Addresses as objects for email messages

• US 20040236749A1
• Filed: 06/25/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: OʼConnor, James J., Crevier, Daniel W., Cortright, David S., Fullerton, Michael W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,360,165 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The present invention is directed at a system and process for allowing a user to treat email addresses as objects. This allows easy manipulation of the email addresses, such as allowing them to be added to a contact list, copied to the computer'"'"'s clipboard, or double-clicked to open the related contact information for that email address'"'"' sender. Email addresses are treated as objects in the message preview pane and full message windows of both incoming and outgoing email messages. A small icon is added to the text of each address. In a preferred embodiment, the icons will vary depending on the pedigree of the address. The invention is not limited to single addresses. Rather, an entry denoting a mailing list could also be treated as an object and a unique icon could be employed to indicate the nature of the entry. For outgoing messages, the pedigree of the address or list is determined by monitoring where the user obtained the address. For incoming messages, the message header is parsed and searched to find addresses that match the receiving user'"'"'s address book. If no match is found, a generic address icon is added before the text of the address, while the system checks the email header against other address sources such as server lists. Once the address is marked with an appropriate icon the user can manipulate the address in various ways allowing the user to readily edit or add email addresses to their contact list. Additionally, the invention may include contextual menus to assist the user in this manipulation.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process for allowing a user to manipulate an email address contained in the preview pane or full message window of an email message of an email program as an object, comprising using a computer to perform the following acts:

identifying an entry in the preview pane or full message window of an email message as an email address;

checking the email address against addresses in one or more contact databases to determine if the address is contained in at least one of the checked databases;

marking the email address with an adjacently placed indicator, said indicator identifying a contact database containing the email address; and

upon selection of the indicator by the user, allowing the user to manipulate the email address as an object.

2. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the identifying step comprises:

finding at least one field in the preview pane or full message window containing an email message header of the email message containing one or more email addresses; and

parsing at least one email address from the at least one email address field.

4. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the act of checking the email address comprises at least one of:

determining if the address corresponds to a single contact in the contact list of a checked database;

determining if the address corresponds to a mailing list in the contact list of a checked database;

determining if the address corresponds to a newsgroup address in the contact list of a checked database;

determining if the address corresponds to an invalid email address or internet address;

determining if the address corresponds to a valid email address not found to match any addresses in the contact list of a checked database.

5. The computer-implemented process of claim 4 wherein the act of checking the email address further comprises determining if the address corresponds to an address in a contact list of at least one server whenever it is determined the address is a valid email address not found to match any address in the contact list.

6. The computer-implemented process of claim 4 wherein the act of marking comprises at least one of:

appending a single recipient icon to the address if the address matches an address in the contact list of a checked database;

appending a mailing list icon to the address if the address matches a mailing list address in the contact list of a checked database;

appending a newsgroup icon to the address if the address matches a newsgroup address in the contact list of a checked database;

appending a text icon to the address if the address is an invalid email address or an Internet address; and

appending an address icon to the address if the address is determined to be a valid email address but not in the contact list of a checked database.

7. The computer-implemented process of claim 5, wherein the act of marking comprises appending a server icon to the address if the address matches an entry in the contact list of said one or more servers.

8. The computer-implemented process of claim 5, wherein the act of marking comprises appending a caution icon to the address if the address does not match any entry in the contact list of said one or more servers, said caution icon indicating to the user that the address is not found in any contact list accessible by the user.

10. The computer-implemented process of claim 6 wherein the act of identifying an entry in the preview pane or full message window of an email message as an email address in an incoming email message comprises initially appending an icon representing an indeterminate indicator to all email addresses in the header that are not in a “

From”

address field, and where the acts of checking and marking these email addresses is postponed until background processing can be used to perform the checking and marking unless a user initiates a search command directing that one or more of these addresses be subjected to checking and marking immediately.

11. The computer-implemented process of claim 10 wherein the indeterminate icon appended to addresses in the email header that are not in the From address field is replaced with an appropriate icon when the checking and marking acts are performed.

12. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the email message is an outgoing email message prepared by a user, and wherein the act of identifying comprises determining if the email address was autofilled from a contact database or server database.

13. The computer-implemented process of claim 12 wherein the act of marking comprises marking the autofilled email address with an appropriate indicator based on the source used to autofill the email address.

14. The computer-implemented process of claim 13 wherein the act of marking the autofilled email address with the appropriate indicator comprises the acts of:

appending a single recipient icon to the address if the address matches an address in the contact list of a checked database;

appending a mailing list icon to the address if the address matches a mailing list address in the contact list of a checked database;

appending a newsgroup icon to the address if the address matches a newsgroup address in the contact list of a checked database; and

appending a server icon to the address if the address was autofilled from a contact list of a server.

15. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the act of manipulating comprises one of moving, deleting, or copying the object.

16. The computer-implemented process of claim 15 wherein the act of selecting an indicator comprises an act of selecting the indicator via an activation action associated with an input device.

17. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 further comprising the act of allowing a user to open an entry in the contact database associated with the address via an activation action associated with an input device.

18. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 further comprising the act of prompting a user to create an entry associated with the address in the contact database via an activation action associated with an input device whenever such an entry does not already exist in the contact database.

19. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the act of selecting an indicator further comprises an act of displaying an appropriate contextual menu depending on the type of indicator associated with said address.

20. The computer-implemented process of claim 19 wherein the act of displaying an appropriate contextual menu further comprises adding an email address to a user'"'"'s contact list and wherein an email address is added to the user'"'"'s contact data base upon selection of the menu item.

21. The computer-implemented process of claim 20 wherein the user has an option to open a window containing editable content associated with an email address if a contact who sent the email message is in the user'"'"'s contact data base.

22. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 further comprising the act of using a computer to open an item associated with the email address after looking up the item in one or more contact databases when the user double clicks on the adjacently placed indicator.

23. The computer-implemented process of claim 22 further comprising the prompting the user to create an item associated with said indicator if the address was manually entered or captured from a server.

3. (cancelled)

9. (cancelled)

24. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for allowing a user to manipulate an email address contained in the preview pane or full message text of an email message as an object, said computer-executable instructions comprising:

recognizing an entry in the preview pane or full message text of an email message as an email address;

checking the email address against addresses in one or more contact databases to determine if the address is contained in at least one of the checked databases;

marking the email address with an adjacently placed icon, said icon identifying a contact database containing the email address; and

upon selection of the icon by the user, allowing the user to manipulate the email address as an object.

25. A system for allowing a user to manipulate an email address contained in an email message as an object, comprising

a general purpose computing device,

a user interface for dynamically interfacing a user to the computer device, wherein the user is provided with a display of an icon appended to the email address which is indicative of the pedigree of the email address and said user interface allows a user to select the icon and associated address, and when selected allows the user to manipulate the email address as an object;

a computer program comprising program modules executable by the computing device, wherein the computing device is directed by the program modules of the computer program to,

identify an entry in the preview pane or full message window of an email message as an email address;

check the email address against addresses in one or more contact databases to determine if the address is contained in at least one of the checked databases; and

mark the email address with an adjacently placed icon, said icon identifying a contact database containing the email address.