Patent ID: 11870748
Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 6:
7. A method implemented by one or more processors, the method comprising:
receiving, at a server computing device, a reply message that is a reply to an initial message that is subject to a group rule,
wherein the group rule is created or selected by a message originating user that sends the initial message via a first messaging client,
wherein a reply originating user, that drafted the reply message via a messaging interface of the second messaging client, selected to respond to the initial message by causing the second messaging client to exclusively populate an address field, that is rendered at the messaging interface of the second messaging client, with a recipient address;

determining, in response to receiving the reply message, that the reply message is subject to the group rule;
determining whether the group rule is modified by the reply originating user;
in response to determining that the group rule is not modified by the reply originating user:
identifying, based on the group rule, multiple different addresses,
wherein each address, of the multiple different addresses, is for a corresponding recipient of the initial message that is not already identified in the address field that is rendered at the messaging interface of the second messaging client, and

communicating, in response to receiving the reply message, the reply message to the multiple different addresses and to the recipient address; and

in response to determining that the group rule has been modified, by the reply originating user, to generate a modified group rule that withdraws only the reply originating user from the group rule:
communicating, in response to receiving the reply message, the reply message to the multiple different addresses and to the recipient address.