System and method for customizing electronic messages
First Claim
1. A method for customizing electronic mail messages, comprising:
- providing a plug-in to a desktop electronic mail message program; and
executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic mail message program, for display within the electronic mail message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to a selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A plug-in is provided to existing electronic message programs, such as electronic mail message programs, to provide a virtual toolbar therein. The virtual toolbar includes one or more virtual buttons that allow a user to select multimedia content to be added to an electronic message. The multimedia content may include, without limitation, any one or more of: graphics, audio, animation, video and text selections. The multimedia content may further include customizable templates in which business messages may be generated. The virtual buttons may be each be assigned to one category of related content, such as Backgrounds for providing graphic backgrounds to a message, Holiday Themes for providing multimedia content associated with particular holidays, Animations for including FLASH animations or the like to a message, and Text for including pre-formatted text to a message. The content, appearance and number of virtual buttons may automatically be changed or updated by a content provider from time to time when the installed plug-in accesses a content server over a computer network, such as the Internet.
64 Citations
47 Claims
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1. A method for customizing electronic mail messages, comprising:
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providing a plug-in to a desktop electronic mail message program; and executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic mail message program, for display within the electronic mail message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to a selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for customizing electronic mail messages, the method comprising:
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providing a plug-in to a desktop electronic mail message program; and executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic mail message program, for display within the electronic mail message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to a selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof.
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27. An apparatus for customizing electronic mail messages, comprising:
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means for providing a plug-in to a desktop electronic mail message program; and means for executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic mail message program, for display within the electronic mail message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to a selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof.
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28. An apparatus for customizing electronic mail messages, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to; install a plug-in to a desktop electronic mail message program; and execute programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic mail message program, for display within the electronic mail message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to a selection of the at least one virtual button, the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof.
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29. A method for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:
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providing executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in a desktop electronic mail message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic mail message program, separate from a native toolbar; and receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message generated by the user from the electronic mail message program, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to the selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, the method comprising:
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providing executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in a desktop electronic mail message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic mail message program, separate from a native toolbar; and receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message generated by the user from the electronic mail message program, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to the selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof.
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39. An apparatus for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:
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means for providing executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in a desktop electronic mail message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic mail message program, separate from a native toolbar; and means for receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message generated by the user from the electronic mail message program, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to the selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof.
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40. An apparatus for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to; provide, to a user, a virtual toolbar in a desktop electronic mail message program of a user terminal, separate from a native toolbar; and receive, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content including graphics for inclusion in an electronic mail message generated by the user from the electronic mail message program, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to the selection of the at least one virtual button, and the at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof.
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41. A method for customizing an electronic mail message, comprising:
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downloading executable code for providing a virtual toolbar within a desktop electronic mail message program; opening an electronic mail message; selecting, from a selection of a virtual button on the virtual toolbar, content including graphics for inclusion in the electronic mail message, at least a portion of the content being downloadable from a remote server responsive to the selection, and the virtual button being associated with a category of available content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof; receiving a display of the selected content within the electronic mail message; and transmitting the electronic mail message to a second user, the electronic mail message including at least one of;
a call to a network location for the selected content and a data file comprising the selected content transmitted as part of the electronic mail message.
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42. A method for customizing an electronic mail message, the method comprising:
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providing a toolbar in a user interface, the toolbar being displayed in a desktop electronic mail message program and including at least one button for selecting content for inclusion in the electronic mail message; receiving, from a remote server, content including graphics, corresponding to a content selection from a user corresponding to the at least one button, the content including a plurality of selectable sub-categories thereof; generating an enhanced electronic mail message by inserting the selected content into the electronic mail message; and sending the enhanced electronic mail message to a server for transport to a recipient, wherein the enhanced electronic mail message is configured to display the electronic mail message together with the selected content. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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Specification