Time sensitive electronic mail

• US 7,539,728 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2003
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HCL Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Perepa, Sujatha, Perepa, Bhargav V., Venkataramappa, Vishwanath
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Haresh N
• Application Number:
  US10/637,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20050033845A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,119 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-208, 709217-228, 705/14, 705/27
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

Delivering time sensitive email including creating an email message for time-sensitive delivery to a multiplicity of addressees'"'"' mailboxes on email servers, including inserting in the email message a data element identifying the message as a message for time-sensitive delivery; assigning delivery time constraints to the message; delivering the message, in accordance with the time constraints and for temporary storage outside the mailboxes, to email servers having addressees'"'"' mailboxes; and instructing the servers to place the message in all addressees'"'"' mailboxes at approximately the same time.

Claims

1. A system for delivering time sensitive email, the system comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of;

creating an email message for simultaneous delivery to a multiplicity of addressees'"'"' mailboxes on email servers, including inserting in the email message a data element identifying the message as a message for simultaneous delivery;

assigning delivery time constraints to the message;

delivering the message, in accordance with the time constraints and for temporary storage outside the mailboxes, to email servers having addressees'"'"' mailboxes;

instructing the servers to place the message in all addressees'"'"' mailboxes at approximately a same time; and

determining whether the message can be delivered in accordance with the time constraints, further comprising providing message delivery metrics, wherein determining whether the message can be delivered in accordance with the time constraints further comprises determining, in dependence upon the message delivery metrics, whether the message can be delivered in accordance with the time constraints.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein creating an email message includes indicating an action to be taken when the time constraints cannot be met.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein creating an email message includes indicating an action to be taken when one or more servers, having stored the message outside mailboxes, fail to receive an instruction to place the message in mailboxes.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the email message comprises a hierarchical addressee list comprising aliases and the system further comprises expanding the hierarchical addressee list into a flat addressee list comprising no aliases.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein expanding the hierarchical addressee list comprises expanding one or more aliases that are defined on one or more email hosts other than an email client where the email message is created.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the email message comprises an addressee list comprising email addresses and the system further comprises computer program instructions capable of verifying all the email addresses in the addressee list.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the message cannot be delivered in accordance with the time constraints; and

advising a user who created the email message that the message cannot be delivered in accordance with the time constraints.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising providing, for review by users, message delivery information that describes the delivery of the message.

9. A computer program product for delivering time sensitive email, the computer program product comprising:

a recording medium;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for creating an email message for simultaneous delivery to a multiplicity of addressees'"'"' mailboxes on email servers, including inserting in the email message a data element identifying the message as a message for simultaneous delivery;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for assigning delivery time constraints to the message;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for delivering the message, in accordance with the time constraints and for temporary storage outside the mailboxes, to email servers having addressees'"'"' mailboxes;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for instructing the servers to place the message in all addressees'"'"' mailboxes at approximately a same time; and

means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining whether the message can be delivered in accordance with the time constraints, further comprising means, recorded on the recording medium, for providing message delivery metrics, wherein means for determining whether the message can be delivered in accordance with the time constraints further comprises means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining, in dependence upon the message delivery metrics, whether the message can be delivered in accordance with the time constraints.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein means for creating an email message includes means, recorded on the recording medium, for indicating an action to be taken when the time constraints cannot be met.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein means for creating an email message includes means, recorded on the recording medium, for indicating an action to be taken when one or more servers, having stored the message outside mailboxes, fail to receive an instruction to place the message in mailboxes.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the email message comprises a hierarchical addressee list comprising aliases and the computer program product further comprises means, recorded on the recording medium, for expanding the hierarchical addressee list into a flat addressee list comprising no aliases.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein means for expanding the hierarchical addressee list comprises means, recorded on the recording medium, for expanding one or more aliases that are defined on one or more email hosts other than an email client where the email message is created.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the email message comprises an addressee list comprising email addresses and the computer program product further comprises means, recorded on the recording medium, for verifying all the email addresses in the addressee list.

15. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining that the message cannot be delivered in accordance with the time constraints; and

means, recorded on the recording medium, for advising a user who created the email message that the message cannot be delivered in accordance with the time constraints.

16. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising means, recorded on the recording medium, for providing, for review by users, message delivery information that describes the delivery of the message.