Messaging system scratchpad facility
First Claim
1. In a messaging system having a memory including means for storing messages received for a message recipient from message senders and each comprising a message header that contains message address information and a message body that contains information being communicated y the message sender to the message recipient, a user interface enabling the message recipient to communicate with the messaging system and retrieve the stored messages, and a controller connected to the user interface and to the memory for controlling operation of the messaging system, the improvement comprising:
- first means in the controller responsive to receipt of a first command from the message recipient during retrieval of the message body of a stored message for halting the retrieval of the message body, thereafter responsive to information received from the message recipient for storing a fragment of the message body that is identified by the information in the memory for subsequent use by the message recipient, and responsive to receipt of a second command from the message recipient for resuming the retrieval of the message body; and
second means in the controller responsive to a third command received from the message recipient, for establishing a communication from the message recipient to a destination identified by the stored fragment.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved messaging system (100, 900) enables a message recipient to take notes electronically while retrieving messages, such as by electronically extracting and separately recording a portion of a received message in a scratchpad area (250, 1050) of his or her mailbox (111, 911) or by dictating into a telephone (102, 103), typing on a terminal (902, 903) keyboard, or entering on a Touch-Tone telephones'"'"' keypad, words and/or numbers, into the scratchpad area, for subsequent use by the message recipient. The messaging system then enables the message recipient either to retrieve the electronic notes from the scratchpad area, or to automatically place a call to a telephone number that is contained in the electronic notes in the scratchpad area. An improved graphical user interface (915) provides the message recipient with easy access to, and control over, this functionality of the messaging system.
45 Citations
21 Claims
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1. In a messaging system having a memory including means for storing messages received for a message recipient from message senders and each comprising a message header that contains message address information and a message body that contains information being communicated y the message sender to the message recipient, a user interface enabling the message recipient to communicate with the messaging system and retrieve the stored messages, and a controller connected to the user interface and to the memory for controlling operation of the messaging system, the improvement comprising:
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first means in the controller responsive to receipt of a first command from the message recipient during retrieval of the message body of a stored message for halting the retrieval of the message body, thereafter responsive to information received from the message recipient for storing a fragment of the message body that is identified by the information in the memory for subsequent use by the message recipient, and responsive to receipt of a second command from the message recipient for resuming the retrieval of the message body; and second means in the controller responsive to a third command received from the message recipient, for establishing a communication from the message recipient to a destination identified by the stored fragment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. In a messaging system having a memory including a mailbox for storing messages received for a message recipient from message senders and each comprising a message header that contains message address information and a message body that contains information being communicated by the message sender to the message recipient, a user interface enabling the message recipient to communicate with the messaging system and retrieve the stored messages from the mailbox, and a controller connected to the user interface and the memory for controlling operation of the messaging system, the improvement comprising:
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first means in the controller, responsive to invocation of a scratchpad facility by a message recipient either during presentation of an options menu to the message recipient or during retrieval of a stored message by the message recipient, for halting any said stored message retrieval or any said options menu presentation and presenting a scratchpad menu of scratchpad options to the message recipient; second means in the controller, responsive to invocation of a recording option by the message recipient from the scratchpad menu, for storing information received from the message recipient in a scratchpad of the mailbox for subsequent use by the message recipient; third means in the controller, responsive to invocation of a play-back option by the message recipient from the scratchpad menu, for presenting contents of the scratchpad to the message recipient; fourth means in the controller, responsive to invocation of an exit option by the message recipient from the scratchpad menu, for ceasing the presenting of the scratchpad menu to the message recipient and resuming an activity that was halted when the message recipient invoked the scratchpad facility; fifth means in the controller, responsive to invocation of a message-clipping option by the message recipient from the scratchpad menu, for extracting a portion, selected by the message recipient, of the body of the retrieved stored message and storing the extracted portion in the scratchpad for subsequent use by the message recipient; and sixth means in the controller, responsive to invocation of a communication option by the message recipient from the scratchpad menu, for automatically establishing a communication from the message recipient to a destination by using an address stored in the scratchpad by action of either one of the second means and the fifth means. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A graphical user interface to a messaging system having a memory for storing messages received for a message recipient from message senders and each comprising a message header that contains message address information and a message body that contains information being communicated by the message sender to the message recipient and a system interface for communicating with the graphical user interface to enable the message recipient to interact with the messaging system via the graphical user interface and retrieve the stored messages, the graphical user interface comprising:
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first means responsive to receipt of a first command from the message recipient during retrieval of the message body of a stored message, for causing the messaging system to halt the retrieval of the message body and to store a fragment of the message body that is identified by information received from the message recipient in the memory for subsequent use by the message recipient, and thereafter responsive to receipt of a second command from the message recipient for causing the messaging system to resume the retrieval of the message body; and second means responsive to receipt of a third command from the message recipient, for causing the messaging system to establish a communication from the message recipient to a destination identified by the stored fragment. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification