Method and system for notification of electronic message reply requirements
First Claim
1. A method for notifying a recipient of an electronic message of message reply requirements, said method comprising:
- in response to an activation of an email reply reminder process, a processor at a data processing system of a sender displaying a popup menu on a display of the data processing system;
said processor receiving reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender in response to the popup menu, wherein the reply information is related to a reply by the recipient to the message, wherein the reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender comprises a date and time of day to send a first reply reminder message to the recipient, a frequency consisting of a constant time interval between successive reply reminder messages sent to the recipient, and a notification indicator indicating whether or not to notify the sender of each time a reply reminder message of the successive reply reminder messages is sent to the recipient, and wherein the successive reply reminder messages consist of the first reply reminder message and a plurality of additional reply reminder messages;
said processor generating, from the supplied reply information, a data record comprising the date and time of day, the frequency, and the notification indicator;
said processor attaching the data record to the electronic message;
said processor transmitting the electronic message having the attached data record to the recipient;
said processor monitoring whether the sender has received a response, from the recipient, to the transmitted electronic message;
said processor ascertaining from said monitoring that the sender has not received said response to the electronic message from the recipient; and
in response to said ascertaining, said processor sending the first reply reminder message to the recipient at the date and time of day.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention discloses a new function within electronic mail applications whereby documents or messages, which are annotated or designated with a notification such as “reply requested”, are monitored by a new proactive reminder system, in order to minimize the occurrence of the late responses. In the present invention, a new selection is added to the menus to “enable reminder function”. In the process of the present invention, the sender enables the reminder function. The sender then selects the date and time to send a first reminder, (if response has not been received). The sender then selects frequency of reminder after reminder is sent, (every 8 hours for example). The sender can choose to be notified or excluded from reminders. A sender may also choose to be notified, at the reminder interval, that responses have not yet been received; however, in the case where the audience of the note was very large, the user may wish for reminders to be sent to recipients, but not to be copied on them.
29 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for notifying a recipient of an electronic message of message reply requirements, said method comprising:
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in response to an activation of an email reply reminder process, a processor at a data processing system of a sender displaying a popup menu on a display of the data processing system; said processor receiving reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender in response to the popup menu, wherein the reply information is related to a reply by the recipient to the message, wherein the reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender comprises a date and time of day to send a first reply reminder message to the recipient, a frequency consisting of a constant time interval between successive reply reminder messages sent to the recipient, and a notification indicator indicating whether or not to notify the sender of each time a reply reminder message of the successive reply reminder messages is sent to the recipient, and wherein the successive reply reminder messages consist of the first reply reminder message and a plurality of additional reply reminder messages; said processor generating, from the supplied reply information, a data record comprising the date and time of day, the frequency, and the notification indicator; said processor attaching the data record to the electronic message; said processor transmitting the electronic message having the attached data record to the recipient; said processor monitoring whether the sender has received a response, from the recipient, to the transmitted electronic message; said processor ascertaining from said monitoring that the sender has not received said response to the electronic message from the recipient; and in response to said ascertaining, said processor sending the first reply reminder message to the recipient at the date and time of day. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, said instructions configured to be executed by a processor of a data processing system to implement a method for notifying a recipient of an electronic message of message reply requirements, said method comprising:
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in response to an activation of an email reply reminder process, displaying a popup menu on a display of a data processing system; receiving reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender in response to the popup menu, wherein the reply information is related to a reply by the recipient to the message, wherein the reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender comprises a date and time of day to send a first reply reminder message to the recipient, a frequency consisting of a constant time interval between successive reply reminder messages sent to the recipient, and a notification indicator indicating whether or not to notify the sender each time a reply reminder message of the successive reply reminder messages is sent to the recipient, and wherein the successive reply reminder messages consist of the first reply reminder message and a plurality of additional reply reminder messages; generating, from the supplied reply information, a data record comprising the date and time of day, the frequency, and the notification indicator; attaching the data record to the electronic message; transmitting the electronic message having the attached data record to the recipient; monitoring whether the sender has received a response, from the recipient, to the transmitted electronic message; ascertaining from said monitoring that the sender has not received said response to the electronic message from the recipient; and in response to said ascertaining, sending the first reply reminder message to the recipient at the date and time of day. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A data processing system comprising a processor and a computer readable memory unit coupled to the processor, said memory unit containing instructions configured to be executed by the processor to implement a method for notifying a recipient of an electronic message of message reply requirements, said method comprising:
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in response to an activation of an email reply reminder process, displaying a popup menu on a display of a data processing system; receiving reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender in response to the popup menu, wherein the reply information is related to a reply by the recipient to the message, wherein the reply information supplied to the popup menu by the sender comprises a date and time of day to send a first reply reminder message to the recipient, a frequency consisting of a constant time interval between successive reply reminder messages sent to the recipient, and a notification indicator indicating whether or not to notify the sender each time a reply reminder message of the successive reply reminder messages is sent to the recipient, and wherein the successive reply reminder messages consist of the first reply reminder message and a plurality of additional reply reminder messages; generating, from the supplied reply information, a data record comprising the date and time of day, the frequency, and the notification indicator; attaching the data record to the electronic message; transmitting the electronic message having the attached data record to the recipient; monitoring whether the sender has received a response, from the recipient, to the transmitted electronic message; ascertaining from said monitoring that the sender has not received said response to the electronic message from the recipient; and in response to said ascertaining, sending the first reply reminder message to the recipient at the date and time of day. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification