Method and apparatus for managing electronic documents by alerting a subscriber at a destination other than the primary destination
First Claim
1. An e-mail system comprising:
- a server connected to a network; and
a Mail Alert code set resident and operable on the server;
wherein the Mail Alert code set is adapted to alert a subscriber by a message to the subscriber'"'"'s pager, the message not including content of the e-mail, that e-mail has been received, and to await forwarding instructions from the subscriber before forwarding the e-mail, then to forward the e-mail to a destination instructed by the subscriber; and
wherein the Mail Alert code set is adapted to filter incoming e-mail documents, including parsing the message portion of the e-mail for content, according to prestored document characteristics and to alert the subscriber at the second destination only on finding a characteristic match.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An e-mail system implemented on a server having a network connection receives and forwards e-mail messages based on subscriber-supplied criteria. When a message is received addressed to the subscriber, characteristics of the message, such as existence of and size of attachments, are compared to characteristics previously supplied by the subscriber. If a match is found, the subscriber is notified, such as by a page to a pager carried by the subscriber, of the message and the nature of the match.. Facility is provided at the server for the subscriber to then call the server, log on, and provide instructions for forwarding the matched message. Forwarding may be to such as a hand-held device or a notebook computer operated by the subscriber, or to a mailbox or mailboxes on other servers, or any combination. A subscriber is then in control of points of delivery of incoming e-mail messages.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An e-mail system comprising:
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a server connected to a network; and a Mail Alert code set resident and operable on the server; wherein the Mail Alert code set is adapted to alert a subscriber by a message to the subscriber'"'"'s pager, the message not including content of the e-mail, that e-mail has been received, and to await forwarding instructions from the subscriber before forwarding the e-mail, then to forward the e-mail to a destination instructed by the subscriber; and wherein the Mail Alert code set is adapted to filter incoming e-mail documents, including parsing the message portion of the e-mail for content, according to prestored document characteristics and to alert the subscriber at the second destination only on finding a characteristic match. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An e-mail server comprising:
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a document handling system adapted for receiving and forwarding e-mail to a specific destination; and a Mail Alert system adapted to alert a subscriber by a message to the subscriber'"'"'s pager, the message not including content of the e-mail, that e-mail for the subscriber has been received, and is waiting for delivery upon receiving forwarding instructions from the subscriber; and wherein the Mail Alert code set is adapted to filter incoming documents, including parsing the message portion of the e-mail for content, according to prestored document characteristics, and to alert the subscriber on finding a characteristic match. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for receiving and routing e-mail at a server, comprising steps of:
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(a) receiving at the server e-mail addressed to a subscriber; (b) alerting the subscriber by a message to the subscriber'"'"'s pager, the message not including content of the e-mail, of the receipt of e-mail at the server; and forwarding the e-mail after receiving routing instructions from the subscriber; and wherein the method further comprising a step to filter incoming e-mail, including parsing the message portion of the e-mail for content, according to prestored document characteristics, and to alert the subscriber at the second destination on finding a characteristic match. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A machine-intelligent agent for processing an e-mail addressed to a subscriber, comprising:
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a reception agent for receiving and storing a copy of the e-mail; a paging agent for alerting the subscriber at a pager of the receipt of the e-mail, the alert not including content of the e-mail; and a forwarding agent for sending a copy of the e-mail to the subscriber at a destination sent to the agent after the alert; and wherein the machine-intelligent agent further comprising a filtering agent adapted to filter incoming e-mail, including parsing the message portion of the e-mail for content, according to prestored document characteristics, and to alert the subscriber on finding a characteristic match. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification