Patent ID: 7882183
Filing Date: 2011-02-01
Classification: G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for managing responses to an electronic communication sent to a plurality of recipients, comprising: receiving, by an email controller for a particular recipient, an electronic communication sent by a sender to a plurality of recipients including said particular recipient identified as a hidden recipient whose receipt of said electronic communication is hidden from other recipients from among said plurality of recipients and sent to at least one general recipient whose receipt of said electronic communication is published to said plurality of recipients; responsive to said email controller receiving said electronic communication with said particular recipient identified as said hidden recipient, triggering a hidden recipient manager to manage a plurality of response options to said electronic communication comprising a request to reply to said electronic communication, a request to reply to all of said plurality of recipients of said electronic communication, a request to forward said electronic communication, and a request to copy and paste a portion of the contents of said electronic communication; accessing, by said hidden recipient manager, at least one hidden preference set by said hidden recipient for management of responses of at least one blocking preference and at least one warning preference; responsive to said hidden recipient manager detecting said particular recipient select said electronic communication, blocking said particular recipient from selecting at least one response option from among a plurality of response options, wherein said at least one reply option is selected according to said at least one blocking preference; responsive to said hidden recipient manager detecting a request by said particular recipient to respond to said electronic communication through selection of an unblocked response option from among said plurality of response options, detecting whether said request to respond is addressed to at least one recipient other than a sender of said electronic communication; responsive to detecting said request to respond comprises said at least one recipient other than said sender, triggering a warning output from among a popup window displayed with a warning message and an audible warning message for output to said particular recipient according to said at least one warning preference; and warning said hidden recipient that said request to respond is addressed to at least one recipient unaware of receipt of said electronic communication by said hidden recipient according to said warning output.