E-MAIL ADDRESSES IN COLOR

• US 20120102122A1
• Filed: 10/26/2010
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Byrnes, Barbara Joan
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,592 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

A system includes an e-mail client including instructions configured to be executed by a processor. The e-mail client may be configured to receive a plurality of addresses specifying recipients of a message; apply a color coding to the plurality of addresses, the color coding indicating an associated color for at least one of the plurality of addresses; and send the message with the applied color coding to the plurality of addresses.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an e-mail client including instructions configured to be executed by a processor, the e-mail client being configured to;

receive a plurality of addresses specifying recipients of a message;

apply a color coding to the plurality of addresses, the color coding indicating an associated color for at least one of the plurality of addresses; and

send the message with the applied color coding to the plurality of addresses.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user device including a processor and configured to execute the instructions of the e-mail client on the processor of the user device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the e-mail client is further configured to include an indication of the underlying meaning expressed by the color coding in the message.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the e-mail client is further configured to describe the color coding in at least one of the body text of the message and at least one header field of the message.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

a second e-mail client configured to;

receive the message including the color coded addresses;

retrieve information indicative of the color coding from the message;

apply the color coding to the addresses; and

display the color coded addresses according to the applied color coding.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the e-mail client is further configured to receive a selection of a distribution list to specify the plurality of addresses.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the selected distribution list further specifies a color coding for the specified plurality of addresses.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the distribution list specifies the color coding by an association of colors with addresses included in the distribution list.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the distribution list specifies the color coding by an association of attributes with addresses included in the distribution list and an association of colors with the attributes.

10. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of addresses specifying recipients of a message;

applying a color coding to at least one of the plurality of addresses by a first device; and

sending the message including the color coded addresses and an indication of the meaning of the color coding from the first device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising indicating in the message an underlying meaning expressed by the color coding.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the indicating of the underlying meaning of the color coding is relating to an action to be performed by recipients specified by the color coded addresses.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising indicating the underlying meaning by generating indication text according to attributes of the plurality of addresses.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a color in which at least one of the plurality of addresses are to be coded;

applying the coloring to the at least one of the plurality of addresses in the selected color; and

applying the coloring to the indication of the underlying meaning of the color coding in the selected color.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the message by a second device; and

displaying the addresses by the second device according to the applied color coding.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying a listing of the color-coded addresses in the body of the message.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a distribution list; and

storing the applied color coding in the distribution list.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

pulling data from a data source to use for applying the color coding; and

using the data to update at least one of an attribute and a color code of an address of the message.

19. A computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer-executable instructions configured to cause the processor to:

receive a plurality of addresses specifying recipients of a first message to be sent.

apply a color coding to at least one of the plurality of addresses;

send the first message including the color coded addresses and the indication of the meaning of the color coding;

receive a second message from a sender;

determine a second color coding of the addresses of the second message; and

display the addresses of the second message according to the second color coding.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further including instructions configured to cause the processor to:

locate a textual description of the second color coding in the text of the second message;

remove the textual description of the second color coding from the second message; and

determine the second color coding to be displayed according to the textual description of the second color coding.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further including instructions configured to cause the processor to:

locate optional fields in the header of the second message indicative of the second color coding; and

determine the second color coding to be displayed according to the located optional header fields.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further including instructions configured to cause the processor to:

determine that an address of the second message is associated with a plurality of color codes; and

display the address according to the plurality of associated color codes.