SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY RESPONDING TO A MESSAGE SENT TO A USER AT AN EMAIL SERVER

• US 20090037541A1
• Filed: 08/03/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: WILSON, Nicholas Bryson
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,788 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system and methods for adding a personal touch to auto-reply email messages is presented herein. The system and method involve a user enabling a personalized auto-reply feature in their email client, the email client communicating such enablement to a related email server, the email server receiving an email message for the user, the email server determining personal identifier of the sender of the email message and the email server sending a personalized auto-reply using the determined personal identifier to compose and send an auto-reply with a personal touch. The email server may determine the personal identifier through searching one of the user'"'"'s address book or a global address list for an address entry having the reply address found in the received message'"'"'s header or the email server may search the body of the received email message to determine personal identifier.

Claims

1. A method at an email server for automatically responding to an email message sent to a recipient comprising:

receiving the email message from a sender subsequent to receiving the enable communication;

determining at least one personal identifier of the sender of the message;

populating an auto-reply message with the at least one personal identifier; and

sending the auto-reply message to the sender of the message.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining comprises:

parsing a reply address from a header of the email message; and

identifying a contact entry in an address book of the user, the contact entry having the same reply address as parsed from the header of the email message;

extracting the at least one personal identifier from the found contact entry identified.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining comprises:

parsing a reply address from a header of the email message; and

finding a contact in a global address list of the mail server, the contact having the same reply address as parsed from the header of the email message;

wherein the at least one personal identifier is taken from the found contact.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining comprises:

parsing the email message'"'"'s body to identify the at least one personal identifier.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of parsing comprises:

locating a concluding string;

assessing a text subsequent to the located concluding string; and

identifying the text as the at least one personal identifier.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one personal identifier is a first name of the sender.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein prior to the step of determining at least one personal identifier, the method further comprises:

storing a status representative of the enable communication;

retrieving the status subsequent to receiving the email message;

examining the status subsequent to retrieving the status;

ascertaining that the user has enabled a personalize auto-reply message based on the examination of the status.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the enable communication is one of a MAPI message or an HTTP message.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an enable communication from the recipient prior to receiving the email message; and

receiving a disable communication from the recipient

subsequent to sending the auto-reply message.

10. An email server capable of automatically responding to an email message sent to a recipient comprising:

a receiving module adapted to receive the message from a sender;

a determining module adapted to determine at least one personal identifier of the sender of the message;

a populating module adapted to populate an auto-reply message with the at least one personal identifier; and

a sending module adapted to send the auto-reply message to the sender of the message.

11. The email server of claim 10 wherein the determining module further comprises:

a parsing module adapted to parse a reply address from a header of the email message; and

an identifying module adapted to find a contact entry in an address book of the user, the contact entry having the same reply address as parsed from the header of the email message;

an extracting module adapted to extract the at least one personal identifier from the found contact entry.

12. The email server of claim 10 wherein the determining module further comprises:

a parsing module adapted to parse a reply address from a header of the email message; and

a finding module adapted to fine a contact in a global address list of the mail server, the contact having the same reply address as parsed

from the header of the email message;

wherein the at least one personal identifier is taken from the found contact.

13. The email server of claim 10 wherein the determining module further comprises:

a parsing module adapted to parse the email message'"'"'s body to identify the at least one personal identifier.

14. The email server of claim 13 wherein the parsing module further comprises:

a locating module adapted to locate a concluding string;

an assessing module adapted to assess a text subsequent to the located concluding string; and

an identifying module adapted to identify the text as the at least one personal identifier.

15. The email server of claim 14 wherein the at least one personal identifier is a first name of the sender.

16. The email server of claim 10 further comprising:

a storing module adapted to store a status representative of the enable communication;

a retrieving module adapted to retrieve the status subsequent to receiving the email message;

an examining module adapted to examine the status subsequent to retrieving the status;

an ascertaining module adapted to ascertain that the user has enabled a personalize auto-reply message based on the examination of the

status by the examining module.

17. A method for setting an automatic response to a message sent to a user in a personalized manner comprising:

accessing an automatic response setup application, the application having a personalize option;

enabling the personalize option within the setup application;

confirming the enablement; and

sending a message representative of the enabling in response to the confirming.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of enabling the personalize option further comprises:

providing general text to be used for composing the automatic response.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the method is executed at one of a terminal, a personal computer and a mobile computing device.