System and method for response management in multiple email recipients

• US 20060041626A1
• Filed: 08/19/2004
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Walker, Keith Raymond, Handy-Bosma, John Hans, Chen, Yen-Fu, Selvage, Mei Yang
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages

Abstract

The disclosed invention is an improvement to a demand-based messaging system that enables multiple message recipients to coordinate responses to the message. The improved messaging system comprises a messaging program that provides an interface through which a recipient can indicate an intent to reply to the message. The messaging program then transmits this intent to other messaging programs so that other recipients receive the intent as status information when they open the message

Claims

1. A process to coordinate responses from multiple message recipients, the process comprising the steps of:

determining that an email has multiple recipients;

opening the email; and

displaying a summary of a reply status.

2. The process of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the user wants detailed reply information; and

responsive to determining that the user wants detailed reply information, obtaining the detailed reply information from a reply history file.

3. The process of claim 2 further comprising:

displaying the detailed reply information in a reply status and history window.

4. The process of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether a user wants to reply to an email.

5. The process of claim 4 further comprising:

responsive to determining that the user wants to reply to the email, updating the email server for a plurality of recipients.

6. The process of claim 5 further comprising:

updating the email of the plurality of recipients.

7. The process of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a new recipient who was not on the original email, and including the new recipient in the reply history file.

8. The process of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying an original recipient who was later left out of a message chain, and including the original recipient in the reply history file.

9. A program product, operable on a computer, to coordinate responses from multiple message recipients comprising:

a computer readable medium containing instructions for a computer to perform steps comprising;

determining that an email has multiple recipients;

responsive to determining that an email has multiple recipients, opening the email;

displaying a summary of a reply status;

10. The program product of claim 9 further comprising:

determining whether the user wants detailed reply information; and

responsive to determining that the user wants detailed reply information, obtaining the detailed reply information from a reply history file.

11. The program product of claim 10 further comprising:

displaying the detailed reply information in a reply status and history window.

12. The program product of claim 9 further comprising:

determining whether a user wants to reply to an email.

13. The program product of claim 12 further comprising:

responsive to determining that the user wants to reply to the email, updating the email server for a plurality of recipients.

14. The program product of claim 12 further comprising:

updating the email of the plurality of recipients.

15. The program product of claim 9 further comprising:

identifying a new recipient who was not on the original email, and including the new recipient in the reply history file.

16. The program product of claim 9 further comprising:

identifying an original recipient who was later left out of a message chain, and including the original recipient in the reply history file.

17. An apparatus to coordinate responses from multiple message recipients comprising:

a computer connected to a network;

a program in the memory of the computer containing a plurality of instructions for causing the computer to;

determine that an email has multiple recipients;

responsive to determining that an email has multiple recipients, means to open the email;

display a summary of a reply status;

determine whether the user wants detailed reply information; and

responsive to determining that the user wants detailed reply information, obtain the detailed reply information from a reply history file.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:

display the detailed reply information in a reply status and history window.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:

determine whether a user wants to reply to an email.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising:

responsive to determining that the user wants to reply to the email, update the email server for a plurality of recipients.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising:

update the email of the plurality of recipients.

22. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:

identifying a new recipient who was not on the original email, and including the new recipient in the reply history file.

23. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:

identifying an original recipient who was later left out of a message chain, and including the original recipient in the reply history file.