Abstract:
Email is a widely adopted communication tool, but is awkward for dealing with large numbers of attachments, especially when the sender wishes to draw the receiver&#39;s attention to certain portions of those attachments or to present the attachments in a set order. Therefore, the present disclosure provides systems and methods for creating and managing a single attachment object within an email application to enforce a curated experience for the receiver in the receiver&#39;s email application. By providing a single attachment object that comprises and curates multiple component files, an improved user experience is realized for both sender and receiver, and less data need to be transmitted and fewer computing resources expended to provide the curated experience.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/327,617 filed on Apr. 26, 2016 and having the title “EMAIL IMAGE ATTACHMENT ALBUM CREATION,” which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Email is a widely adopted tool for persons to communicate electronically with one another. When email users wish to send more than text in the body of a message to one another, additional files may be inserted into the email message. Such files may include word processor documents, spreadsheet documents, presentation documents, compressed files, sound files, and images. Image sharing is particularly laborious, for both sender and receiver, particularly as the number of image files that the sender wishes to share grows. The sender often attaches each file individually and is reliant on the receiver opening and interpreting each image on their own; the desired order of viewing, or focus, is left to the receiver, who may miss the effect desired by the sender. 
         [0003]    To enforce a curated experience, in which the receiver views the images in an order desired by the sender, the sending user may turn to online image hosting or social media websites to create albums, such as, for example, Facebook® (available from Facebook Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif.), Imgur@ (available from Imgur LLC, of San Francisco, Calif.), and Google Drive™ (available from Alphabet Inc., of Mountain View, Calif.). In addition to this curation not being done within an email client, requiring the sender to use a hyperlink to the third party host if the album is to be shared via an email message, album creation in a social media website or image host requires the laborious uploading of multiple images by the sender into the web interface of the third party host, and the expenditure of computer memory and processing resources to transmit (from sender, third party host, and receiver) for the uploading, the storing, and the retrieval of the images for display as part of the curated album. 
         [0004]    A sender may also try to enforce a curated experience, in which the receiver views selected portions of the image (e.g., those portions having special importance), by editing the images or attaching explanatory files. For example, a sender may use an image editing application to draw a circle around a desired portion of the image, use pen input to write on the image, or crop the image to draw attention to the desired portion. In another example, a user may attach instructions for what the receiver is supposed to notice in each image or an order in which to view the images, which requires additional applications to be opened to convey the instructions and the receiver to pay heed to the instructions. Aside from the possibility of the receiver ignoring or not noticing instructions, the inclusion of instructions may diminish the usefulness of an image (or require a “clean” version to be sent in addition to an annotated version) and require additional files to be attached with the email; further expending computing resources to transmit the instructions, which may be of marginal value. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description section. This summary is not intended to identify all features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
         [0006]    Systems and methods are provided herein for enabling the curation of albums of images attached with an email. As a sending user who wishes to attach images to an email will be prompted as to whether an album should be created or whether the user wishes to attach a multitude of individual images. The album is a single file, which may correspond to a folder in the sending user&#39;s file system, that the receiving user may open to view the images of which the album is comprised in a curated manner. The sending user may specify various curations for the album which will affect how it is consumed by the receiving user, such as, for example: orders of images, graphical and text annotations for the images, sound annotations for the images, zooming and panning instructions, and relational data for the images. 
         [0007]    By providing users with the ability to send and receive curated albums via email instead of a mass of individual images, not only will the user experience (both sending and receiving) be improved, but the efficiency of computing systems used in sharing images will also be improved by allowing the sender to forego using a third party host or relying on the receiver to notice and follow instructions, and reduce the amount of data needed to be transmitted to ensure a curated experience for the receiver. 
         [0008]    The details of one or more aspects are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that the following detailed description is explanatory only and is not restrictive; the proper scope of the present disclosure is set by the claims. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various aspects of the present disclosure. In the drawings: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example environment in which album curation may be implemented; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  illustrates an example of initiating the creation and curation of an album attachment from a file system; 
           [0012]      FIGS. 3A and 3B  illustrate various aspects of the creation and curation of an album attachment, illustrating example controls and example annotations respectively; 
           [0013]      FIGS. 4A-4E  illustrate an example viewing of the album attachment discussed in regard to the examples illustrated in  FIGS. 3A and 3B  in several curated steps; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing general stages involved in an example method for enabling the curation of albums of images attached with an email; 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing general stages involved in an example method for a receiving user interacting with a curated album of images attached with an email; 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating physical components of a computing device with which examples may be practiced; 
           [0017]      FIGS. 8A and 8B  are block diagrams of a mobile computing device with which aspects may be practiced; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 9  is a block diagram of a distributed computing system in which aspects may be practiced. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0019]    The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While aspects of the present disclosure may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the present disclosure, but instead, the proper scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims. Examples may take the form of a hardware implementation, or an entirely software implementation, or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. 
         [0020]    Systems and methods are provided herein for enabling the curation of albums of images attached with an email. As a sending user who wishes to attach images to an email will be prompted as to whether an album should be created or whether the user wishes to attach a multitude of individual images. The album is a single file, which may correspond to a folder in the sending user&#39;s file system, that the receiving user may open to view the images of which the album is comprised in a curated manner. The sending user may specify various curations for the album which will affect how it is consumed by the receiving user, such as, for example: orders of images, graphical and text annotations for the images, sound annotations for the images, zooming and panning instructions, and relational data for the images. 
         [0021]    By providing users with the ability to send and receive curated albums via email instead of a mass of individual images, not only will the user experience (both sending and receiving) be improved, but the efficiency of computing systems used in sharing images will also be improved by allowing the sender to forego using a third party host or relying on the receiver to notice and follow instructions, and reduce the amount of data needed to be transmitted to ensure a curated experience for the receiver. 
         [0022]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example environment  100  in which album curation may be implemented. As illustrated, a sender machine  110  is running a sender email client  120 , which is sending an email message  130  that will be received by a receiver machine  140  via a receiver email client  150 . Files stored on, or accessed by, the sender machine  110  are added to the email message  130  as attachments, and may include curated files  160  (individually, first curated file  160   a , second curated file  160   b , third curated file  160   c , etc.) that are organized into an album attachment  170 , which is sent to the receiving user to provide a curated experience in viewing the curated files  160 . 
         [0023]    Although not illustrated, one of skill in the art will appreciate that various email servers and intermediaries in a network may lie between the sender machine  110  and the receiver machine  140  to route the email message  130  between the sender and the receiver, and a sender or a receiver may access the email message  130  from multiple machines linked to those servers (e.g., on a mobile computing device and on a desktop computing device). 
         [0024]    The sender machine  110  and receiver machine  140  are illustrative of a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, and mainframe computers. The hardware of these computing systems is discussed in greater detail in regard to  FIGS. 7, 8A, 8B, and 9 . In various aspects, the sender machine  110  and receiver machine  140  are accessed locally and/or by a network, which may include the Internet, a Local Area Network (LAN), a private distributed network for an entity (e.g., a company, a university, a government agency), a wireless ad hoc network, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or other direct data link (e.g., Bluetooth connection, a direct wired link). 
         [0025]    The sender email client  120  and the receiver email client  150  used to send and receive the email message  130  are illustrative of a multitude of programs and applications used to send and receive email, including, without limitation, local applications and cloud-based applications, such as for example: Gmail™ (offered by Alphabet, Inc.), Thunderbird® (offered by the Mozilla Foundation of Mountain View, Calif.), or Outlook® (available from Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash.). In various aspects, the sender email client  120  and the receiver email client  150  may be different instances of the same application or program, or they may be unique instances of different applications or programs. 
         [0026]    The email message  130  may be composed, formatted, transmitted, and received according to various standards (and various versions thereof), including, but not limited to: POP (Post Office Protocol), IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), Rich Text, Plain Text, etc. 
         [0027]    The curated files  160  may be formatted according to various image standards and as various file types and extensions, including, but not limited to: bitmaps, joint picture expert group (jpeg), graphics interchange format (gif), portable network graphics (png), tagged image file format (tiff), scalable vector graphics (svg), and digital negatives (dng). A given curated file  160  may be of the same or different format from the other curated files  160  in the album attachment  170 . Each of the curated files  160  may be compressed, if their format allows for compression, may be annotated by the sending user, and may be extracted from the album attachment  170  by the receiving user (with or without the annotations). The curated files  160  may be stored locally on the sender machine  110  or may be accessed remotely by the sender machine  110  on an external hard drive, a networked hard drive, or a cloud storage solution, such as, for example, Google Drive™ (available from Alphabet Inc.), Amazon Cloud Drive™ (available from Amazon.com Inc., of Seattle, Wash.), or OneDrive® (available from Microsoft Corp.). 
         [0028]    The album attachment  170  is sendable and receivable as a single file in the email message  130 . In various aspects, the album attachment  170  is a formatted HTML object that is sent with the email message  130  that enables the receiving user to see the curated experience designed by the sending user as the sending user saw the curated experience. In other aspects, the album attachment  170  may be formatted as an online HTML object to which the email message  130  include a hyperlink for, or as a self-executing file. The album attachment  170  may be displayed in a separate pane from where the receiving user views the body of the email message  130 , a separate window, or in a frame within the body of the email message, depending on the capabilities of the receiver email client  150 . The receiving user may also download the album attachment  170  as an object to a storage solution (local or remote to the receiver machine  140 ) and/or extract the curated files  160  that comprise the album attachment  170  (with or without annotations). In addition, any annotations (e.g., sound recordings, text, image masks) and metadata may be stored as separate files within the album attachment  170 , and the sending user, in various aspects, may include non-image files with the album attachment  170 , although those files will not be annotated or curated as image files may be. 
         [0029]    When creating the album attachment  170 , the sending user may begin the album creation process by selecting files from a file system (as discussed in relation to  FIG. 2 ), manually drag and drop or attach files via the sender email client  120  as part of a user-initiated or system-initiated initiated album creation process, or attach a file path or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a collection of files. The sender email client  120  will provide windows and/or panes for editing the album attachment  170  so that the sending user may curate the curated files  160  by ordering and annotating the curated files  160  and the album attachment  170  as a whole (as discussed in relation to  FIGS. 3A and 3B ). By structuring the album attachment  170  as an HTML object (or as a self-executing file), the functionality to build and curate the album attachment  170  may be localized to the sender email client  120  and the end result of the curated experience may be enjoyed by the receiving user even if the receiver email client  150  lacks the functionality to create and curate album attachments  170 . 
         [0030]      FIG. 2  illustrates an example  200  of initiating the creation and curation of an album attachment  170  from a file system. As will be appreciated, the User Interfaces (UI) illustrated and discussed are explanatory, and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure in the inclusion or exclusion of discussion of various components; one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate additional elements that may be added or elements that may be removed or rearranged from those shown in  FIG. 2  without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
         [0031]    As illustrated, a graphical user interface (GUI) for a file location  210  includes a plurality of files represented as folder icons  230  and file icons  220  (individually, first file icon  220   a , second file icon  220   b , third file icon  220   c , fourth file icon  220   d , etc.). File locations may be local to the sender machine  110 , on a cloud service provider, or a website (via a URL), and the file icons  220  represent electronic documents of various types, including image files. 
         [0032]    When a user has selected multiple files, by selecting multiple file icons  220 , a folder icon  230  representing a file location containing multiple files, or a combination thereof, the user may be presented with a contextual menu  240  with the option to “make an album” from the files included in the selection, if multiple images suitable for use as curated files  160  are present. In various aspects, the contextual menu  240  will not provide the option to “make an album” (or the option will be grayed out and unselectable) unless a threshold number of suitable image files have been selected, and this threshold may be configured by the user to be various numbers (e.g., one, seven, twenty-eight). 
         [0033]    The system providing the GUI by which the file location  210  is displayed or the contextual menu  240  is provided may determine that a file is a suitable image based on the file type extension matching a file type for an image file type which the sender email client  120  is capable of including as a curated file  160  in an album attachment  170 . A non-exhaustive list of extensions that are used in association with suitable for images include, but are not limited to: .gif, .gifx, .gifv, .jpg, .jpeg, .jfif, .exif, .bmp, .bmpx, .tif, .tiff, .png, .svg, .raw, .ppm, .pgm, .pbm, .pnm, .webp, .hdr, .heif, .cd5, .ecw, .img, .cpt, .psd, .psp, .xcf, .cdr, and other file extensions for image file types, which one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize. Selected files that are not images that the sender email client  120  can handle as curated files  160  may be ignored by the sender email client  120  when a user selects the “make an album” option from the contextual menu  240 , or may be automatically added as attachments separate from the album attachment  170  to the email message  130 . 
         [0034]    To illustrate, consider the first file icon  220   a  to represent a word processor document; the second file icon  220   b , the third file icon  220   c , and the fourth file icon  220   d  to represent suitable image files; and the folder icon  230  to represent a storage location including three suitable image files. If the threshold to present the “make an album” option is three image files, a user who selects the folder icon  230 , all three of the file icons  220   b - d  representing image files, or the folder icon  230  and any of the file icons  220  would be presented with the option to “make an album” in the contextual menu  240  when it is summoned. On selecting the “make an album” option from the contextual menu  240 , the sender email client  120  may initiate the album curation process so that the user may curate the image files and send them in an email to a receiving user. 
         [0035]      FIGS. 3A and 3B  illustrate various aspects of the creation and curation of an album attachment, illustrating example controls  300  and example annotations  305  respectively. As will be appreciated, the UIs illustrated and discussed are explanatory, and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure in the inclusion or exclusion of discussion of various components; one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate additional elements that may be added or elements that may be removed or rearranged from those shown in  FIGS. 3A and 3B  without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
         [0036]      FIG. 3A  illustrates example controls  300  for an album creation and curation mode of a sender email client  120 . As illustrated, email client controls  310  are provided for addressing, sending, saving, labeling, etc., the email message  130  with which the album attachment  170  is to be transmitted. Similarly, a message authoring panel  320  is provided for the sending user to author an email message  130 , and may include text enrichment controls (e.g., bold, italic, underline, text color, text size, typeface). One of ordinary skill in the art will be familiar with email client controls  310  and message authoring panels  320  in the context of an email client. 
         [0037]    An album building panel  330  is provided within the sender email client  120  to enable a user to create and curate the curated files  160  comprising an album attachment  170  within the sender email client  120 . Although illustrated as part of a panel for authoring an email message  130 , in other aspects, the album building panel  330  may be provided in a separate window, or in a panel of the sender email client  120  that is unrelated to an individual email message  130 . The album building panel  330  displays image previews  340  (individually, first image preview  340   a , second image preview  340   b , third image preview  340   c , etc.), which the sending user may manipulate to change the order of the curated files  160  comprising the album attachment  170  and view the images that comprise the curated album. The sending user may drag and drop additional image files into the album building panel  330  to add them to the album attachment  170  or may use the album controls  350  to add additional curated files  160  to the album attachment  170 . 
         [0038]    The album controls  350  include controls and indicators that relate to the album attachment  170  as a whole. Such controls include initiating a preview mode, where the sending user can view what the curated experience will look like to the receiving users, a file size indicator (number of files, size in kilobytes/megabytes), add and delete image controls, add and delete sound file controls (from a preexisting file or make a new recording), add and delete pen input controls, add and delete text controls, text editing controls (may be shared with sender email application controls), album and file name controls, etc. 
         [0039]    Cross-image controls  360  enable a user to control how annotations interact across images in the curated experience and how images transition in the curated experience. For example, where x&gt;y, a user may set a sound file to play for x seconds and for a given image to be displayed for y seconds via the cross-image controls  360  so that the sound file will play while the first given image is displayed and continue to play when a subsequent image is displayed. Similarly, transitions and animations (e.g., fade, morph, star swipe) between the images in the curated experience may be set via the cross-image controls  360 . The transitions may specify a pace at which to automatically display the next image file, that user input is required to proceed to the next image file, or to proceed in response to an annotation completing (e.g., wait until an audio file is complete). 
         [0040]    Image controls  370  enable a user to control how annotations and effects are applied to an individual curated file  160 . For example, a first image control  370   a  corresponding to a first curated file  160   a , a second image control  370   b  corresponding to a second curated file  160   b , a third image control  370   c  corresponding to a third curated file  160   c , etc., would enable a user to see and modify the annotations, durations, and effects applied to a single corresponding image. In various aspects, the image controls  370  allow a user to add, format, and delete text, highlighting (e.g., via pen input), pan and zoom commands, and timing commands to the images within the curated experience. In other aspects, the user may use a single set of image controls  370  that will affect a selected (or multiple selected) images from the album building panel  330 . 
         [0041]    As will be appreciated, the controls shown in  FIG. 3A  are but one aspect, and other groupings with more or fewer controls are also possible, and controls appearing in one of the album controls  350 , cross-image controls  360 , and image controls  370  may appear in a different one of the album controls  350 , cross-image controls  360 , and image controls  370  in different aspects. 
         [0042]      FIG. 3B  illustrates example annotations  305  on curated files  160  in using the example controls  300  of the sender email client  120  illustrated in  FIG. 3A . For purposes of clarity, the example controls  300  are not labeled in  FIG. 3B , although one of ordinary skill the art will recognize the controls from  FIG. 3A . 
         [0043]    Pen annotations  315  enable the user to write on the image using natural user input (NUI), such as a touchscreen, or a mouse with a pen tool, to add freeform input. The freeform input may take the form of handwriting, highlighting, or drawings. In various aspects, the sender email client  120  will save the freeform input as a second image or as a second layer to the curated file  160  to which it is applied. The annotations are dimensioned according to the dimensions of the curated file  160  and may be applied as a mask to the curated file  160  when it is displayed as part of the curated experience so that both are displayed as part of the curated experience with the mask overlaying the image, with transparencies for areas not affected by pen annotations  315 . When the sending receiver extracts the curated files  160 , the masks may be included or excluding in the extraction so that the sending receiver can get the file in its original form or in a form with the pen annotations  315  included. 
         [0044]    Text annotations  325  enable the user to add text to be displayed, in a separate pane or as an overlay, to the curated file  160 . The text may be in plaintext or richtext, having various typefaces, colors, sizes, and text effects. In various aspects, the text annotations  325  may be saved as text files within the album attachment  170  or may be integrated as text in an element definition for an image for a curated file  160 . 
         [0045]    Zoom and pan annotations  335  enable the user to increase and decrease the level of zoom in an image, and when only a portion of the image is displayed by the user machine, to determine which portion is displayed. As will be appreciated, as the image is zoomed and panned, various transitions may be applied to smooth the transition from one display state to the next, or the states may jump from one to the next. In various aspects, when an image includes zoom and pan annotations  335 , they may be indicated in a preview thumbnail that indicates an order and area of the original image which will be shown. In other aspects, the different states of zoom and pan annotations may be indicated as images in the order of the album building panel  330  like the images of the curated files  160  or as smaller versions, similarly to the images of the curated files  160 . 
         [0046]    Sound annotations  345  enable the user to add sound files to be played back at various points of the curated experience. The sound files may be preexisting files (such as mp3 files, wave files, etc.) or may be recorded specifically for the album attachment  170 . For example, a user may set a first sound annotation  345   a  to run the course of the curated experience (e.g., a song to play in the background) and a second sound annotation  345   b  to play during or across the display of various images in the curated experience. The sound files that encode the sound annotations  345  are included in the album attachment  170  and in various aspects may be extracted along with the curated files  160  or may be unextractable as files from album attachment  170 . 
         [0047]      FIGS. 4A-4E  illustrate an example viewing of the album attachment  170  discussed in regard to the examples illustrated in  FIGS. 3A and 3B  in several curated steps  401 - 405 . As will be appreciated, the UIs illustrated and discussed are explanatory, and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure in the inclusion or exclusion of discussion of various components; one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate additional elements that may be added or elements that may be removed or rearranged from those shown in  FIGS. 4A-4E  without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
         [0048]    The curated steps  401 - 405  illustrated in  FIGS. 4A-4E  may be displayed in response to a sending user viewing the curated album attachment  170  in a preview mode or a receiving viewer consuming the curated album attachment  170 . As will be appreciated, the album attachment  170  may be previewed or consumed in the email client in a new pane or a new window, a web browser or other compatible program, as a self-executed file, and may be viewed in a windowed or fullscreen mode thereof. 
         [0049]      FIG. 4A  illustrates a first curated step  401  in which the first curated file  160   a  and its associated annotations are displayed to the user. Text annotations  325   a  associated with the first curated file  160   a  are displayed (either as an overlay of the first curated file  160   a  or in a separate pane), sound annotations  345  associated with the image or with the image&#39;s position in the curated album attachment  170  are played, and pen annotations  315  are displayed as a layer on top of the curated file  160  so that the sending user&#39;s annotations may be displayed over the relevant portion of the image, but do not have to be saved as edits to the curated file  160 ; reducing the amount of data that need to be transmitted or retained to preserve the original image and display the sending user&#39;s annotations. 
         [0050]      FIGS. 4B, 4C, and 4D  illustrate second curated step  402 , third curated step  403 , and fourth curated step  404 , respectively, to illustrate an example zoom and pan annotation. As illustrated, the same text annotations  325  associated with the second curated file  160   b  are shown in all three curated steps  402 - 404 , but different text annotations  325  may be shown in different aspects, if the sending user sets specific text to show with specific zoom and pan states. 
         [0051]    In  FIG. 4B , illustrating the second curated step  402 , the initial zoom and pan state for the second curated file  160   b  is shown, along with any other annotations associated with that state (none illustrated) being shown or executed (e.g., sound files). Similarly, in  FIGS. 4C and 4D , for the third curated step  403  and the fourth curated step  404  respectively, the second and third zoom and pan states for the second curated file  160   b  and any other associated annotations are shown or executed. The image illustrated may jump from that shown in  FIG. 4B  to that shown in  FIG. 4C , or an intra-image transition (morphing animation, fade, slide, etc.) may be performed on the transition from second curated step  402  to the third curated step  403 . Similar or different jumps or transitions may be set by the user for the transition from the third curated step  403  in  FIG. 4C  to the fourth curated step  404  in  FIG. 4D . 
         [0052]      FIG. 4E  illustrates a fifth curated step  405 , which, in the current example, is the last curated step. After the third curated file  160   c  and its associated annotations have been consumed by the user (e.g., a set amount of time has passed or the user has indicated an exit from the curated experience), the curated experience may offer the user the option to view the curated experience again, to download the album attachment  170 , or to extract the curated files  160  comprising the curated album attachment  170 . These options may be presented as actuatable controls  490  within the curated experience, as a dialog in a new window or pane, and may not be presented if the user is viewing the album attachment  170  in a preview mode. 
         [0053]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing general stages involved in an example method  500  for enabling the curation of albums of images attached with an email. Method  500  begins at OPERATION  510  when attachments are added to an email. Attachments may be added to an email from a file system calling an email application, dragging the files to attach into the email application, or referencing the files from the email client. 
         [0054]    Method  500  then proceeds to DECISION  520 , where it is determined whether an album experience would be appropriate. In various aspects, the sender email client  120  will determine that an album experience is appropriate based on a number of image files (known by their file extensions) that the user attempts to attach meeting a threshold (e.g., 3, 4, 20, etc., images), a user selecting an album curation interface, or the user referencing a folder or URL for attachment with the email. In various aspects, when the system determines that an album experience is appropriate, the sending user is presented with a dialog from the sender email client  120  to confirm whether the decision to include an album is appropriate. When it is determined that it is not appropriate or desired to use an album attachment  170  to curate the attached files, method  500  may conclude and reinitiate at the next time an attachment is added to an email. Otherwise, when it is determined that it is appropriate to use an album attachment  170 , method  500  will proceed to OPERATION  530 . 
         [0055]    For example, when a sending user attaches a first image and a word processing document, it may be determined at DECISION  520  that it is not appropriate to use an album attachment  170  because the number of attached images does not meet or exceed a threshold to prompt the user to use an album attachment  170  to curate the attached files. Continuing the example, if the user attaches additional image files (e.g., four more image files) sufficient to meet the threshold, the user will be prompted to use an album attachment  170  because the number of attached images now meets or exceeds the threshold. If the user responds to the prompt in the negative, method  500  will conclude and in some aspect may not check with the user again as additional image files are continued to be attached with the current email message  130 . If the user responds to the prompt in the affirmative, method  500  will proceed to OPERATION  530 . The image files will be considered curated files  160 , but the word processor document will be kept as a separate file attachment and therefore not a curated file  160 . 
         [0056]    At OPERATION  530  the sender email client  120  enters into an album creation mode. An example of an album creation mode is discussed in regard to  FIGS. 3A and 3B . When in album creation mode, the sender email client  120  allows the sending user to set an order for the curated files  160  for presentation to the receiving user (OPTIONAL OPERATION  540 ), to attach additional images for inclusion in the album attachment  170  (OPTIONAL OPERATION  550 ), and add annotations to the curated files  160  or the album attachment (OPTIONAL OPERATION  560 ). The album creation mode may be done in a separate UI window or a new pane within a UI for the sender email client  120 . The OPTIONAL OPERATIONS  540 ,  550 , and  560  may each be performed multiple times in various arrangements as the sending user crafts and curates the album attachment  170  until the album attachment  170  is saved and transmitted with the email message  130  in OPERATION  570 . 
         [0057]    At OPTIONAL OPERATION  540  an order for the curated files  160  comprising the album attachment  170  is set. In various aspects, the sender email client  120  may initially use an order of attachment, an alphabetical naming order, a date of creation or modification of the attached files to organize the order of the curated files  160  in the album attachment  170 . The sending user may modify this order by dragging the thumbnails of the images in a graphical interface or by specifying a position of the curated files  160  relative to one another. Additionally, the sending user may modify for how long a given view of a curated file  160  is to be displayed to a receiving user, from an initial value of display, which may be configurable within the sender email client  120 . A display time may specify a given length of time (e.g., 30 s), an annotation&#39;s run time (e.g., display so long as a sound files is not yet complete), or to display until a receiving user indicates that viewing is complete (e.g., sending a “next image” command). 
         [0058]    At OPTIONAL OPERATION  550  additional files for inclusion in the album attachment  170  are collected. In various aspects, these files may be indicated by the sending user (by dragging them into the sender email client  120  from a file system, by using a dialog in the sender email client  120 , etc.) or may be collected automatically by the sender email client  120  (e.g., when a user has indicated a file system path or URL, all the files located at that location may be collected automatically). In addition, the sender email client  120  may suggest images for inclusion in the album attachment  170 , such as for example, the most recent files on a camera device, the remaining images in a file location, images with similar names, etc. 
         [0059]    At OPTIONAL OPERATION  560  annotations are collected for inclusion in the album attachment  170 . As discussed above, annotations may include text, overlay masks for images, sound files, and zoom/pan directions. The annotations may apply to a single curated file  160 , such as, for example, a sound file that plays for the duration that an image file is displayed, or to multiple curated files  160  or the album attachment  170  itself, such as for example, a sound files that plays for the duration that either of two image files are displayed, or a sound file that plays for a set period of time regardless of which image files are displayed. The annotations may be collected from various interfaces within the sender email client  120  when it is in creation mode. 
         [0060]    When the sending user is finished curating the album attachment  170 , method  500  proceeds to OPERATION  570 , where the album attachment  170  is saved and transmitted to the receiving user with the email message  130 . As will be appreciated, when the sending user transmits the email message  130 , the album attachment  170  and a copy of the email message  130  may be retained on the sender machine  110  (or host of the sender email client  120 ), and the email message  130  and album attachments  170  may be sent to many receiving users (e.g., via multiple email addresses, a distribution list, automated mail forwarding). Alternatively, the email message  130  and/or the album attachment  170  may be saved as a draft for the sending user to access at a later time to send. The sending user may access saved copies of the email message  130  and the album attachment  170  (e.g., from a draft items folder internal to the email client, from a sent items folder internal to the email client, from a documents folder external to the email client) to make edits to the album attachment  170  or send to additional receiving users. Method  500  then concludes. 
         [0061]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing general stages involved in an example method  600  for a receiving user interacting with a curated album of images attached with an email. Method  600  begins when the receiving user receives and opens an email message  130  with which an album attachment  170  is attached. Method  600  then proceeds to DECISION  620 , where the user interacts with the album attachment  170  and method  600  may proceed to various operations depending on the signaled interaction from the receiving user. 
         [0062]    When it is determined that the receiving user has interacted with the album attachment  170  to extract the curated files  160 , method  600  proceeds to OPERATION  630 . When the receiving user extracts the curated files  160  from the album attachment  170 , the user may specify various locations for the curated files  160  to be saved to that are local to the receiver machine  140  or remote from the receiver machine  140 , such as, for example, a network drive or a cloud storage solution. The receiving user may also specify whether the curated files  160  are to be extracted with or without their annotations. For example, sound files or text files that annotate images may be saved in the same location as the curated files  160  by the receiving user, or ignored when extracting the curated files  160 . Similarly, when the curated files  160  have been annotated with pen input as masks for the image files, the image files may be saved with the masks applied or without the masks applied, and the user may be provided with “clean” files without the masks, with annotated files (with the masks), and/or with files of just the masks, which may be applied at a later time by the receiving user. When the curated experience includes panning and zooming instructions, the receiving user may save the curated files  160  in their original form, and, optionally, the modified views may be saved as separate images. For example, if a sending user initially shows a first image as zoomed in to a detail, and included zoom and pan instructions to zoom out to the full image, the receiving user could extract the first curated file  160   a  as the full image and could also extract (if elected) an image of the zoomed-in initial view as a separate file. 
         [0063]    When it is determined that the receiving user has interacted with the album attachment  170  to view it in the receiver email client  150 , method  600  proceeds to OPERATION  640 . As discussed in greater detail regarding  FIGS. 4A-E , the receiving user may view the curated album attachment  170  in a full screen mode, within a pane of the receiver email client  150 , or in a new window of the receiver email client  150  or a web browser provided by the receiver machine  140 . The receiving user may navigate the curated album attachment  170  via various keyboard, mouse, natural user input, and integrated commands, adjust volumes, and exit the curated experience before it is complete. In various aspects, a receiving user who exits the curated experience before its conclusion may resume at a last-viewed position in the experience, at a given image, or at the beginning of the experience. 
         [0064]    When it is determined that the receiving user has interacted with the album attachment  170  to save it, method  600  proceeds to OPERATION  650 . At OPERATION  650  the album attachment  170  is extracted from the email message  130  and saved to a destination file path of the receiving user&#39;s choosing. The receiving user may save the album attachment to the receiver machine  140  or to a remote storage solution, from which the album attachment  170  may be interacted with at a later time and/or attached to a new email message  130 . 
         [0065]    The receiving user may perform multiple interactions on a single email message  130  (saving and extracting; viewing and extracting; viewing and saving; viewing, saving and extracting) and after performing OPERATIONS  630 ,  640 , and/or  650 , may interact with the album attachment  170  or the curated files  160  outside of the receiver email client  150 . Method  600  then concludes 
         [0066]    While implementations have been described in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with an application program that runs on an operating system on a computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. 
         [0067]    The aspects and functionalities described herein may operate via a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, and mainframe computers. 
         [0068]    In addition, according to an aspect, the aspects and functionalities described herein operate over distributed systems (e.g., cloud-based computing systems), where application functionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions are operated remotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. According to an aspect, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed via on-board computing device displays or via remote display units associated with one or more computing devices. For example, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which user interfaces and information of various types are projected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with which implementations are practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling the functionality of the computing device, and the like. 
         [0069]      FIGS. 7-9  and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of a variety of operating environments in which examples are practiced. However, the devices and systems illustrated and discussed with respect to  FIGS. 7-9  are for purposes of example and illustration and are not limiting of a vast number of computing device configurations that are utilized for practicing aspects, described herein. 
         [0070]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating physical components (i.e., hardware) of a computing device  700  with which examples of the present disclosure may be practiced. In a basic configuration, the computing device  700  includes at least one processing unit  702  and a system memory  704 . According to an aspect, depending on the configuration and type of computing device, the system memory  704  comprises, but is not limited to, volatile storage (e.g., random access memory), non-volatile storage (e.g., read-only memory), flash memory, or any combination of such memories. According to an aspect, the system memory  704  includes an operating system  705  and one or more program modules  706  suitable for running software applications  750 . According to an aspect, the system memory  704  includes the sender email client  120  and/or the receiver email client  150  to enable a software application  750  to employ the teachings of the present disclosure via stored instructions. The operating system  705 , for example, is suitable for controlling the operation of the computing device  700 . Furthermore, aspects are practiced in conjunction with a graphics library, other operating systems, or any other application program, and is not limited to any particular application or system. This basic configuration is illustrated in  FIG. 7  by those components within a dashed line  708 . According to an aspect, the computing device  700  has additional features or functionality. For example, according to an aspect, the computing device  700  includes additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in  FIG. 7  by a removable storage device  709  and a non-removable storage device  710 . 
         [0071]    As stated above, according to an aspect, a number of program modules and data files are stored in the system memory  704 . While executing on the processing unit  702 , the program modules  706  (e.g., the email clients) perform processes including, but not limited to, one or more of the stages of the methods  500  and  600  illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . According to an aspect, other program modules are used in accordance with examples and include applications such as electronic mail and contacts applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, database applications, slide presentation applications, drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc. 
         [0072]    According to an aspect, the computing device  700  has one or more input device(s)  712  such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound input device, a touch input device, etc. The output device(s)  714  such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. are also included according to an aspect. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. According to an aspect, the computing device  700  includes one or more communication connections  716  allowing communications with other computing devices  718 . Examples of suitable communication connections  716  include, but are not limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/or serial ports. 
         [0073]    The term computer readable media, as used herein, includes computer storage media apparatuses and articles of manufacture. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory  704 , the removable storage device  709 , and the non-removable storage device  710  are all computer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage). According to an aspect, computer storage media include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacture which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the computing device  700 . According to an aspect, any such computer storage media is part of the computing device  700 . Computer storage media do not include a carrier wave or other propagated data signal. 
         [0074]    According to an aspect, communication media are embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and include any information delivery media. According to an aspect, the term “modulated data signal” describes a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media. 
         [0075]      FIGS. 8A and 8B  illustrate a mobile computing device  800 , for example, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer, a laptop computer, and the like, with which aspects may be practiced. With reference to  FIG. 8A , an example of a mobile computing device  800  for implementing the aspects is illustrated. In a basic configuration, the mobile computing device  800  is a handheld computer having both input elements and output elements. The mobile computing device  800  typically includes a display  805  and one or more input buttons  810  that allow the user to enter information into the mobile computing device  800 . According to an aspect, the display  805  of the mobile computing device  800  functions as an input device (e.g., a touch screen display). If included, an optional side input element  815  allows further user input. According to an aspect, the side input element  815  is a rotary switch, a button, or any other type of manual input element. In alternative examples, mobile computing device  800  incorporates more or fewer input elements. For example, the display  805  may not be a touch screen in some examples. In alternative examples, the mobile computing device  800  is a portable phone system, such as a cellular phone. According to an aspect, the mobile computing device  800  includes an optional keypad  835 . According to an aspect, the optional keypad  835  is a physical keypad. According to another aspect, the optional keypad  835  is a “soft” keypad generated on the touch screen display. In various aspects, the output elements include the display  805  for showing a graphical user interface (GUI), a visual indicator  820  (e.g., a light emitting diode), and/or an audio transducer  825  (e.g., a speaker). In some examples, the mobile computing device  800  incorporates a vibration transducer for providing the user with tactile feedback. In yet another example, the mobile computing device  800  incorporates a peripheral device port  840 , such as an audio input (e.g., a microphone jack), an audio output (e.g., a headphone jack), and a video output (e.g., a HDMI port) for sending signals to or receiving signals from an external device. 
         [0076]      FIG. 8B  is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of one example of a mobile computing device. That is, the mobile computing device  800  incorporates a system (i.e., an architecture)  802  to implement some examples. In one example, the system  802  is implemented as a “smart phone” capable of running one or more applications (e.g., browser, e-mail, calendaring, contact managers, messaging clients, games, and media clients/players). In some examples, the system  802  is integrated as a computing device, such as an integrated personal digital assistant (PDA) and wireless phone. 
         [0077]    According to an aspect, one or more application programs  850  are loaded into the memory  862  and run on or in association with the operating system  864 . Examples of the application programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. According to an aspect, a sender email client  120  or a receiver email client  150  is loaded into memory  862 . The system  802  also includes a non-volatile storage area  868  within the memory  862 . The non-volatile storage area  868  is used to store persistent information that should not be lost if the system  802  is powered down. The application programs  850  may use and store information in the non-volatile storage area  868 , such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system  802  and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area  868  synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into the memory  862  and run on the mobile computing device  800 . 
         [0078]    According to an aspect, the system  802  has a power supply  870 , which is implemented as one or more batteries. According to an aspect, the power supply  870  further includes an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries. 
         [0079]    According to an aspect, the system  802  includes a radio  872  that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. The radio  872  facilitates wireless connectivity between the system  802  and the “outside world,” via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio  872  are conducted under control of the operating system  864 . In other words, communications received by the radio  872  may be disseminated to the application programs  850  via the operating system  864 , and vice versa. 
         [0080]    According to an aspect, the visual indicator  820  is used to provide visual notifications and/or an audio interface  874  is used for producing audible notifications via the audio transducer  825 . In the illustrated example, the visual indicator  820  is a light emitting diode (LED) and the audio transducer  825  is a speaker. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply  870  so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor  860  and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface  874  is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer  825 , the audio interface  874  may also be coupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. According to an aspect, the system  802  further includes a video interface  876  that enables an operation of an on-board camera  830  to record still images, video stream, and the like. 
         [0081]    According to an aspect, a mobile computing device  800  implementing the system  802  has additional features or functionality. For example, the mobile computing device  800  includes additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in  FIG. 8B  by the non-volatile storage area  868 . 
         [0082]    According to an aspect, data/information generated or captured by the mobile computing device  800  and stored via the system  802  are stored locally on the mobile computing device  800 , as described above. According to another aspect, the data are stored on any number of storage media that are accessible by the device via the radio  872  or via a wired connection between the mobile computing device  800  and a separate computing device associated with the mobile computing device  800 , for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network, such as the Internet. As should be appreciated, such data/information are accessible via the mobile computing device  800  via the radio  872  or via a distributed computing network. Similarly, according to an aspect, such data/information are readily transferred between computing devices for storage and use according to well-known data/information transfer and storage means, including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharing systems. 
         [0083]      FIG. 9  illustrates one example of the architecture of a system for automatic presentation of blocks of repeated content as described above. Content developed, interacted with, or edited in association with the curated experience is enabled to be stored in different communication channels or other storage types. For example, various documents may be stored using a directory service  922 , a web portal  924 , a mailbox service  926 , an instant messaging store  928 , or a social networking site  930 . The sender email client  120  is operative to use any of these types of systems or the like for distribution of curated album attachments  170 , as described herein. According to an aspect, a server  920  provides the email applications to clients  905   a - c  (generally clients  905 ), which may be sender machines  110  or receiver machines  140 . As one example, the server  920  is a web server providing the email clients  120 ,  150  over the web. The server  920  provides the email clients  120 ,  150  over the web to clients  905  through a network  940 . By way of example, the client computing device is implemented and embodied in a personal computer  905   a , a tablet computing device  905   b  or a mobile computing device  905   c  (e.g., a smart phone), or other computing device. Any of these examples of the client computing device are operable to obtain content from the store  916 . 
         [0084]    Implementations, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to aspects. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. 
         [0085]    The description and illustration of one or more examples provided in this application are not intended to limit or restrict the scope as claimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and details provided in this application are considered sufficient to convey possession and enable others to make and use the best mode. Implementations should not be construed as being limited to any aspect, example, or detail provided in this application. Regardless of whether shown and described in combination or separately, the various features (both structural and methodological) are intended to be selectively included or omitted to produce an example with a particular set of features. Having been provided with the description and illustration of the present application, one skilled in the art may envision variations, modifications, and alternate examples falling within the spirit of the broader aspects of the general inventive concept embodied in this application that do not depart from the broader scope of the present disclosure.