Patent ID: 8150385

Claim:
A method implemented by a first end-user communication device for processing a received electronic character-based communication, the method comprising the steps of: receiving the electronic character-based communication by the first end-user communication device where the electronic character-based communication comprises a digital message sent from a second end-user device, the electronic character-based communication including an origination address of the second end-user device; a message processing program residing on the first end-user device having an auto-reply generation method that is active to automatically transmit a predetermined reply message to another device upon receipt of a message from the another device; storing in memory of the first end-user communication device a list of origination addresses to which the predetermined reply message has previously been transmitted; upon receipt of the digital message from the second end-user device, determining if the origination address of the second end-user device is in the list of origination addresses; upon a determination that the origination address of the second end-user device is in the list of origination addresses, inhibiting the auto-reply generation method from transmitting the predetermined reply message to the origination address of the second end-user device; upon a determination that the origination address of the second end-user device is not in the list of origination addresses, adding the origination address of the second end-user device to the list and permitting the auto-reply generation method to transmit the predetermined reply message to the origination address of the second end-user device.