DELIVERY CONTROL FOR HTTP COMMUNICATIONS AMONG MULTIPLE END USER COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• US 20130339477A1
• Filed: 02/26/2013
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Loment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Loment Incorporated
• Inventors: Majeti, Venkata C., Sripada, Sri Sharmila, Zhang, Simon W., Vyas, Madhur Mohan
• Granted Patent: US 10,038,735 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

An exemplary method is implemented by end-user communication devices for transmitting and receiving HTTP messages in which acknowledgement of receipt by an addressee of an email is requested by an originator of the email. An acknowledgement request command is stored in a command portion of a user data segment of a received HTTP message. Upon receipt of the HTTP message by the addressee device, a reply HTTP message with an acknowledgement request must be authorized to be transmitted to the originator in order to allow the addressee to be able to view the content of the received HTTP message.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a first end-user communication device for processing HTTP messages in which acknowledgement of receipt by an addressee is requested by an originator, the method comprising:

generating, by the first end-user communication device, a first HTTP message comprising a digital packet having a header segment and a user data segment, the user data segment containing a user message and a command portion;

inserting an acknowledgement request in a command field in the command portion wherein the addressee device upon receipt thereof executes predetermined steps associated with the acknowledgement request;

transmitting the digital packet for delivery to the addressee device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the command portion includes a first indicator having a value that defines whether the user message has been viewed by the addressee and a message identifier that is assigned to said email;

storing the user data segment in memory of the first end-user communication device;

receiving by the first end-user communication device from the addressee device a reply HTTP message containing a command message acknowledging receipt of said first HTTP message where the command message includes the same message identifier as contained in the first HTTP message to which the command message was sent as a reply;

identifying the user data segment stored in the first end-user communication device to which the command message was sent based at least in part on the message identifier;

in response to receipt of the command message, storing a value of the first indicator that represents acknowledgement by the addressee device of receipt of the corresponding user message.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

prior to receipt by the first end-user communication device of the command message, the first indicator having a value that represents that the corresponding user message had not been viewed at the addressee device;

displaying at least some information of said sent first HTTP message on a screen of the first end-user communication device, a symbol representative of the value of the first indicator being displayed as part of the at least some information so that the user of the first end-user communication device is provided with visual indication by the symbol of whether the addressee has viewed the associated first HTTP message.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the first end-user communication device transmitting said first HTTP message to a plurality of addressees in which acknowledgement of receipt is requested so that each addressee device is requested to send a command message acknowledging receipt of said first HTTP message to the first end-user communication device;

determining by the first end-user communication device which of the addressees have viewed the associated first HTTP message based on receipt of a reply HTTP message containing a command message from corresponding addressee devices;

displaying at least some information of said sent first HTTP message message on a screen of the first end-user communication device, a symbol representative of the status of the receipt of command messages from corresponding addressee devices being displayed as part of the at least some information so that the user of the first end-user communication device is provided with visual indication by the symbol of said status.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein one symbol represents that a command message has been received from none of said addressees and another symbol represents that command messages have been received from all of said addressees.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of determining comprises:

receiving from a first addressee a first command message by the first end-user communication device;

upon determining that the address of the device that sent the reply HTTP message containing the first command message is not the address of the first end-user communication device, and upon determining that an HTTP message contained in storage of the first end-user communication device has a message identifier that matches the message identifier contained in the received first command message, storing data in memory of the first end-user communication device representing that the first addressee has acknowledged receipt of the subject first HTTP message.

7. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable tangible medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed by an end-user communication device to implement a method for generating a first HTTP communication, the method comprising:

generating, by the first end-user communication device, a first HTTP message comprising a digital packet having a header segment and a user data segment, the user data segment containing a user message and a command portion;

inserting an acknowledgement request in a command field in the command portion wherein the addressee device upon receipt thereof executes predetermined steps associated with the acknowledgement request;

transmitting the digital packet for delivery to the addressee device.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising:

the command portion includes a first indicator having a value that defines whether the user message has been viewed by the addressee and a message identifier that is assigned to said first HTTP message;

storing the user data segment in memory of the first end-user communication device;

receiving by the first end-user communication device from the addressee device a reply HTTP message containing a command message acknowledging receipt of said first HTTP message where the command message includes the same message identifier as contained in the first HTTP message to which the command message was sent as a reply;

identifying the user data segment stored in the first end-user communication device to which the command message was sent based at least in part on the message identifier;

in response to receipt of the command message, storing a value of the first indicator that represents acknowledgement by the addressee device of receipt of the corresponding user message.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 further comprising:

prior to receipt by the first end-user communication device of the command message, the first indicator having a value that represents that the corresponding user message had not been viewed at the addressee device;

displaying at least some information of said sent first HTTP message on a screen of the first end-user communication device, a symbol representative of the value of the first indicator being displayed as part of the at least some information so that the user of the first end-user communication device is provided with visual indication by the symbol of whether the addressee has viewed the associated first HTTP message.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising:

transmitting said first HTTP message to a plurality of addressees in which acknowledgement of receipt is requested so that each addressee device is requested to send a command message acknowledging receipt of said first HTTP message to the first end-user communication device;

determining by the first end-user communication device which of the addressees have viewed the associated first HTTP message based on receipt of a reply HTTP message containing a command message from corresponding addressee devices;

displaying at least some information of said sent first HTTP message on a screen of the first end-user communication device, a symbol representative of the status of the receipt of command messages from corresponding addressee devices being displayed as part of the at least some information so that the user of the first end-user communication device is provided with visual indication by the symbol of said status.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein one symbol represents that a command message has been received from none of said addressees and another symbol represents that command messages have been received from all of said addressees.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the step of determining comprises:

receiving from a first addressee a first command message by the first end-user communication device;

upon determining that the address of the device that sent the reply HTTP message containing the first command message is not the address of the first end-user communication device, and upon determining that a first sent HTTP message contained in storage of the first end-user communication device has a message identifier that matches the message identifier contained in the received first command message, storing data in memory of the first end-user communication device representing that the first addressee has acknowledged receipt of the subject first HTTP message.

13. An end-user communication device that generates a first HTTP message communication, the device comprising:

a microprocessor controlled apparatus receives user input to create information to be conveyed by an HTTP communication;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus generates the first HTTP message comprising a digital packet having a header segment and a user data segment, the user data segment containing a user message and a command portion;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus inserts an acknowledgement request in a command field in the command portion wherein the addressee device upon receipt thereof executes predetermined steps associated with the acknowledgement request;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus causes the transmission of the digital packet for delivery to the addressee'"'"'s device.

14. The end-user communication device of claim 13 wherein the command portion includes a first indicator having a value that defines whether the user message has been viewed by the addressee and a message identifier that is assigned to said first HTTP message, the end-user communication device comprising:

memory in which is stored the user data segment;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus receiving from the addressee device a reply HTTP message containing a command message acknowledging receipt of said first HTTP message where the command message includes the same message identifier as contained in the first HTTP message to which the command message was sent as a reply;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus identifying the user data segment stored in the end-user communication device to which the command message was sent based at least in part on the message identifier;

a screen for displaying information;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus storing a value of the first indicator that represents acknowledgement by the addressee device of receipt of the corresponding user message and causing a representation of said value to be displayed on the screen in association with at least some information about the corresponding sent first HTTP message.

15. The end-user communication device of claim 14 further comprising:

prior to receipt by the end-user communication device of the command message, the first indicator having a value that represents that the corresponding user message had not been viewed at the addressee device;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus causing the display of at least some information of said sent first HTTP message on the screen of the end-user communication device, a symbol representative of the value of the first indicator being displayed as part of the at least some information so that the user of the end-user communication device is provided with visual indication by the symbol of whether the addressee has viewed the associated first HTTP message.

16. The end-user communication device of claim 13 further comprising:

the microprocessor controlled apparatus causing the transmission said first HTTP message to a plurality of addressees in which acknowledgement of receipt is requested so that each addressee device is requested to send a command message acknowledging receipt of said first HTTP message to the end-user communication device;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus determining which of the addressees have viewed the associated first HTTP message based on receipt of a reply HTTP message containing a command message from corresponding addressee devices;

the microprocessor controlled apparatus causing the display of at least some information of said sent first HTTP message on a screen of the end-user communication device, a symbol representative of the status of the receipt of command messages from corresponding addressee devices being displayed as part of the at least some information so that the user of the end-user communication device is provided with visual indication by the symbol of said status.

17. The end-user communication device of claim 16 wherein one symbol represents that a command message has been received from none of said addressees and another symbol represents that command messages have been received from all of said addressees.

18. The end-user communication device of claim 16 wherein the microprocessor controlled apparatus determining comprises:

the microprocessor controlled apparatus receiving from a first addressee a first command message by the end-user communication device;

upon the microprocessor controlled apparatus determining that the address of the device that sent the reply HTTP message containing the first command message is not the address of the end-user communication device, and upon the microprocessor controlled apparatus determining that an HTTP message contained in storage of the end-user communication device has a message identifier that matches the message identifier contained in the received first command message, the microprocessor controlled apparatus storing data in memory of the end-user communication device representing that the first addressee has acknowledged receipt of the subject first HTTP message.