Method and apparatus for interaction with electronic mail from multiple sources
First Claim
1. In a computer system operatively connectable to a network and capable of executing a communication process for sending and receiving electronic mail documents, a method comprising:
- (A) receiving a list of a plurality of document sources;
(B) periodically querying the document sources for new documents;
(C) processing any new documents from each of the document sources;
(D) displaying an entry representing at least one document from one of the plurality of document sources; and
(E) upon selection of the entry, displaying a representation of each of the documents from said one document source.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic mail inbox uses a mail agent to categorize incoming electronic mail to facilitate more flexible and rapid viewing and possible response thereto. The mail agent is capable of receiving not only electronic messages but tracking data and documents from other sources such as databases, templates and other information, without actually including such information in the inbox. Using either the shadow document generation or document summarization techniques, a surrogate document, including meta data and/or a summary data and a pointer to the complete document content, is generated and placed in inbox. Upon selection of the surrogate document, the pointer is resolved, the complete content retrieved and stored locally and displayed in the electronic mail inbox.
247 Citations
7 Claims
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1. In a computer system operatively connectable to a network and capable of executing a communication process for sending and receiving electronic mail documents, a method comprising:
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(A) receiving a list of a plurality of document sources;
(B) periodically querying the document sources for new documents;
(C) processing any new documents from each of the document sources;
(D) displaying an entry representing at least one document from one of the plurality of document sources; and
(E) upon selection of the entry, displaying a representation of each of the documents from said one document source. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A computer program product for use with a computer system operatively connectable to a network and capable of executing a communication process for sending and receiving electronic mail documents, the computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having embodied therein program code comprising:
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(A) program code for receiving a list of a plurality of document sources;
(B) program code for periodically querying the document sources for new documents;
(C) program code for processing any new documents from each of the document sources;
(D) program code for displaying an entry representing at least one document from one of the plurality of document sources; and
(E) program code for displaying a representation of each of the documents from said one document source, upon selection of the entry.
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6. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for use with a computer system operatively connectable to a network and capable of executing a communication process for sending and receiving electronic mail documents, the computer data signal comprising:
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(A) program code for periodically querying a plurality of document sources for new documents;
(B) program code for displaying an entry representing at least one document from one of the plurality of document sources, if at least one new document from said one document source exists; and
(C) program code for displaying a representation of each of the documents from said one document source, upon selection of the entry. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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Specification