Method and system for notification of local action required to contents of electronic mail message

• US 7,720,923 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2008
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HCL Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Seaman, James Wesley, Gusler, Carl Phillip, Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Lipton, Steven Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu; Jinsong
• Application Number:
  US12/190,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20080301252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 643 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 709/218, 709/219, 370/265
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system to alert the recipient of an electronic message of some action that is required from the recipient. The invention also provides a method to alert the sender of the electronic message of the completion of the action required in the original electronic mail message. In the method of the present invention, the originator or recipient of an electronic mail message can choose to designate the message as one that requires an action by the message recipient. The recipient will notice the ‘Action Required’ icon and will be alerted to the fact that an action is required with this message. At the completion of the action, the sender of the original message will receive a notification that the requested action has been taken by the recipient.

Claims

1. A method for notifying the recipient of an electronic mail message of a local action required in response to the contents of the electronic mail message, said method comprising:

a processor of a data processing system at a recipient location of the recipient receiving the electronic mail message that had been sent by a message origination location of a sender;

said processor determining at the recipient location that there is a local action required by the recipient in response to the contents of the message;

said processor ascertaining at the recipient location whether the recipient has performed the local action in response to the contents of the message within a specified period of time;

said processor generating a message at the recipient location to remind the recipient to perform the local action in response to the contents of the received message, when said ascertaining ascertains that the recipient has not performed the local action in response to the contents of the received message within the specified period of time; and

said processor transmitting an action completion message from the recipient location to the sender to notify the sender that the local action has been performed by the recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining that there is a local action required by the recipient comprises detecting an action-required indicator in the received message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said indicator is a marker embedded in the received message.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the marker embedded in the received message indicates that the local action is required regardless of a type of the required local action.

5. The method of claim 1, said method further comprising before said receiving the electronic mail message:

marking a created message at the message origination location to indicate that the local action is required in response to the contents of the message; and

transmitting the message to the recipient location.

6. The method of claim 5, said method further comprising after said processor determining that there is a local action required by the recipient:

said processor determining a priority for the received message requiring the local action, the priority being based on characteristics of a type of the local action required in the message; and

said processor inserting the received message into a priority list of messages that require an action.

7. The method of claim 6, said method further comprising:

said processor removing one message from the priority list at a completion of performance of an action in response to the contents of the one message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said ascertaining whether the recipient has performed the local action comprises performing periodic checks of the message, the frequency of the checks being based on a category of the message.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium storing instructions for performing a method, by being executed by a processor of a data processing system at a recipient location of a recipient of an electronic mail message, for notifying the recipient of the electronic mail message of a local action required in response to the contents of the electronic mail message, said instructions comprising:

instructions for the recipient location receiving the electronic mail message that had been sent by a message origination location of a sender;

instructions for determining at the recipient location that there is a local action required by the recipient in response to the contents of the message;

instructions for ascertaining at the recipient location whether the recipient has performed the local action in response to the contents of the message within a specified period of time;

instructions for generating a message at the recipient location to remind the recipient to perform the local action in response to the contents of the received message, when said ascertaining ascertains that the recipient has not performed the local action in response to the contents of the received message within the specified period of time; and

instructions for transmitting an action completion message from the recipient location to the sender to notify the sender that the local action has been performed by the recipient.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein said instructions for determining that there is a local action required by the recipient comprise instructions for detecting an action-required indicator in the received message.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, said instructions further comprising, for being executed after execution of said instructions for determining that there is a local action required by the recipient:

instructions for determining a priority for the received message requiring the local action, the priority being based on characteristics of a type of the local action required in the message; and

instructions for inserting the received message into a priority list of messages that require an action.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, said instructions further comprising instructions for removing one message from the priority list at a completion of performance of an action in response to the contents of the one message.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein said instructions for ascertaining whether the recipient has performed the local action comprises instructions for performing periodic checks of the message, the frequency of the checks being based on a category of the message.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, said instructions further comprising instructions for displaying a marker indicating that the local action is required for the received message.

15. A method for notifying the recipient of an electronic mail message of a local action required in response to the contents of the electronic mail message, said method comprising:

a processor of a data processing system at a recipient location of the recipient receiving the electronic mail message that had been sent by a message origination location of a sender;

said processor determining at the recipient location that there is a local action required by the recipient in response to the contents of the message;

said processor performing periodic message reply checks to ascertain whether the recipient has performed the local action in response to the contents of the message within a specified period of time; and

after said performing said periodic message reply checks has ascertained that the recipient has not performed the local action, said processor generating a message at the recipient location to remind the recipient to perform the local action in response to the contents of the received message.

16. The method of claim 15, said method further comprising after said determining that there is a local action required by the recipient, said processor identifying a set response time limit.

17. The method of claim 16, said method further comprising after said performing periodic message reply checks and before said generating the message, said processor determining whether the identified response time limit has expired.

18. The method of claim 17, said method further comprising said processor sending a failure to respond notice to the sender when said determining whether the identified response time limit has expired has determined that the identified response time limit has expired.