Mailing/filing system for congruently categorizing different types of electronic mail resources received through a messaging system

• US 6,088,696 A
• Filed: 09/29/1997
• Issued: 07/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Moon, Billy G., Wooldridge, Tammy A., Baratt, Manon A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis, Cheryl
• Application Number:
  US08/940,090
• Time in Patent Office: 1,016 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/9, 707/10, 395/680
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A user operating system is provided for use in a user communications device having a processor controlling a display and a user input device, the processor operating plural application programs each using data files formatted to the particular application program, and a communications terminal for sending and receiving a plurality of different types of electronic mail including such formatted data files. The user operating system includes a messaging application operating in the processor for congruently categorizing electronic mail received at the user communications device based upon the type of electronic mail received. A mail module is operated by the processor to send and receive electronic mail via the communications terminal. A file module, operably associated with the mail module, defines plural directories for storing data files, the data files in any such directory being of a preselect format, and directly stores electronic mail received by the mail module as data files in select ones of the directories based upon the type of electronic mail received.

Claims

1. In a user communications device having a processor controlling a display and a user input device, the processor operating plural application programs each using data files formatted to the particular application program, and a communications terminal for sending and receiving a plurality of different types of electronic mail including such formatted data files, a user operating system comprising:

a messaging application operating in the processor for congruently categorizing electronic mail received at the user communications device based upon the type of electronic mail received, the messaging application including

a mail module operable to send and receive electronic mail via the communications terminal, and

a file module operably associated with the mail module, the file module defining plural directories for storing data files, the data files in any such directory being of a preselect format, the file module directly storing electronic mail received by the mail module as data files in select ones of said directories based upon the type of electronic mail received.

2. The user operating system of claim 1, wherein the type of incoming electronic mail is selected from the group consisting of fax, voice, E-mail, scenery, business card, MIME, HTML and attachment.

3. The user operating system of claim 1, further including a default directory operably associated with the file module, the default directory receiving electronic mail of an unidentifiable type from the file module.

4. The user operating system of claim 1, wherein the file module is operable to determine the type of electronic mail received at the user communications device.

5. The user operating system of claim 4, wherein electronic mail received at the user communications device includes a title having a suffix generally indicative of the type of electronic mail, the mail module operable to determine the type of received electronic mail by its suffix.

6. The user operating system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of different types of electronic mail has a unique format, the mail module operable to determine the format of the electronic mail received at the user communications device and directly store the received electronic mail as data files in select directories based upon the format of the received electronic mail.

7. The user operating system of claim 6, wherein the electronic mail stored as data files in select directories are accessible by select application programs using appropriately formatted data files.

8. The user operating system of claim 1, the messaging application further including an edit module operably associated with the file module and mail module, the edit module operable to permit editing of the electronic mail received and stored as data files.

9. The user operating system of claim 8, wherein the edit module includes cut, copy and paste editing features, whereby a user of the user communications device can copy or move data files to different directories within the messaging application.

10. The user operating system of claim 1, wherein the communications terminal is adapted to initiate voice communications, the user operating system further comprising a phone application installable in the processor for keeping a log of voice phone calls made by a user of the user communications device, the phone application including:

a history list module operated by the processor to keep a log of all voice phone calls made by the user and displaying the log on the display; and

an audio module operatively associated with the history list and activatable by the user during a voice phone call, the audio module recording the voice phone call.

11. The user operating system of claim 10, wherein the audio module provides a notification icon in the history list that the particular voice phone call has been recorded.

12. The user operating system of claim 10, wherein the phone application further includes a text note module operatively associated with the history list and activatable by the user during a voice phone call, the text note module permitting the user to manually input textual notes during the voice phone call via the user input device.

13. The user operating system of claim 12, wherein the text note module provides a notification icon in the history list that the particular voice phone call has an associated textual note.

14. The user operating system of claim 10, wherein the history list includes a name and number associated with each voice phone call made by the user.

15. In a user communications device having a processor controlling a display and user input device, the processor operating plural application programs each using data files formatted to the particular application program, and a communications terminal for sending and receiving a plurality of different types of electronic mail, a method of congruently categorizing mail and data files comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of directories in the user communications device, each directory accessible by at least one of the plural application programs and storing data files of a preselect format;

receiving via the communications terminal one of the plurality of different types of electronic mail;

upon receipt of the received electronic mail, analyzing the received electronic mail; and

directly storing the received electronic mail as a data file in a select one of the plurality of directories based upon the type of received electronic mail.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the type of incoming electronic mail received at the user communications device is selected from the group consisting of fax, voice, E-mail, scenery, business card, MIME, HTML and attachment.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

providing a default directory in the user communications device; and

upon determining the type of received electronic mail as unidentifiable, storing the received electronic mail in the default directory.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of different types of electronic mail has a unique format, and wherein the steps of analyzing and storing the received electronic mail comprises the steps of:

determining the format of the received electronic mail; and

directly storing the received electronic mail as a data file in a select one of the plurality of directories based upon the format of the received electronic mail.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the electronic mail stored as the data file in the select directory is accessible by select application programs using appropriate formatted data files.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of providing an edit module including cut, copy and paste editing features permitting a user to copy or move stored data files to different directories.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the communications terminal is adapted to initiate voice communications, said method further comprising the steps of:

providing a phone module operated by the processor for making and receiving voice phone calls via the communications terminal, the phone module

keeping a log of all voice phone calls made by a user,

permitting the user to record the voice phone call in the user communications device, and

generating an identifier associated with the log indicating that the voice phone call has been recorded.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of keeping a log of all voice phone calls made by the user includes the step of providing a history list viewable on the display, the history list including a name and a number associated with each voice phone call made by the user.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of generating an identifier indicating that the voice phone call has been recorded comprises the step of providing a notification icon in the history list that the particular voice phone call has been recorded.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the phone module further:

permits a user to take text notes via the user input device during the voice phone call; and

generates an identifier indicating that text notes were taken during the voice phone call.