WO2009116054A2

WO2009116054A2 - Method and system for organizing electronic mails

Info

Publication number: WO2009116054A2
Application number: PCT/IN2008/000171
Authority: WO
Inventors: Samatha Charan Babu Chintakindi
Original assignee: Chintakindi Samatha Charan Bab
Priority date: 2008-03-20
Filing date: 2008-03-20
Publication date: 2009-09-24
Also published as: WO2009116054A3

Abstract

A method and system for managing emails in an email account of a receiver are disclosed. The email account is associated with a primary email id created by the receiver. The receiver can assign virtual secondary email ids based on an alias without accessing any communication system. The alias associates the secondary email id with the primary email id. After an email is received at the secondary email id, the email is stored into a folder in the email account based on the secondary email id automatically. According to an embodiment, an email is received at the secondary email id from a group email id. The system identifies the primary email id from the secondary email id and creates, a target folder in the email account based on the group email id. Another unique feature of the invention includes safeguarding the primary email id by using the 'alias'.

Description

TITLE: METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ORGANIZING ELECTRONIC MAILS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to electronic mails and more specifically, to a method and a system for managing and organizing electronic mails in a computer system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic mails (e-mails) are used extensively in a communication network for personal and business communication. A user of the email system has a unique email address for sending and receiving emails. A user with an email account and a computer may send and receive emails to other users.

The popularity of email as the form of communication has increased substantially in recent years. This has meant a large increase in the number of emails that a user sends and receives in a typical day. This in turn, has made it difficult for the users to manage their email accounts effectively and keep track of the large number of emails received. The problem of managing large number of emails is more pronounced when the user has subscribed to multiple newsgroups. In such a scenario, the user receives large number of emails daily from different newsgroups, making the management of emails even more difficult.

A known method to manage the large number of emails allows the user to create multiple folders in her email account. However, the method requires each user to manually organize the emails in the multiple folders. Hence, a constant effort is required from the user to identify which email corresponds to which folder. Further, it is difficult to trace an email when there are multiple folders into which the email could have been stored. Another known method includes defining a set of rules in the email account for filtering the set of incoming emails and routing them to specified folders. However, the method requires the rules to be created manually by the user.

One such system and method was disclosed in U.S. Patent, 6301608, titled 'Method and apparatus providing personalized mailbox filter' published on October 9, 2001. The patent discloses a system to organize e-mails that requires a user to assign a predefined extension to the email address of each of the prospective sender. The prospective sender uses the assigned extension while sending an email to the user. When the user receives an email from one of the prospective senders, it associates a predefined tag/priority with the email using a lookup table. The lookup table is maintained and updated periodically at the user's end. However, the method has certain limitations associated with it. The method requires the user to maintain the lookup table manually. Further, the user has to assign the tags/ priority for each prospective sender manually.

In light of the above limitations of existing art, there is a need for a simpler and an easier method and system for organizing emails in an email account of the user. The method should also organize emails of a user subscribed to different newsgroups. Further, the method should require minimal user intervention and protect user identity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the invention, a method for managing an email account of a user is disclosed. The email account is associated with a primary email id and the primary email id is associated with a secondary email id. The method comprises receiving an email at the secondary email id, which is a virtual email id and is specified by the user. The method allows the user to assign multiple secondary email ids without accessing a computer system. The method further comprises identifying the primary email id from the secondary email id and searching a folder in the email account based on the secondary email id. The method further comprises creating the folder in the email account based on the search and storing the email in the folder in the email account automatically.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a method for managing an email account of a user is disclosed. The email account is associated with a primary email id. The primary email id is associated with a secondary email id. The secondary email id is a virtual email id and is assigned by user without accessing the mail server. The user is subscribed to a newsgroup which is associated with a group email id. The method includes receiving an email at the secondary email id from the group email id, identifying the primary email id from the secondary email id, searching a target folder in the email account based on the group email id. Further, the method includes creating at least one folder in the email account based on the search. In one embodiment, the at least one folder is the target folder. Thereafter, the method includes storing the email in the target folder automatically.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention, a system for managing an email account of a user is disclosed. The email account of the user is associated with a primary email id. Further, the primary email id is associated with secondary email id. In an embodiment, the system is a self-organizing email system. The self- organizing email system includes an email identity verifier for identifying the primary email id from the secondary email id. Further, the system includes a folder checker for searching a target folder in the primary email account based on the group email id. The system also includes a folder creator for creating at least one folder in the primary email account. In one embodiment, the at least one folder is the target folder. In another embodiment, the at least one folder is a primary folder associated with the group mail id and the target folder created as a subfolder in the primary folder. Further, the system includes a message filer for storing the email in the folder in the primary email account.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic depicting an electronic communication environment, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is, a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing an email account, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic depicting an email module, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a detailed flow diagram illustrating the method for managing the email account, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing an email account of a newsgroup subscriber, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to a person ordinarily skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. Various aspects and features of example embodiments of the invention are described in more detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a schematic depicting an electronic communication environment 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. Electronic communication environment 100 includes a sender 102 communicating with a receiver 104 over a communication network 106. Sender 102 and receiver 104 communicate with each other by composing, sending and receiving electronic mails, referred to as e-mails or simply mails, over communication network 106. Communication network 106 includes an email module 108. In one embodiment, communication network 106 is the Internet and email module 108 is implemented as a client-server system.

Email module 108 comprises electronic communication systems (ECS) of sender 102 and receiver 104 that act as clients in the client-server system. A client is connected to communication network 106 and accesses shared resources provided by a server. The server is also an ECS that stores files and information that is available to other (client) computers connected to communication network 106. The client makes a request to the server for the stored files or information when the client wants to access the information. The client makes the request using a specified protocol. Upon receiving the request, the server downloads the file or information onto the client. In this way, sender 102 and receiver 104 may use electronic communication systems (ECS) to compose, send and receive mails over communication network 106.

The ECS used by sender 102 and receiver 104 may include a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a number of peripheral components such as a computer display, a storage device, and various input devices (e.g. a mouse and a keyboard). Examples of ECS include, but are not limited to, computers, mobile phones, pagers and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Examples of communication network 106 include, but are not limited to, public network like the Internet, local area network (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area network (WAN). Examples of protocols that may be used include, but are not limited to, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Email module 108 also includes an application that allows sender 102 and receiver 104 to communicate with each other using emails. The emails are organized and managed by email module 108 in an email account of receiver 104. The email account of receiver 104 is associated with a primary e-mail id. An example of the primary email id is iohn@wowmail.com. The primary email id is registered in the email server only after the email server determines that the primary email id registered by receiver 104 is unique. According to an embodiment, receiver 104 may specify an 'alias' for the primary email id 'John'. An example of the alias is 'jo1984'. Similarly, the alias is registered in the email server after the email server checks that the alias registered by receiver 104 is unique. The 'alias' is used to ensure that the primary email id of the receiver 104 is not tracked by any third party. This prevents the email account of receiver 104 from being spammed with unwanted emails. Further, receiver 104 may assign one or more secondary email ids to be associated with the primary email id. Receiver 104 may distribute multiple secondary email ids to multiple different senders without accessing the email module 108. In other words, receiver 104 may distribute multiple email ids at any desired time to different users, without using the electronic communication system (ECS) such as computer. Thereafter, the different senders may use secondary email ids to send multiple emails to receiver 104. The emails received by receiver 104 gets organized in the email account of receiver 104 based on the secondary email id used by the sender 102.

According to an embodiment, the secondary e-mail id is a virtual e-mail id. Receiver 104 can assign several secondary email ids without using his ECS (for example, a computer system). The virtual e-mail id is assigned by receiver 104 to ensure better organization of emails in his email account. This will be explained in detail with the help of an example below. The virtual email id may comprise two parts. The first part and the second part are separated by a special character. Special characters include, but are not limited to, '>', '.', V, and 'V.

In one embodiment, the first part identifies the primary email id of the receiver. In an alternate embodiment, the first part is the alias defined by the receiver. The second part may be any term chosen by receiver 104 as the name of the folder under which the emails should be organized. An example of secondary email id is io1984.citibank@wowmail.com. The first part 'jo1984' corresponds to the alias specified by the receiver 104. The second part 'citibank' is specified by receiver 104 as the name of the folder under which the emails from the sender 'citibank' should be stored. In the above example, dot (.) is the special character used as the separator. FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing the email account of receiver 104 according to an embodiment of the invention. The method of FIG. 2 is executed when sender 102 sends an email to secondary e-mail id assigned by receiver 104. At step 202, receiver 104 receives an email at the secondary email id. At step 204, email module 108 identifies the primary email id of receiver 104 from the secondary email id of receiver 104. The primary email id corresponds to the email account of receiver 104. Thereafter, at step 206, email module 108 searches for a folder in the email account of receiver 104. The folder is associated with the secondary email id. In case the folder associated with the secondary email id is not found at step 206, email module 108 creates a folder in the email account at step 208. Thereafter, at step 208, email module 108 stores the email in the folder associated with secondary email id. The email module 108 is described in detail in FIG. 3. Further, the above mentioned method is described in detail in conjunction with FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

FIG. 3 is a schematic depicting email module 108 according to an embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment, email module 108 is implemented as a client- server system. Email module 108 includes a client 301 , a domain checker 302, a database 304 and an email server 314. Client 301 includes an email identity verifier 306, folder applications such as folder checker 308 and folder creator 310 and a message filer 312. In one embodiment, client 301 is the ECS of receiver 104. Examples of ECS, as stated above, include, but are not limited to, computers, mobile phones, pagers and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Email module 108 also includes an application that allows sender 102 and receiver 104 to communicate with each other using emails. Sender 102 and receiver 104 may use different applications for the purpose of communication. Examples of such applications include Microsoft Office Outlook, Mozilla thunderbird, Outlook express etc. The emails are organized and managed by email module 108 in an email account of receiver 104. Receiver 104 receives an email at a secondary email id specified by receiver 104. The secondary email id is virtual and is specified by receiver 104 without accessing email server 314. Domain checker 302 identifies domain name from the email received by receiver 104, for example wowmail, and thereby identifies email server 314 which provides email services to a user. In an embodiment, domain checker is included in email server 314. Database 304 stores a list of all the primary email ids registered with email server 314. Email identity verifier 306 verifies the existence of the email id in database 304. The email id may be at least one of the primary email id and the secondary email id. Further, mail identity verifier 306 identifies the alias defined by receiver 104 from the email id and also identifies the email account of receiver 104 associated with the email id. Thereafter, folder checker 308 searches for a folder associated with the secondary email id. Message filer 312 stores the email in the folder. Folder creator 310 creates a new folder in the email account of the receiver 104 corresponding to the secondary email id. In an embodiment, message filer 312 stores the email in the new folder. The functions corresponding to each of the above defined system elements in the email module 108 will be described in detail in conjunction with FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

Email module 108 also includes email server 314 which acts as a host server. Email server 314 also manages email traffic and email account for receiver 104. Email server 314 stores all emails for a particular domain name, for example wowmail. According to an embodiment, email server 314 provides an identity protection mechanism for masking the primary email id of receiver 104. The identity protection mechanism allows the receiver 104 to create an 'alias' corresponding to the primary email id. For example, receiver 104 may specify 'jo1984' as the alias for his primary email id 'John' (iohn@wowmail.com). Email server 314 also allows receiver 104 to assign virtual email ids based on the alias without accessing the email server 314. The identity protection mechanism is provided to ensure that the spammers do not identify the primary email id of the receiver 104 based on the secondary email id. Email server 314 can be a conventional email server, such as, Microsoft Exchange Server (e.g. Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003) that controls the distribution of emails in communication network 106 using protocols such as Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3). The email server 314 can have unified messaging capabilities and can interface with various technologies including, but not limited to, Instant Messaging (IM) systems, voice mail systems, fax systems, Short Message Service (SMS) systems, and public folders.

FIG. 4 is a detailed flow diagram illustrating the method for managing the email account of receiver 104 according to an embodiment of the invention. The method of FIG. 4 is executed when an email is sent to either the primary id or the virtual secondary e-mail id assigned by receiver 104. At step 402, an email associated with receiver's primary email id or secondary email id is received by email module 108. Domain checker 302 of email module 108 verifies the authenticity of the domain name. After authentication, email identity verifier 306 identifies the receiver's primary email id from the secondary email id. When the email is received at the secondary email id, email identity verifier 306 identifies the alias from the secondary email id. Then, email identity verifier 306 identifies the primary email id corresponding to the alias. Thereafter, email identity verifier 306 searches the receiver's primary email id in database 304. At step 404, email identity verifier 306 identifies the email id of receiver 104 at which the email is received.

According to an embodiment, the email is received at the secondary email id of receiver 104. Then, at step 406, message filer 312 searches for a folder associated with the secondary email id in the email account of receiver 104. According to an embodiment, the folder does not exist in the email account. At step 408, folder creator 310 creates a new folder associated with the secondary email id in the email account. Thereafter, at step 410, message filer 312 files the email in the new folder created. All the subsequent emails from the same sender are automatically filed in the new folder created. According to another embodiment, the folder associated with the secondary email id may exist in the email account when an email is received from the sender at the secondary email id earlier. The email is filed in the folder by message filer 312 when the folder associated with the secondary email id already exists in the email account. The above mentioned method can be described in conjunction with the following example.

For example, say John has an email account associated with a primary email id iohn@wowmail.com, where John is the unique identification associated with the email account. John may have specified an alias, for example, jo1984. Further, John wishes to file all his Citbank emails in a special folder. John may have specified a secondary email id, say jo1984.citibank@wowmail.com as the email id for receiving all emails from CITIBANK. The secondary email id is assigned without accessing email server 314. When an email is received at jo1984.citibank@wowmail.com from CITIBANK, domain checker 302 checks the authenticity of the email server 'wowmail'. After authentication, email identity verifier 306 identifies the alias (i.e. jo1984) from the secondary email id (i.e. jo1984.citibank @wowmail.com). Then, email identity verifier 306 identifies the primary email id (i.e. iohn@wowmail.com) corresponding to the alias 'jo1984'. Thereafter, email identity verifier 306 verifies the existence of the primary email id (john@wowmail.com) in the database 304. A folder named 'citibank' is searched by folder checker 308 in the email account of John when the existence of the primary email id is confirmed in database 304. According to an embodiment, the folder 'citibank' may not exist in the email account when the email is received for the first time from CITIBANK. In such a case, a new folder named 'citibank' is created by folder creator 310 in John's email account. Thereafter, the email is filed by message filer 312 in the new folder 'citibank'. All subsequent emails from CITIBANK are automatically stored in the folder 'citibank'. According to another embodiment, the folder 'citibank' may already exist in the email account of John when one or more emails have been received from CITIBANK earlier. The email is filed by message filer 312 in the folder 'citibank'.

According to an embodiment, the email is received at the primary email id of the at least one receiver 104. The email is directed to message filer 312 when the email is received at the primary email id of the at least one receiver 104. Thereafter, at step 414, the email is filed by message filer 312 in the master folder in the email account.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing an email account of a newsgroup subscriber, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. A newsgroup is an email account to which multiple subscribers are subscribed. Typically, a subscriber specifies her email id to the newsgroup while subscribing to the newsgroup. A subscriber can post an email on the newsgroup by sending the email to the newsgroup. Similarly, the subscribers can also view all the emails that are posted on the newsgroup. Generally, all the emails posted on the newsgroup are sent to the subscribers at the email ids specified by the subscribers. The newsgroup may be associated with a group email id. Group email id may be a primary group email id or a secondary group email ids. For example, the newsgroup 'Campus' may be associated with a primary group email id, campus@wowemail.com. Further, the newsgroup 'Campus' may be associated with sub-groups such as placements, departments, news, students etc. The secondary group email ids associated with the newsgroup 'Campus' may be, for example, campus.placements@wowemail.com, campus.departments@wowemail.com, campus.news@wowemail.com . and campus.students@wowemail.com. The subscriber receives the email from the primary group email id or the secondary group email id depending on whether the email was posted on the newsgroups or the subgroups. The emails get organized in the email account of receiver 104 based on the sender's email id. According to an embodiment of the invention, the subscriber subscribes to the news group by specifying the secondary group email id. For example, say John has an email account associated with a primary email id john@wowmail.com. John may subscribe to the newsgroup 'campus' by specifying a secondary email id 'john.campus@wowmail.com'. The secondary email id is a virtual email id and can be assigned by John without accessing email server 314.

At step 502, the subscriber receives an email at the secondary email id. Database 304 stores the list of all the primary group email ids and the secondary group email ids associated with the newsgroups. According to an embodiment of the invention, the email is received from the primary group email id. According to another embodiment of the invention, the email is received from the secondary group email id. Email identity verifier 306 identifies the primary group email id associated with the newsgroup. The primary group email id is identified from the secondary group email id when the email is received from the secondary group email id. At step 504, the primary email id of the at least one receiver 104 is identified from the secondary email id. At step 506, message filer 312 searches a target folder in the email account associated with the subscriber. According to an embodiment, the target folder may be associated with the primary group email id. According to another embodiment, the target folder may be associated with the secondary group email id. At step 508, at least one folder is created in the email account when the target folder does not exist already. At step 510, the email is stored in the target folder. The above mentioned method can be described in conjunction with the following example.

For example, say John is a subscriber of the newsgroup 'Campus'. The email is received at the secondary group email id of John, i.e. Jo1984.campus@wowmail.com. According to an embodiment, an email is received from primary group email id i.e. campus@wowemail.com. Email identity verifier 306 verifies the existence of the newsgroup in the database 304. Further, email identity verifier 306 identifies the primary email id of John i.e. John@wowmail.com corresponding to the alias 'jo1984' in the secondary email id (Jo1984.campus@wowemail.com). Folder checker 308 checks the existence of a target folder titled 'campus' in the email account of John. According to an embodiment, the target folder 'campus' may not exist in the email account. According to another embodiment, the target folder 'campus' may already exist in the email account. The folder creator 310 creates a target folder 'campus' in the email account when it does not already exist. Thereafter, message filer 312 files the email in the target folder 'campus'. All the subsequent emails to 'campus' newsgroup are organized in the target folder 'campus'.

According to another embodiment, an email is received from secondary group email id i.e. campus.placements@wowemail.com. The email is received at the secondary group email id of John, i.e. Jo1984.campus@wowmail.com. Email identity verifier 306 identifies the primary group email id i.e. campus@wowemail.com from the secondary group email id. Further, email identity verifier 306 identifies the primary email id of John i.e. John@wowmail.com. Folder checker 308 checks the existence of a target folder titled 'placements' in a folder 'campus' in the email account of John. In case the folder 'campus' does not exist in the email account of John, folder creator 310 creates the folder 'campus'. Further, a folder 'placements' is created under folder 'campus'. In case the folder 'campus' exists in the email account of John, folder checker 308 checks for folder 'placements' under the campus 'folder'. In case the folder 'placements' does not exist, folder creator 310 creates the folder 'placements' under the folder 'campus'.

Thereafter, message filer 312 files the email in the target folder 'placements'. All the subsequent emails to 'campus.placements' newsgroups are organized in the target folder 'placements'.

Various embodiments of the invention provide methods and system for organizing and managing emails in an email account of the receiver. The method allows automatic creation of folders and subfolders based on primary or secondary email ids of the receiver and sender. The secondary email ids are virtual email ids and can be assigned by the receiver without using his communication system. Further, the method does not require any manual effort from the receiver in organizing the emails in his email account. In an embodiment, the system provided is a self-organizing email system with an ability to file the received emails into different folders based on the preferences set in the user's email id. Further, the system protects the user identity by allowing the user to create an alias for his email id. The methods of the invention may be implemented using computer software. If written in a programming language conforming to a recognized standard, sequences of instructions designed to implement the methods can be compiled for execution on a variety of hardware platforms and for interface to a variety of operating systems. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein. Furthermore, it is common in the art to speak of software, in one form or another (e.g., program, procedure, application), as taking an action or causing a result. Such expressions are merely a shorthand way of saying that execution of the software by a computer causes the processor of the computer to perform an action or produce a result.

While example embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the invention is not limited to these embodiments only. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method for managing an email account of a user, the email account being associated with a primary email id, the primary email id being associated with a secondary email id, the method comprising: a. receiving an email at the secondary email id, the secondary email id being a virtual email id assigned by the user; b. identifying the primary email id from the secondary email id; c. searching a folder in the email account based on the secondary email id; d. creating the folder in the email account based on the search; and e. storing the email in the folder in the email account.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary email id is an alias specified by the user.

3. A method for managing an email account of a user, the email account being associated with a primary email id, the primary email id being associated with a secondary email id, the user being subscribed to a news group, the newsgroup being associated with a group email id, the method comprising: a. receiving an email at the secondary email id from the group email id; b. identifying the primary email id from the secondary email id; c. searching a target folder in the email account based on at least one of the group email id and the secondary email id; d. creating at least one folder in the email account based on the search, the at least one folder comprising the target folder; and e. storing the email in the target folder.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the secondary email id is a virtual email id assigned by the user.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the group email id is a primary group email id.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the group email id is a secondary group email id.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the primary email id is an alias specified by the user.

8. A system for managing an email account of a user, the email account being associated with a primary email id, the primary email id being associated with a secondary email id, the secondary email id being a virtual email id assigned by the user, the system comprising: a. an email identity verifier for identifying the primary email id from the secondary email id; b. a folder checker for searching a target folder in the email account based on the secondary email id; c. a folder creator for creating at least one folder in the email account, the at least one folder comprising the target folder; and d. a message filer for storing the email in the folder in the email account.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the primary email id is an alias specified by the user.

10. A computer program product the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for managing an email account of a user, the email account being associated with a primary email id, the primary email id being associated with a secondary email id, the user receiving an email at the secondary email id, the computer program product performing: a. identifying the primary email id from the secondary email id; b. searching a folder in the email account based on the secondary email id; c. creating the folder in the email account based on the search; and d. storing the email in the folder in the email account.