ELECTRONIC MAIL SYSTEM WITH AGGREGATION AND INTEGRATED DISPLAY OF RELATED MESSAGES
First Claim
1. A method of facilitating viewing of e-mail messages, comprising:
- receiving reply messages from each of a plurality of recipients of an original e-mail message sent by a sender, and storing the reply messages on a server system in association with the original e-mail message;
presenting to the sender a single e-mail inbox entry that represents the plurality of reply messages; and
in response to a request initiated by the sender in connection with the single e-mail inbox entry, retrieving the plurality of reply messages from the server system, and displaying the plurality of reply messages to the sender as part of a single logical e-mail message.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An e-mail system is disclosed that overcomes many deficiencies of, but is backward compatible with, existing e-mail systems. Embodiments of the system may include various features, including but not limited to: (1) secure transfer of e-mail messages, without the need for users to replace existing e-mail clients or to change e-mail addresses; (2) tracking of all actions performed in connection with an e-mail transmission; (3) the ability for a recipient to view information about an e-mail message, optionally including information about how other addressees have responded to it, before deciding whether to retrieve the e-mail message; (4) the aggregation of entire e-mail conversations into a single threaded view; (5) the ability to include both private and public messages in a single e-mail communication; (6) sender control over downstream actions performed in connection with an e-mail message; (7) flexible control over cryptographic methods used to encrypt emails messages for storage.
211 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of facilitating viewing of e-mail messages, comprising:
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receiving reply messages from each of a plurality of recipients of an original e-mail message sent by a sender, and storing the reply messages on a server system in association with the original e-mail message;
presenting to the sender a single e-mail inbox entry that represents the plurality of reply messages; and
in response to a request initiated by the sender in connection with the single e-mail inbox entry, retrieving the plurality of reply messages from the server system, and displaying the plurality of reply messages to the sender as part of a single logical e-mail message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
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assigning a unique identifier to an original e-mail message sent from a sender to a plurality of recipients;
storing the original e-mail message, and a plurality of reply messages to said original e-mail message, on a server system in association with said unique identifier of the original e-mail message, said plurality of reply messages including reply messages from at least two different recipients of the original e-mail message; and
using the unique identifier to automatically aggregate at least the original e-mail message and the plurality of reply messages into a threaded display. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-implemented method of facilitating viewing of an e-mail conversation, comprising:
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identifying a plurality of e-mail messages of an e-mail conversation, said plurality of e-mail messages including, at least, an originating e-mail message sent to a plurality of recipients, reply messages from at least two of the recipients, and at least one reply to one of said reply messages;
identifying a plurality of sub-conversations of the e-mail conversation, each sub-conversation including a different respective sequence of e-mail messages; and
generating a separate, chronological display of each sub-conversation. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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- 20. An e-mail client plug-in stored on a computer readable medium, said e-mail client plug-in adapted to run in conjunction with an e-mail client program on a user computing device, and being capable of intercepting e-mail messages sent from the e-mail client program and causing the intercepted e-mail messages to be communicated to recipients via a secure e-mail service, the e-mail client plug-in additionally being capable of retrieving a plurality of e-mail messages of a common e-mail conversation from the secure e-mail service, and aggregating the plurality of e-mail messages into a threaded display.
Specification