Apparatus and method for improved electronic mail

• US 9,755,998 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2014
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Jeong, Wook-Hyun, Kim, Eun-Jung
• Primary Examiner(s): Sall, El Hadji
• Application Number:
  US14/507,420
• Publication Number:
  US 20150026280A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• Field of Search: 709206, 709202, 709203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5683 Storage of data provided by user terminals, i.e. reverse caching

Abstract

An E-mail apparatus and method are provided. The e-mail apparatus includes a memory that stores display names and e-mail addresses corresponding to the display names, and a controller that extracts an e-mail address from a received e-mail message, retrieves from the memory a display name corresponding to the extracted e-mail address, modifies the display name of the received e-mail message to the retrieved display name, and outputs the modified display name.

Claims

1. A communication device comprising:

a memory configured to store a plurality of e-mail addresses and a plurality of display names, with each e-mail address of the plurality of e-mail addresses having a corresponding display name; and

a controller configured to;

extract an e-mail address and a sender name from an e-mail message received by communication device,

determine whether the extracted e-mail address corresponds to an e-mail address stored in the memory of the communication device,

retrieve, from the memory of the communication device, a display name corresponding to an e-mail address stored in the memory of the communication device that is determined to correspond to the extracted e-mail address,

detect a difference between the sender name extracted from the received e-mail message and the display name retrieved from the memory, and

display, upon detecting the difference between the sender name extracted from the received e-mail message and the display name retrieved from the memory, the retrieved display name as a sender name of the received e-mail message.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to detect a difference between the sender name in a header of the received e-mail message and the display name of the retrieved e-mail address.

3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to store group names for categorizing each e-mail address of the plurality of e-mail addresses.

4. The communication device of claim 3, wherein the controller is further configured to retrieve a group name corresponding to the e-mail address retrieved from the memory and display the retrieved group name when displaying the received e-mail message.

5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the controller stores the received e-mail message based on the retrieved group name.

6. A communication device comprising:

a memory configured to store display names and e-mail addresses corresponding to the stored display names;

a controller configured to;

extract an e-mail address from a received e-mail message,

determine whether the e-mail address is stored in the memory,

retrieve, from the memory, a display name corresponding to the extracted e mail address, when the e-mail address is stored in the memory, and

replace a sender name of the received e-mail message with the retrieved display name when the sender name of the received e-mail message differs from the retrieved display name; and

a display configured to display the retrieved display name that replaced the sender name in the received e-mail message when displaying a body of the received e-mail message.

7. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the memory is further configured to store group names for categorizing the e-mail addresses, and

wherein the controller is further configured to retrieve a group name corresponding to the e-mail address extracted from the memory and display the retrieved group name when displaying the received e-mail message.

8. The communication device of claim 7, wherein the controller is further configured to store the received e-mail message based on the retrieved group name.

9. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the display is further configured to display the e-mail message with the sender name, when the e-mail address is determined not to be stored in the memory.

10. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the e-mail address is stored in an address book in the memory.

11. A method of displaying an e-mail message in a communication device including a memory configured to store a plurality of display names and a plurality of e-mail addresses, with each e-mail address of the plurality of e-mail addresses having a corresponding display name, the method comprising:

receiving an e-mail message;

extracting an e-mail address and a sender name from the received e-mail message;

determining whether the extracted e-mail address corresponds to an e-mail address stored in the memory of the communication device,

retrieving, from the memory of the communication device, a display name corresponding to an e-mail address stored in the memory of the communication device that is determined to correspond to the extracted e-mail address,

detecting a difference between the sender name extracted from the received e-mail message and the display name retrieved from the memory; and

displaying, upon detecting the difference between the sender name extracted from the received e-mail message and the display name retrieved from the memory, the retrieved display name as a sender name of the received e mail message.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting a difference between the sender name in a header of the received e-mail message and the display name of the retrieved e-mail address.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the memory further stores group names for categorizing each e-mail address of the plurality of e-mail addresses.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

retrieving a group name corresponding to the e-mail address retrieved from the memory; and

displaying the retrieved group name when displaying the received e-mail message.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising storing the e-mail message based on the retrieved group name.

16. A method of displaying an e-mail message in a communication device including a memory that stores display names and e-mail addresses corresponding to the stored display names, the method comprising:

receiving an e-mail message;

extracting an e-mail address from the received e-mail message;

determining whether the extracted e-mail address is stored in the memory;

retrieving, from the memory, a display name corresponding to the extracted e-mail address, when the extracted e-mail address is stored in the memory;

replacing a sender name of the received e-mail message with the retrieved display name when the sender name of the received e-mail message differs from the retrieved display name; and

displaying the retrieved display name that replaced the sender name in the received e-mail message when displaying a body of the received e mail message.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the memory further stores group names for categorizing the e-mail addresses, the method further comprising:

retrieving a group name corresponding to the extracted e-mail address from the memory; and

displaying the retrieved group name when displaying the e-mail message.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing the e mail message based on the retrieved group name.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising displaying the e mail message with the sender name of the e-mail message, when the e-mail address is determined not to be stored in the memory.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the e-mail address is stored in an address book in the memory.