Abstract:
An improvement to an electronic mail program is disclosed. In particular, the improved electronic mail program enables a user to mark individual action items within a message and set attributes for each action item. In the preferred embodiment, attributes include priority, deadline, abstract, and responsibility. The electronic mail program stores the action items and associated attributes in a database and sends the message to one or more recipients. The electronic mail program then displays the message and action items to the recipients. Message recipients then navigate through the list of action items to read descriptions and to determine the priority and nature of the actions necessary. The responsibility attribute further indicates which recipient should respond to the action item. The improved electronic mail program updates the status of each action item in the database as recipients respond.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
       [0001]    This Application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/955,199, filed on Sep. 30, 2004 and entitled “On Demand Email Response,” the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention described below generally relates to a data processing system and method for transferring data between a plurality of computers. In particular, the invention described below comprises subject matter related to priority processing of user data in response to a demand to transfer data between computers. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Currently, email clients such as MICROSOFT OUTLOOK and LOTUS NOTES enable a user to exchange electronic messages with other users through networked email servers. These email clients typically display to a user a list of messages that the user has received. If the user wants to view the full message, the user selects the message from the displayed list and the email client renders the selected message on the display device. 
         [0004]    Many common email clients also enable a message author to mark the message with a priority attribute, such as “urgent,” before sending the message. Generally, these email clients also enable a message recipient to sort or group messages by attributes, including the priority attribute. U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,616 (issued Dec. 2, 1997), for instance, describes a system for sorting messages by comparison—if a new message does not contain a priority listing it will be displayed below any older messages that have been marked as “urgent” or the like. U.S. Patent Application No. US 2002/0120702 A1 (published Aug. 29, 2002), in contrast, describes a bidding process that determines the priority of messages. When sending a message, a user specifies the initial priority bid and a maximum priority bid. These bids represent some type of material value such as cash. Upon delivery, the recipient&#39;s email client displays the contents of the inbox in accordance with the current priority bid amount. When a new message has a higher initial bid than another message&#39;s current bid, the older message&#39;s amount is increased to a higher level than the new message. The new message also can raise its bid level in an attempt to become the highest priority of the sender. The data processing system automatically performs these calculations and allows senders to bid on their message&#39;s priority listing. 
         [0005]    As described above, current systems allow a message author to send the message with a certain level of priority. The novelty of simply marking a message as “urgent,” however, has worn off as more and more users classify their messages as one of the highest priority. A major problem with this new over-prioritization occurs when a sender has a number of related questions or tasks, in which some have a higher priority than others. 
         [0006]    Of course, the author manually could split the questions or tasks into separate messages according to priority. This technique, though, increases the author&#39;s preparation time and, potentially, overwhelms the recipient with incoming messages. Alternatively, the author could prepare a single message with detailed instructions to the recipient that indicate each item&#39;s priority and deadline. Again, though, this technique increases the author&#39;s preparation time, as well as the potential for mistake, ambiguity, or confusion within the instructions themselves. Such messages also are likely to be much longer than the original message, which might discourage the recipient from reading the entire message. In the worst case scenario, the recipient might begin responding without ever reading the instructions. 
         [0007]    Clearly, existing techniques have significant drawbacks, and there is a need in the art for a more effective means of prioritizing and processing specific items within an email message. The invention described in detail below addresses this need. This and other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The invention described below is a useful improvement to an electronic mail program. In particular, the improved electronic mail program enables a user to mark individual action items within a message and set attributes for each action item. In the preferred embodiment, attributes include priority, deadline, abstract, and responsibility. The electronic mail program stores the action items and associated attributes in a database and sends the message to one or more recipients. The electronic mail program then displays the message and action items to the recipients. Message recipients then navigate through the list of action items to read descriptions and to determine the priority and nature of the actions necessary. The responsibility attribute further indicates which recipient should respond to the action item. The improved electronic mail program updates the status of each action item in the database as recipients respond. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will be understood best by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary network of hardware devices; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  represents a memory having the components of the improved electronic mail program; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3A  depicts the interaction of the improved email system with a message sender; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 3B  depicts the interaction of the improved email system with a message recipient. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0014]    The principles of the present invention are applicable to a variety of computer hardware and software configurations. The term “computer hardware” or “hardware,” as used herein, refers to any machine or apparatus that is capable of accepting, performing logic operations on, storing, or displaying data, and includes without limitation processors and memory; the term “computer software” or “software,” refers to any set of instructions operable to cause computer hardware to perform an operation. A “computer,” as that term is used herein, includes without limitation any useful combination of hardware and software, and a “computer program” or “program” includes without limitation any software operable to cause computer hardware to accept, perform logic operations on, store, or display data. A computer program may, and often is, comprised of a plurality of smaller programming units, including without limitation subroutines, modules, functions, methods, and procedures. Thus, the functions of the present invention may be distributed among a plurality of computers and computer programs. The invention is described best, though, as a single computer program that configures and enables one or more general-purpose computers to implement the novel aspects of the invention. For illustrative purposes, the inventive computer program will be referred to as the “electronic mail program.” 
         [0015]    Additionally, the electronic mail program is described below with reference to an exemplary network of hardware devices, as depicted in  FIG. 1 . A “network” comprises any number of hardware devices coupled to and in communication with each other through a communications medium, such as the Internet. A “communications medium” includes without limitation any physical, optical, electromagnetic, or other medium through which hardware or software can transmit data. For descriptive purposes, exemplary network  100  has only a limited number of nodes, including workstation computer  105 , workstation computer  110 , server computer  115 , and persistent storage  120 . Network connection  125  comprises all hardware, software, and communications media necessary to enable communication between network nodes  105 - 120 . Unless otherwise indicated in context below, all network nodes use publicly available protocols or messaging services to communicate with each other through network connection  125 . 
         [0016]    Electronic mail program  200  typically is stored in a memory, represented schematically as memory  220  in  FIG. 2 . The term “memory,” as used herein, includes without limitation any volatile or persistent medium, such as an electrical circuit, magnetic disk, or optical disk, in which a computer can store data or software for any duration. A single memory may encompass and be distributed across a plurality of media. Thus,  FIG. 2  is included merely as a descriptive expedient and does not necessarily reflect any particular physical embodiment of memory  220 . As depicted in  FIG. 2 , though, memory  220  may include additional data and programs. Of particular import to electronic mail program  200 , memory  220  may include message database  230 , with which electronic mail program  200  interacts. A person of skill in the art will appreciate that a database, such as message database  230 , may exist in many forms. As used herein, the term “database” means any collection of data stored together and organized for rapid search and retrieval, including without limitation flat file databases, fielded databases, full-text databases, object-oriented databases, and relational databases. 
         [0017]      FIG. 3A  depicts the interaction of a sender with electronic mail program  200 . First, the sender composes an electronic mail message that includes one or more action items (e.g. questions or tasks) ( 310 ). The message generally includes basic information regarding the purpose of the communication, in addition to data common to all email messages, such as the date and time, the sender&#39;s name, the subject of the message, and the list of recipients. In the preferred embodiment, the sender marks each action item ( 320 ), using a mouse, keyboard, or similar input device. 
         [0018]    The sender then sets each action item&#39;s attributes ( 325 ). These attributes allow the sender to create a list that gives recipients the ability to quickly glean the important portions of the message without wasting time wading through detailed paragraphs with extensive background. Attributes include priority, deadline, abstract, and responsibility. Unlike priority attributes associated with conventional email clients, though, the sender can use a priority attribute with electronic mail program  200  to mark each separate action item within a single message with varying levels of urgency. Thus, a sender can include both urgent and regular questions in a single message while avoiding the confusion inherent in other priority solutions that only allow priority to be set for a message as a whole. The deadline attribute gives the recipient a date and time for responding to the action item, i.e. providing an answer or completing a task. Many conventional email client programs also include a calendar, to which, in one embodiment of electronic mail program  200 , the sender can import the deadline attributes. With the deadline, alarms may be set for notification if responses are still pending. The sender also may include an abstract attribute with each particular action item. If an item requires a detailed description in order to present a question, a general abstract can be included to provide either an overview of the question or subject-matter. Optionally, electronic mail program  200  could set the abstract attribute automatically by inserting the first sentence of the item, if the sender does not specify the abstract attribute. Finally, an attribute for responsibility allows a sender to send several action items to multiple recipients, while assigning individual items to particular recipients. If the message contains additional action items ( 330 ), then the sender repeats this process until all action items have been marked and the attributes of each action item set. Electronic mail program  200  then stores the message data, which includes the action items and associated attributes, in database  340  ( 335 ), and sends the message data to the recipients ( 340 ) 
         [0019]      FIG. 3B  depicts the interaction between a message recipient and electronic mail program  200 , wherein the message includes a list of action items prepared in accordance with the above process. After receiving the message, the recipient opens the message ( 350 ). In the preferred embodiment, electronic mail program  200  receives the action items as either a link to the message data in database  340 , or as an attachment having the same message data. Electronic mail program  200  retrieves the action items and attributes ( 355 ) from database  340 , and then displays the action items and attributes in a new window ( 365 ). In an alternative embodiment, electronic mail program  200  displays the action items in the original message window, but then displays the attributes in a “pop-up” window as the recipient moves a cursor over each action item. The recipient also can import deadlines into a calendar and set alarms, so that the calendar system reminds the recipient of approaching deadlines. After viewing an action item, a recipient responds to the action item ( 370 ). A response may include an answer to a question, an initial assessment, or an indication that more time will be needed to provide an answer. The recipient can respond to individual action items through a button or link included with each item. Thus, a recipient can respond to higher priority items quickly, without immediately responding to low-priority items. Electronic mail program  200  updates the message data in database  340  as the recipient responds to an action item ( 375 ). If the recipient needs to respond to additional action items ( 380 ), the recipient repeats the process. Electronic mail program  200  then displays the status of responses to the sender and other recipients ( 385 ). 
         [0020]    Electronic mail program  200 , in conjunction with database  340  clearly offers users significant advantages over conventional electronic mail programs. In particular, they enable a sender to present all action items, especially questions, in a list so a recipient easily can view the questions, separate from any other information or context that the sender provides. Perhaps most significant, though, is that electronic mail program  200  allows both the sender and recipient to maintain a master list of all action items that is sortable by deadline, priority, recipient, status, or any other attribute. Electronic mail program  200  also enables all correspondents to “drill down” through the history of messages, and to view the thread of individual action items, responses, further action items, and clarifications. This feature eliminates the need to sort through the surrounding questions and information. Conventional electronic mail programs only drill down from message to message, where the thread is composed of messages in their entirety, rather than individual action items. 
         [0021]    A preferred form of the invention has been shown in the drawings and described above, but variations in the preferred form will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The preceding description is for illustration purposes only, and the invention should not be construed as limited to the specific form shown and described. The scope of the invention should be limited only by the language of the following claims.