ATTACHMENT MARKUP AND MESSAGE TRANSMISSION

• US 20150347368A1
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: BLANCHARD, Terence D., COFFMAN, Patrick L., CARLEN, Conrad R., MOHA, Alexandre R., MURPHY, Evan S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,162,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a technique for editing an attachment included in an email message. The attachment is displayed within a message body of the email message and can be edited directly within the message body. Specifically, the technique involves launching a markup application that generates an editable version of the attachment within the message body. The markup application allows a user to make edits to the editable version of the attachment without leaving the email message.

Claims

1. A method for editing an attachment included in an email message, comprising:

detecting an attachment in an email message;

generating a request for one or more services associated with the attachment;

receiving the one or more services associated with the attachment, wherein the one or more services includes a markup service;

launching a markup application associated with the markup service within the email message, wherein the markup application allows one or more edits to be made to the attachment within the email message; and

displaying a modified attachment within the email message, wherein the modified attachment comprises the one or more edits.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting the attachment comprises detecting a type of the attachment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the type of the attachment comprises an image or a portable data format (PDF) document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the one or more services comprises displaying the one or more services in a menu, and the markup application is launched in response to a selection of the markup service from the menu.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or edits comprise one or more of a adding a drawing on the attachment, adding text to the attachment, and cropping a portion of the attachment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more edits are stored in a metadata portion of the modified attachment.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising removing the metadata portion prior to sending the email message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more edits are made to the attachment directly within the email message and without leaving the email message.

9. A system for editing an attachment included in an email message, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage medium configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause an email client to;

detect an attachment in an email message;

generate a request for one or more services associated with the attachment;

receive the one or more services associated with the attachment, wherein the one or more services includes a markup service;

launch a markup application associated with the markup service within the email message, wherein the markup application allows one or more edits to be made to the attachment within the email message; and

display a modified attachment within the email message, wherein the modified attachment comprises the one or more edits.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor causes the email client to detect a type of the attachment.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the type of the attachment comprises an image or a portable data format (PDF) document.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor further causes the email client to display the one or more services in a menu, and the markup application is launched in response to a selection of the markup service from the menu.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or edits comprise one or more of a adding a drawing on the attachment, adding text to the attachment, and cropping a portion of the attachment.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more edits are stored in a metadata portion of the modified attachment.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor further causes the email client to remove the metadata portion prior to sending the email message.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more edits are made to the attachment directly within the email message and without leaving the email message.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that, when executed by a processor included in a client device, cause an email client of the client device to edit an attachment included in an email message, by carrying out steps that include:

detecting an attachment in an email message;

generating a request for one or more services associated with the attachment;

receiving the one or more services associated with the attachment, wherein the one or more services includes a markup service;

launching a markup application associated with the markup service within the email message, wherein the markup application allows one or more edits to be made to the attachment within the email message; and

displaying a modified attachment within the email message, wherein the modified attachment comprises the one or more edits.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more edits are stored in a metadata portion of the modified attachment.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the metadata portion is removed prior to sending the email message.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more edits are made to the attachment directly within the email message and without leaving the email message.