System and method for improved electronic mail processing with introductory text

• US 7,424,676 B1
• Filed: 06/16/2000
• Issued: 09/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McAteer, Sean Erik, Serdy, Valerie D., Egorin, Noah, Carlson, Andrew G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Debrow; James J
• Application Number:
  US09/595,734
• Time in Patent Office: 3,007 Days
• Field of Search: 715/526, 715/530, 715/531, 715/512, 715/273, 709/206, 707/206
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

An envelope provides the integration of the functionality of an email application program and the functionality of a document editor so that a sender can send introductory text to the recipient of an email message constituting a document without corrupting the original document. Users of document editors can generate and edit documents for email transmission by first creating the document with the document editor and then invoking an envelope to send the document as the message body with introductory text. The envelope has its own user interface that is fully functional within the confines of the document editor'"'"'s user interface to provide the user with the functionality of the email client application program. The envelope includes an introduction field for the entry of introductory text by the sender. The introduction field in the envelope is a rich edit control in plain text mode, similar to the subject field of the envelope. When the user sends the document, the document editor prepends the introductory text to the body of the message. The document editor then converts the introductory text and the body of the document to an HTML message, and the email client sends the email message to the recipient.

Claims

1. A method for generating an electronic mail (email) message with introductory text within a document editor by invoking an envelope operative for integrating the functionality of a first email client and the document editor, the method comprising the steps of:

activating the envelope that is operative to integrate the functionality of the first email client and the document editor, wherein the envelope includes an introductory field;

receiving envelope data as an input, the envelope data being associated with the email message and including header information and introductory text associated with the introductory field of the envelope;

displaying an Envelope User Interface (EUI) associated with the email message, the EUI comprising the envelope data including displaying the introductory text in the introductory field;

displaying a Document Editor User Interface (DEUI), the DEUI comprising an original document associated with a document editor;

invoking the envelope to transmit the introductory text of the introductory field from the envelope to the document editor; and

causing the first email client to append the introductory text to the original document in the document editor to generate appended document, wherein the appended document is configured to display the introductory text within the appended document when the appended document is opened on a second email client of a recipient, wherein the first email client is configured to transmit the appended document to the recipient while maintaining the original document with a sender, wherein the original document is maintained without the introductory text.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the introduction field is a rich edit control.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the introductory text in the introduction field is formatted in Unicode.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein invoking the envelope further includes detecting introductory text properties in the introductory text and sending the envelope data including header information, the introductory text, and the introductory text properties to the document editor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the appending step further includes prepending the introductory text to the original document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein invoking the envelope further includes converting the appended document to a universal format prior to sending the email message.

7. A computer system for generating an electronic mail (email) message with introductory text within a document editor, comprising:

a processing unit;

an input device connected to the processing unit; and

a display device connected to the processing unit;

the processing unit, responsive to instructions from the document editor, an email client, and an envelope running on the computer system, being operative to;

display a Document Editor User Interface (DEUI) on the display device;

display an Envelope User Interface (EUI) on the display device;

receive envelope data including header information and the introductory text from the input device, the envelope data associated with the email message;

receive original message body data from the input device, the original message body data associated with a word processing document of the document editor;

display selected portions of the envelope data within a portion of the EUI including displaying the introductory text in an introduction field;

display selected portions of the original message body data within a portion of the DEUI; and

in response to the receipt of a send signal from the input device,

transmit the introductory text from the envelope to the document editor;

cause the EUI to paste the introductory text in the original message body in the document editor to generate an appended message body that includes the original message body having the introductory text; and

invoke the envelope to transmit the appended message body to a recipient while maintaining the original message body with a sender so that the sender maintains the original message body without being required to remove the appended introductory text.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the introduction field is a rich edit control.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the introductory text in the introduction field is formatted in Unicode.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein invoking the envelope by means of the processor unit further includes detecting introductory text properties in the introductory text and sending the envelope data including header information, the introductory text, and the introductory text properties to the document editor.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the appending the introductory text to the original message body further includes prepending the introductory text to the original message body.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein invoking the envelope further includes converting the appended message body to a universal format prior to sending the email message.

13. A method for generating an electronic mail (email) message with introductory text, within a document editor by invoking an envelope operative for integrating the functionality of an email client and the document editor, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the document editor and the email client envelope, wherein the email client envelope includes an introductory text field with the introductory text and the document editor includes an original document; and

causing the email client envelope to generate an appended document by pasting the introductory text of the email client envelope in the original document prior to sending the email, wherein the appended document displays the introductory text within the appended document when the appended document is opened by a recipient, wherein the email client is configured to transmit the appended document to the recipient while maintaining the original document with a sender so that the sender maintains the original document without being required to remove the pasted introductory text.

14. A method for generating an electronic mail (email) message with introductory text, within a document editor by invoking an envelope operative for integrating the functionality of an email client and the document editor, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the document editor, the email client, and the envelope, wherein the envelope includes the introductory text and the document editor includes original message body text;

passing the introductory text of the envelope to the document editor, wherein the document editor generates an appended message body by pasting the introductory text into the original message body text;

converting the appended message body to a universal format; and

transferring the appended message body to the email client, wherein the email client is configured to send the appended message body to a recipient while maintaining the original message body text with a sender so that the sender maintains the original message body text without being required to remove the pasted introductory text.