Systems and methods for processing attachments associated with electronic messages

• US 7,593,991 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2004
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Friedman, Lee G., Bowman, Shayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Dustin
• Application Number:
  US10/911,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,874 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/203, 709/206, 709/232, 709/245, 709/205, 707/1, 707/102, 707/104.1, 715/500, 715/717, 348/207.2, 379/67.1, 379/88.14, 713/168, 370/282
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Attachments that are received through one or more message transport services are processed. An object identifier is received through an electronic message received through one of a plurality of message transport services. A thumbnail graphic of a portion of the contents of the object associated with the object identifier is generated and displayed in a display window.

Claims

1. A method for displaying at least a portion of the contents of an object associated with a first object identifier, the method comprising:

receiving the first object identifier through an electronic message that is received through one of a plurality of message transport services, wherein electronic messages are received from the plurality of message transport services;

accessing the portion of the contents of the object associated with the first object identifier, the object being received as an attachment of the electronic message;

generating a thumbnail graphic of the portion of the contents of the object associated with the first object identifier; and

displaying in a display window the thumbnail graphic with thumbnail graphics of other attachments that have been received from electronic messages through a same message transport service,

wherein thumbnail graphics of attachments are able to be organized and displayed in accordance with a message transport service used to transport the respective attachments; and

wherein the attachments are able to be sorted by media format type to obtain an individual count of a total number of attachments in each individual media format type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object identifier is a filename of a file that is attached to the electronic message, and the electronic message is at least one of an e-mail message, an electronic fax, and an instant message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the file is at least one of a text file, an image file, a video file, and an audio file.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the thumbnail graphic shows at least one of a portion of the text file, a portion of the image file, a portion of the video file, an icon that is representative of the audio file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message is an e-mail, and the first object identifier is a uniform resource locator (URL).

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of accessing a portion of the contents comprises accessing a website of the URL, and wherein the step of generating the thumbnail graphic comprises generating a thumbnail view of the image at the website of the URL.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object identifier is a really simple syndication (RSS) pointer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of accessing a portion of the contents comprises accessing a webpage identified by the RSS pointer, and wherein the step of generating the thumbnail graphic comprises generating a thumbnail view of the webpage identified by the RSS pointer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accepting a command input from a user, wherein the command input is provided through a graphical user interface comprising the thumbnail graphic; and

transmitting the object to a remote recipient specified by the user as a part of the command input.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of transmitting the first object identifier comprises:

automatically selecting one of multiple electronic message transport services.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of transmitting the first object identifier comprises:

the user selecting one of multiple electronic message transport services.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting the first object identifier together with the object.

13. An attachment processing system comprising:

a computer processor configured to execute;

a graphical user interface (GUI); and

a first thumbnail graphical representation of a first object received through one of a plurality of message transport services, wherein electronic messages are received from the plurality of message transport services, the first object comprising at least one of an attached file, a URL, and a RSS link, the first thumbnail graphical representation being displayed in a display window of the GUI with thumbnail graphics of other objects that have been received from electronic messages through a same message transport service,

wherein thumbnail graphics of objects are able to be organized and displayed in accordance with a message transport service used to transport the respective objects; and

wherein the attachments are able to be sorted by media format type to obtain an individual count of a total number of attachments in each individual media format type.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of message transport services comprises e-mail, instant messaging, voicemail, fax, and P2P services.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the GUI is operative to transmit the first object to an addressee that is specified by an operator of the GUI.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the first object is received through a first transport service, and further comprising a second thumbnail graphic that is associated with a second object that is received through a second transport service, the second transport service being different than the first transport service.

17. An attachment processing system comprising:

a computer processor configured to execute computer logic, the computer logic comprising;

logic configured to access at least a portion of the contents of an attachment that has been received through one of a plurality of message transport services, wherein electronic messages are received from the plurality of message transport services;

logic configured to generate a thumbnail representation of the accessed contents; and

logic configured to display the thumbnail representation of the accessed contents with thumbnail representations of other attachments that have been received through a same message transport service,

wherein thumbnail representations of attachments are able to be organized and displayed in accordance with a message transport service used to transport the respective attachments; and

wherein the attachments are able to be sorted by media format type to obtain an individual count of a total number of attachments in each individual media format type.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

logic configure to accept a user command through a user interface associated with the thumbnail representation; and

logic configured to transmit the attachment to a recipient specified by a user through the user command.

19. An attachment processing program stored on a computer-readable storage medium, the program comprising:

computer-readable code that accesses at least a portion of the contents of an attachment that has been received through one of a plurality of message transport services, wherein electronic messages are received from the plurality of message transport services;

computer-readable code that generates a thumbnail representation of the accessed contents; and

computer-readable code that displays the thumbnail representation of the accessed contents with thumbnail representations of other attachments that have been received through a same message transport service,

wherein thumbnail representations of attachments are able to be organized and displayed in accordance with a message transport service used to transport the respective attachments; and

wherein the attachments are able to be sorted by media format type to obtain an individual count of a total number of attachments in each individual media format type.

20. The program of claim 19, further comprising:

computer-readable code that accepts a user command through a user interface associated with the thumbnail representation; and

computer-readable code that transmits the attachment to a recipient specified by a user through the user command.