Enhancement of e-mail client user interfaces and e-mail message formats

• US 8,032,597 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2006
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Slack Technologies, Inc. (Salesforce.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Advenix
• Inventors: Khoo, Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuoc
• Assistant Examiner(s): John, Clarence
• Application Number:
  US11/446,070
• Publication Number:
  US 20070011258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,950 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/219, 709/229, 715/781
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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

Abstract

An enhancement to e-mail user interfaces and message formats includes a dynamic preview window to view and retrieve attachments and summaries of e-mail messages directly in the e-mail list view or inbox view without opening an e-mail message. The efficient viewing mechanism further allows previews without cluttering the listing of the e-mails in the inbox by allowing the client to detect special preview instructions within an e-mail and run executables within the preview window. The enhancement is applicable to standalone e-mail clients (POP or IMAP based) and to web-based e-mail systems.

Claims

1. A method of enhancing an e-mail user interface, comprising:

associating a trigger with an e-mail in an inbox view listing of e-mails;

upon activation by a user of said trigger, opening a temporary window solely for said e-mail on said inbox view, said temporary window being positioned dynamically to appear at a location proximate to said trigger in said inbox view to provide to the user a visual connection to said email;

rendering within said temporary window a portion of text of a body of said e-mail, said text being displayed so as to fit within said temporary window without scrolling;

providing user controls within the temporary window, said controls including a clickable reply control allowing a user to reply to the e-mail;

said temporary window being expanded upon said reply control being clicked and a text box with a send control being displayed within said temporary window to allow the user to enter reply text and send the reply text to a sender of the e-mail upon the send control being clicked.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said temporary window on said inbox view is automatically closed upon one of deactivation of the trigger associated with said e-mail, after a predetermined time has elapsed, or upon the user activating another trigger associated with another e-mail.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said sending comprises communicating with an e-mail application to forward said text entered into the text box as an e-mail.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said sending comprises communicating with an e-mail application that communicates with an instant messenging server to forward said text.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said rendering comprises automatically rendering said text upon opening of the temporary window.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said trigger comprises an icon adjacent to said e-mail, and said method comprises activating said trigger upon positioning a cursor relative to said icon.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising changing the appearance of said icon in response to information referenced by the e-mail being modified by an entity other than the user of the email application after said email has been delivered to the inbox of the user.

8. An enhanced e-mail user interface for an e-mail client application on a computer comprising:

computer program storage storing executable instructions for controlling the computer to provide;

a trigger associated with an e-mail on an inbox view listing of e-mails displayed on said computer;

a temporary window created solely for said e-mail on said inbox view listing upon activation of the trigger by a user, the temporary window being positioned dynamically to appear at a location proximate to said trigger in said inbox view to provide to the user a visual connection to said e-mail;

a portion of text of a body of said e-mail being rendered so as to fit within said temporary window without scrolling;

user controls within said temporary window, including a clickable reply control allowing the user to reply to the e-mail; and

said temporary window being expanded upon said reply control being clicked and a text box with a send control being displayed within said temporary window to allow the user to enter reply text and send the reply text to a sender upon the send control being clicked.

9. The interface of claim 8 further comprising communicating with an e-mail application to send the text entered into the text box.

10. The interface of claim 9 further comprising a communicating with an instant messenger to enable sending the text entered into the text box.

11. The interface of claim 8, wherein said e-mail comprises an e-mail header, and said trigger comprises instructions in said header that direct the e-mail application to load another application into the temporary window to enable interaction with the e-mail.