Chat room

Method and system for e-mail chain group discussions

6970907

Abstract

A system and method for reformatting chain forwarded and chain replied electronic messages into thread-of-discussion messages for improved readability and reader comprehension. The chained electronic messages are parsed into discussion entries which are then sorted by a preferred order, such as last-to-first by date of creation. Extraneous fields and data which are not part of the substantive discussion are removed from the discussion entries. Long or full electronic mail addresses are replaced by abbreviations or preferred nicknames which may be found in an address book. Finally, the sorted discussion entries with source abbreviations or preferred nicknames are combined and output as a thread-of-discussion format message.


Claims

1. A method for creating thread-of-discussion electronic mail messages for chained electronic mail messages in an electronic mail system, said method comprising the steps of:

parsing text of the body of a single chained electronic mail message into discussion entries, said parsing being performed by finding delimiters and message segment indicators within the text of the chained electronic mail message which indicate the beginning and ending of two or more discussion entries wherein each discussion entry represents quoted text or content produced during a previously-performed message forward or message reply operation;

sorting said discussion entries into a preferred order;

reducing the discussion entries to discussion information by eliminating redundant and unnecessary information from said discussion entries; and

outputting the sorted, reduced discussion entries into a single message having a thread-of-discussion message format.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of parsing the text of a chained electronic mail message into discussion entries comprises parsing a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol message.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of parsing the text of a chained electronic mail message into discussion entries comprises parsing a Hyper Text Markup Language message.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of sorting said discussion entries into a preferred order comprises sorting the discussion entries into a first-to-last order based upon timestamps associated with the discussion entries.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of sorting said discussion entries into a preferred order comprises sorting the discussion entries into a last-to-first order based upon timestamps associated with the discussion entries.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of reducing the discussion entries to discussion information comprises removing extraneous non-discussion field and formatting information from the discussion entries.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of outputting the sorted, reduced discussion entries into a thread-of-discussion message format further comprises replacing full electronic mail addresses for authors of said discussion entries with short names or abbreviations associated with the full electronic mail addresses.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a step of merging text from a chained electronic mail message with text from other chained electronic messages associated with a common chain group.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a step of automatically addressing a new electronic mail message to one or more of members of an associated chain group, said new electronic mail message containing said sorted, reduced discussion entries in a thread-of-dicussion format.

10. A computer-readable medium containing program code for creating thread-of-discussion electronic mail messages for chained electronic mail messages in an electronic mail system, said electronic mail system being capable of executing program code, said program code when executed causing the electronic mail system to perform the steps of:

parsing the text of the body of a single chained electronic mail message into discussion entries, said parsing being performed by finding delimiters and message segment indicators within the text of the chained electronic mail message which indicate the beginning and ending of two or more discussion entries wherein each discussion entry represents quoted text or content produced during a previously-performed message forward or message reply operation;

sorting said discussion entries into a preferred order;

reducing the discussion entries to discussion information by eliminating redundant and unnecessary information from said discussion entries; and

outputting the sorted, reduced discussion entries into a single message having a thread-of-discussion message format.

11. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said program code for parsing the text of a chained electronic mail message into discussion entries comprises program code for parsing a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol message.

12. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said program code for parsing the text of a chained electronic mail message into discussion entries comprises program code for parsing a Hyper Text Markup Language message.

13. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said program code for sorting said discussion entries into a preferred order comprises program code for sorting the discussion entries into a first-to-last order based upon timestamps associated with the discussion entries.

14. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said program code for sorting said discussion entries into a preferred order comprises program code for sorting the discussion entries into a last-to-first order based upon timestamps associated with the discussion entries.

15. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said program code for reducing the discussion entries to discussion information comprises removing extraneous non-discussion field and formatting information from the discussion entries.

16. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said program code for outputting the sorted, reduced discussion entries into a thread-of-discussion message format further comprises program code for replacing full electronic mail addresses for authors of said discussion entries with short names or abbreviations associated with the full electronic mail addresses.

17. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 further comprising program code for performing the step of merging text from a chained electronic mail message with text from other chained electronic messages associated with a common chain group.

18. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 10 further comprising program code for step of automatically addressing a new electronic mail message to one or more of members of an associated chain group, said new electronic mail message containing said sorted, reduced discussion entries in a thread-of-dicussion format.

19. A system for producing thread-of-discussion formatted electronic messages for chained electronic messages in an electronic mail system, said electronic mail system having a processor suitable for executing program code, and said electronic mail system having a means for receiving chained-transmitted electronic messages via a computer network, said system comprising:

a message parser for parsing text in a body section of a single chained electronic message into discussion entries by finding delimiting indicators within the text of chained electronic message which indicate the beginning and ending of two or more discussion entries wherein each discussion entry represents quoted text or content produced during a previous-performed message forward or message reply operation;

an entry sorter for sorting discussion entries into a preferred order;

an information reducer for removing extraneous message information, data, and fields which are unrelated to substantive discussion; and

a message output creator for creating a thread-of-discussion message containing said sorted and reduced discussion entries.

20. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said message parser is adapted to parse Simple Mail Transfer Protocol messages.

21. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said message parser is adapted to parse Hyper Text Markup Language messages.

22. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said entry sorter is adapted to sort discussion entries into a first-to-last order based upon timestamps associated with each discussion entry.

23. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said entry sorter is adapted to sort discussion entries into a last-to-first order based upon timestamps associated with each discussion entry.

24. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said message output creator further comprises a short name label creator for substituting full electronic mail addresses associated with said discussion entries with short names associated with said full electronic mail addresses.

25. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said message output creator further comprises a short name label creator for substituting full electronic mail addresses associated with said discussion entries with abbreviations of said full electronic mail addresses.

26. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said message parser is adapted to merge two or more chained electronic messages associated with a chain group.

27. The system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said message output creator further comprises and automatic message address generator for automatically addressing a new electronic message to one or more members of a chain group.


Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS CLAIMING BENEFIT UNDER 35 U.S.C. 120

This application is related to the U.S. applications Ser. No. 09/672,181 filed on Sep. 28, 2000 by Lorin Evan Ullmann, et al, and Ser. No. 09/714,759 filed on Nov. 16, 2000 by Lorin Evan Ullmann, (to be amended to include serial numbers when they have been assigned), both of which are all commonly assigned.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the figures presented herein, provides a complete description of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows the common arrangement of e-mail servers, client computers, and computer networks.

FIG. 2 shows the fundamental arrangement of e-mail sender and receiver servers.

FIG. 3 depicts the basic architecture of e-mail servers and a client computers.

FIG. 4 shows the logical process of the invention for reformatting chain-forwarded e-mail messages into a more readable thread of discussion.

FIG. 5 sets forth details of reformatting chain-forwarded e-mail message text into discussion thread format text.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method for reformatting a chain-forwarded e-mail message, for creating a chain group if needed, for associating that message with a chain group, and for automatically transmitting the reformatted message to some or all of the members of a chain group. The system provides a more readable or decipherable format of a an electronic message in which multiple instances of forwarding and replying are reduced to a thread of discussion format.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The method and system of the invention are preferably realized as software extensions, plug-ins, or applets associated with a standard electronic mail composer and reader program. This enhanced electronic composer and reader program is then executed by a standard client computer platform such as an IBM personal computer ("PC"), Apple Macintosh or iMAC, or similar computer.

As shown in FIG. 3, the preferred embodiment includes a client computer (80) which has a central processing unit (84), disc input and output (85) for communicating for floppy disks, hard drives, and CD ROM's, user 10 device interfaces (86) such as a display, keyboard, and mouse (83), and a network interface card (87) for interfacing to a computer network such as the Internet or an Intranet (81). The preferred embodiment of the client computer includes device drivers and a bios (88), an operating system such as the Microsoft Windows operating system or IBM OS/2 operating system. The computer platform (80) further comprises non-portable application programs (802) such as the e-mail composer and reader program. The preferred embodiment of the client computer (80) also includes a Java interpreter (89) capable of executing Java applets (801). The e-mail composer and reader such as Netscapes' Messenger program is installed as a non-portable application program (82). The method of the invention may be implemented as changes within the e-mail composer and reader program or as a plug-in modules such as a Netscape Plug-in. Alternatively, it may be implemented as an applet such as a Java applet. The methods for extending such program code, developing a browser plug-in, or an applet is well understood in the art.

The related and incorporated applications describe how to search and identify chain-forwarded e-mail messages for originators and recipients of that message and how to automatically reply to those originators and recipients. The related application further describes how to manage and create chain groups within a user's address book. Some or all of this functionality in the related applications is incorporated into the present invention in its preferred embodiment.

Certain alternative realizations, such as a server-based implementation rather than client-based design, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, such a server may reprocess or reformat e-mail messages for client e-mail users. The following description, then, is given in terms of a client-based application and related to a client address book. However, it will be realized by those skilled in the art that such a server-based application is only an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Turning to FIG. 4, the logical process (40) of the invention for merging, reformatting and automatically addressing chain-forwarded messages is shown. First, the user or the system selects (41) a chain-forwarded message to be merged and reformatted. The message is searched (42) for previous recipients and/or originators, for CHAIN—KEY fields, and for any time stamps or previous segments of forwarded text, reply text, and comment text.

The system or the user may decide to associate (43) the message with an existing chain group. If there exists a chain group to associate with the message, the text of the message is optionally merged (49) with other messages associated with the same chain group, and reformatted (44) into a thread of discussion format.

During the reformatting (44) stage, all unnecessary fields for interpreting the thread of discussion are eliminated from the displayed text, such as the FROM, REPLY—TO and SUBJECT fields, and optionally any time stamps. In some embodiments the time stamps may be retained, but in most embodiments the time stamps will be removed. Also, any special texts or markings in the original forwarded text, such as the greater than symbols ">" may be removed in order to provide greater readability.

Preferably, the system also searches an address book for nicknames or first names of recipients and originators. In order to enhance readability of the discussion thread, these nicknames and preferred names are used as simple and short labels for the entries in the discussion thread, rather than using or showing the full e-mail addresses.

If the selected message is not to be associated with an existing chain group or the selected message does not already contain a chain key in it, an option to create or define a new chain group (and chain key) is provided (46, 47).

Turning to FIG. 5, more details of the logical flow which reformats the chain-forwarded message text into a discussion thread text format are is shown. First, the chain-forwarded text is parsed (50) into discussion entries. This may be done by finding common delimiters within the text of the chain-forwarded message, such as the number of special marking characters (e.g. ">", ">>", ">>>", etc.) from the left margin, or such a special HTML indicators, including horizontal bars and lines.

Then, the discussion entries are sorted (51) by time stamp or order of entry in the original message.

Next, all unnecessary fields and their data, such as the TO, REPLY—TO, and SUBJECT fields, and other information are removed (53) from the discussion entries.

According to the preferred embodiment, an address book is searched to find associated first names or nicknames for the originator's full addresses in the discussion entries, and those full addresses are replaced (53) with first names or nicknames from the address book. For example, the string "robert—smith@anycompany.com" may be replaced with "bob—s":

Finally, a discussion thread format of the message is created (54) by creating a text entries into the new electronic mail message in the order of discussion, and including only the first name, nickname, or other shortened name of the discussion entry originator. This yields a format such as shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7
Thread of Discussion Format
bob—s: I'm not sure I understand who their competitors really are?
sue—m: Joe, that ought to take all the market share from ABC's biggest
competitor!! I can't wait to see how this plays out.
joe—b: Sue, I heard that shares of company ABC hit all-time high after
news of new product release. Company ABC announced that it's new
XYZ product would ship by the end of the year, and would be 5
times more efficient that the closest competitor product.
sue—m: Joe, I was having lunch with Bob yesterday, and he said you had
told him that you were getting ready to buy a lot of shares in ABC
company. Is that right? I heard that their competitors had captured
nearly 100% of the market share last year and ABC company might
not survive the year.


In summary, methods for enhancing standard e-mail and electronic message readers and composers have been disclosed to allow realization of enhanced e-mail and electronic message readers and composers which provide automatic addressing and address book management functions for chain-forwarded messages, and for reformatting those chain-forwarded and chain-replied messages into a thread-of-dicussion format.

Certain details of the preferred embodiments have been disclosed, along with alternative approaches to realize the invention. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that many alternatives from the disclosed preferred embodiment, such as the use of alternate programming methodologies or languages, alternate computing platforms, or alternate electronic message and e-mail standards, may be taken within the spirit and scope of the invention which is defined by the following claims.

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