Method and system for enhancing reliability of communication with electronic messages
First Claim
1. A method in a computer system for a sender of an electronic message to ensure that the electronic message is delivered to and reviewed by intended recipient users, the method comprising:
- composing the electronic message;
indicating a plurality of intended recipient users;
selecting a delivery recipient user from the intended recipient users;
selecting a review recipient user from the intended recipient users;
sending the electronic message to the plurality of intended recipient users;
requesting from the delivery recipient user a delivery notification when the electronic message is delivered to the delivery recipient user;
requesting from the review recipient user a review notification when the review recipient user reviews the electronic message;
determining a delivery waiting period for receiving the delivery notification;
selecting a delivery time interval corresponding to the delivery waiting period;
determining a review waiting period for receiving the review notification and selecting a review time interval corresponding to the review waiting period; and
without user intervention, when the delivery notification from the delivery recipient user is not received by the sender within the selected delivery time interval corresponding to the delivery waiting period, resending the electronic message to the delivery recipient user; and
when the review notification from the review recipient user is not received by the sender within the selected review time interval corresponding to the review waiting period, sending a second electronic message to the review recipient user.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for enhancing the reliability of communicating with electronic messages. The system sends an electronic message to designated recipients, and then automatically helps ensure that each message has been successfully delivered within a specified period of time and that each message has been reviewed within a specified period of time. In addition, the system automatically performs specified activities after review of a message takes place. The sender of an electronic message initiates reliability-enhanced messaging by specifying message delivery information and message review information. The sender can specify that if delivery or review notifications are not received within specified periods of time, the message will be resent to the recipient or a reminder message will be sent to the recipient or to another user. The message information can include various frequency and duration options, such as resending a message only once or resending it every 2 hours for a week. Message information can also specify to resend the message with a higher transmission priority or review urgency so that its delivery and review is more likely, or could specify to use a different recipient system for the recipient (e.g., to a second email address if a first address fails, or to a pager if a cellular phone is not available). Each recipient of a message can have individualized message delivery information. The system tracks whether each message has been delivered to each recipient, and uses the message delivery information to resend the messages whose delivery and review was not confirmed.
321 Citations
96 Claims
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1. A method in a computer system for a sender of an electronic message to ensure that the electronic message is delivered to and reviewed by intended recipient users, the method comprising:
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composing the electronic message;
indicating a plurality of intended recipient users;
selecting a delivery recipient user from the intended recipient users;
selecting a review recipient user from the intended recipient users;
sending the electronic message to the plurality of intended recipient users;
requesting from the delivery recipient user a delivery notification when the electronic message is delivered to the delivery recipient user;
requesting from the review recipient user a review notification when the review recipient user reviews the electronic message;
determining a delivery waiting period for receiving the delivery notification;
selecting a delivery time interval corresponding to the delivery waiting period;
determining a review waiting period for receiving the review notification and selecting a review time interval corresponding to the review waiting period; and
without user intervention, when the delivery notification from the delivery recipient user is not received by the sender within the selected delivery time interval corresponding to the delivery waiting period, resending the electronic message to the delivery recipient user; and
when the review notification from the review recipient user is not received by the sender within the selected review time interval corresponding to the review waiting period, sending a second electronic message to the review recipient user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a plurality of recipients a user-specified period of time has elapsed without receiving a confirmation of delivery of the electronic message to each recipient; and
when it is determined that the user-specified period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation of delivery to the recipient, automatically resending the electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a plurality of recipients a pre-determined period of time has elapsed for each recipient without receiving a confirmation that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message, the predetermined time period corresponding to a time interval selected by a sender; and
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, sending another electronic message, wherein the sending of the another message is performed automatically for each recipient when the period of time for that recipient has elapsed without receiving a confirmation for that recipient. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for a sender of an electronic message to ensure that the electronic message is reviewed by a recipient, the computer-implemented method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of a first electronic message to a recipient a sender specified amount of time has elapsed without the sender receiving at least one of a first confirmation that the electronic message has been received by the recipient and an indication that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message;
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the first confirmation or the indication, automatically requesting a second confirmation from the sender to send a second electronic message to the recipient, which is the same as the first electronic message; and
when the confirmation is received from the sender, automatically sending the second electronic message to the recipient. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to deliver an electronic message, by:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a plurality of recipients a predetermined period of time specified for each recipient has elapsed without receiving a confirmation that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message, the predetermined time period corresponding to a time interval selected by a sender; and
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, sending another electronic message, wherein the sending of the another message is performed automatically for each recipient when the period of time for that recipient has elapsed without receiving the confirmation for that recipient. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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32. A computer system for ensuring that an electronic message is reviewed by a recipient, comprising:
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a message sender for receiving an indication of the recipient for the electronic message and for sending the electronic message to the recipient;
a message tracker for determining whether the recipient within a message sender specified amount of time has reviewed the electronic message sent by the message sender; and
a message processor for automatically sending another electronic message to the recipient when it is determined that the message sender specified amount of time has elapsed without the recipient having reviewed the electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
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35. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a plurality of recipients a user-specified period of time has elapsed without receiving a confirmation of delivery of the electronic message to each recipient, wherein the determined period of time for the recipient is based on past performance of delivering electronic messages to that recipient; and
when it is determined that the user-specified period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation of delivery to the recipient, automatically resending the electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a recipient a user-specified period of time has elapsed without receiving a confirmation of delivery of the electronic message to the recipient;
when it is determined that the user-specified period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, resending the electronic message; and
after receiving the confirmation, automatically sending a third electronic message after a second user-specified period of time. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a plurality of recipients a pre-determined period of time has elapsed for each recipient without receiving a confirmation that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message, the predetermined time period corresponding to a time interval selected by a sender, wherein the predetermined period of time for each recipient is based on past performance of the recipient in reviewing electronic messages sent to that recipient; and
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, sending another electronic message, wherein the sending of the another message is performed automatically for each recipient when the period of time for that recipient has elapsed without receiving a confirmation for that recipient. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a recipient a pre-determined period of time has elapsed without receiving a confirmation that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message, the predetermined time period corresponding to a time interval selected by a sender;
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, automatically sending another electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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71. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a recipient a pre-determined period of time has elapsed without receiving a confirmation that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message, the predetermined time period corresponding to a time interval selected by a sender; and
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, sending another electronic message to the recipient, and if it is determined that-no confirmation is received from the recipient within a second period of time, automatically sending a third electronic message to the recipient. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81)
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82. A method in a computer system for delivery of an electronic message, the method comprising:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a recipient a pre-determined period of time has elapsed without receiving a confirmation that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message, the predetermined time period corresponding to a time interval selected by a sender;
setting a timer to expire at the pre-determined period of time after the sending of the electronic message; and
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, sending another electronic message, wherein the another electronic message is automatically sent when the confirmation is not received before the timer expires. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93)
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94. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to deliver an electronic message, by:
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determining whether after sending of the electronic message to a recipient a pre-determined period of time has elapsed without receiving a confirmation that the recipient reviewed the sent electronic message, the predetermined time period corresponding to a time interval selected by a sender;
when it is determined that the period of time has elapsed without receiving the confirmation, sending another electronic message;
when the confirmation is not received within the pre-determined amount of time, determining a second amount of time; and
when the confirmation is not received within the determined second amount of time, automatically sending a third electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (95, 96)
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Specification