NAME RESOLUTION IN EMAIL

• US 20090172115A1
• Filed: 12/31/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lu, Fang, McCaffrey, Corey S., Kuo, Elaine I.
• Granted Patent: US 8,375,083 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

An email recipient input name is received. It is determined if the email recipient input name is ambiguous. If the email recipient input name is ambiguous, one or more employee attributes of a plurality of possible intended email recipients are compared with one or more employee attributes of an email sender to determine a probable intended email recipient.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an email recipient input name;

determining if the email recipient input name is ambiguous;

if the email recipient input name is ambiguous, comparing one or more employee attributes of a plurality of possible intended email recipients with one or more employee attributes of an email sender to determine a probable intended email recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the email recipient input name includes one or more of a to recipient of an email, a carbon copy recipient of an email, and a blind carbon copy recipient of an email.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the email recipient input name is ambiguous includes determining if the email recipient input name corresponds to more than one possible email recipient in a directory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing one or more employee attributes of one or more possible intended email recipients with one or more employee attributes of an email sender includes accessing a directory including the one or more employee attributes, and determining if at least a portion of the one or more employee attributes of at least one of the plurality of possible intended email recipients matches at least a portion of the one or more employee attributes of the email sender.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more employee attributes include a geographic location of the one or more possible email recipients.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more employee attributes include a job title of the one or more possible email recipients.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more employee attributes include a department of the one or more possible email recipients.

8. The method of claim 1, further including prioritizing the one or more possible intended email recipients based upon, at least in part, a correlation between at least one of the one or more employee attributes of at least one of the plurality of possible intended email recipients and at least one of the one or more employee attributes of the email sender.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein if a correlation exists between the one or more employee attributes of at least two of the plurality of possible intended email recipients and the one or more employee attributes of the email sender, prioritizing the at least two of the plurality of possible intended email recipients based upon, at least in part, a correlation between at least a second of the one or more employee attributes of the at least two of the plurality of possible intended email recipients and at least a second of the one or more employee attributes of the email sender.

10. The method of claim 8, further including providing a listing including the prioritized plurality of possible intended email recipients.

17. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the one or more employee attributes include a department of the one or more possible email recipients.

18. The computer program product of claim 1, further including instructions for prioritizing the one or more possible intended email recipients based upon, at least in part, a correlation between at least one of the one or more employee attributes of at least one of the plurality of possible intended email recipients and at least one of the one or more employee attributes of the email sender.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein if a correlation exists between the one or more employee attributes of at least two of the plurality of possible intended email recipients and the one or more employee attributes of the email sender, further including instructions for prioritizing the at least two of the plurality of possible intended email recipients based upon, at least in part, a correlation between at least a second of the one or more employee attributes of the at least two of the plurality of possible intended email recipients and at least a second of the one or more employee attributes of the email sender.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, further including instructions for providing a listing including the prioritized plurality of possible intended email recipients.

11. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving an email recipient input name;

determining if the email recipient input name is ambiguous;

if the email recipient input name is ambiguous, comparing one or more employee attributes of a plurality of possible intended email recipients with one or more employee attributes of an email sender to determine a probable intended email recipient.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the email recipient input name includes one or more of a to recipient of an email, a carbon copy recipient of an email, and a blind carbon copy recipient of an email.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the instructions for determining if the email recipient input name is ambiguous include instructions for determining if the email recipient input name corresponds to more than one possible email recipient in a directory.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the instructions for comparing one or more employee attributes of one or more possible intended email recipients with one or more employee attributes of an email sender include instructions for accessing a directory including the one or more employee attributes, and instructions for determining if at least a portion of the one or more employee attributes of at least one of the plurality of possible intended email recipients matches at least a portion of the one or more employee attributes of the email sender.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the one or more employee attributes include a geographic location of the one or more possible email recipients.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the one or more employee attributes include a job title of the one or more possible email recipients.