Patent ID: 7478132

Claim:
A computer implemented process for updating a sent email, comprising: at a first computer, editing a sent email and activating a delta engine program when a user edits the sent email; using the delta engine program, determining the content difference between the sent email and the edited email, sending the difference to a delta temporary storage, creating a plurality of position mapping instructions for each item in the difference, sending the position mapping instructions to the delta temporary storage, attaching an update attribute to a header of the email, sending the header with the update attribute to the delta temporary storage, joining the difference, the position mapping instructions, and the header with the update attribute into a delta in the delta temporary storage, and sending the delta to a queue management program; using the queue management program, receiving sent emails and deltas, and storing the sent emails in an intermediate email queue; responsive to the queue management program receiving a delta, determining whether a header in the delta matches a header of any sent email in the intermediate email queue; responsive to finding a match, creating an update email by inserting the difference into the original email pursuant to the position mapping instructions in delta; responsive to not finding a match, storing the delta in the intermediate email queue; and at a second computer, matching the delta and the sent email to create an updated email.