System and method for tailoring of electronic messages

• US 7,305,443 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2002
• Issued: 12/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Larsen, Per Buch
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Phuoc H.
• Application Number:
  US10/185,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20030041113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,986 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A system and method for tailoring of electronic messages by combining in a composite electronic message information with an indication that at least one portion thereof is targeted for at least one predetermined class of recipient; performing a comparison of the indication contained in a received composite message with a predetermined indication of whether a recipient is of a class intended to receive the indicated portion; and passing the indicated portion to the recipient in dependence on the comparison.

Claims

1. A method for tailoring of electronic messages to a multitude of recipients, said multitude of recipients being grouped in a plurality of classes of recipients, the method comprising the steps of:

combining in an electronic message information with an indication that at least one portion of the information is targeted for recipients of at least a predetermined one of said classes of recipient and producing a composite message; and

performing a comparison of the indication contained in a received composite message with a predetermined indication of whether a specified one of the multitude of recipients is of a class intended to receive the targeted portion, wherein said predetermined indication is selected by the specified recipient to identify one or more of said plurality of classes to which the specified recipient belongs, and passing the targeted portion to the specified recipient in dependence on the comparison;

wherein the performing step includes the steps of;

sending the received composite message to a client machine associated with the specified one of the recipients;

storing the received composite message on the client machine;

said specified recipient changing said predetermined indication to a new indication to change the one or more of the plurality of classes to which the specified recipient belongs; and

after said changing step, performing a comparison of the indication contained in the received composite message with said new indication to determine whether the specified recipient has become of a class intended to receive the targeted portion.

2. The method for tailoring of electronic messages according to claim 1, wherein the indication in the message comprises a text tag.

3. The method for tailoring of electronic messages according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined indication comprises a text string of which at least one character indicates a desired class.

4. The method for tailoring of electronic messages according to claim 1, wherein at least one targeted portion of the electronic message comprises text.

5. The method for tailoring of electronic messages according to claim 1, further comprising providing to an author a message template containing the indication of at least one portion thereof and allowing the author to enter message information.