Statistical analysis and display of reception status of electronic messages
First Claim
1. In combination,a network of data processing terminals, said network being capable of transmitting messages between respective ones of said terminals and including means for generating confirmation of delivery messages in response to a request therefor from a sender of a said message and to accessing of said message by a recipient,a source of information concerning users of said network, said information including information corresponding to a plurality of categories,a correlation service means for accessing information concerning users of said network from said source of information in response to data identifying a said recipient of said message contained in one of said confirmation of delivery messages,means for accumulating information, by categories, accessed from said source of information,means for performing computations on said accumulated information to derive a summary thereof, andmeans for providing a summary of said accumulated information at a terminal of said network in accordance with said categories.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A confirmation of delivery message display enhancement provides user definable correlation and/or statistical summaries of numerous confirmation of delivery (COD) acknowledgement messages corresponding to requested, automatically generated acknowledgements of receipt of electronic mail messages. The format of the multimedia display is user-definable and selectively provides detail information with expanded icons or overlaid windows. Performance of user specified or default processing of COD information is initiated by receipt of each COD message by the sender and the resulting summary and correlation is displayed at the will of the operator. Animation of display templates is also provided to assist in understanding of patterns of COD messages. A preferred embodiment includes transmission of user-defined information with a message (or local storage thereof) which is accumulated when the information is returned with (or locally accessed in response to) a COD message.
215 Citations
15 Claims
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1. In combination,
a network of data processing terminals, said network being capable of transmitting messages between respective ones of said terminals and including means for generating confirmation of delivery messages in response to a request therefor from a sender of a said message and to accessing of said message by a recipient, a source of information concerning users of said network, said information including information corresponding to a plurality of categories, a correlation service means for accessing information concerning users of said network from said source of information in response to data identifying a said recipient of said message contained in one of said confirmation of delivery messages, means for accumulating information, by categories, accessed from said source of information, means for performing computations on said accumulated information to derive a summary thereof, and means for providing a summary of said accumulated information at a terminal of said network in accordance with said categories.
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10. A method of displaying a summary of confirmation of delivery information to an operator of a terminal of a network capable of selectively transmitting messages between respective terminals connected by said network and generating confirmation of delivery messages in response to an access to a message transmitted between terminals of said network, said method comprising the steps of
accessing information concerning users of said network in response to contents of at least one said confirmation of delivery messages identifying a user of said network accessing a said message, accumulating, by category information, accessed by said accessing step, performing at least one calculation on said data accumulated by said accumulating step, and generating at least one of a visual display and an audible indication to an operator in response to information accumulated by said accumulating step as a summary of said accumulated information.
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13. A method of displaying a summary of confirmation of delivery information to an operator of a terminal of a network capable of selectively transmitting messages between respective terminals connected by said network and generating confirmation of delivery messages in response to an access to a message transmitted between terminals of said network, said method comprising the steps of
accessing information concerning users of said network in response to a distribution list for a message, attaching said information to a distribution identifier address of said message, accumulating said information attached to said distribution identifier address by said attaching step as confirmation of delivery messages are received, performing at least one calculation on said data accumulated by said accumulating step, and generating at least one of a visual display and an audible indication to an operator as a summary of confirmation of delivery messages in response to information accumulated by said accumulating step.
Specification