System and method for changing the priority of voice mail messages within the recipient's mailbox

• US 5,966,351 A
• Filed: 10/29/1997
• Issued: 10/12/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unify Inc. (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Information And Communication Networks, Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Shaffer, Shmuel, Carleton, Ronald Robert, Beyda, William Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): DINH, TAN X
• Application Number:
  US08/960,294
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 369/25, 369/26, 369/27, 369/29, 379/67.1, 379/68, 379/74, 379/75, 379/76, 379/88.22, 379/88.23, 379/88.26
• US Class Current: 369/29.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A system and method for enabling the sender of electronic mail messages to access a recipient'"'"'s mailbox to reprioritize the messages previously sent by the sender. The system searches the recipient'"'"'s mailbox for messages sent by the sender and unread by the recipient. An unopened message counter is used to determine the number of unopened messages in the recipient'"'"'s mailbox. A message review unit enables the sender to review the unread messages. A message prioritization unit is used to reprioritize the unread messages.

Claims

1. A message priority reordering system in an electronic message processing system for enabling the sender of at least one message to reorder the priority of the messages in a predetermined recipient'"'"'s mailbox, comprising:

a recipient search unit configured to search the predetermined mailbox for at least one unopened mail message;

a message review unit configured to enable access by said sender to the predetermined mailbox for reviewing said at least one unopened mail message; and

a message prioritization unit configured to allow said sender to reorder said at least one unopened mail message.

2. The message priority reordering system of claim 1, wherein said messages are voice mail messages.

3. The message priority reordering system of claim 1, wherein said messages are electronic mail messages.

4. A message priority reordering system in an electronic message processing system for enabling the sender of at least one message to reorder the priority of the messages in a predetermined recipient'"'"'s mailbox, comprising:

a recipient search unit configured to search the predetermined mailbox for at least one unopened mail message;

a message review unit configured to enable access by said sender to the predetermined mailbox for reviewing said at least one unopened mail message;

a message prioritization unit configured to allow said sender to reorder said at least one unopened mail message; and

an unopened message counter configured to count the number of said at least one unopened mail message.

5. A message priority reordering system for enabling a message sender to reorder unread messages that were sent by the sender in a recipient'"'"'s mailbox, comprising:

means for determining whether the mailbox contains unread messages sent by the sender;

means responsive to said determining means for enabling access to said recipient'"'"'s electronic mailbox; and

means responsive to determining means for enabling the message sender to reorder said unread messages.

6. A message priority reordering system for enabling a message sender to reorder unread messages that were sent by the sender in a recipient'"'"'s mailbox, comprising:

means for determining whether the mailbox contains unread messages sent by the sender;

means responsive to said determining means for enabling access to said recipient'"'"'s electronic mailbox;

means responsive to said determining means for enabling the message sender to reorder said unread messages; and

means for determining the number of unread messages in the mailbox.

7. The message priority reordering system of claim 6, wherein the recipient'"'"'s mailbox is configured to store electronic mail messages and voice mail messages.

8. The message priority reordering system of claim 6, further including means for enabling only the sending of said unread messages to access said electronic mailbox.

9. A method for enabling the sender of electronic messages to reprioritize unread messages sent by the sender and stored in the recipient'"'"'s mailbox, comprising:

searching the recipient'"'"'s mailbox for unread messages;

enabling the sender to obtain access to the recipient'"'"'s mailbox if unread messages are found; and

allowing the sender to reorder said unread messages.

10. The method of claim 9, further including verifying that only the sender of the message is authorized to reprioritize unread messages in the recipient'"'"'s mailbox.

11. An electronic message processing system for enabling a sender to send messages to a recipient, comprising:

a communications device configured to enable the sender to send messages to the recipient;

a mailbox configured to hold the messages sent by the sender to the recipient;

a message review unit configured to enable the sender of the messages to access the recipient'"'"'s mailbox for reviewing mail messages sent by the sender and reorder said mail messages.

12. An electronic message processing system for enabling messages to be sent by a sender to a recipient, comprising:

a communications device configured to enable the sender to send the messages to the recipient;

a mailbox configured to hold the messages sent by the sender to the recipient;

a message prioritization unit configured to enable the sender of the messages to reorder the messages stored in said mailbox to alter the sequence in which messages are reviewed by the recipient.

13. An electronic message processing system for enabling a sender to send messages to a recipient, comprising:

a communications device configured to enable the sender to send messages to the recipient;

a mailbox configured to hold the messages sent by the sender to the recipient;

a message review unit configured to enable the sender of the messages to access the recipient'"'"'s mailbox for reviewing the contents of said mail messages sent by the sender and reorder said mail messages.

14. An electronic message processing system for enabling a sender to send messages to a recipient, comprising:

a communications device configured to enable the sender to send messages to the recipient;

a mailbox configured to hold the messages sent by the sender to the recipient;

a message search unit configured to enable the sender of the messages to access the recipient'"'"'s mailbox for determining whether any unopened messages are stored in the recipient'"'"'s mailbox; and

a message prioritization unit configured to allow said sender to reorder said unopened messages.

15. An electronic message processing system for enabling a sender to send messages to a recipient, comprising:

a communications device configured to enable the sender to send messages to the recipient;

a mailbox configured to hold the messages sent by the sender to the recipient;

a message counting unit configured to determine the number of mail messages in said mailbox that were sent by the sender that are unread by the recipient.

16. An electronic message processing system for enabling a sender to send messages to a recipient, comprising:

a communications device configured to enable the sender to send messages to the recipient;

a mailbox configured to hold the messages sent by the sender to the recipient;

a message review unit configured to enable the sender of the messages to access the recipient'"'"'s mailbox for reviewing mail messages sent by the sender and reordering said mail messages.

17. An electronic message processing system for enabling a sender to send messages to a recipient, comprising:

a communications device configured to enable the sender to send messages to the recipient;

a mailbox configured to hold the messages sent by the sender to the recipient;

a message deletion unit configured to enable the sender of the messages to access the recipient'"'"'s mailbox to reorder and to delete any unopened messages that are stored in the recipient'"'"'s mailbox that were sent by the sender.