System, method and article of manufacture for enhancing electronic messages
First Claim
1. A computerized method of operating an e-mail-invoked application server comprising the steps of:
- receiving an incoming e-mail message from a sender utilizing a network, wherein the incoming e-mail includes content and a destination address having an address format;
determining which application of a plurality of applications available on the e-mail-invoked application server will accept the incoming e-mail for processing by comparing the address format of the destination address to acceptable address formats defined by the applications, the acceptable address formats of the form data@host.domain, wherein domain indicates a domain name of the e-mail-invoked application server, host indicates an application available in the domain, and data indicates information provided by the sender;
refusing the incoming e-mail when it is determined that no application will accept the incoming e-mail for processing; and
invoking at least one of the plurality of applications to process the content of the incoming e-mail when it is determined that the address format of the destination address is one of the acceptable address formats defined by the at least one application.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method, system and computer program for operating an application server using email messages uses the address format of the email address of an incoming email message to invoke an application to process the content of an incoming message. Each application available on the server defines acceptable address formats of the email addresses of messages that it will accept for processing. An application may generate a reply to an incoming email message, or may generate an event, to advance processing of a task. The application server may also determine a recipient email address of an actual recipient of the incoming e-mail, and transmit the incoming e-mail message to the recipient email address. In this case, the application server functions by interposing itself in the email channel between two recipients.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A computerized method of operating an e-mail-invoked application server comprising the steps of:
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receiving an incoming e-mail message from a sender utilizing a network, wherein the incoming e-mail includes content and a destination address having an address format; determining which application of a plurality of applications available on the e-mail-invoked application server will accept the incoming e-mail for processing by comparing the address format of the destination address to acceptable address formats defined by the applications, the acceptable address formats of the form data@host.domain, wherein domain indicates a domain name of the e-mail-invoked application server, host indicates an application available in the domain, and data indicates information provided by the sender; refusing the incoming e-mail when it is determined that no application will accept the incoming e-mail for processing; and invoking at least one of the plurality of applications to process the content of the incoming e-mail when it is determined that the address format of the destination address is one of the acceptable address formats defined by the at least one application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for operating an e-mail-invoked application server, comprising:
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a code segment for receiving an incoming e-mail message from a sender utilizing a network, wherein the incoming e-mail includes content and a destination address having an address format; a code segment for determining which application of a plurality of applications available on the e-mail-invoked application server will accept the incoming e-mail for processing by comparing the address format of the destination address to acceptable address formats defined by the applications, the acceptable address formats of the form data@host.domain, wherein domain indicates a domain name of the e-mail-invoked application sever, host indicates an application available in the domain, and data indicates information provided by the sender; a code segment for refusing the incoming e-mail when it is determined that no application will accept the incoming e-mail for processing; and a code segment for invoking at least one of the plurality of applications to process the content of the incoming e-mail when it is determined that the address format of the destination address is one of the acceptable address formats defined by the at least one application. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A system for operating an e-mail-invoked application server, comprising:
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logic for receiving an incoming e-mail message from a sender utilizing a network, wherein the incoming e-mail includes content and a destination address having an address format; logic for determining which application of a plurality of applications available on the e-mail-invoked application server will accept the incoming e-mail for processing by comparing the address format of the destination address to acceptable address formats defined by the applications, the acceptable address formats of the form data@host.domain, wherein domain indicates a domain name of the e-mail-invoked application server, host indicates an application available in the domain and data indicates information provided by the sender; logic for refusing the incoming e-mail when it is determined that no application will accept the incoming e-mail for processing; and logic for invoking at least one application to process the content of the incoming e-mail when it is determined tat the address format of the destination address is one of the acceptable address formats defined by the at least one application. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification