Recipient-controlled remote E-mail alerting and delivery

• US 8,799,369 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2007
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bishop, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOUDHURY, AZIZUL Q
• Application Number:
  US11/678,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20080205602A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,720 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide message notification systems and methods. Briefly described, one embodiment of a message notification method can be broadly summarized by the following: receiving a new message at a first inbox of a recipient; determining existence of at least one trigger for determining if a notification is to be sent for a newly received message at the first inbox; and sending a notification alerting the recipient of the arrival of the new message at the first inbox, the notification being sent to a second inbox of the recipient that is different than the first inbox. Other methods and systems are also provided.

Claims

1. A message notification method comprising:

electronically receiving a new message at a first inbox of a recipient;

determining existence of a request for a trigger event and a sender-forced trigger for determining if a notification is to be sent for a newly received message at the first inbox in accordance to a priority ranking order, wherein a response to the request for the trigger event and a response to the sender-forced trigger is set by the recipient;

sending the notification alerting the recipient of the arrival of the new message at the first inbox in accordance with the priority ranking order if the sender-forced trigger is denied based on a sender-forced trigger setting previously defined by the recipient; and

sending a denial notification to a sender in response to the sender-forced trigger being denied,

wherein the priority ranking order is previously defined by the recipient and indicates which requests for triggering events to send a notification message are to be granted responsive to receiving the new message, the notification message being sent to a second inbox of the recipient that is different from the first inbox,

wherein the request for the trigger event comprises a time trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message is not viewed within a designated time frame beginning at receipt of the newly received message,

wherein the designated time frame is specified by the recipient and the notification is not sent when the newly received message is viewed within the designated time frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the trigger event further comprises a sender-based trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if a sender of the newly received message is identified in a designated group of senders.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the trigger event further comprises a sender-indicated high-priority trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message has a high-priority tag.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the trigger event comprises a group of triggers, the group of triggers comprising the time trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message is not viewed within the designated time frame beginning at receipt of the newly received message;

a sender-based trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if a sender of the newly received message is identified in a designated group of senders; and

a sender-indicated high-priority trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message has a high-priority tag.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing the priority ranking order of triggers of different types such that a highly ranked trigger trumps a lower ranked trigger and determines when and if the notification message is sent.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the sender if the recipient does not allow for establishment of sender-forced triggers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling retrieval of an entire content of the message after presenting a subset of content to the recipient.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium for message notification, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

electronically receiving a new message at a first inbox of a recipient;

determining existence of a request for a trigger event and a sender-forced trigger for determining if a notification is to be sent for a newly received message in accordance with a priority ranking order, wherein a response to the request for the trigger event and a response to the sender-forced trigger is set by the recipient;

sending the notification alerting the recipient of the arrival of the new message at the first inbox in accordance to the priority ranking order if the sender-forced trigger is denied based on a sender-forced trigger setting previously defined by the recipient; and

sending a denial notification to a sender in response to the sender-forced trigger being denied,

wherein the priority ranking order is previously defined by the recipient and indicates which requests for triggering events to send a notification message are to be granted responsive to receiving the new message, the notification message being sent to a second inbox of the recipient that is different from the first inbox,

wherein the request for the trigger event comprises a time trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message is not viewed within a designated time frame beginning at receipt of the newly received message,

wherein the designated time frame is specified by the recipient and the notification is not sent when the newly received message is viewed within the designated time frame.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the request for the trigger event further comprises a sender-based trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if a sender of the newly received message is identified in a designated group of senders.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the request for the trigger event further comprises a sender-indicated high-priority trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message has a high-priority tag.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the request for the trigger event comprises:

a group of triggers, the group of triggers comprising the time trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message is not viewed within a designated time frame beginning at receipt of the newly received message;

a sender-based trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if a sender of the newly received message is identified in a designated group of senders; and

a sender-indicated high-priority trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message has a high-priority tag.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

establishing the priority ranking order of triggers of different types such that a highly ranked trigger trumps a lower ranked trigger and determines when and if the notification message is sent.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

notifying the sender if the recipient does not allow for establishment of sender-forced triggers.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

enabling retrieval of an entire content of the message after presenting a subset of the content to the recipient.

15. A message notification system comprising:

a computer processor;

a messaging interface component of a first messaging device to receive commands from a user and in response to the commands, set a trigger that determines if a notification is to be sent for a newly received message at a first inbox of the user in accordance to a priority ranking order and specify whether sender-forced triggers are prohibited, wherein the trigger and the prohibition of sender-forced triggers is set by the recipient; and

a delivery component of the first messaging device to send the notification alerting the recipient of the arrival of the newly received message including a sender-forced trigger at the first inbox in accordance with the priority ranking order if the sender-forced trigger is denied, wherein the priority ranking order is previously defined by the recipient and indicates which requests for triggering events to send a notification message are to be granted responsive to receiving the new message, the notification being sent to a second inbox of the user that is different from the first inbox, the delivery component further to send a denial notification to a sender in response to the sender-forced trigger being denied,

wherein the trigger comprises a time trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message is not viewed within a designated time frame beginning at receipt of the newly received message,

wherein the designated time frame is specified by the recipient and the notification is not sent when the newly received message is viewed within the designated time frame.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first inbox comprises an inbox for messages of a first messaging protocol and the second inbox comprises an inbox for messages of a second messaging protocol, the second messaging protocol being different from the first messaging protocol.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first inbox comprises an inbox at a first webmail server and the second inbox comprises an inbox at a second webmail server.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the trigger further comprises a sender-based trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if a sender of the newly received message is identified in a designated group of senders.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the trigger further comprises a sender-indicated high-priority trigger for the newly received message that causes the notification to be sent for the newly received message if the newly received message has a high-priority tag.