Method for tagging and tracking non-hypertext markup language based e-mail

• US 20070079009A1
• Filed: 10/04/2005
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cama, Karl
• Granted Patent: US 7,558,830 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for tagging and tracking non-hypertext markup language based e-mail. An e-mail is converted from a non-hypertext markup language format to an encoded format. An item is identified in the e-mail. A tag is added to the item in the e-mail. The e-mail is converted from the encoded format back to the non-hypertext markup language format.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for tagging and tracking non-hypertext markup language based e-mail, the computer implemented method comprising:

converting an e-mail from a non-hypertext markup language format to an encoded format;

identifying an item in the e-mail;

adding a tag to the item in the e-mail; and

converting the e-mail from the encoded format back to the non-hypertext markup language format.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the encoded format is extensible markup language.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the item is one of a hyperlink, an attachment, and a grouped content.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the item comprises:

loading a user preference file; and

identifying the item based on the user preference file.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the tag contains information about at least one of a recipient, a sender, and the e-mail'"'"'s content.

6. A data processing system for tagging and tracking non-hypertext markup language based e-mail, the data processing system comprising:

a bus,

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage devicecontains computer usable code;

a communications unit connected to the bus; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to receive an e-mail containing an item, convert the e-mail from a non-hypertext markup language format to an encoded format, identify the item in the e-mail, add a tag to the item in the e-mail, and convert the e-mail from the encoded format back to the non-hypertext markup language format.

7. The data processing system of claim 6, wherein the encoded format is extensible markup language.

8. The data processing system of claim 6, wherein the item is one of a hyperlink, an attachment, and a grouped content.

9. The data processing system of claim 6, wherein the step of identifying the item comprises:

loading a user preference file; and

identifying the item based on the user preference file.

10. The data processing system of claim 6, wherein the tag contains information about at least one of a recipient, a sender, and the e-mail'"'"'s content.

11. A computer program product for tagging and tracking non-hypertext markup language based e-mail, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable code embodied therein;

computer usable program code configured to convert an e-mail from a non-hypertext markup language format to an encoded format;

computer usable program code configured to identify an item in the e-mail;

computer usable program code configured to add a tag to the item in the e-mail; and

computer usable program code configured to convert the e-mail from the encoded format back to the non-hypertext markup language format.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the encoded format is extensible markup language.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the item is one of a hyperlink, an attachment, and a grouped content.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the step of identifying the item comprises:

computer program code configured to load a user preference file; and

computer program code configured to identify the item based on the user preference file.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the tag contains information about at least one of a recipient, a sender, and the e-mail'"'"'s content.