SHARING EMAIL

• US 20130024534A1
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zimmet, Carol Sue, O'Sullivan, Patrick Joseph, Harpur, Liam, Raguillat, Fred, Terlizzi, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 8,601,080 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding

Abstract

A trust relationship may be established between a first email user and at least a second email user. At least one email message received by the second user is automatically propagated to the first user based upon, at least in part, the trust relationship.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing, via a computing device, a trust relationship between a first email user and at least a second email user, wherein establishing the trust relationship between the first email user and the second email user includes;

sending, between the first email user and the second email user, an offer through one or more visual windows defining the trust relationship, wherein the one or more visual windows include one or more selectable rules defining which one or more email messages to propagate between the first email user and the second email user; and

receiving an acceptance of the offer and a selection of the one or more selectable rules through the one or more visual windows, wherein the acceptance of the offer establishes the trust relationship.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically propagating at least one email message received by the second email user to the first email user based upon, at least in part, the trust relationship.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes allowing the second email user to grant permission for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated to the first email user.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes transmitting the offer to the first email user for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated from the second email user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes receiving the acceptance from the first email user for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated from the second email user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trust relationship includes a bidirectional trust relationship and at least one email message received by the first email user is propagated to the second email user based upon, at least in part, the bidirectional trust relationship.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the trust relationship is based upon, at least in part, at least one of:

an attribute of an original sender of the at least one email message; and

an attribute of the at least one email message.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes receiving a request that the second email user grant permission for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated to the first email user.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining if the at least one email message is a duplicate email.

10. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

establishing, via a computing device, a trust relationship between a first email user and at least a second email user, wherein establishing the trust relationship between the first email user and the second email user includes;

sending, between the first email user and the second email user, an offer through one or more visual windows defining the trust relationship, wherein the one or more visual windows include one or more selectable rules defining which one or more email messages to propagate between the first email user and the second email user; and

receiving an acceptance of the offer and a selection of the one or more selectable rules through the one or more visual windows, wherein the acceptance of the offer establishes the trust relationship.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 further comprising automatically propagating at least one email message received by the second email user to the first email user based upon, at least in part, the trust relationship.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes allowing the second email user to grant permission for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated to the first email user.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes transmitting the offer to the first email user for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated from the second email user.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes receiving the acceptance from the first email user for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated from the second email user.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the trust relationship includes a bidirectional trust relationship and at least one email message received by the first email user is propagated to the second email user based upon, at least in part, the bidirectional trust relationship.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the trust relationship is based upon, at least in part, at least one of:

an attribute of an original sender of the at least one email message; and

an attribute of the at least one email message.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes receiving a request that the second email user grant permission for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated to the first email user.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising determining if the at least one email message is a duplicate email.

19. A computing system including a processor and memory configured to perform operations comprising:

establishing, via a computing device, a trust relationship between a first email user and at least a second email user, wherein establishing the trust relationship between the first email user and the second email user includes;

sending, between the first email user and the second email user, an offer through one or more visual windows defining the trust relationship, wherein the one or more visual windows include one or more selectable rules defining which one or more email messages to propagate between the first email user and the second email user; and

receiving an acceptance of the offer and a selection of the one or more selectable rules through the one or more visual windows, wherein the acceptance of the offer establishes the trust relationship.

20. The computing system of claim 19 further comprising automatically propagating at least one email message received by the second email user to the first email user based upon, at least in part, the trust relationship.

21. The computing system of claim 19, wherein the trust relationship includes a bidirectional trust relationship and at least one email message received by the first email user is propagated to the second email user based upon, at least in part, the bidirectional trust relationship.

22. The computing system of claim 20, wherein the trust relationship is based upon, at least in part, at least one of:

an attribute of an original sender of the at least one email message; and

an attribute of the at least one email message.

23. The computing system of claim 20, wherein establishing the trust relationship further includes receiving a request that the second email user grant permission for the at least one email message to be automatically propagated to the first email user.