Patent ID: 8452840

Claim:
A computer program product for providing a sender of an e-mail with a dynamic estimate of a response time interval, comprising: a memory; a program stored in the memory comprising: a recipient address module for accessing a recipient e-mail address from an address field of an e-mail during a composition of the e-mail; a status module in communication with the recipient address module for accessing a first status data corresponding to the recipient e-mail address, wherein the first status data includes a past recipient e-mail response time stored on a sender-side server; a processing module in communication with the status module for calculating a first estimated response time using the first status data, appending a status inquiry to the e-mail, and transmitting the e-mail, and the status inquiry, to a recipient server, wherein a delivery of the e-mail and the status query causes a second status data to be generated and communicated to the processing module for calculating a second estimated response time, wherein the second estimated response time enables a determination of whether to send a follow up message after sending the e-mail and wherein the first estimated response time enables a determination of whether to use an alternative form of communication with an intended recipient of the e-mail before sending the e-mail, wherein the second status data includes an unread message count associated with the recipient e-mail address, a total message count associated with the recipient e-mail address, and a location of the e-mail in a queue of e-mails associated with the recipient e-mail address, wherein the processing module periodically receives updated data regarding the second status data in response to the status query, wherein the updated data includes changes to the second status data, and wherein the processing module dynamically modifies the second estimated response time over time based on the updated data; and a presentation module in communication with the processing module for presenting the first estimated response time to the sender in a window on a display of the sender as soon as the recipient e-mail address is recognized in the address field during the composition of the e-mail, and for displaying the second estimated response time including modifications to the second estimated response time over time based on the updated data to the sender after the e-mail has been delivered to the recipient, receiving an e-mail response from the recipient, calculating an actual response time for the e-mail response and updating the past recipient e-mail response time with the actual response time.