WO2002061608A1

WO2002061608A1 - Method and device for graphics in e-mail

Info

Publication number: WO2002061608A1
Application number: PCT/SE2002/000145
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ove Larson
Original assignee: THE LOGOTYPE i GÖTEBORG AB
Priority date: 2001-01-29
Filing date: 2002-01-28
Publication date: 2002-08-08
Also published as: SE0100246D0; SE523566C2; SE0100246L

Abstract

The present invention is characterised in that a company (4a) can automatically and without special action incorporate the company's logotype (2), advertising offer, clickable link (3a) and page footer (3b) into the e-mail messages dispatched day to day by the individual user (4b). The dispatching company can also automatically and without special action disable recipients from forwarding (Forward Lock) e-mail messages bearing the sender's logotype and/or trade mark. These functions are achieved by storing on a Server (11), at a location central to a plurality of users (4b), HTML code which specifies the user's graphic template (2 & 3) for e-mail messages and which is sent and incorporated with the sender's text message (1) only upon an active request (7) from the dispatched text document. This 'real-time activation' of HTML on a specific text message is made possible by a special software programme, called a (Converter) (6), written e.g. in the C++ pgrogramming language or in assembler, which is downloaded, stored and executed on all e-mail messages as they pass through, preferably in conjunction with a so-called SMTP server.

Description

Method and device for graphics in e-mail

Description

Background to invention

The purpose of the present invention is to make possible the use of graphics, in particular corporate symbols (logotypes), advertising offers and trade marks, automatically and uniformly across a plurality of users, in the exchange of information by electronic mail (e-mail). With the growing popularity of the Internet and e-mail, much of the former paper-based correspondence transmitted between companies by post or fax has been replaced by electronic mail. In many situations it is a natural wish for a company to promote its corporate identity by exposing its logotype and its trade marks in external and internal communications. However, it has hitherto not been possible when sending e-mail to introduce therein graphic symbols and images automatically, reliably and uniformly across e.g. a whole company. A consequence of this is that practically all individually authored e-mails from companies worldwide lack logotypes and/or advertising offers. The global need for the capability to send graphically uniform e-mail which is similar in all essential respects to the company's paper-based letters, including a logotype and perhaps also a letterfoot containing addresses and other information about special offers etc., is very great.

The Internet is a network of computers which transmit data or information between sources, often called "hosts" or "servers" (Server), and the destination for the user's computer, often called "client computer" (Client) through the use of a protocol such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).

A well-defined protocol called "HyperText Transfer Protocol" (HTTP) enables a browser, e.g. Netscape Navigator^® 4.0 from Netscape Communications Corp. (Browser) to obtain access to Internet documents. HTTP is described in an Internet document stored at http://www.w3.org/pub/www/Protocols HTTP/1.0 — Hypertext Transfer protocol, T. Berners Lee, R. Fielding, H. Nielson, Aug. 3,. The language for creating layouts and integrating graphics into Internet documents is called

"HyperText Markup Language" (HTML). HTML is described in the Internet document RFC 1866 by T. Berners Lee MIT/W3C November 1995, ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc 1866.txt.

Internet documents are stored in HTML format together with Server software on a remote computer. The address of a specific Web document is called a "Uniform

Resource Locator" (URL). A user uses Browser software on a local Client Computer to request access to a Web document stored at a specific URL. When the Server receives a user's request the server sends the HTML for the requested document to the Client's Browser, which displays the document in accordance with the HTML code therein.

E-mail messages are authored, sent and received from a Client Computer by means of a client software programme which can generate data streams in pure text format or in format rfc822, often called a mail client, e.g. Outlook Express^® from Microsoft Corp. (E-mail Client). Format rfc822, also known as Mime Message, is described in the Internet document RFC 822 by David H. Crocker, August 1982, ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc822.txt. E-mail is sent over the Internet and TCP/IP either via a Server local to the company or via a contracted remote Server to the recipient's

Server. Only when the recipient opens his E-mail Client is the received file downloaded from the recipient's server to the recipient's Client Computer. An e-mail message consists of a File Header containing information about addresses, document data and file format, and the actual text message. On opening an e-mail message the E-mail Client can display the text content of the e-mail message. Formerly E-mail

Clients could only receive and interpret pure text documents, for which reason e-mail messages historically have not contained graphics. The only way of sending e-mail messages with graphics content was to attach a separate document (Attachment). More recently E-mail Clients have been developed which can also receive and interpret HTML, Mime Message being one of several possible formats. Other e-mail formats also exist, e.g. RTF, which can display images in e.g. gif format directly alongside text. Following the establishment of modern HTML-compatible E-mail Clients as something ofa. de facto standard in the market, e-mail messages with graphics content have come into use. Hitherto they have been confined to individually produced e-mail messages of a commercial character, e.g. direct advertising, which are distributed by e-mail to numerous recipients. A large number of e-commerce companies and players engage in the creation of these specially prepared HTML e- mail messages, see e.g. the article in the newsletter "eMail-Marketing" at http://www.clickz.com/cgi-bin/gt/article.html7article-1223.

It has also become possible for users to set their E-mail Clients to HTML, whereby individual users can create a template for their e-mail messages containing both text and graphics. Just as in the case of other communications containing logotypes and trade marks, companies wish to standardise the graphic profile of externally distributed documentation across all the company's employees. Such standardisation is difficult or impossible if each individual user is permitted to create and store a graphic template for e-mail messages. Thus it is in the company's interest to prepare and store centrally an HTML template for all outgoing e-mail messages from the company or a division thereof, e.g. a department.

An advertising system has been previously disclosed in International Patent

Application PCT/US99/12655. Such a system provides electronic messages with a graphic background which projects itself on the recipient's screen behind the received text message. A message server inserts the background after the receipt of a message from a sender and before the transmission thereof to a recipient. If necessary the server can convert the message to a suitable format, such as HTML, prior to insertion of the background.

Furthermore, the growing global use of the Internet has created new, flexible means for companies to market themselves. A clear example of this is the increasing use of comparatively small advertisements on frequently visited homepages, so-called

Banners. A Banner often consists of a graphic, sometimes animated, mixed with text, described in HTML. A Banner is generally clickable, which enables the visitor to be transferred via a link to a homepage of the advertiser's choosing having e.g. a commercial offer. Companies generally purchase Banner exposure from a central supplier who charges e.g. per exposure or per "click", i.e. link utilization.

In all advertising, traditional or electronic, it is desirable in view of advertising costs to limit exposure of the offer to the advertiser's customers and potential customers

(the Target Group). Since surfers on the Internet go to a Homepage of their own free will, with varying motives and backgrounds (so-called Pull), it is difficult to achieve accurate targeting of the desired target group by advertising via the Internet using Banners. E-mail, unlike the Internet, is a medium with a predetermined recipient who has or who may conceivably acquire some kind of relationship to the sender (so- called Push). This and the relatively low distribution costs account for the growing interest in direct advertising via e-mail, i.e. identical mass mailings, as described above. Unlike Banners and direct advertising via e-mail, each company's ordinary correspondence via e-mail constitutes a channel with high target group accuracy which has hitherto gone unutilised. The reason is that there has hitherto been a lack of a device and method for providing each dispatched e-mail message automatically and uniformly with graphic content and other functionality.

Finally, it is often desirable to prevent misuse of logotypes and trade marks. In other words, only employed personnel may send mail bearing the company logotype.

Given the temptation for a recipient to modify part or all of the original text, it is desirable in certain cases to prevent recipients from forwarding e-mail messages bearing a logotype and/or trade mark. To be sure, such an intent can still be realised by copying and producing one's own e-mail template in the same way as with paper- based letters, but a widespread use of logotypes on e-mail messages could encourage forgery of documents by simple means, resulting in a loss of confidence in the general credibility of the e-mail message.

Notwithstanding that modern E-mail Clients offer the use of graphics in e-mail messages, the state of the art does not offer companies the automatically copying of text messages into a preset template containing the sender's logotype, trade mark, f advertisement or address details in a page header or footer. When a company wishes to attach graphic elements, with or without functionality, it requires special action or the attaching of an Attachment on each and every occasion. The state of the art also does not offer the sending company the ability to disable the recipient from disseminating the company's logotype on the net by forwarding.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 shows a traditionally received e-mail message in an E-mail Client. Fig. 2 shows, in an E-mail Client, an example of an e-mail message received using the invention. Fig. 3 shows a block diagram of an example of embodiment of the invention wherein the dispatched e-mail message is converted for the display of graphics on an additionally utilised remote server.

Fig. 4 shows a block diagram of an example of embodiment of the invention wherein the dispatched e-mail message is converted for the display of graphics on the server normally utilised by the sender.

Description of the invention

The present invention is characterised in that a company (4a) can automatically and without special action incorporate the company's logotype (2), advertising offer, clickable link (3 a) and page footer (3b) into the e-mail messages dispatched day to day by the individual user (4b). The dispatching company can also automatically and without special action disable recipients from forwarding (Forward Lock) e-mail messages bearing the sender's logotype and/or trade mark.

These functions are achieved by storing on a Server (11), at a location central to a plurality of users (4b), HTML code which specifies the sender's graphic template (2

& 3) for e-mail messages and which is sent and incorporated with the sender's text message (1) only upon an active request (7) from the dispatched text document (1). This "real-time activation" of HTML on a specific text message is made possible by a specific software programme, called a (Converter) (6), written e.g. in the C++ programming language or in assembler, which is downloaded, stored and executed on all e-mail messages as they pass through, preferably in conjunction with a so- called SMTP server. This SMTP server may be distinct from the Server (5) normally used by the sender, as shown in Fig. 3, or the Server (5) normally used may also be the computer to which the Converter (6) is downloaded and on which it is stored and executed, as shown in Fig. 4.

The invention according to the example of embodiment shown in Fig. 3 requires all e-mail messages from the dispatching company to be routed via an additional remote Server (12), located e.g. at a service provider. This is preferably achieved by specifying a so-called Internet address in the Server (5) software. In this embodiment it is preferable for the Logotel (11) and the Converter (6) to be stored and executed at the same site (12). The invention in the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 requires the dispatching company to obtain, download, store and execute the Converter (6) on the Server (5) which it normally uses.

The Converter (6) automatically converts, if necessary, each dispatched e-mail message to HTML and automatically inserts, invisibly to the user, one or more URLs in the Header of each dispatched e-mail message. At the time when an e-mail message reaches the receiving E-mail Client (9), the inserted URL(s) is/are activated, whereupon the receiving E-mail Client (9) sends an inquiry to the URL address(es) at which is stored the sender's graphic containing the logotype.

Further, if the sender (4b) wishes to include a link, clickable by the recipient (8), to a

URL on the Internet, e.g. the sender's homepage, the Converter (6) also inserts, invisibly to the user, computer code, preferably HTML, in the e-mail message Header. An example of such computer code is shown below:

<IMG border="0" src=Ηtp://www.trapets.com/images/newsletter/trapetshead.jpg" width="640" height="83"

ALT- 'Click here to go to the Trapets site...">

</A>

If the user has activated Forward Lock on his or her outgoing e-mail messages the Server (11) on which the logotype/image is stored (Logotel) will first verify whether the receiving E-mail Client is calling from the same address, i.e. the same IP number, as that from which the original e-mail message was received. If this is the case, the recipient is the correct one, whereupon the HTML code (2 & 3) is send (10) and incorporated into the e-mail message.

If a recipient attempts to forward a Forward-Locked e-mail message bearing a logotype, the same call (7) will be executed as on the original occasion, but the IP number check will prevent the Server (11) from returning the image files requested.

In other words, in a forwarded e-mail message the Logotype (2) and/or the page footer (3) will not be displayed, while the text message (1) will remain unchanged.

The invention is not limited to the examples of embodiment shown in Figs 3 and 4. For example, the flows of converted and of unconverted e-mail messages may span a plurality of Servers and/or Converters.

The descriptions of the embodiments use HTML throughout as an example of a programming language for the transfer of files with graphic content and text. The invention is not limited to this language but may utilise other language, protocols or codes for data transfer.

Claims

1. A method for the integration of graphics with text in electronic mail, wherein said graphics are created and stored common to a preset number of authorised senders, and wherein text messages individually created and dispatched by the senders are automatically converted if necessary to a data format which permits said graphics to be automatically integrated with said text, characterised in that said integration is ultimately effected upon arrival at a recipient inasmuch as said e-mail message, converted if necessary, has been provided with a call to the address of said commonly stored graphic, whereupon the graphic is transferred to a recipient designated by an authorised sender and integration with the text can take place.

2. A method as described in Claim 1, characterised in that in said conversion, functionality, preferably clickable links, can additionally be offered to a recipient designated by an authorised sender, inasmuch as the converted e-mail message has been provided with computer code.

3. A method as described in Claim 1, characterised in that verification of a recipient's identity takes place upon said call, whereby an authorised sender can determine in advance whether said graphic shall be displayable only to one recipient designated by said authorised sender, in which case the graphic is not transferred to recipients whose identity does not match the identity of the recipient designated by said authorised sender.

4. A device for the integration of graphics with text in electronic mail, wherein the data code for said graphic is stored common to a preset number of authorised senders in a central unit, preferably a server, and that this graphic can be automatically integrated with text messages individually created and dispatched by the senders, characterised in that said integration ultimately takes place upon arrival at a recipient inasmuch as said text message has been provided with a call to the address of said central unit, whereupon the graphic is transferred to a recipient designated by an authorised sender and integration with the text can take place.

5. A device as described in Claim 4, characterised in that text messages individually created and dispatched by the sender are converted to HTML by a software programme stored centrally on a common server. A device as described in Claim 4, characterised in that into the data stream which in all essential respects specifies text messages individually created and dispatched by the sender there is inserted by a centrally stored software programme (Converter) running on a common server, a computer code, preferably a URL, which said URL can be executed on the receiving e-mail client so that the receiving e-mail client can call a remote server and obtain the data code for said graphic, preferably described in HTML. A device as described in Claim 4, characterised in that into the data stream which in all essential respects specifies text messages individually created and dispatched by the sender there is inserted by a centrally stored software programme (Converter) running on a common server, a computer code, preferably a URL, which said URL can be executed on the receiving e-mail client so that a recipient can call, preferably by clicking with his or her computer mouse, a remote server, preferably a URL, and obtain the computer code for the intended destination, preferably a homepage on the Internet described in HTML. A device as described in claim 6, characterised in that the called remote server which stores the code for said graphic automatically, at the request of an authorised sender, compares each recipient's identity with the identity of a recipient designated by an authorised sender, preferably by comparing the IP numbers, for which purpose both the dispatching server containing the software mentioned in Claim 5 (Converter) and the called server, for the server storing the graphics, specify the destination of the e-mail message. A device as described in claim 8, characterised in that the called remote server which stores code for said graphics can automatically, if requested by an authorised sender, prevent the code for said graphic from being sent to the called

E-mail Client if the identity of the recipient designated by an authorised sender does not match the identity of the E-mail Client.