System and method for customizing electronic messages

• US 20040150673A1
• Filed: 04/22/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RhythmOne LLC (Nexxen International Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hotbar.com, Inc. (Zango Incorporated)
• Inventors: Dobronsky, Oren
• Granted Patent: US 7,159,192 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• 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]

Abstract

A plug-in is provided to existing electronic message programs, such as electronic mail message programs, to provide a virtual toolbar therein. The virtual toolbar includes one or more virtual buttons that allow a user to select multimedia content to be added to an electronic message. The multimedia content may include, without limitation, any one or more of: graphics, audio, animation, video and text selections. The multimedia content may further include customizable templates in which business messages may be generated. The virtual buttons may be each be assigned to one category of related content, such as Backgrounds for providing graphic backgrounds to a message, Holiday Themes for providing multimedia content associated with particular holidays, Animations for including FLASH animations or the like to a message, and Text for including pre-formatted text to a message. The content, appearance and number of virtual buttons may automatically be changed or updated by a content provider from time to time when the installed plug-in accesses a content server over a computer network, such as the Internet.

Claims

1. A method for customizing electronic messages, comprising:

providing a plug-in to an electronic message program;

executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic message program, for display within the electronic message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content for inclusion in an electronic message.

2. The method of claim 1, said virtual toolbar disposed separately between the native toolbar and a message input field of the electronic message program.

3. The method of claim 1, said virtual toolbar disposed separately between the native toolbar and a received massage pane of the electronic message program.

4. The method of claim 1, said providing a plug-in further comprising:

providing the plug-in for download from a content server over a computer network.

5. The method of claim 1, said providing a plug-in further comprising:

downloading the plug-in from a content server over a computer network.

6. The method of claim 1, said executing program instructions further comprising:

providing at least one automatically executable instruction with the plug-in for associating the plug-in with the electronic message program.

7. The method of claim 6, said at least one automatically executable instruction including at least one of a hooking instruction and a bootstrapping instruction.

8. The method of claim 6, said at least one automatically executable instruction for inserting a programming call by the electronic message program for the virtual toolbar from the plug-in.

9. The method of claim 1, said at least one virtual button for implementing a programming instruction, responsive to a selection of the virtual button, for displaying said content.

10. The method of claim 1, said at least one virtual button being associated with a category of available content.

11. The method of claim 10, said category of available content including, without limitation, one of the following:

holiday-themed content, visual images, animations, audio content, audio/visual content, and business-formatted content.

12. The method of claim 11, said business-formatted content comprising at least one of content and formatting for internal electronic messages of a business entity, and content and formatting for external electronic messages of a business entity.

13. The method of claim 11, said business-formatted content comprising a customized format for electronic messages accessible only by a single business entity.

14. The method of claim 10, said category of available content being available to a plurality of independent users.

15. The method of claim 10, said category of available content including a plurality of sub-categories of available content.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message program and the plug-in are installed separately by a user.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message program and the plug-in are developed by separate manufacturers.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the content is stored by a content server.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising updating content available to a plurality of users without updating the plug-in or the electronic message programs stored by the plurality of users.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a virtual button from a user terminal; and

transmitting a plurality of selectable content associated with the virtual button for display to the user.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of said plurality of selectable content as default content for inclusion in a new electronic message generated by a particular user terminal.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

storing the selection as the default content for the particular user terminal.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message program is an electronic mail (e-mail) message program and the electronic message is an e-mail message.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the plug-in is provided without charge to a plurality of users.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

transmitting at least one advertisement for display to the user after said executing.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the plug-in is provided to a user after a receipt of payment from the user.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is provided without charge to a plurality of users.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is provided to a user after a receipt of payment from the user.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is customized for a particular group of users after a receipt of payment from the group.

30. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for customizing electronic messages, the method comprising:

providing a plug-in to an electronic message program;

executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic message program, for display within the electronic message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content for inclusion in an electronic message.

31. An apparatus for customizing electronic messages, comprising:

means for providing a plug-in to an electronic message program,

means for executing programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic message program, for display within the electronic message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content for inclusion in an electronic message.

32. An apparatus for customizing electronic messages, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to;

install a plug-in to an electronic message program; and

execute programming instructions from the plug-in to generate a virtual toolbar, independent of a native toolbar of the electronic message program, for display within the electronic message program, the virtual toolbar including at least one virtual button for selecting content for inclusion in an electronic message.

33. A method for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:

providing executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in an electronic message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic message program, separate from a native toolbar; and

receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content for inclusion in an electronic message generated by the user from the electronic message program.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

transmitting a plurality of selectable content corresponding to the virtual button, in response to said receiving.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the selectable content is displayed in a separate window to a user.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein at least a portion of the selectable content is stored at a content server.

37. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

updating the selectable content at a content server, without updating the plug-in and the electronic message program.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the virtual button comprises a link to a network address of a content server, the network address corresponding to a location of stored selectable content.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the virtual button is displayed to a user with an indication of a category of selectable content.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the indication of the category may be changed by the content server.

41. The method of claim 34, further comprising

receiving a selection of one of the selectable content from the user;

and

transmitting the selected content for display to the user in a message input field of an electronic message.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

embedding a call to the content in the electronic message for transmission to a second user, whereby when the second user opens the electronic message, the content is retrieved from the content server and displayed in the electronic message to the second user.

43. The method of claim 33, said selectable content including one of the following for association with an electronic message:

holiday-themed content, visual images, animations, audio content, audio/visual content, and business-formatted content.

44. The method of claim 33, wherein said electronic message program is an electronic mail (e-mail) message program and the electronic message is an e-mail message.

45. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, the method comprising:

providing executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in an electronic message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic message program, separate from a native toolbar; and

receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content for inclusion in an electronic message generated by the user from the electronic message program.

46. An apparatus for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:

means for providing executable programming code for including a virtual toolbar in an electronic message program of a user terminal, the executable programming code for displaying the virtual toolbar within a window of the electronic message program, separate from a native toolbar; and

means for receiving, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content for inclusion in an electronic message generated by the user from the electronic message program.

47. An apparatus for allowing customization of electronic mail messages, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to;

provide, to a user, a virtual toolbar in an electronic message program of a user terminal, separate from a native toolbar; and

receive, from a user, a selection of a virtual button of the virtual toolbar, the selected virtual button associated with selectable content for inclusion in an electronic message generated by the user from the electronic message program.

48. A method for customizing an electronic mail message, comprising:

downloading executable code for providing a virtual toolbar within an electronic message program;

opening an electronic message;

selecting, from a virtual button on the virtual toolbar, content for inclusion in the electronic message;

receiving a display of the selected content within the electronic message; and

transmitting the electronic message to a second user, the electronic message including at least one of a call to a network location for the selected content and a data file comprising the selected content transmitted as part of the electronic message.