Messaging system for indicating status of a sender of electronic mail and method and computer program product therefor
First Claim
1. A computer program product for operating an electronic mail application on a first computer, comprising:
- a computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable program code for operation on the first computer and embodied in the storage medium, wherein the operation of the computer-readable program code comprises;
accepting an incoming electronic mail message sent by a sender using a second computer, wherein the incoming electronic mail message is one of a plurality of electronic mail messages listed in the display;
providing a user interface, wherein the user interface comprises a message display including information regarding the incoming electronic mail message; and
displaying a status of the sender in the display, wherein displaying the status comprises providing a status indicator in the display for each of the plurality of electronic mail messages.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic mail computer program running as a client application permits a user to determine in a single user interface application window, for example an “in-box,” the on-line status of those persons who have sent e-mail messages to the user. Once such a sender has been identified as being currently on-line and available for real-time messaging, the user may use the same application window to initiate real-time messaging with the sender. The client application cooperates with a messaging system server that manages and provides the on-line state of senders of electronic mail to the user'"'"'s client computer, including for example the following states: on-line, off-line, do-not-disturb, and accepting real-time messaging.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A computer program product for operating an electronic mail application on a first computer, comprising:
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a computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable program code for operation on the first computer and embodied in the storage medium, wherein the operation of the computer-readable program code comprises;
accepting an incoming electronic mail message sent by a sender using a second computer, wherein the incoming electronic mail message is one of a plurality of electronic mail messages listed in the display;
providing a user interface, wherein the user interface comprises a message display including information regarding the incoming electronic mail message; and
displaying a status of the sender in the display, wherein displaying the status comprises providing a status indicator in the display for each of the plurality of electronic mail messages. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A computer program product for operating an electronic mail application on a first computer, comprising:
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a computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable program code for operation on the first computer and embodied in the storage medium, wherein the operation of the computer-readable program code comprises;
accepting an incoming electronic mail message sent by a sender using a second computer;
providing a user interface, wherein the user interface comprises a message display including information regarding the incoming electronic mail message; and
displaying a status of the sender in the display, wherein displaying the status comprises indicating at least one of the states selected from the group consisting of an on-line state, an off-line state, a do-not-disturb state, and an accepting real-time messaging state.
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6. A computer program product for operating an electronic mail application on a first computer, comprising:
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a computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable program code for operation on the first computer and embodied in the storage medium, wherein the operation of the computer-readable program code comprises;
accepting an incoming electronic mail message sent by a sender using a second computer;
providing a user interface, wherein the user interface comprises a message display including information regarding the incoming electronic mail message;
displaying a status of the sender in the display; and
providing a messaging initiator in the display to initiate real-time messaging with the sender. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A computer program product for operating an electronic mail application on a first computer, comprising:
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a computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable program code for operation on the first computer and embodied in the storage medium, wherein the operation of the computer-readable program code comprises;
accepting an incoming electronic mail message sent by a sender using a second computer;
providing a user interface, wherein the user interface comprises a message display including information regarding the incoming electronic mail message;
displaying a status of the sender in the display;
determining the electronic mail address of the sender; and
comparing the electronic mail address of the sender with a list of messaging system contacts to determine the sender state of the status indicator. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A messaging system for indicating a status of a sender of an electronic mail message, comprising:
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a client computer; and
an electronic mail application, running on the client computer, for receiving the electronic mail message and comprising a user interface to display information regarding the electronic mail message, wherein the user interface indicates the status of the sender, wherein the status comprises at least one state selected from the group consisting of an on-line state, an off-line state, a do-not-disturb state, and an accenting real-time messaging state. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A messaging system for indicating a status of a sender of an electronic mail message, comprising:
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a client computer; and
an electronic mail application, running on the client computer, for receiving the electronic mail message and comprising a user interface to display information regarding the electronic mail message, wherein the user interface indicates the status of the sender and comprises an incoming message window, the electronic mail message is one of a plurality of electronic mail messages listed in the incoming message window, and the incoming message window comprises a messaging initiator to initiate real-time messaging with the sender. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A messaging system for indicating a status of a sender of an electronic mail message, comprising:
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a client computer;
an electronic mail application, running on the client computer, for receiving the electronic mail message and comprising a user interface to display information regarding the electronic mail message, wherein the user interface indicates the status of the sender; and
a messaging system server in communication with the client computer, wherein;
the electronic mail application determines the electronic mail address of the sender;
the messaging system server maintains a list of messaging system contacts; and
the electronic mail application compares the electronic mail address of the sender with at least a portion of the list of messaging system contacts to determine the status of the sender. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of using an electronic mail application running on a client computer, comprising:
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providing an incoming messages window;
receiving an electronic mail message from a sender;
displaying an indication of receipt of the electronic mail message in the incoming messages window;
determining a state of the sender; and
displaying a status indicator, corresponding to the state of the sender, in the incoming messages window, wherein displaying the status indicator comprises indicating at least one of the states selected from the group consisting of an on-line state, an off-line state, a do-not-disturb state, and an accepting real-time messaging state.
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20. A method of using an electronic mail application running on a client computer, comprising:
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providing an incoming messages window;
receiving an electronic mail message from a sender;
displaying an indication of receipt of the electronic mail message in the incoming messages window;
determining a state of the sender; and
displaying a status indicator, corresponding to the state of the sender, in the incoming messages window, wherein displaying the status indicator comprises displaying the status indicator at a location in the incoming messages window corresponding to the location of the indication of receipt of the electronic mail message.
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21. A method of using an electronic mail application running on a client computer, comprising:
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providing an incoming messages window;
receiving an electronic mail message from a sender;
displaying an indication of receipt of the electronic mail message in the incoming messages window;
determining a state of the sender; and
displaying a status indicator, corresponding to the state of the sender, in the incoming messages window, wherein determining the state of the sender comprises comparing sender information obtained from the electronic mail message with a list of a plurality of contacts, wherein each of the plurality of contacts is a member of a messaging system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification