Patent Application
20110047222
Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of electronic communications, and, more particularly, to retrospective changing of previously sent messages.
Mistakes such as forgetting to attach files, making typos, and clicking send to soon are common in electronic messages. Senders usually discover their mistakes after messages have already been sent. Some email applications (e.g., IBM® Lotus Notes, Microsoft® Office, etc.) allow sent messages to be recalled if the messages have not been read. Recalled messages are deleted from recipients' inboxes. Senders have to send additional messages to correct mistakes. If a message cannot be recalled, a recipient will have two versions of the message in their inbox.
Embodiments include a method directed to receiving a request to update a previously sent message. If the previously sent message can be updated, changes to be applied to the previously sent message can be determined based on the request. In some embodiments, the previously sent message can be updated based on the changes. A recipient can be notified that the previously sent message has been updated. If the previously sent message has been forwarded to a second recipient, the request can be forwarded to the second recipient.
The present embodiments may be better understood, and numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings.
The description that follows includes exemplary systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computer program products that embody techniques of the present inventive subject matter. However, it is understood that the described embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For instance, although examples refer to email, embodiments can be implemented in instant messaging, social networking, etc. In other instances, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obfuscate the description.
Having multiple versions of a message in a recipient's inbox may lead to confusion. For example, the recipient received an email about a meeting that specifies an incorrect date. After the recipient read the email, the recipient received another email correcting the date. If the recipient does not delete the incorrect email, the recipient may accidentally use to the incorrect email to reference the date and attend the meeting on the wrong day. Functionality can be implemented in email applications to allow sent messages to be updated, even if the sent messages have been read. When a request to update a sent message is received, a message update unit can update information in the message according to the notification. The message update unit can notify a recipient that the message was updated, and can indicate changed information in the sent message. The message update unit can also determine if the sent message has been forwarded, and forward the update notification to other recipients.
At stage A, a message update unit 101 detects a request to update the previously sent email message 104. In this example, the message update unit 101 detects a click on the update button 106. The message update unit 101 may be integrated in the email application, a standalone application running on a server, etc.
At stage B, the message update unit 101 determines changes made to the previously sent email 104. In this example, the message update unit 101 determines that text 111 representing a time has been changed in the previously sent email 104.
At stage C, the message update unit 101 determines a recipient of the previously sent email based on the header 109. In this example, the recipient is Fred, fred@company.com.
At stage D, the message update unit 101 sends an update request indicating the changes to the recipient via the email server 113. In this example, the text 111 was changed from “1:00” to “2:30.” The update request can include the entire previously sent email 104 with indications of the changes. For example, the update request includes the email body 107 with the changes to text 111 indicated by tags. The update request may not include the entire email text. For example, the update request includes a snippet of original text, changes made to the snippet, and a location of the text. In addition, the update request can include an identifier of the previously sent message, and a date stamp, etc.
At block 202, the message update unit determines changes made to the previously sent message. For example, the message update unit determines that an attachment has been added to the previously sent message. As another example, the message update unit determines that priority of the previously sent message has been changed. Changes may be determined based on comparing an original version of the previously sent email with a changed version of the previously sent email. Policies may govern changes that can be made to a previously sent message. The policies may be based on sender preferences, recipient preferences, company policies, etc. For example, policies may allow format changes to a body of a previously sent email but may restrict changes text. As another example, a policy may allow changes to body text and a subject, but not allow addition or removal of recipients. Flow continues at block 203.
At block 203, the message update unit determines recipients of the previously sent message. The message update unit can determine the recipients based on the previously sent message's header. Flow continues at block 204.
At block 204, the message update unit sends an update request to the recipients and flow ends. The update request can be sent to the recipients via a mail server.
At stage A, a message update unit 301 receives an update message for the previously sent email 305 from a mail server 313. The update message can be matched to the previously sent email 305 based on an identifier in the update message.
At stage B, the message update unit 301 determines that the previously sent email has been read. For example, the message update unit 301 determines that the previously sent email's status is “opened.”
At stage C, the message update unit 301 updates the previously sent email based on changes indicated in the update request. In this example, the message update unit 301 changes text 311 to “2:30” from “1:00” in the body 308. Updates may be applied to previously sent emails based on policies. For example, a policy does not allow updates to previously sent messages unless an update request was sent within 30 minutes of a previously sent email. Policies may indicate which parts (e.g., subject, body, attachments, etc.) of previously sent messages may be updated.
At stage D, the message update unit 301 records an update timestamp in the header 307 and notifies a recipient of the update. For example, the message update unit highlights the previously sent email 305 in the recipient's inbox to notify the recipient that an update was received for the previously sent email 305. As another example, the message update unit 301 notifies the recipient of the update by displaying a pop-up dialog box.
At stage E, the message update unit 301 determines that the previously sent email 305 was forwarded to additional recipients. In this example, the previously sent email 305 was forwarded to jane@company.com. The message update unit 301 can determine that the previously sent email 305 was forwarded based on an indication stored on the recipient's computer. For example, the message update unit examines the previously sent email's 305 metadata to determine if the message was forwarded. The message update unit 301 can determine that the previously sent email 305 was forwarded based on an indication stored on a mail server. For example, the message update unit 301 accesses information indicating additional recipients stored in a database based on an identifier of the previously sent message.
At stage F, the message update unit 301 forwards the update message to the additional recipients via the mail server 313.
At block 402, the message update unit determines changes to the previously sent message based on the update request. For example, the message update unit determines the changes based on tagged text in the update request. Flow continues at block 403.
At block 403, the message update unit determines if the previously sent message has been read. For example, the message update unit determines if the previously sent message was opened. If the previously sent message has been read, flow continues at block 404. If the previously sent message has not been read, flow continues at block 405.
At block 404, the message update unit updates the previously sent email based on the changes and flow ends. The update can be applied to the previously sent email based on preferences. For example, preferences indication that updates should be transparent so that the recipient does not know that the update has occurred. As another example, preferences indicated that changes made to the previously sent email should be marked.
At block 405, the message update unit determines if the message should be updated. The message update unit can determine if the message should be updated based on policies. For example, a policy indicates that changes should be automatically allowed if previously sent message's sender is a superior of the recipient. As another example, a policy indicates that a recipient should be prompted to accept or reject the changes if a recipient is an employee of a sender. If the message should not be updated, flow continues at block 406. If the message should be updated, flow continues at block 407.
At block 406, the message update unit displays the update request as a new message in a recipient's inbox and flow ends. The update request can be displayed as a new message if the recipient's email application does not support updates of previously sent messages.
At block 407, the message update unit updates the previously sent message based on the changes. For example, the message update unit adds an attachment to the previously sent message. Flow continues at block 408.
At block 408, the message update unit displays indications of the changes in the previously sent message. For example, removed text is indicated by a strikethrough and added text may is underlined and color-coded. A recipient may wish to accept the changes to make text more readable. If a recipient accepts the changes, the indications may be removed. Flow continues at block 409.
At block 409, the message update unit notifies a recipient that the previously sent message has been updated. For example, the message update unit moves the previously sent email to the top of the recipient's inbox based on a timestamp in the update request. Flow continues at block 501 of
At block 502, the message update unit determines a second recipient of the previously sent message. For example, the message update unit determines the second recipient based on metadata indicating the second recipient's email. Flow continues at block 503.
At block 503, the message update unit forwards the update request to the second recipient and flow ends. The message update unit can notify the previously sent message's sender of the forward. The sender can specify whether the update request should be forwarded. The message update unit can also ask the sender if the update should be forwarded before forwarding the update.
Embodiments may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, a software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, embodiments of the inventive subject matter may take the form of a computer program product embodied in any tangible medium of expression having computer usable program code embodied in the medium. The described embodiments may be provided as a computer program product, or software, that may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer system (or other electronic device(s)) to perform a process according to embodiments, whether presently described or not, since every conceivable variation is not enumerated herein. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or other types of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. In addition, embodiments may be embodied in an electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signal (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), or wireline, wireless, or other communications medium.
Computer program code for carrying out operations of the embodiments may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on a user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN), a personal area network (PAN), or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
While the embodiments are described with reference to various implementations and exploitations, it will be understood that these embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the inventive subject matter is not limited to them. In general, techniques for retrospective change of previously sent messages as described herein may be implemented with facilities consistent with any hardware system or hardware systems. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible.
Plural instances may be provided for components, operations, or structures described herein as a single instance. Finally, boundaries between various components, operations, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in the context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within the scope of the inventive subject matter. In general, structures and functionality presented as separate components in the exemplary configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the inventive subject matter.
