Automatically modifying distributed communications

• US 8,095,604 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Essenmacher, Michael D., Hertzig, James M., Murphy, Thomas E. Jr., Pflug, Francis A.
• Primary Examiner(s): DUONG, OANH L
• Application Number:
  US12/134,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20090307317A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/245, 709/246, 709/223, 715/752
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Modifications are made to communications that have been distributed to one or more recipients. These modifications include at least one of adding a new recipient to the communication, deleting one or more recipients from the communication or moving one or more recipients from one or more of the fields of the communication to one or more other fields. These modifications may be performed automatically and/or transparently for the existing recipients.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating modification of communications distributed in a communications environment, said method comprising:

receiving by a processor an informational record to be used to modify a communication previously received by a recipient, the communication specifying a list of recipients that were previously sent the communication electronically, and the informational record specifying a change to be made to the list of recipients specified in the communication previously received by the recipient;

responsive to receiving the informational record, the processor using a message identifier included in the informational record to identify the communication previously received by the recipient; and

modifying by the processor the identified communication previously received by the recipient, the modifying changing in the communication previously received by the recipient the list of recipients specified in the communication previously received by the recipient,

wherein the modifying comprises adding a recipient to the list of recipients, wherein the added recipient receives a further provision of the communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the adding comprises including the recipient in at least one of a To:

header, acc;

header or a bee;

header in the communication previously received by the recipient, subsequent to receipt of the communication.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying comprises deleting a recipient from the list of recipients.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying comprises moving a recipient from one header field in the communication previously received by the recipient to another header field in the communication previously received by the recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying comprises modifying the list of recipients at each recipient of the list of recipients.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating the informational record indicating the modification;

sending the informational record to the processor; and

absent intervention by the recipient of the communication previously received by the recipient, automatically processing the informational record indicating the modification, the automatically processing comprising modifying at least one header field of the communication previously received by the recipient transparent to the recipient, wherein a subsequent reply-all, by the recipient to the communication previously received by the recipient, and subsequent to the automatic processing, automatically includes the modification.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the informational record includes an X-field that identifies the modification to be performed.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying one or more recipients of the list of recipients of the modification.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises an e-mail, and wherein a reply to the modified communication or a forward of the modified communication by a recipient will automatically include the modified list of recipients with the reply or forwarded modified communication.

10. A computer system for facilitating modification of communications distributed in a communications environment, said computer system comprising:

memory; and

a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

receiving an informational record to be used to modify a communication previously received by a recipient, the communication specifying a list of recipients that were previously sent the communication electronically, and the informational record specifying a change to be made to the list of recipients specified in the communication previously received by the recipient;

responsive to receiving the informational record, using a message identifier included in the informational record to identify the communication previously received by the recipient; and

modifying the identified communication previously received by the recipient, the modifying changing in the communication previously received by the recipient the list of recipients specified in the communication previously received by the recipient,

wherein the modifying comprises adding a recipient to the list of recipients, wherein the added recipient receives a further provision of the communication.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the modifying comprises deleting a recipient from the list of recipients.

12. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the modifying comprises moving a recipient from one header field in the communication to another header field in the communication.

13. A computer program product for facilitating modification of communications distributed in a communications environment, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processor and storing instructions for execution by the processor for performing a method comprising;

receiving an informational record to be used to modify a communication previously received by a recipient, the communication specifying a list of recipients that were previously sent the communication electronically, and the informational record specifying a change to be made to the list of recipients specified in the communication previously received by the recipient;

responsive to receiving the informational record, using a message identifier included in the informational record to identify the communication previously received by the recipient; and

modifying the identified communication previously received by the recipient, the modifying changing in the communication previously received by the recipient the list of recipients specified in the communication previously received by the recipient,

wherein the modifying comprises adding a recipient to the list of recipients, wherein the added recipient receives a further provision of the communication.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the modifying comprises deleting a recipient from the list of recipients.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the modifying comprises moving a recipient from one header field in the communication to another header field in the communication.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the informational record includes an X-field that identifies the modification to be performed.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising notifying one or more recipients of the list of recipients of the modification.