Patent Application
20060031320
The present invention relates to computer managed communication networks such as the World Wide Web (Web), electronic mail (E-mail) messages transmitted over such networks and particularly to controlling the redistribution of such E-mail messages to thereby also control tasks assigned in such redistributed messages.
The past decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. The effect has, in turn, driven technologies that have been known and available but relatively quiescent over the years. A major one of these technologies is the Internet or Web related distribution of documents. The Web or Internet, which had quietly existed for over a generation as a loose academic and government data distribution facility, reached “critical mass” and commenced a period of phenomenal expansion. With this expansion, businesses and consumers have direct access to all matter of documents and media through the Web. Also, as a result of the rapid expansion of the Web, E-mail, which has been distributed for over 25 years over smaller private and specific purpose networks, has moved into distribution over the Web because of the vast distribution channels that are available.
As a result of this expansion, extraordinary worldwide communication channels and resources have become available to businesses, and this has commenced an era that should forever change how business processes are conducted.
The era is marked by what may be referred to as “virtual enterprises”, i.e. businesses relying on workflow distribution processes to conduct their business. Conventionally, business processes have been carried out completely within the limits of a company. The processes begin and are completed within the company boundaries. External requests came into the company as faxes, phone calls, postal mail and even electronic mail. These requests are then forwarded to appropriate personnel who initiate the internal process to handle the request. When the appropriate business processes are completed, the final actions are taken, such as shipping the goods out of the company, followed by appropriate phone calls, mail or faxes from the shipping company. Status inquiries were handled by internal people.
However, globalization has driven businesses away from these more leisurely methods of doing business. Now, with the Internet and like wide area networks, the business processes of customers and suppliers routinely interact with a minimum of human intervention. These interactions may range from simple inquiries to complex interactions between companies to situations where organizational units of different companies are related by sharing data and business processes so that they operate like independent or virtual enterprises. The companies no longer have to use phone calls or mail orders to do business with each other. Through the use of networks like the Internet, business processes of different companies handle each others' requests with little manual intervention; no interaction is required to have one business process talk to another business process of a different company.
In the face of such challenges in the control of distributed tasks assigned via electronic mail, it is very desirable for a person responsible for the distribution and performance of tasks to retain at least some capability of monitoring the performance of the redistributed tasks, and to have some control over such performance of the message tasks.
The present invention is directed to a system that will enable the sender of the E-mail to control the redistribution of the message tasks that are to be redistributed by the receiver of the E-mail. More particularly, the present invention comprises means enabling the sender of E-mail to specify conditions for the redistribution of an E-mail message sent to a receiving display terminal in combination with means enabling this sender to track the redistribution of the sent E-mail message, and means enabling the sender to change said redistribution of the E-mail message. According to the invention, initially, there are means enabling a user at the terminal receiving the sent E-mail message to redistribute the sent E-mail message subject to the conditions specified by the sender. The sent E-mail message specifies tasks divided out of the sent E-mail message to be assigned respectively to subsequent receivers of the redistribution messages.
The system may further include delegation means at the terminal receiving said sent E-mail message enabling the user to delegate the tasks among said subsequent receivers of the redistribution messages. If the receiving terminal has such delegation means, then the sender may be provided with means enabling the sender to send said E-mail for redistribution directly to such delegation means.
Among the control functions that the sender may exercise is the cancellation of any or all redistribution messages and, consequently, the termination of such redistributed tasks. Of course, the sender may choose to only modify such distributed messages and tasks. The sender is also enabled to preclude any subsequent redistribution of E-mail or the assigned messages and tasks therein.
The present invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following drawings, in conjunction with the accompanying specification, in which:
Referring to
Before going further into the details of specific embodiments, it will be helpful to understand from a more general perspective the various elements and methods that may be related to the present invention. Since the major aspect of the present invention is directed to Web electronic mail transmitted over global networks, such as the Web or Internet, an understanding of networks and their operating principles would be helpful. We will not go into great detail in describing the networks to which the present invention is applicable. For details on Web nodes, objects and links, reference is made to the text, Mastering the Internet, G. H. Cady et al., published by Sybex Inc., Alameda, Calif., 1996; or the text, Internet: The Complete Reference, Millennium Edition, Margaret Young et al., Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Berkeley, Calif., 1999. Any data communication system that interconnects or links computer controlled systems with various sites defines a communications network. Of course, the Internet or Web is a global network of a heterogeneous mix of computer technologies and operating systems. Higher level objects are linked to the lower level objects in the hierarchy through a variety of network server computers.
Web documents including E-mail may be implemented in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) language, which is described in detail in the text entitled Just Java, van der Linden, 1997, SunSoft Press, particularly at Chapter 7, pp. 249-268, dealing with the handling of Web pages; and also in the above-referenced Mastering the Internet, particularly pp. 637-642, on HTML in the formation of Web pages.
In addition, aspects of this invention will involve Web browsers. A general and comprehensive description of browsers may be found in the above-mentioned Mastering the Internet text at pp. 291-313. More detailed browser descriptions may be found in the above-mentioned Internet: The Complete Reference, Millennium Edition, particularly in Chapter 19, pp. 419-454, on the Netscape Navigator; in Chapter 20, pp. 455-494, on the Microsoft Internet Explorer; and in Chapter 21, pp. 495-512, covering Lynx, Opera and other browsers.
Returning now to the details of
Now, with respect to the sequence of
The plant manager, Coe, then proceeds to redistribute message tasks, e.g. task 54 in E-mail message 51, to a Ron Little 52, referring to tour 53 and requesting that Little keep six machines running,
Through the programs of the present invention, subsequently described with respect to
Before proceeding with a description of the computer programming used in the implementation of this invention, reference should be made to
A read only memory (ROM) 16 is connected to CPU 10 via bus 12 and includes the basic input/output system (BIOS) that controls the basic computer functions. RAM 14, I/O adapter 18 and communications adapter 34 are also interconnected to system bus 12. I/O adapter 18 communicates with the disk storage device 20. Communications adapter 34 interconnects bus 12 with an outside network enabling the data processing system to communicate as respectively described above through the Web or Internet. The latter two terms are meant to be generally interchangeable and are so used in the present description of the distribution network. I/O devices are also connected to system bus 12 via user interface adapter 22 and display adapter 36. Keyboard 24 and mouse 26 are all interconnected to bus 12 through user interface adapter 22. It is through such input devices that the user may interactively receive or control E-mail messages. Display adapter 36 includes a frame buffer 39 that is a storage device that holds a representation of each pixel on the display screen 38. Images may be stored in frame buffer 39 for display on monitor 38 through various components, such as a digital to analog converter (not shown) and the like. By using the aforementioned I/O devices, a user is capable of inputting information to the system through the keyboard 24 or mouse 26 and receiving output information from the system via display 38.
Now, with respect to
Now, with reference to the flowchart of
It should be noted that the programs covered by the present invention may be stored outside of the present computer systems until they are required. The program instructions may be stored in another readable medium, e.g. in disk drives associated with the receiving terminals or the hub servers. The program instructions may be in a removable memory, such as an optical disk for use in a CD ROM computer input or in a floppy disk for use in a floppy disk drive computer input. Further, the program instructions may be stored in the memory of another computer prior to use in the system of the present invention and transmitted over a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), such as the Internet, when required by the user of the present invention. One skilled in the art should appreciate that the processes controlling the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of computer readable media of a variety of forms.
Although certain preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims.
