WO2009040624A2

WO2009040624A2 - Process and apparatus for managing messages

Info

Publication number: WO2009040624A2
Application number: PCT/IB2008/002457
Authority: WO
Inventors: Antonio Geraci
Original assignee: Icedata S.R.L.
Priority date: 2007-09-25
Filing date: 2008-09-22
Publication date: 2009-04-02
Also published as: EP2198575A2; WO2009040624A3; ITBO20070652A1

Abstract

In a process and an apparatus (1) for managing messages, an e-mail message (2) is sent using a telecommunications network (4) to a suitable receiving device (9), and a notification message (3) which is guaranteed to be read is sent to a corresponding receiver device (5 or 6,7, 8, 9). The notification message (3) may be sent to a receiver device (5, 6, 7, 8) which is different from the e-mail message (2) receiving device (9).

Description

Process and apparatus for managing messages

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for managing messages, in particular for managing e-mail messages.

Background Art

The transmission of electronic messages (e-mail) is a well known tool which makes it possible to very easily and rapidly exchange messages and information in general.

The increasingly intensive use of said tool, together with abuses perpetrated by some users, who increasingly pervasively use the potential of the transmission of electronic messages to send other users the most disparate and unwanted information, have forced users of this tool to equip themselves with suitable programs to prevent their mail boxes from being clogged by huge numbers of messages, often having dubious content. In practice, such programs use recognition and filtering systems to perform selection processes on all messages received, downloading only those messages considered of interest to the recipient.

However, the automatic selection of messages, based on more or less complex, structured acceptance criteria and rules, on one hand makes the use of the tool increasingly complicated and on the other hand risks that important e-mail messages may be ignored because they have been placed amongst the unwanted messages, or they may be read late because, although present in the e-mail inbox, they are mixed in with messages of low importance and so are not immediately recognised, thus being treated the same as the latter in terms of importance and reading priority. The consequences of not reading an important e-mail, or of reading it late, could be particularly disadvantageous and serious in many practical situations: for example, a business opportunity may be lost, or a deadline missed, or a health- related measure may be neglected or implemented late, etc.

Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is, therefore, to overcome the above- mentioned disadvantages.

It is therefore provided a process for managing messages, in which an e- mail message is sent, from a transmission device, by means of a telecommunications network, to a suitable receiving device, characterised in that a notification message is sent to a receiver device which is different from the e-mail receiving device.

In this way, the recipient can be notified of the arrival of an important e- mail message, without the presence of tools for automatic filtering and/or acceptance of the e-mail addressed to him or careless reading by the recipient of the list of e-mails which have arrived.

The invention also provides a process for managing messages, in which an e-mail message is sent, from a transmission device, by means of a telecommunications network, to a suitable receiving device, characterised in that a notification message issued by a service device which is different from the e-mail message transmission device is sent to a receiver device belonging to the e-mail message recipient.

The service device could belong to an authority or body which provides said notification service and, being known to the receiver device, it may therefore also send an e-mail message which will definitely be read, that is to say, such that it will not be deleted from the e-mail in arrival.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for managing messages, in particular e-mail messages.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The technical characteristics and advantageous aspects of the invention are more apparent from the detailed description which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention provided merely by way of example without restricting the scope of the inventive concept, and in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of the apparatus in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of the apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments of the Invention

With reference to Figure 1 in the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 denotes as a whole an apparatus for the transmission of electronic messages, designed to simply and automatically transmit an important e-mail message 2.

The numeral 3 denotes, by way of example, in Figure 1, a notification/reminder message, which alerts the e-mail message 2 recipient to the transmission of the e-mail message.

The e-mail message 2 is sent to the recipient in the conventional way, from a device 2', using a telecommunications network 4, preferably the Internet. The recipient also receives the e-mail message 2 in the conventional way, on a suitable receiving device 9, which is preferably a personal computer 9', but which, equivalently, may be any device 9" suitable for receiving messages in electronic format. Advantageously, according to this preferred embodiment, the notification message 3 is instead automatically sent to a receiver device 5, which is different from the e-mail message 2 receiving device 9, the receiver device preferably, but not exclusively being: a fax machine 6, a landline telephone 7, a mobile telephone 8, or any other equivalent and alternative device 5. In practice, the notification message 3 may be a short SMS message which can be displayed on a display of the landline telephone 7 or mobile telephone 8, or it may be a message displayed on paper, when received by the fax machine, or it may be a short voice message, which can be listened to using the loudspeaker or earpiece of the telephone 7 or 8. The addressing parameters of the receiver device 5 or 6, 7 and 8 for the notification message 3 are the only elements which need to be defined on each occasion together with the preparation of the e-mail message 2 itself. Therefore, they will be defined by the e-mail message 2 sender, who must specify the fax or telephone number of the notification message 3 recipient. To help the sender, so that each time he does not have to repeat tedious redial operations, the apparatus 1 preferably comprises a database 10, that is to say a mailing list, in which said addressing parameters are permanently saved so that they can be simply and rapidly retrieved when necessary.

Obviously, the database 10 may be the same that is used for managing e- mail messages 2. The user only needs to add to the relative records the addressing parameters for the automatic notification message 3 so that the single database 10 can be used both for the transmission of e-mail messages and for transmission of the notification messages.

As already indicated, the apparatus 1 may advantageously allow the provision of the messaging service via the Internet. For this purpose, the apparatus 1 may be at least partly implemented on a server 11, for example a Web server or, alternatively, even on a Web browser or web client.

In this way, the user can make use of the service world- wide, connecting to the Internet and accessing a WEB portal dedicated to the messaging service. Therefore, this apparatus makes it possible to implement a process for managing messages, in which an e-mail message. 2 is sent, from the transmission device 2', using a telecommunications network 4 to a suitable receiving device 9, in which, advantageously, a notification message 3 is sent to a receiver device 5 or 6, 7, 8 which is different from the e-mail message 2 receiving device 9. This guarantees a prompt discovery of any removal of or failure to read the e-mail message, allowing the client or user who is the recipient of the e-mail message to recover or read the specific message.

According to the process, the notification message 3 is automatically sent to the receiver device 5 or 6, 7, 8 which is different from the e-mail message 2 receiving device 9.

Also according to the process, the notification message 3 receiver device 5 or 6, 7, 8 may be a fax machine 6, a telephone 7, 8, in particular a landline telephone 7 and/or a mobile telephone 8, or another device.

According to the process, a database 10 is used in which at least the addressing parameters of the receiver device 5 or 6, 7, 8 are saved. The database is used both for managing e-mail messages 2 and for managing notification messages 3.

Advantageously, this process is at least partly implemented on a server 11, in particular on a web server or a web browser. According to the process, the sending of the notification message can be activated subject to a registration and to a recognition of the user before use and for a payment taken automatically when each notification message 3 is sent, using pre-paid units of credit registered on the web server 11.

According to the process, the service can be activated by a payment taken automatically when each notification message 3 is sent, using pre-paid units of credit registered on the web server 11.

The process is preferably implemented in a software which interacts with the telecommunications network 4, which is an add-on for a conventional e-mail electronic message transmission application and is integrated in a conventional e- mail electronic message transmission application. When the service is implemented on the web server 11, its operation can be activated by a plug-in of the e-mail system used. The apparatus may be implemented in a software which interacts with the telecommunications network 4 and which may be used directly by its e-mail client. In this case access to the portal occurs in a transparent way. The user will install an e-mail client "plug-in" program on his PC and then the functions of the portal will be available on the client. Therefore, the user may decide each time to send, after an e-mail, a notification/reminder message, or he may set rules which allow this to be done automatically. For this purpose, the apparatus 1 may advantageously comprise an activation filter able, for example, to specify domains/e-mails for which an SMS/FAX will always be sent. To do this, there may be a local "Send/Always" table with parameters consisting for example of a user identifier DD, an e-mail address and a pre-loaded message in the form of an SMS or a FAX message. If the button is not pressed, when the mail is sent all addresses present in

"TO", "CC", "BCC" will be analysed. If they are present in the Send Always table, SMS/FAX messages will be sent automatically.

If the plug-in button is pressed, a form with the recipient's e-mail address will be opened, or multiple sheets if there are two or more "TO", "CC", "BCC" recipients, showing the SMS, FAX message fields, which may be pre-loaded from the Send Always table. The data will also be searched for amongst the contacts in the e-mail client database. If there are discrepancies between the contacts and the table, the user will be asked if he wants to update the table.

When the service is implemented on a client 11, on the other hand, it will be possible to access all services made available by the server 11 with an access "log-on". Obviously, the web client 11, although being functional and of attractive appearance, is mainly for use on the move and for indexing by search engines.

In a second preferred embodiment of the apparatus, illustrated in Figure 2, which is substantially similar to that of the first preferred embodiment, using for the same devices the same reference characters as were used for the first embodiment, unlike in the first preferred embodiment the web server 11, or according to another method (not illustrated in Figure 2) the e-mail message transmission device 2' itself, is connected to a server 11', or another device, of an intermediate manager or services centre, to which it sends a message sent or message delivered message 12 relating to the e-mail message. When said message sent or message delivered message 12 is received, a services centre service device 11 ' sends the notification message 3, as for the first embodiment, to a fax machine, to a landline or mobile telephone, or to a terminal 9 in the form of an e- mail message which is guaranteed to be read, that is to say, because it comes from an address, that of the services centre, which is known to the recipient and will certainly be read and, in any case, not deleted or put in the recycle bin by the e- mail filtering system.

Said message sent or message delivered message 12 sent to the services centre is also preferably an e-mail message, or another type of message. This second apparatus makes it possible to implement a process for managing messages, in which an e-mail message 2 is sent, from a transmission device 2', using a telecommunications network 4 to a suitable receiving device 9, and in which a notification message 3 sent from a service device 11' which is different from the e-mail message transmission device 2' is sent to a receiver device 5 or 6, 7, 8, 9 belonging to the e-mail message recipient.

According to the process, said notification message may therefore also be an e-mail message sent from the service device I V.

According to the process, said message sent or message delivered message 12 is preferably an e-mail message. Preferably, once the user has access to the portal which sends the notification signal or message, he can register to use the service. Registration, for a fee, is simple and immediate by providing his personal details and reference e- mail address. After registering and after paying a fee to purchase credit, from which the cost of the service will be deducted during use, the service will be provided until the credit runs out (which if required may be topped up with another payment).

The cost of the service may be broken down into several different components: a service activation cost, a service subscription cost and a pay-peruse cost. The service activation cost is incurred by the user only once, when a profile identifying the user is activated. The subscription cost is incurred for a period of activity which may be set as months, quarters, four-monthly periods or years. The pay-per-use cost is incurred by the user when he uses the service. Payments are taken by automatically debiting the amount from the aforementioned pre-paid units of credit, registered on a web server 11 or on the services centre device 11 '.

The invention described above is susceptible of industrial application and may be modified and adapted in several ways without thereby departing from the scope of the inventive concept. Moreover, all details of the invention may be substituted by technically equivalent elements.

Claims

1. A process for managing messages, in which an e-mail message (2) is sent, from a transmission device (2'), by means of a telecommunications network (4), to a suitable receiving device (9), characterised in that a notification message (3) is sent to a receiver device (5 or 6, 7, 8) which is different from the e-mail (2) receiving device (9).

2. The process according to claim 1, or according to the preamble to claim 1, characterised in that a notification message (3) sent from a service device (11, 11') which is different from the e-mail message transmission device (T) is sent to a receiver device (5 or 6, 7, 8, 9) belonging to the e-mail message recipient.

3. The process according to claim 2, characterised in that the notification message (3) is sent from the service device (H') after an e-mail message sent or delivered message (12) has been received.

4. The process according to claim 3, characterised in that the e-mail message sent or delivered message (12) is an e-mail message.

5. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that the notification message (3) is sent automatically.

6. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that the receiver device for the notification message (3) is a fax machine (6).

7. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that the receiver device for the notification message (3) is a telephone (7; 8).

8. The process according to claim 7, characterised in that the telephone is a landline telephone (7).

9. The process according to claim 7, characterised in that the telephone is a mobile telephone (8).

10. The process according to any of the foregoing claims from 2 to 9, characterised in that the notification message is an e-mail message.

11. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that it comprises a database (10) in which at least the addressing parameters of the receiver device (5 or 6, 7, 8, 9) are saved.

12. The process according to claim 11, characterised in that a single database (10) is used both for managing the e-mail messages (2) and for managing the notification messages (3).

13. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that it is at least partly implemented on a web server (11).

14. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that it is at least partly implemented on a web client (11).

15. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that it can be activated subject to registration and recognition of the user before use.

16. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that it can be activated for a payment which is taken automatically from registered prepaid units of credit when each notification message (3) is sent.

17. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that it is implemented on a services centre device (11 ').

18. The process according to any of the foregoing claims, characterised in that it is implemented in a software which interacts with the telecommunications network (4).

19. The process according to claim 18, characterised in that the software is an add-on for a conventional e-mail electronic message transmission application.

20. The process according to claim 18, characterised in that the software is integrated in a conventional e-mail electronic message transmission application.

21. An apparatus for managing messages, in which an e-mail message (2) is sent, from a transmission device (2'), by means of a telecommunications network (4), to a suitable receiving device (9), characterised in that a notification message (3) is sent to a receiver device (5 or 6, 7, 8) which is different from the e-mail message (2) receiving device (9).

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, or according to the preamble to claim 21, characterised in that a notification message (3) sent from a service device (11, 11') which is different from the e-mail message transmission device (2') is sent to a receiver device (5 or 6, 7, 8, 9) belonging to the e-mail message recipient.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, characterised in that the notification message (3) is sent from the service device (H') after an e-mail message sent or delivered message (12) has been received.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, characterised in that the e-mail message sent or delivered message (12) is an e-mail message.

25. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 24, characterised in that the notification message (3) is sent automatically.

26. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 25, characterised in that the receiver device (5 or 6, 7, 8) for the notification message

(2) is a fax machine (6).

27. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 26, characterised in that the receiver device for the notification message (3) is a telephone (7; 8).

28. The apparatus according to claim 27, characterised in that the telephone is a landline telephone (7).

29. The apparatus according to claim 27, characterised in that the telephone is a mobile telephone (8).

30. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 22 to 29, characterised in that the notification message is an e-mail message sent from a services centre.

31. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 30, characterised in that it comprises a database (10) in which at least the addressing parameters of the receiver device (5 or 6, 7, 8) are saved.

32. The apparatus according to claim 31, characterised in that a single database (10) is used both for managing the e-mail messages (2) and for managing the notification messages (3).

33. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 32, characterised in that it is at least partly implemented on a web server (11).

34. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 33, characterised in that it is at least partly implemented on a web client (11).

35. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 34, characterised in that it can be activated subject to registration and recognition of the user before use.

36. The apparatus according to claim 35, characterised in that it can be activated for a payment which is taken automatically from registered pre-paid units of credit when each notification message (3) is sent.

37. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 36, characterised in that it is implemented on a services centre device (12').

38. The apparatus according to any of the foregoing claims from 21 to 37, characterised in that it is implemented in a software which interacts with the telecommunications network (4).

39. The apparatus according to claim 38, characterised in that the software is an add-on for a conventional e-mail electronic message transmission application.

40. The apparatus according to claim 38, characterised in that the software is integrated in a conventional e-mail electronic message transmission application.