System for reminding a sender of an email if recipient of the email does not respond by a selected time set by the sender

• US 6,108,688 A
• Filed: 06/12/1996
• Issued: 08/22/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Jakob
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le Hien
• Application Number:
  US08/662,898
• Time in Patent Office: 1,532 Days
• Field of Search: 345/200.36, 345/673, 455/26.1, 379/201, 358/402, 340/825.05, 364/400, 709/206, 709/207, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages

Abstract

A system for warning the sender of e-mail messages if the messages are not received is described. The system permits the sender of a message to designate whether the sender wishes to be warned in case the message is not opened by the recipient prior to a time and date specified by the sender. The sender'"'"'s system maintains a database of such messages, and automatically monitors incoming messages and updates the database as responses are received from recipients of messages. If a response is not received from a recipient prior to the specified date, the system generates a warning message to the sender.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of providing to a sender of an electronic mail message a reminder if the message is not received by the recipient prior to a selected time comprising:

designating a specified time for a response to the message;

adding to the message a tag requesting a response to the message;

storing a record of the message and the specified time;

sending the message and the tag to the recipient;

monitoring new messages incoming to the sender to detect whether a response to the message has been received;

prior to the specified time determining whether a response has arrived;

if a response has arrived, then designating the message as one to which a response has been received, and not displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message; and

if no response has arrived, then displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the step of monitoring new messages incoming to the sender to detect a response to the message comprises:

monitoring new messages incoming to the sender to detect at least one of two conditions;

(1) a new message having a corresponding tag;

(2) a new message without a tag;

in response to condition (1) marking the record of the corresponding message as acknowledged, and in response to (2) not marking any record as acknowledged.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein the step of if no response has arrived, then displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message further comprises prior to the specified time determining whether the record has been marked.

4. A computer implemented method of providing to a sender of an electronic mail message a reminder if the message is not received by the recipient prior to a selected time comprising:

designating a specified time for the response;

adding to the message a tag requesting a response to the message;

storing a record of the message and the specified time;

sending the message and the tag to the recipient;

monitoring new messages incoming to the sender to detect at least one of two conditions;

(1) a new message having a corresponding tag;

(2) a new message without a tag;

in response to condition (1) marking the record of the corresponding message as acknowledged, and in response to (2) not marking any record as acknowledged;

prior to the specified time determining whether the record has been marked; and

if the record has not been marked displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message and if the record has been marked, then not displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the step of storing a record comprises adding the record to a database of messages for which delivery is to be monitored.

6. A method as in claim 4 wherein prior to the step of designating a specified time for the response, a step is provided of allowing the sender to determine whether any response to the message is needed.

7. A method as in claim 4 further comprising:

presenting to the sender a list of recipients for the message; and

for each such recipient allowing the sender to choose whether the sender is to be warned if that recipient has not responded by the specified time.

8. A method as in claim 7 wherein the step of designating a specified time for the response is performed by presenting to the sender a time display which the sender may modify to set the specified time.

9. A computer implemented method of providing to a sender of an electronic mail message a reminder if the message is not received by the recipient prior to a selected time comprising:

designating a specified time for a response;

adding to the message a tag requesting a response to the message;

storing a record of the message and the tag;

sending the message and the tag to the recipient;

monitoring new messages incoming to the sender to detect at least one of three conditions;

(1) a new message having a corresponding tag;

(2) a new message without a tag, but with a subject heading corresponding to a heading on a message sent by the sender; and

(3) a new message without a tag and without a subject heading corresponding to a heading on a message sent by the sender;

in response to at least one of conditions (1) or (2) marking the record of the corresponding message as acknowledged, and in response to (3) not marking any record as acknowledged;

prior to the specified time determining whether the record has been marked; and

if the record has not been marked, then displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message, if the record has been marked, then not displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message.

10. A method as in claim 9 further comprising presenting to the sender a choice of whether a match of subject headings will suffice as an acknowledgment.

11. A method as in claim 10 wherein following the step of presenting to the sender a choice of whether a match of subject headings will suffice as an acknowledgment a step is performed to determine whether the sender choose to permit a match of subject headings to serve as an acknowledgment, and if so, then in response to either one of conditions (1) or (2) marking the record of the corresponding message from the sender as acknowledged.

12. A method as in claim 9 further comprising:

presenting to the sender a list of recipients for the message; and

for each such recipient allowing the sender to choose whether the sender is to be warned if that recipient has not responded by the specified time.

13. A method as in claim 12 wherein the step of designating a specified time for the response is performed by presenting to the sender a time display which the sender may modify to set the specified time.

14. A method as in claim 9 wherein the step of monitoring new messages without a tag but with a subject heading corresponding to a heading on a message sent by the sender comprises:

determining the sender of the new message;

matching the sender of the new message with an recipient of a message sent by the sender;

extracting the subject heading from the incoming message;

comparing the extracted subject heading with the subject headings of the records stored for messages sent to that recipient; and

marking one record having a corresponding subject heading as acknowledged.

15. A method as in claim 9 wherein the step of if the record has not been marked displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message comprises displaying a message to the sender warning the sender that no response has been received.

16. A method as in claim 9 wherein the step of if the record has not been marked displaying an indication to the sender that no response has been received to the message comprises providing to the sender an audible warning that no answer has been received to the message.

17. A computer-readable storage medium for storing data for access by a computer program being executed on a data processing system, comprising:

a data structure stored on said medium for an electronic mail message comprising;

a message identifier;

a specified time by which a sender of the message must receive an acknowledgment; and

at least one recipient for the message;

a list of at least one recipient for the message; and

a designation for each such recipient which causes a warning to be displayed to the sender in the absence of a response, the absence of such a designation precluding a warning from being displayed to the sender.

18. A computer-readable storage medium as in claim 17 wherein the data structure further comprises a pointer to a warning notice to be displayed to the sender if the message is not acknowledged by the specified time.

19. A computer-readable storage medium as in claim 18 wherein the data structure further comprises an indication of the message text sent to the recipient.

20. A computer-readable storage medium as in claim 19 wherein the indication of the message text comprises the text itself.

21. A computer-readable storage medium as in claim 20 wherein the indication of the message text comprises a pointer to a location where the text is stored.

22. A computer-readable storage medium as in claim 21 wherein the data structure further includes an additional indicia of whether subject matching by sender'"'"'s message system is permitted.

23. A computer system containing a user interface for the sender of an electronic mail message comprising:

an indicium allowing the user to choose whether the user wishes to be reminded if the recipient of the message does not respond to it by a selected time; and

a user interface for the sender of an electronic mail message comprising;

an indicia allowing the user to choose whether the user wishes to be reminded if the recipient of the message does not respond to it by a selected time, the absence of such an indicia precluding a reminder to the user; and

a display allowing the user to set the selected time.

24. A computer system as in claim 23 further comprising an object to allow the user to choose whether to require that a response to the message must contain at least a portion of a tag applied to the message when it was sent.

25. A computer system as in claim 24 further comprising an object to allow the user to choose whether to allow a new message received by the sender and having a common subject to be considered as a response to the message.

26. A computer system for the sender of an electronic mail message as in claim 25 further comprising a further indicia allowing the user to designate at least two recipients, and for each recipient choose whether the user wishes to be reminded if the recipient of the message does not respond to it by the selected time.

27. A computer system as in claim 26 wherein the indicia comprises a user operable control displayed on a monitor for the sender of an electronic mail message to allow the sender to control the indicium.