Minimizing incorrectly addressed communications when working with ambiguous recipient designations

• US 8,756,284 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Murphy, Thomas E., Corbin, George E., Essenmacher, Michael D., Murphy, Thomas E. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rashid, Harunur
• Application Number:
  US12/134,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20090307316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,202 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

Sending communications to incorrect recipients is minimized. Recipients that have ambiguous names or other designations are marked as ambiguous. Then, in response to including one of those names or designations in a communication, the originator of the communication is automatically warned of the ambiguity. This enables the originator to re-confirm that the communication is being sent to the intended recipient.

Claims

1. A method of minimizing potential misdirection of an electronic communication, the method comprising:

indicating, in a global directory of records for potential recipients of electronic communications, one or more potential recipients as ambiguous potential recipients, each potential recipient having an associated record of the global directory of records, and each potential recipient being susceptible to selection to indicate a wrong potential recipient of electronic communications, the global directory being shared by multiple originators of electronic communications, wherein the indicating comprises providing additional information associated with the records, of the global directory of records, associated with the ambiguous potential recipients as a guide to facilitate resolving potential ambiguity when an ambiguous potential recipient is selected to receive an electronic communication;

receiving, based on a selection by an originator of an electronic communication, an indication of a potential recipient to receive the electronic communication;

identifying an address for the potential recipient;

identifying a record, of the global directory of records, to which the identified address for the potential recipient resolves, wherein the record is associated with the potential recipient, and wherein a portion of the additional information associated with the records is associated with the identified record;

determining that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient based at least partially on the portion of additional information associated with the record, wherein the determining occurs absent any communication between the originator and the ambiguous potential recipient indicating the potential recipient as an ambiguous potential recipient; and

based on the determining, automatically indicating to the originator, by a processor, that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient and providing to the originator at least some of the portion of additional information associated with the record to facilitate resolving any ambiguity and avoid possible misdirection of the electronic communication to the address for the potential recipient, wherein the at least some of the portion of additional information comprises a list of other potential recipients, and wherein the automatically indicating that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient includes providing a warning to the originator that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient and providing the list of other potential recipients as a guide of potential recipients that may have been intended to receive the electronic communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises checking an indicator in the additional information to determine if the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient, wherein the indicator indicates whether the potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indicating in the global directory comprises setting the indicator in the record associated with the selected potential recipient.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the setting comprises:

specifying in a separate electronic directory, which is write accessible by the selected potential recipient, that a designation used to identify the selected potential recipient is ambiguous; and

using the specification in the separate electronic directory to set the indicator in the record associated with the selected potential recipient to indicate that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, in response to the automatically indicating, whether an address of the ambiguous potential recipient is to be added to a local repository of the originator of the electronic communication; and

including the address in the local repository, in response to the determining indicating that it is to be included.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein inclusion in the local repository is an indication that the ambiguous potential recipient is no longer to be treated by the originator as an ambiguous potential recipient.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking, in response to the automatically indicating, whether the ambiguous potential recipient is a correct recipient, wherein the checking comprises providing a list of ambiguous potential recipients as a guide of potential recipients that may have been intended to be selected by the originator of the electronic communication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises determining, in response to the identifying the address for the potential recipient, whether the address for the selected potential recipient is included in a local address repository, and wherein the determining that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient is performed based at least partially on determining that the address of the selected potential recipient is not included in the local address repository.

9. A system for minimizing potential misdirection of an electronic communication, the system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, in communication with the memory, wherein the system is configured to perform;

indicating, in a global directory of records for potential recipients of electronic communications, one or more potential recipients as ambiguous potential recipients, each potential recipient having an associated record of the global directory of records, and each potential recipient being susceptible to selection to indicate a wrong potential recipient of electronic communications, the global directory being shared by multiple originators of electronic communications, wherein the indicating comprises providing additional information associated with the records, of the global directory of records, associated with the ambiguous potential recipients as a guide to facilitate resolving potential ambiguity when an ambiguous potential recipient is selected to receive an electronic communication;

receiving, based on a selection by an originator of an electronic communication, an indication of a potential recipient to receive the electronic communication;

identifying an address for the potential recipient;

identifying a record, of the global directory of records, to which the identified address for the potential recipient resolves, wherein the record is associated with the potential recipient, and wherein a portion of the additional information associated with the records is associated with the identified record;

determining that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient based at least partially on the portion of additional information associated with the record, wherein the determining occurs absent any communication between the originator and the ambiguous potential recipient indicating the potential recipient as an ambiguous potential recipient; and

based on the determining, automatically indicating to the originator that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient and providing to the originator at least some of the portion of additional information associated with the record to facilitate resolving any ambiguity and avoid possible misdirection of the electronic communication to the address for the potential recipient, wherein the at least some of the portion of additional information comprises a list of other potential recipients, and wherein the automatically indicating that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient includes providing a warning to the originator that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient and providing the list of other potential recipients as a guide of potential recipients that may have been intended to receive the electronic communication.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the determining comprises checking an indicator in the additional information to determine if the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient, wherein the indicator indicates whether the potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the indicating in the global directory comprises setting the indicator in the record associated with the selected potential recipient.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the setting comprises:

specifying in a separate electronic directory, which is write accessible by the selected potential recipient, that a designation used to identify the selected potential recipient is ambiguous; and

using the specification in the separate electronic directory to set the indicator in the record associated with the selected potential recipient to indicate that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the system is further configured to perform:

determining, in response to the automatically indicating, whether an address of the ambiguous potential recipient is to be added to a local repository of the originator of the electronic communication; and

including the address in the local repository, in response to the determining indicating that it is to be included.

14. A computer program product for minimizing potential misdirection of an electronic communication, said computer program product comprising:

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

indicating, in a global directory of records for potential recipients of electronic communications, one or more potential recipients as ambiguous potential recipients, each potential recipient having an associated record of the global directory of records, and each potential recipient being susceptible to selection to indicate a wrong potential recipient of electronic communications, the global directory being shared by multiple originators of electronic communications, wherein the indicating comprises providing additional information associated with the records, of the global directory of records, associated with the ambiguous potential recipients as a guide to facilitate resolving potential ambiguity when an ambiguous potential recipient is selected to receive an electronic communication;

receiving, based on a selection by an originator of an electronic communication, an indication of a potential recipient to receive the electronic communication;

identifying an address for the potential recipient;

identifying a record, of the global directory of records, to which the identified address for the potential recipient resolves, wherein the record is associated with the potential recipient, and wherein a portion of the additional information associated with the records is associated with the identified record;

determining that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient based at least partially on the portion of additional information associated with the record, wherein the determining occurs absent any communication between the originator and the ambiguous potential recipient indicating the potential recipient as an ambiguous potential recipient; and

based on the determining, automatically indicating to the originator that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient and providing to the originator at least some of the portion of additional information associated with the record to facilitate resolving any ambiguity and avoid possible misdirection of the electronic communication to the address for the potential recipient, wherein the at least some of the portion of additional information comprises a list of other potential recipients, and wherein the automatically indicating that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient includes providing a warning to the originator that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient and providing the list of other potential recipients as a guide of potential recipients that may have been intended to receive the electronic communication.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the determining comprises checking an indicator in the additional information to determine if the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient, wherein the indicator indicates whether the potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the indicating in the global directory comprises setting the indicator in the record associated with the selected potential recipient, the setting comprising:

specifying in a separate electronic directory, which is write accessible by the selected potential recipient, that a designation used to identify the selected potential recipient is ambiguous; and

using the specification in the separate electronic directory to set the indicator in the record associated with the selected potential recipient to indicate that the selected potential recipient is an ambiguous potential recipient.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

determining, in response to the automatically indicating, whether an address of the ambiguous potential recipient is to be added to a local repository of the originator of the electronic communication; and

including the address in the local repository, in response to the determining indicating that it is to be included.