E-MAIL FORWARDING METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20090300127A1
• Filed: 06/02/2009
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qiang Du
• Original Assignee: Qiang Du
• Inventors: Du, Qiang
• Application Number:
  US12/477,068
• Publication Number:
  US 20090300127A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

Systems and methods for allowing a user who has multiple e-mail accounts to read all of the e-mails sent to the multiple accounts from a single account are disclosed. The user may have the ability to reply to the sender of an e-mail such that the original sender is unaware that the user read the e-mail from an account that may be different than the account to which the e-mail was originally sent. The ability to reply to an e-mail in such a manner may not be dependent on the specific e-mail account the user is using to read the e-mail.

Claims

1. A method of replying to an e-mail comprising:

receiving an e-mail at a user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account on a second e-mail server, the e-mail sent from a sender'"'"'s e-mail account on a third e-mail server;

appending a link to the e-mail, the link including computer instructions for sending a reply e-mail to the sender;

forwarding the e-mail to a user'"'"'s primary e-mail account at a first e-mail server; and

sending the reply e-mail from the second e-mail server to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account on the third e-mail server, wherein the reply e-mail includes a from address identifying the secondary e-mail account.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein operation of the method is independent of the first and third e-mail servers.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the e-mail sent from the sender is embedded into an HTML form prior to appending the link to the e-mail and the link is an HTML mailto command, the mailto command specifying a destination address associated with the second e-mail server.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the destination address is the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account plus an additional identifier that is recognized by the second e-mail server.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

receiving, at the second e-mail server, an e-mail initiated by clicking on the mailto;

link;

parsing the destination address to recognize the additional identifier;

extracting the additional identifier to retrieve the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account;

extracting, from the e-mail generated by clicking on the mailto;

link, the sender'"'"'s e-mail account;

creating the reply e-mail addressed to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account; and

sending the reply e-mail to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account from the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account at the second mail server.

6. The method of claim 5 further including placing a copy of the reply e-mail in a sent items folder in the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein activating the appended link causes the second e-mail server to generate a web page that contains the reply e-mail addressed to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account and sends the web page to a user'"'"'s computer.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the web page includes a send link, wherein activating the send link causes the reply e-mail to be sent from the second e-mail server to the sender'"'"'s email account.

9. A computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a processor, the instructions causing the processor to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A system for replying to an e-mail, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising code for receiving an e-mail at a user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account at a second e-mail server, the e-mail sent from a sender'"'"'s e-mail account on a third e-mail server, code for appending a link to the e-mail, the link including computer instructions for sending a reply e-mail to the sender, code for forwarding the e-mail to a user'"'"'s primary e-mail account at a first e-mail server, and code for sending the reply e-mail from the second e-mail server to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account on the third e-mail server, wherein the reply e-mail includes a from address identifying the secondary e-mail account.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the memory further includes code for embedding the e-mail sent from the sender into an HTML form prior to appending the link to the e-mail and the link is an HTML mailto command, the mailto command specifying a destination address associated with the second e-mail server, the destination address comprising the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account plus an additional identifier that is recognized by the second e-mail server.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the memory further includes code for receiving, at the second e-mail server, an e-mail initiated by clicking on the mailto:

link, code for parsing the destination address to recognize the additional identifier, code for extracting the additional identifier to retrieve the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account, code for extracting, from the e-mail generated by clicking on the mailto;

link, the sender'"'"'s e-mail account, code for creating the reply e-mail addressed to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account, and code for sending the reply e-mail to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account from the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account at the second mail server.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the memory further includes code for generating, on the second e-mail server, in response activating the appended link, a web page that contains the reply e-mail addressed to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account and sends the web page to a user'"'"'s computer, and code for including a send link on the web page, wherein activating the send link causes the reply e-mail to be sent from the second e-mail server to the sender'"'"'s email account.

14. A method of replying to an e-mail comprising:

receiving an e-mail at a user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account on a second e-mail server, the e-mail sent from a sender'"'"'s e-mail account on a third e-mail server;

altering a from address field of the e-mail to include an identifier recognizable by the second e-mail server, the identifier indicating further processing is required for e-mails sent to the altered address;

forwarding the e-mail with the altered from address field to a user'"'"'s primary e-mail account at a first e-mail server;

receiving, at the second e-mail server, a reply e-mail addressed to the altered from address field;

processing the reply e-mail to retrieve the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account and the sender'"'"'s e-mail account; and

sending the reply e-mail from the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein operation of the method is independent of the first and third e-mail servers.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of altering the from address field includes appending the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account to the from address field.

17. A computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a processor, the instructions causing the processor to perform the method of claim 14.

18. A system for replying to an e-mail, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising code for receiving an e-mail at a user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account on a second e-mail server, the e-mail sent from a sender'"'"'s e-mail account on a third e-mail server, code for altering a from address field of the e-mail to include an identifier recognizable by the second e-mail server, the identifier indicating further processing is required for e-mails sent to the altered address, code for forwarding the e-mail with the altered from address field to a user'"'"'s primary e-mail account at a first e-mail server, code for receiving, at the second e-mail server, a reply e-mail addressed to the altered from address field, code for processing the reply e-mail to retrieve the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account and the sender'"'"'s e-mail account, and code for sending the reply e-mail from the user'"'"'s secondary e-mail account to the sender'"'"'s e-mail account.