Method and system for managing related electronic messages

• US 6,496,853 B1
• Filed: 07/12/1999
• Issued: 12/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Round Rock Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Klein, Dean A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John A.
• Application Number:
  US09/351,973
• Time in Patent Office: 1,254 Days
• Field of Search: 709/232, 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A system for managing messages so that messages with redundant contents need not be reviewed by a user. Techniques of the invention monitor electronic messages received by a user and determine whether the received electronic messages are related to pending electronic messages for the user, such as by being part of the same message thread. Messages with redundant contents among the related messages are then identified, and the messages with redundant contents are managed so that the user need not review the contents. The messages with redundant contents can be managed by creating a new message which includes the unique contents of each of the identified messages but at most a single copy of the redundant contents. After the new message is created, the identified messages can then be indicated to be redundant in light of the newly created message in one or more ways, such as by deleting the identified messages or by altering the visual indicators of the identified messages presented to the user. Alternately, the messages with redundant contents can be managed by deleting the redundant contents from the identified messages, or by altering the manner in which the redundant contents are presented to allow for easy identification by the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically generating an electronic mail message from electronic mail messages that are part of a mail message thread, the method comprising:

receiving a first electronic mail message with first contents, the first electronic mail message sent to a user;

receiving a second electronic mail message with second contents, the second electronic mail message sent to the user, the second electronic mail message part of a mail message thread including a plurality of electronic mail messages;

in response to receiving the second electronic mail message, determining whether the first electronic mail message is part of the mail message thread that includes the second electronic mail message;

when the first electronic mail message is determined to be part of the mail message thread that includes the second electronic mail message, determining whether the second contents and the first contents each contain contents of a third electronic mail message; and

when the second contents and the first contents are determined to each contain the contents of the third electronic mail message, automatically removing redundant mail message contents by

generating a new electronic mail message having contents that include portions of the first contents other than the contents of the third electronic mail message, portions of the second contents other than the contents of the third electronic mail message, and a single copy of the contents of the third electronic mail message; and

deleting the first and second electronic mail messages.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first electronic mail message has a first subject separate from the first contents, wherein the second electronic mail message has a second subject separate from the second contents, and wherein the first electronic mail message is determined to be part of the mail message thread that includes the second electronic mail message when the second subject includes the first subject.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating of the new electronic mail message is performed only if the first and second contents are distinct.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first electronic mail message has a first identifier separate from the first contents, wherein the second electronic mail message has a second identifier separate from the second contents, and wherein the first electronic mail message is determined to be part of the mail message thread that includes the second electronic mail message when the second identifier is based on the first identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating of the electronic mail message includes:

creating a new electronic mail message;

copying all of the first contents into the created electronic mail message; and

copying only the portions of the second contents that are distinct from the first contents into the created electronic mail message.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the user is not notified of the receiving of the first and second electronic mail messages until after either the first electronic mail message is determined to not be part of the mail message thread that includes the second electronic mail message or the second contents and the first contents are determined to not each contain the contents of the third electronic mail message.

7. A computer-implemented method for managing electronic messages sent to a user, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a plurality of electronic messages sent to the user;

determining at least two of the plurality of electronic messages whose contents each include the contents of another electronic message; and

generating an electronic message containing the contents of the determined electronic messages in such a manner that the generated electronic message contains a single copy of the contents of the another electronic message.

8. The method of claim 7 including deleting the determined electronic messages after the generating of the electronic message.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein a default visual appearance is used when displaying to the user indicators for the plurality of electronic messages, and including changing the visual appearance of the indicators for the determined electronic messages after the generating of the electronic message.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of electronic messages are stored in one location, and including:

storing the generated electronic message in the one location; and

moving the determined electronic messages to another location.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein each of the plurality of electronic messages has a subject, and wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes determining that the subjects of the determined electronic messages are related.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the determined electronic messages and the another electronic message each have a subject, and wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes determining that the subjects of the determined electronic messages are related to the subject of the another electronic message.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein each of the plurality of electronic messages has a unique identifier, and wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes determining that the identifiers of the determined electronic messages are related.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes comparing the contents of one of the determined electronic messages to other determined electronic messages.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein each of the plurality of electronic messages has header information separate from the contents of the message, and wherein the header information of the another electronic message is not included in the contents of the determined electronic messages.

16. The method of claim 7 wherein the generating of the electronic message includes:

creating an electronic mail message;

for a first of the determined electronic messages, copying into the created electronic mail message all of the contents of the first determined electronic message; and

for each of the other determined electronic messages, copying into the created electronic mail message the portions of the contents of the determined electronic message that not yet present in the created electronic mail message.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein each of the determined electronic messages has an associated time when the electronic message was sent, and wherein the generating of the electronic message includes selecting based on the associated times an order for the determined electronic messages such that the copying of the contents of the determined electronic messages is performed based on the selected order.

18. A computer-implemented method for managing electronic messages sent to a user, the user having a plurality of received pending electronic messages, each received electronic message comprising a message header and message information, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of an electronic message sent to the user, the message information for the indicated electronic message containing the message information of another electronic message;

determining whether the message information for at least one of the pending electronic messages contains the message information for the another electronic message; and

when it is determined that the message information for at least one of the pending electronic messages contains the message information for the another electronic message,

automatically creating a new electronic message containing the message information of the indicated electronic message and of the pending electronic messages that contain the message information for the another electronic message, the creating in such a manner that the created electronic message contains only a single copy of the message information of the another electronic message; and

indicating that the pending electronic messages that contain the message information for the another electronic message are no longer pending.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the indicating that the pending electronic messages that contain the message information for the another electronic message are no longer pending includes deleting those pending electronic messages.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the message header for each of the plurality of electronic messages includes a message subject, and wherein the determining of whether the message information for at least one of the pending electronic messages contains the message information for the another electronic message includes comparing the message subject of the indicated electronic message to the message subjects of the pending electronic messages.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the determining of whether the message information for at least one of the pending electronic messages contains the message information for the another electronic message includes comparing the message information of the indicated electronic message to the message information of the pending electronic messages.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of indicating that the pending electronic messages that contain the message information for the another electronic message are no longer pending is performed only if those pending electronic messages have not been reviewed by the user.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of indicating that the pending electronic messages that contain the message information for the another electronic message are no longer pending is not performed if the user has previously indicated that those pending electronic messages remain pending.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of indicating that the pending electronic messages that contain the message information for the another electronic message are no longer pending comprises:

querying the user as to whether those pending electronic messages should be pending; and

when the user directs that those pending electronic messages should not be pending, fulfilling the directions of the user.

25. A computer-implemented method for managing electronic messages each having message contents, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a first electronic message sent by a user, the contents of the first electronic message including the contents of a second electronic message; and

when a copy of the first electronic message is retained for the user, determining whether contents of a third electronic message retained for the user includes the contents of the second electronic message; and

when the contents of the third electronic message includes the contents of the second electronic message, automatically creating a fourth electronic message containing the contents of the first and third electronic messages, the creating in such a manner that the fourth electronic message contains only a single copy of the contents of the second electronic message.

26. The method of claim 25 including when the fourth electronic message is automatically created, deleting the first and third electronic messages.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein a default visual appearance is used when displaying indicators for electronic messages to the user, and including when the fourth electronic message is automatically created, changing the visual appearance of the indicators for the first and third electronic messages.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein electronic messages received or retained by the user are initially stored in one location, and including when the fourth electronic message is automatically created, moving the first and third electronic messages to another location.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein the determining of whether contents of the third electronic message includes the contents of the second electronic message includes comparing subjects of the first and third electronic messages.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein the determining of whether contents of the third electronic message includes the contents of the second electronic message includes comparing the contents of the first electronic message to the contents of the third electronic message.

31. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to manage electronic messages sent to a user by:

receiving an indication of a plurality of electronic messages sent to the user;

determining at least two of the plurality of electronic messages whose contents each include the contents of another electronic message; and

generating an electronic message containing the contents of the determined electronic messages, the generating in such a manner that the generated electronic message contains a single copy of the contents of the another electronic message.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31 wherein the contents of the computer-readable medium further cause the computer system to delete the determined electronic messages after the generating of the electronic message.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 31 wherein the plurality of electronic messages are stored in one location, and wherein the contents of the computer-readable medium further cause the computer system to store the generated electronic message in the one location and to move the determined electronic messages to another location.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 31 wherein each of the plurality of electronic messages has a subject, and wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes determining that the subjects of the determined electronic messages are related.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 31 wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes comparing the contents of one of the determined electronic messages to other determined electronic messages.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 31 wherein the generating of the electronic message includes:

creating an electronic mail message;

for a first of the determined electronic messages, copying into the created electronic mail message all of the contents of the first determined electronic message; and

for each of the other determined electronic messages, copying into the created electronic mail message the portions of the contents of the determined electronic message that not yet present in the created electronic mail message.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36 wherein each of the determined electronic messages has an associated time when the electronic message was sent, and wherein the generating of the electronic message includes selecting based on the associated times an order for the determined electronic messages such that the copying of the contents of the determined electronic messages is performed based on the selected order.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 31 wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes determining that the at least two electronic messages are part of a shared message thread.

39. A computer system for managing electronic messages sent to a user, the computer system comprising:

a network connection that allows communication with other computer systems; and

a message receiver that receives via the network connection an indication of a plurality of electronic messages sent to the user, that determines at least two of the plurality of electronic messages whose contents each include the contents of another electronic message, and that generates an electronic message containing the contents of the determined electronic messages in such a manner that message contains a single copy of the contents of the another electronic message.

40. The computer system of claim 39 further comprising a message sender that composes a response message to an indicated message in such a manner that a relationship is indicated between the response message and the indicated message.

41. The computer system of claim 40 wherein the relationship between the response message and the indicated message is indicated by including the contents of the indicated message in the contents of the response message.

42. The computer system of claim 39 wherein the message receiver further deletes the determined electronic messages after the generating of the electronic message.

43. The computer system of claim 39 further comprising a storage device with a default location for storing the plurality of electronic messages, and wherein the message receiver further moves the determined electronic messages from the default location to another location after the generating of the electronic message.

44. The computer system of claim 39 further comprising a message presenter that presents to the user only electronic messages that do not include the contents of another electronic message such that the contents of the another electronic message are also included in other electronic messages to be presented to the user.

45. The computer system of claim 39 wherein each of the plurality of electronic messages has a subject, and wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes determining that the subjects of the determined electronic messages are related.

46. The computer system of claim 39 wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes comparing the contents of one of the determined electronic messages to other determined electronic messages.

47. The computer system of claim 39 wherein the message receiver generates the electronic message by:

creating an electronic mail message;

for a first of the determined electronic messages, copying into the created electronic mail message all of the contents of the first determined electronic message; and

for each of the other determined electronic messages, copying into the created electronic mail message the portions of the contents of the determined electronic message that not yet present in the created electronic mail message.

48. The computer system of claim 39 wherein the determining of the at least two of the plurality of electronic messages includes determining that the at least two electronic messages are part of a shared, message thread.

49. A computer-readable medium containing an automatically generated electronic message based on at least two other electronic messages whose contents each include the contents of another electronic message, the automatically generated electronic message containing a single copy of the contents of the another electronic message and containing portions of the contents of each of the at least two other electronic messages, the contained portions of the contents of each of the at least two other electronic messages being distinct from the contents of the another electronic message,

so that the automatically generated electronic message can be presented to a user with the contents of the at least two other electronic messages without the user being presented with redundant copies of the contents of the another electronic message.