Dynamic set operations when specifying email recipients

• US 7,886,011 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2006
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit
• Original Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit
• Inventors: BUCHHEIT, BRIAN K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Application Number:
  US11/380,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20070255789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,744 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207, 709/225, 709/229, 715/752
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4547 for personal communications, i.e. using a personal identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4555 Directories for electronic mail or instant messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453

Abstract

A method for specifying email recipients that includes specifying a first set of email recipients, a second set of email recipients, and a set operation. A third set of email recipients can be automatically is generated by performing the set operation upon the first set and the second set. Email can then be sent to this automatically generated third set of email recipients.

Claims

1. A method for specifying email recipients comprising:

specifying, via computing equipment executing at least one program that is stored in a non-transitory storage medium, a first set of email recipients within one designation section of a plurality of different email designation sections of a graphical user interface, wherein said email designation sections comprise a TO section and a CC section;

designating, via the computing equipment executing at least one program that is stored in the non-transitory storage medium, a user specified set operation, wherein the user specified set operation is typed as text into the one designation section, and wherein the user has an option to specify a Boolean operation as the user specified set operation, wherein said Boolean operation comprises at least one of an exclusion operation and an intersection operation;

specifying, via the computing equipment executing at least one program that is stored in the non-transitory storage medium, a second set of email recipients, wherein at least one of the first set and the second set comprise a previously established email distribution list; and

automatically generating, via the computing equipment executing at least one program that is stored in the non-transitory storage medium, a third set of email recipients by performing the user specified set operation upon the first set of email recipients and the second set of email recipients, wherein the third set of email recipients includes fewer recipients than the first set, wherein the third set defines email recipients for the one designation section, wherein other ones of the different email designation sections are unaffected by the user specified set operation and by the second set, wherein when the set operation is the exclusion operation the third set consists of recipients in the first set that are not in the second set, and wherein when the set operation is the intersection operation the third set consists of recipients that exist in both the first set and the second set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user specified set operation, the first set, and the second set are typed as text into the one designation section.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set operation is the exclusion operation that is typed in the one designated section as “

NOT”

.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set operation is the intersection operation that is typed in the one designated section as “

AND”

.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting, via computing equipment executing at least one program that is stored in the non-transitory storage medium, an option to save the third set as a new distribution list, wherein a new distribution list comprising the recipients of the third set is created upon a user selection of the option.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

within the graphical user interface, presenting, via computing equipment executing at least one program that is stored in the non-transitory storage medium, each email recipient in the third set, wherein at least one of the first set and the second set is a distribution list so that recipients of that distribution list are not displayed within the graphical user interface when the email recipients of the third set are displayed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a user selectable programmatic action for storing an expression from which the third set was generated for future reuse, wherein said expression comprises the first set, the second set, and the user specified set operator.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user who specified the user specified set operation has an option to specify any of the following Boolean operation as the user specified set operation:

exclusion operation, union operation, complementation operation, and intersection operation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method evaluates a Boolean expression including at least two Boolean operations to generate the third set, where an order of operations for the Boolean expression is determined by user specified parenthesis placed within the Boolean expression, wherein the user specified parenthesis and the at least two Boolean operations are specified as text within the one designation section.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a user specifies the first set of recipients followed by the user specified set operation, followed by the second set via a single line of text input into the graphical user interface.

11. A computer implemented method for specifying email recipients comprising:

providing a graphical user interface on a display associated with an email application executed by a computing system, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a plurality of different email designation sections of the graphical user interface, wherein said email designation sections comprise a TO section and a CC section;

identifying within one section of the different email designation sections a user specified distribution list input as text, a user specified set operation input as texts, and a user specified at least one email recipient input as text, wherein a user has an option to specify a Boolean operation as the user specified set operation, wherein said Boolean operation comprises at least one of an exclusion operation and an intersection operation; and

automatically generating a set of intended email recipients for the one section of the different email designation sections by performing the user specified set operation upon the user specified distribution list and the at least one email recipient, wherein the set of intended email recipients comprises fewer recipients that those contained in the user specified distribution list, wherein when the set operation is the exclusion operation the set of intended email recipients consists of recipients in the user specified distribution list that are not in the at least one email recipient input, and wherein when the set operation is the intersection operation the set of intended email recipients consists of recipients that exist in both the user specified distribution list and the at least one email recipient.

12. A computer program product stored in a non-transitory storage medium comprising a set of computer usable instructions that when executed by a processor produce a graphical user interface interactively presented upon a computing device, said graphical user interface comprising:

a plurality of different email designation sections of the graphical user interface, wherein said email designation sections comprise a TO section and a CC section, wherein each of the different email designation sections permit a user to textually enter a first set of email recipients, a set operation, and a second set of email recipients; and

a send option to send identical copies of an email message to recipients designed in the different email designation sections, wherein a selection of the send option causes a computing program executing on computing equipment to determine a set of recipients that are to receive the email message for each of the different email designation sections, wherein the determination of the set of recipients for each of the different email designation sections is independent of determinations made for other ones of the different email designation sections, wherein said computing program, for each of the designation sections comprising the first set, the second set, and the set operation, wherein the set operation is a user specified set operation and wherein a user has an option to specify a Boolean operation as the user specified set operation, wherein said Boolean operation comprises at least one of an exclusion operation and an intersection operation;

generates a third set which includes the recipients that are to receive the email message for that designated section, wherein the third set is determined by performing the set operation against the first set and the second set, which situationally results in the third set having fewer recipients than the first set, wherein the graphical user interface is generated by a program stored in a non-transitory medium that is executed upon computing equipment, wherein when the set operation is the exclusion operation the third set consists of recipients in the first set that are not in the second set, and wherein when the set operation is the intersection operation the third set consists of recipients that exist in both the first set and the second set.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein at least one previously established email distribution list is able to be designated within the a plurality of different email designation sections as either the first set or the section set.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, the graphical user interface further comprising:

a resultant recipient section within which recipients of the third set is displayed.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

an ability for the user of the graphical user interface to add and remove recipients from the third set, before the email message is sent.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a user selectable programmatic action for storing a new distribution list consisting of the third set of recipients.

17. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the user of the graphical user interface has an option to specify any of the following Boolean operation as one of the set operations:

exclusion operation, union operation, complementation operation, and intersection operation.