising:
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a timing component for performing a timing operation upon receipt of the time-critical electronic message at the target system; and a system control component for changing functionality of the target system if the timing operation completes before a response to the time-critical electronic message is transmitted by the target system. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification