RECIPIENT CHANGES IN EMAIL THREADS

• US 20130262590A1
• Filed: 03/29/2012
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Patil, Sandeep R., Ramanathan, Sri, Sanap, Vikram B., Sivakumar, Gandhi, Trevathan, Matthew B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,230,244 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

A tool for notifying a recipient of an email message, belonging to an email thread, that a recipient address has been added to or dropped from the thread. Address fields of the email message received are compared to the address fields of the most recent prior email message in the thread. Addressed that are determined to be added or dropped are stored in the metadata of the email message received so the added or dropped recipient addresses can be accessed to notify recipients of subsequent emails in the email thread. The metadata of previous email messages in the email thread are accessed to notify the recipient of recipient addresses added or dropped between any two consecutive email messages in the thread.

Claims

1. A method for notifying a recipient of an email message that one or more other designated recipients of the email message have been changed from designated recipients of one or more previous email messages related to the email message, the method comprising the steps of:

a computer system receiving an email message belonging to a chain of related email messages;

the computer system comparing recipient addresses in the email message to recipient addresses of a most recent prior email message belonging to the chain of related email messages to determine one or more recipient addresses contained in either the email message but not the most recent prior email message or the most recent prior email message but not the email message;

the computer system notifying a recipient of the email message of the one or more recipient addresses;

the computer system storing the one or more recipient addresses in metadata of the email message; and

the computer system accessing metadata of the most recent prior email message to notify the recipient of one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message are one or more recipient addresses contained in either the most recent prior email message but not an email message sequentially before the most recent prior email message or the email message sequentially before the most recent prior email message but not the most recent prior email message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the computer system receiving a subsequent email message belonging to the chain of related email messages;

the computer system comparing recipient addresses in the subsequent email message to recipient addresses of the email message to determine one or more recipient addresses contained in either the subsequent email message but not the email message or the email message but not the subsequent email message;

the computer system notifying a recipient of the subsequent email message, of the one or more recipient addresses contained in either the subsequent email message but not the email message or the email message but not the subsequent email message;

the computer system storing the one or more recipient addresses in metadata of the subsequent email message; and

the computer system accessing metadata of the email message to notify the recipient of the subsequent email message of one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the computer system scanning a body portion of the email message for one or more names of possible intended recipients of the email message, wherein the one or more names correspond to one or more respective recipient addresses in a directory of recipient addresses; and

the computer system determining whether a recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message is indicated as a recipient address that has been dropped.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of the computing system, in response to determining that the recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message, notifying the recipient of the email message of the recipient address corresponding to the one of the one or more names.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of the computer system determining whether a second recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message is indicated as a recipient address that has been dropped.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of the computer system, in response to determining that the second recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message, notifying the recipient of the email message of the recipient address corresponding to the one of the one or more names.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a recipient address is located in a to field, a carbon copy field, a blind carbon copy field, a from field or any combination thereof, of the email message.

8. A computer program product for notifying a recipient of an email message that one or more other designated recipients of the email message have been changed from designated recipients of one or more previous email messages related to the email message, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive an email message belonging to a chain of related email messages;

program instructions to compare recipient addresses in the email message to recipient addresses of a most recent prior email message belonging to the chain of related email messages to determine one or more recipient addresses contained in either the email message but not the most recent prior email message or the most recent prior email message but not the email message;

program instructions to notify a recipient of the email message of the one or more recipient addresses;

program instructions to store the one or more recipient addresses in metadata of the email message; and

program instructions to access metadata of the most recent prior email message to notify the recipient of one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message are one or more recipient addresses contained in either the most recent prior email message but not an email message sequentially before the most recent prior email message or the email message sequentially before the most recent prior email message but not the most recent prior email message.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the program instructions comprising:

program instructions to receive a subsequent email message belonging to the chain of related email messages;

program instructions to compare recipient addresses in the subsequent email message to recipient addresses of the email message to determine one or more recipient addresses contained in either the subsequent email message but not the email message or the email message but not the subsequent email message;

program instructions to notify a recipient of the subsequent email message, of the one or more recipient addresses contained in either the subsequent email message but not the email message or the email message but not the subsequent email message;

program instructions to store the one or more recipient addresses in metadata of the subsequent email message; and

program instructions to access metadata of the email message to notify the recipient of the subsequent email message of one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the program instructions comprising:

program instructions to scan a body portion of the email message for one or more names of possible intended recipients of the email message, wherein the one or more names correspond to one or more respective recipient addresses in a directory of recipient addresses; and

program instructions to determine whether a recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message is indicated as a recipient address that has been dropped.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, in response to program instructions to determine that the recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message, program instructions to notify the recipient of the email message of the recipient address corresponding to the one of the one or more names.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to determine whether a second recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message is indicated as a recipient address that has been dropped.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, in response to program instructions to determine that the second recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message, program instructions to notify the recipient of the email message of the recipient address corresponding to the one of the one or more names.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein a recipient address is located in a to field, a carbon copy field, a blind carbon copy field, a from field or any combination thereof, of the email message.

15. A computer system for notifying a recipient of an email message that one or more other designated recipients of the email message have been changed from designated recipients of one or more previous email messages related to the email message, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices and program instructions which are stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive an email message belonging to a chain of related email messages;

program instructions to compare recipient addresses in the email message to recipient addresses of a most recent prior email message belonging to the chain of related email messages to determine one or more recipient addresses contained in either the email message but not the most recent prior email message or the most recent prior email message but not the email message;

program instructions to notify a recipient of the email message of the one or more recipient addresses;

program instructions to store the one or more recipient addresses in metadata of the email message; and

program instructions to access metadata of the most recent prior email message to notify the recipient of one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the most recent prior email message are one or more recipient addresses contained in either the most recent prior email message but not an email message sequentially before the most recent prior email message or the email message sequentially before the most recent prior email message but not the most recent prior email message.

16. The computer system of claim 15, further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, the program instructions comprising:

program instructions to scan a body portion of the email message for one or more names of possible intended recipients of the email message, wherein the one or more names correspond to one or more respective recipient addresses in a directory of recipient addresses; and

program instructions to determine whether a recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message, wherein the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message is indicated as a recipient address that has been dropped.

17. The computer system of claim 16 further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, in response to program instructions to determine that the recipient address corresponding to one of the one or more names matches one of the one or more recipient addresses in the metadata of the email message, program instructions to notify the recipient of the email message of the recipient address corresponding to the one of the one or more names.