CONSOLIDATING DUPLICATE MESSAGES FOR A SINGLE DESTINATION ON A COMPUTER NETWORK

• US 20110142071A1
• Filed: 12/10/2009
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Farrell, Robert G., Malkin, Peter K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,943,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/473
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

Consolidating duplicate messages, in one aspect, may receive a transmission, and compute the difference between the transmission and a previous transmission. The previous transmission may be modified to include an indication of the difference.

Claims

1. A method for providing consolidated communications, comprising:

receiving a transmission;

computing, using a processor, difference between the transmission and a previous transmission;

storing an indication of the difference between the transmission and previous transmission; and

consolidating the difference into the previous transmission.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

returning a single object which includes the previous transmission, new data contained in the transmission and indication of how the new data relates to the previous transmission, the single object representing a combination of the transmission and the previous transmission in a reduced form.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission includes electronic mail, instant message, or text messaging, or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the difference includes header data, body of the transmission, or metadata associated with the transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying the previous transmission further includes changing status of the previous transmission.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the changing status includes changing the status of the previous transmission to unread.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication includes highlighting the difference.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication includes reordered content.

9. The method of claim 1, further including deleting the transmission.

10. The method of claim 1, further including providing a summary associated with the transmission and the modifying.

11. The method of claim 1, further including digitally signing modified previous transmission.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the previous transmission includes a combination of two or more previous transmissions.

13. A system for providing consolidated communications, comprising:

a processor; and

a module operable to compute difference between the transmission and a previous transmission, and store an indication of the difference between the transmission and previous transmission, the module further operable to consolidate the difference into the previous transmission.

14. The system of claim 13, further including:

a storage module operable to store a plurality of transmissions and associated data.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the module is further operable to reduce the transmission and combine the previous transmission with the reduced transmission.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the transmission includes electronic mail, instant message, or text messaging, or combinations thereof.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the difference includes header data, body of the transmission, or metadata associated with the transmission.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the modifying the previous transmission further includes changing status of the previous transmission.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the changing status includes changing the status of the previous transmission to unread.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the previous transmission includes a combination of two or more previous transmissions.

21. A computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of providing consolidated communications, comprising:

receiving a transmission;

computing, using a processor, difference between the transmission and a previous transmission;

storing an indication of the difference between the transmission and previous transmission; and

consolidating the transmission and the previous transmission by modifying a record of the previous transmission to include at least the difference.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21, further including:

returning a single object which includes the previous transmission, new data contained in the transmission and indication of how the new data relates to the previous transmission, the single object representing a combination of the transmission and the previous transmission in a reduced form.