METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORWARDING EMAILS TO PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS

• US 20090125596A1
• Filed: 11/14/2007
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Naick, Indran, Wilson, Jeff K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,818,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The illustrative embodiments of the present invention described herein provide a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for forwarding a reply email message. The process dynamically inserts email addresses associated with a plurality of recipients of an original email message and with an email address associated with the sender of the original email message into a recipient field of the reply email message. The email address associated with the sender of the original email message is identified to form an identified email address, wherein a copy of the reply email message is unsent to the identified email address. However, the identified email address remains part of the recipient field. In response to receiving a send command, the reply email message is sent to the email addresses associated with the recipient field excluding the identified email address.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for forwarding an email message, the computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to forward the email message;

determining whether the email message is a reply email message, wherein the reply email message is an email message that was previously sent in response to an original email message and wherein the reply email message was only sent to a sender associated with the original email message;

responsive to a determination that the email message is the reply email message, determining whether the original email message was previously sent to a plurality of recipients;

responsive to a determination that the original email message was previously sent to a plurality of recipients, inserting email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients and with an email address associated with the sender of the original email message into a recipient field associated with the reply email message;

identifying the email address associated with the sender of the original email message to form an identified email address, wherein a copy of the reply email message is unsent to the identified email address and wherein the identified email address remains part of the recipient field; and

responsive to receiving a send command, sending the reply email message to the email addresses associated with the recipient field excluding the identified email address.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending an update email message to the identified email address.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 wherein the update email message requests authorization to update a list of recipients associated with the reply email message that was previously sent only to the sender.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

responsive to receiving the authorization, locating the reply email message that was previously sent on a data processing system associated with the sender; and

updating the list of recipients associated with the reply email message that was previously sent to the sender with the email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining if a chain of emails is associated with the reply email message that was previously sent to the sender, wherein the chain of emails are emails that were sent in response to the reply email message that was previously sent to the sender prior to the step of updating the list of recipients associated with the reply email message; and

responsive to a determination that the chain of emails exist, forwarding the chain of emails to the email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

requesting authorization to forward the chain of emails to the email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients prior to the step of forwarding the chain of emails.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying text associated with the reply email message prior to sending.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining if the email message is a reply email message is performed prior to the step of receiving a request to forward the email message.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the email message is not a reply email address, disabling a command associated with the request to forward the email message.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the recipient field associated with the reply email prior to sending, wherein modifying adds or deletes email addresses to the recipient field.

11. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for forwarding an email message, the computer program product comprising;

computer usable program code for receiving a request to forward the email message;

computer usable program code for determining whether the email message is a reply email message, wherein the reply email message is an email message that was previously sent in response to an original email message and wherein the reply email message was only sent to a sender associated with the original email message;

computer usable program code for determining whether the original email message was previously sent to a plurality of recipients in response to a determination that the email message is the reply email message;

computer usable program code for inserting email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients and with an email address associated with the sender of the original email message into a recipient field associated with the reply email message in response to determination that the original email message was previously sent to a plurality of recipients;

computer usable program code for identifying the email address associated with the sender of the original email message to form an identified email address, wherein a copy of the reply email message is unsent to the identified email address and wherein the identified email address remains part of the recipient field; and

computer usable program code for sending the reply email message to the email addresses associated with the recipient field excluding the identified email address in response to receiving a send command.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:

computer usable program code for sending an update email message to the identified email address.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the update email message requests authorization to update a list of recipients associated with the reply email message that was previously sent only to the sender.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising:

computer usable program code for locating the reply email message that was previously sent on a data processing system associated with the sender in response to receiving the authorization; and

computer usable program code for updating the list of recipients associated with the reply email message that was previously sent to the sender with the email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

computer usable program code for determining if a chain of emails is associated with the reply email message that was previously sent to the sender, wherein the chain of emails are emails that were sent in response to the reply email message that was previously sent to the sender prior to the step of updating the list of recipients associated with the reply email message; and

computer usable program code for forwarding the chain of emails to the email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients in response to a determination that the chain of emails exist.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

requesting authorization to forward the chain of emails to the email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients prior to the step of forwarding the chain of emails.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

computer usable program code for modifying text associated with the reply email message prior to sending.

18. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the computer usable program code for determining if the email message is a reply email message is performed prior to the computer usable program code for receiving a request to forward the email message.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

computer usable program code for disabling a command associated with the request to forward the email message in response to a determination that the email message is not a reply email address.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a bus system;

a communications system connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes computer usable program code; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable program code to receive a request to forward the email message;

determine whether the email message is a reply email message, wherein the reply email message is an email message that was previously sent in response to an original email message and wherein the reply email message was only sent to a sender associated with the original email message;

determine whether the original email message was previously sent to a plurality of recipients in response to determination that the email message is the reply email message;

inserting email addresses associated with the plurality of recipients and with an email address associated with the sender of the original email message into a recipient field associated with the reply email message in response to determination that the original email message was previously sent to a plurality of recipients;

identify the email address associated with the sender of the original email message to form an identified email address, wherein a copy of the reply email message is unsent to the identified email address and wherein the identified email address remains part of the recipient field; and

send the reply email message to the email addresses associated with the recipient field excluding the identified email address in response to receiving a send command.