Method of setting destinations of electronic mail

• US 7,275,214 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2002
• Issued: 09/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Itoh, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadesse
• Assistant Examiner(s): Roswell; Michael
• Application Number:
  US10/060,782
• Publication Number:
  US 20020107930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,064 Days
• Field of Search: 345/752, 345/764, 345/780, 345/739, 345/744, 715/752, 715/764, 715/780, 715/739, 715/744
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

An addition symbol to add two destinations selected from a list of destinations including a group name representing mail addresses of multiple members, and a subtraction symbol to subtract a mail address of an arbitrary member from a group destination are predefined in electronic mail software, so that when an electronic mail message is transmitted to multiple destinations from a communication terminal, the addition symbol or the subtraction symbol is placed between one destination and the other destination in a destination field in a window for composing an electronic mail message to add a destination address to or delete a personal address of a group member from a group name.

Claims

1. A recipient selection window being displayed on a display device of a sender communication terminal, said display device coupled to an input device via a processor, said input device configured to accept input from a user for determining recipients of an electronic mail (e-mail) message, said recipient selection window concurrently comprising:

an address list section displaying an electronic mail address book that includes at least one individual name of an individual and at least one group name of a mailing group;

a first destination section for specifying recipients of the e-mail message;

a first destination button for placing a selected name in the destination section in response to the destination button being clicked by the user, said selected name identifying a recipient of the e-mail message and being an individual name that is highlighted in the address list section or a group name that is highlighted in the address list section;

an addition recipient button for placing an addition operation symbol (+) in the destination section in response to the addition recipient button being clicked by the user, said addition operation symbol configured to cause an individual name or a group name appearing immediately to the right of the addition operation symbol to be added to individual or group names appearing to the left of the addition operation symbol; and

a subtraction recipient button for placing a subtraction operation symbol (−

) in the destination section in response to the subtraction recipient button being clicked by the user, said subtraction operation symbol configured to cause an individual name or a game name appearing immediately to the right of the subtraction operation symbol to be removed from individual or group names appearing to the left of the subtraction operation symbol.

2. The recipient selection window of claim 1, further comprising:

a start button for placing a start operation symbol of a left parentheses in the destination section in response to the start button being clicked by the user;

an end button for placing an end operation symbol of a right parentheses in the destination section in response to the end button being clicked by the user such that the end operation symbol appears to the right of the start operation symbol;

wherein individual names, group names, addition operation symbols, or subtraction operation symbols appearing between the start operation symbol and the end operation symbol are adapted to be processed together with priority relative to any individual names, group names, addition operation symbols, or subtraction operation symbols that appear in the destination section between the start operation symbol and the end operation symbol.

3. The recipient selection window of claim 1, further comprising:

a personal display button for specifying that only the group names and not the individual names appearing in the first destination section are to be displayed at a recipient communication terminal of each recipient of the e-mail message, in response to the personal display button being clicked by the user; and

an all display button for specifying that the group names and individual names appearing in the first destination section are to be displayed at the recipient communication terminal of each recipient of the e-mail message, in response to the all display button being clicked by the user.

4. The recipient selection window of claim 3, further comprising:

a second destination button; and

a second destination section for listing particular recipients of the e-mail message in response to the second destination button being clicked by the user, said particular recipients of the e-mail message listed in the second destination section to be displayed at the recipient communication terminal of each recipient in accordance with whether the personal display button or the all display button has been clicked by the user.

5. The recipient selection window of claim 4, wherein the second destination section is a second TO destination section for TO recipients of the e-mail message, and wherein the second destination button is a second TO destination button.

6. The recipient selection window of claim 4, wherein the second destination section is a second carbon copy (CC) destination section for CC recipients of the e-mail message, and wherein the second destination button is a second CC destination button.

7. The recipient selection window of claim 4, wherein the first destination section is a first TO destination section for TO recipients of the e-mail message, and wherein the first destination button is a first TO destination button.

8. The recipient selection window of claim 1, wherein the first destination section is a first carbon copy (CC) destination section for CC recipients of the e-mail message, and wherein the first destination button is a first CC destination button.

9. The recipient selection window of claim 1, wherein the first destination section is a first blind carbon copy (BCC) destination section for BCC recipients of the e-mail message, and wherein the first destination button is a first BCC destination button.

10. A communication apparatus comprising a first communication terminal that is displaying the recipient selection window of claim 1, wherein the first communication terminal consists of the sender communication terminal.

11. A method for setting destinations of electronic mail through use of the recipient selection window of claim 1, said method comprising:

displaying the recipient selection window; and

sending the e-mail message to the recipients appearing in the first destination section in response to at least one button having been clicked by the user, said at least one button comprising the first destination button and at least one recipient button selected from the group consisting of the addition recipient button, the subtraction recipient button, and a combination thereof.

12. Electronic mail software stored in a computer-readable memory device, said electronic mail software utilizing the recipient selection window of claim 1, said mail software comprising:

software for displaying the recipient selection window; and

software for sending the e-mail message to the recipients appearing in the first destination section in response to at least one button having been clicked by the user, said at least one button comprising the first destination button and at least one recipient button selected from the group consisting of the addition recipient button, the subtraction recipient button, and a combination thereof.