Abstract:
A new addressee line identifier is added to an electronic mail message. By utilizing this identifier, defined as “attachment data not included”, one may provide an information copy of a note that preserves the style of the actual full note without including underlying attachment data. This allows an e-mail sender to notify additional addressees of what has been sent to the primary addressee without slowing done transmission time or wasting storage space by including unneeded and possibly quite large attachment files.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
     This invention relates in general to computer software, and in particular to a method and system for providing an e-mail notification process to reduce data mailings to additional mail recipients. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electronic mail applications for clients such as e-mail on the Internet provide a means for sending and receiving mail. It is possible to add attachments to electronic mail which may comprise relatively large files that add to transmission time and utilize much storage space. It is well known in the art to provide user options for sending copies of mail to others for information purposes, for example, the CC: function is frequently used to notify someone other than the intended recipient that an attachment has been sent. When this technique is used the mail note as well as the attachment is sent to the intended recipient as well as to each person copied. Sometimes this is the desired result, however, it is equally likely that a notification party merely needs to know that an attachment has been sent. Thus, despite the actual need, under the currently known techniques, the entire note and all attachments will be sent. Thus there is a need to reduce the amount of data being sent to others that are listed as copied. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method to send mail containing attachments without the attachment data to those that are listed as notification only. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide a network efficient means for sending mail to multiple parties. 
     Yet another object of the subject invention is to provide a visual indication of attachments without the necessity of including the attachment data in the mail. This provides a more efficient way to send copies without the unnecessary underlying data. The present invention preserves the style of the original note as well as providing an efficiency enhancement, as it is no longer necessary to create a separate note without the attachment data. 
     These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a more complete understanding of the present invention and for further advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following Detailed Description taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a data processing system which may be utilized to implement a method and system of the present invention; 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate an e-mail sending scenario in accordance with the prior art; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the use of a notify copy in accordance with the present invention; and 
     FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIG. 1, there is depicted a graphical representation of a data processing system  8 , which may be utilized to implement the present invention. As may be seen, data processing system  8  may include a plurality of networks, such as Local Area Networks (LAN)  10  and  32 , each of which preferably includes a plurality of individual computers  12  and  30 , respectively. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a plurality of Intelligent Work Stations (IWS) coupled to a host processor may be utilized for each such network. Each said network may also consist of a plurality of processors coupled via a communications medium, such as shared memory, shared storage, or an interconnection network. As is common in such data processing systems, each individual computer may be coupled to a storage device  14  and/or a printer/output device  16  and may be provided with a pointing device such as a mouse  17 . 
     The data processing system  8  may also include multiple mainframe computers, such as mainframe computer  18 , which may be preferably coupled to LAN  10  by means of communications link  22 . The mainframe computer  18  may also be coupled to a storage device  20  which may serve as remote storage for LAN  10 . Similarly, LAN  10  may be coupled via communications link  24  through a sub-system control unit/communications controller  26  and communications link  34  to a gateway server  28 . The gateway server  28  is preferably an IWS which serves to link LAN  32  to LAN  10 . 
     With respect to LAN  32  and LAN  10 , a plurality of documents or resource objects may be stored within storage device  20  and controlled by mainframe computer  18 , as resource manager or library service for the resource objects thus stored. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that mainframe computer  18  may be located a great geographic distance from LAN  10  and similarly, LAN  10  may be located a substantial distance from LAN  32 . For example, LAN  32  may be located in California while LAN  10  may be located within North Carolina and mainframe computer  18  may be located in New York. 
     Software program code which employs the present invention is typically stored in the memory of a storage device  14  of a stand alone workstation or LAN server from which a developer may access the code for distribution purposes, the software program code may be embodied on any of a variety of known media for use with a data processing system such as a diskette or CD-ROM or may be distributed to users from a memory of one computer system over a network of some type to other computer systems for use by users of such other systems. Such techniques and methods for embodying software code on media and/or distributing software code are well-known and will not be further discussed herein. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 2A and 2B, a prior art method of sending a note and an attachment to multiple parties is illustrated. An e-mail client  100  sends mail to his Manager  110  and to a Customer  120 . An e-mail document  124  comprises, for example, an address section  130  and a body section  136 . The address section  130  may include a “TO:” line  132  (as shown herein addressed to the Customer  120 ) and a “CC:” line  134  (as shown herein addressed to the Manager  110 ). As can also be seen in FIG. 2B, the document  124  includes attachment data represented by an attachment icon  140  shown in the body section  136 . 
     The Manager  110  and the Customer  120  have both been sent the note indicating completion of the requested task as well as the actual data represented by the attachment icon  140 . Since the only purpose in sending the Manager  110  the e-mail document  124  was for notification that a request from the Customer  120  was performed by the e-mail client  100 , unnecessary time and storage space has been used due to the inefficiency of this prior art method. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, an e-mail document  200  is shown in accordance with the present invention. An address section  210  now includes a standard “TO:” line  220  (as shown herein addressed to the Customer  120 , FIG.  2 A), a standard “CC:” line  222  (as shown herein not addressed) and a new “NC:” line  230  (as shown herein addressed to the Manager  110 , FIG.  2 A). As with the prior art method shown in FIG. 2B, the “TO:” line  220  recipient will receive the complete e-mail document  200  with message  242  and all underlying attachment data indicated by attachment icon  244 . Although no addressee is indicated in the “CC:” line  222 , the same information would be sent to any addressee listed therein as per the “TO:” line  220  in accordance with the prior art. 
     The present invention adds an “NC:” 0  line  230 . As shown herein, the “NC:” line  230  is addressed to the Manager  110  (see FIG.  2 A). Unlike the prior art, a copy of the e-mail document  200  will be sent to the addressee in the “NC:” line  230  without the underlying attachment data but with the attachment icon  244 . Thus, utilizing the present invention, the client can inform his or her manager (or any other addressee) that an appropriate response has been sent (perhaps to a customer) as well as what the response included without actually including any underlying attached data. Therefore, no storage space or download time will be unnecessarily wasted sending redundant/unneeded materials. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, a flowchart illustrates the process for efficiently sending e-mail with attachments in accordance with the present invention. At block  300 , the user constructs the e-mail document with an appropriate e-mail editor and places attachments where necessary. At block  310 , the user creates a recipient list and selects the appropriate type of recipient (i.e.., as used herein, for example only, “TO:”, “CC:”, or “NC:”). At block  320 , the user initiates a send of the e-mail document. Each type of recipient list is referenced at block  330  to interpret how much of the e-mail document is to be sent to the recipient on the list. At decision block  340 , it is determined whether or not (for each recipient list) the recipient list is a no attachments type (i.e., an “NC:” type). If the response to decision block  340  is no, at block  360  the present invention sends the e-mail with an icon placeholder with the attachment data to the individual(s) on the recipient list. If the response to decision block  340  is yes, at block  370  the present invention sends the e-mail with an icon place holder only and does not send the attachment data to the individual(s) on the recipient list. Thus, the present invention provides the advantage of allowing a user to send underlying attachment data to only those needing the data while still allowing others to be informed of what has been sent. 
     Although the present invention has been described with respect to a specific preferred embodiment thereof, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art and it is intended that the present invention encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.