WO2013076219A1

WO2013076219A1 - Method and mail server for building outgoing email messages

Info

Publication number: WO2013076219A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/073409
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simon Gauti ROKKJÆR
Original assignee: E-Teq Aps
Priority date: 2011-11-23
Filing date: 2012-11-22
Publication date: 2013-05-30

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and email server for creating an enhanced outgoing email message from an incoming email message by re¬ trieval and insertion of business intelligence information into the enhanced outgoing email message. The business intelligence information may be re¬ trieved by applying a database query to one or more Database(s) operatively coupled to the email server.

Description

METHOD AND MAIL SERVER FOR BUILDING OUTGOING EMAIL

MESSAGES

The present invention relates to a method and email server for creating an enhanced outgoing email message from an incoming email message by re- trieval and insertion of business intelligence information into the enhanced outgoing email message. The business intelligence information may be retrieved by applying a database query to one or more Database(s) operatively coupled to the email server. The e-mail may be viewed by any type of portable or stationary device such as a smartphone or laptop computer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic mail or email is widely used to communicate various types of information from one person to one or more other persons inside or outside a corporate organization.

It is known in the prior art to frame or wrap outgoing email messages with electronic advertising. An example of such a system is Google's Gmail™ which frames incoming email with advertising links based at least in part on the content of the email. When a recipient opens a received email message, the message is surrounded or framed by advertisements having a URL link to a website. The recipient may click on a URL link in any form like pictures or text that captures his/hers interest and this action will typically route the recipient to the advertiser's website.

Some prior art email systems are designed to serve advertisements or other marketing information as well as company logos or banners, along with outgoing email messages. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application US 2007/0083602 A1 . Such outgoing email advertisement serving systems allows a corporation or organization to implement consistent branding campaigns, and present advertising and marketing promotions which wrap outgoing email messages sent from employees to external recipients. US 2010/0017294 discloses an outgoing email server which inserts electronic advertisements in outgoing email messages. The server creates an enhanced email message in which the original plain email message text is framed with one or more electronic advertisements. The system allows the assignment of one or more keywords to each electronic advertisement to facilitate the placing of electronic advertisements on a contextual basis.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved email building method and mail server capable of generating enhanced outgoing email messages with appended or integrated business intelligence information re- trieved from one or more Databases that can be either internal or external to the corporation and can comprise Business Intelligence information or other types information. This enhances the versatility and utility of an existing corporate email system and infrastructure by exploiting the corporation's existing knowledge repository to identify business intelligence data of relevance for specific issues addressed in an incoming email message. The business intelligence data of relevance for the incoming email message are preferably determined by scanning an electronic text of the incoming email message for certain search terms such as predefined key words or key sentences and build a database search query based thereon. SUMMARY OF INVENTION

A first aspect of the invention relates to a method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message by retrieval and insertion of business intelligence information in an incoming email message. The method comprises steps of: - receiving the incoming email message from a mail source,

- scanning an electronic text of the incoming email message by a query builder to identify search terms in the electronic text and constructing a database query in a first predetermined database language based on the identified search terms of the electronic text. The method further comprises steps of transmitting the database query to one or more Database(s) accessible to the query builder and comprising respective collection(s) of business data, - collecting business data retrieved by the one or more business intelligence database(s) in response to receipt of the database query and transmitting the collected business data to a mail builder,

- creating the enhanced outgoing email message by the mail builder through insertion of the collected business data and at least a portion of the electronic text of the incoming email message in accordance with a mail master template ,

- transmitting the enhanced outgoing email message to an indicated email recipient.

The present method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message is preferably executed on a corporate email server such a SMTP/POP3 exchange server or any other suitable type of mail server. The incoming email message may have been prepared by a suitable mail application running on various types of mail sources such as a server, mail client or web-mail service such as a client computer running under Microsoft Outlook™ or the like.

The enhanced outgoing email message is preferably structured or designed such that it can be read on a variety of devices and systems including, but not limited to, telephones, smartphones, mobile phones, televisions, gaming consoles, video systems, personal computers, etc.

The mail master template may be chosen by e.g. a systems administrator from the Template database. The Databases may reside on respective data- base server computers located in proximity of the corporate email server and coupled thereto through a closed corporate communication network. Alternatively, some or all of the Databases may be located at remote locations such as in another city, region, or even country or continent, and operatively coupled to the email server through a TCP/IP connection or other suitable data communication network. The enhanced outgoing email message is based on the mail master template chosen by e.g. the systems administrator from the Template database. The layout or structure of the mail master template is preferably defined by the corporation or entity utilizing the present methodology in accordance with corporate preferences, visual identity and nature of its business operation. The mail master template is preferably defined by a suitable HTML template in accordance with the standard specified by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make the enhanced outgoing email message universally compatible with common email protocols.

The skilled person will appreciate that the respective functions and data processing operations performed by the query builder and mail builder can be implemented in hardware or software, for example as software application programs or APIs, or any appropriate combination thereof. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the query builder and the mail builder are implemented as respective software applications programmed in languages such as Delphi, JAVA, C++, Microsoft.net etc.

The method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message preferably comprises further steps of:

- removing excess words from the incoming email message to generate a search string,

- constructing the database query by translating the search string to a database query in a predetermined database language. The removal of excess words may be achieved by configuring or training the query builder to recognize non-essential words of the electronic text for example by reference to a predetermined list of "essential words" such that the unlisted words or sentences are removed from the search string. In addition, or in alternative, the essential words that are utilized in the search string may have been prede- fined for example defined in connection with a previously created database index, e.g. an inverted index derived by analyzing the business data held in one or more Databases.

Once the essential words of the electronic text have been identified and in- corporated in the search string, they are utilized by the query builder to create the database query in the predetermined database language. The predetermined database language may comprise SQL due to the wide-spread use of SQL in database environments. In addition, many other types of databases are delivered with a build-in or integrated SQL translation capability.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message comprises further steps of: - stripping the electronic text from the incoming email message, saving at least a portion of the electronic text in a mail content database and transmit- ting the database query to the mail content database. The mail builder may be configured to store the content of each incoming email message as a single record of the mail content database in an itemized structure or format where individual header fields, the body comprising the electronic text and attachments are stored separately on the database record. In accordance with this embodiment, the mail builder submits the database query to the mail content database to search for relevant business data therein. The inclusion of the mail content database allows dynamic refinement of the present methodology during operation of the SMTP mail server over time as a growing amount of internal email correspondence between the corporation's employ- ees and external email correspondence between the corporation's employees and their customers, sub-contractors, consultants etc. is added to the business data.

The method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message may comprise a further step of associating one or more search terms such as record names, table names, key word(s) and/or key sentences, with a collection of business data held in a business intelligence database. The association may have been created before or at initialization of the present methodology where the content of one or more Databases was analysed by the mail builder to identify the record names, table names and key words/sentences uti- lized as business data descriptors or tags therein.

The method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message may comprise further steps of storing the enhanced outgoing email messages in the mail content database and transmitting the database query to the mail content database. Adding the content of the enhanced outgoing email messages to the mail content database allows further dynamic refinement of the present methodology as a growing amount of outgoing email correspondence with potentially relevant business data which is added to the content of the Database^). The enhanced outgoing email messages may have been transmitted internally between the corporation's employees and/or externally between the corporation's employees and their customers, sub-contractors, service providers such as accountants and consultants etc. Consequently, according to this embodiment of the invention, the content of the enhanced outgoing email messages is made accessible to the mail builder to serve as an additional reservoir of searchable business data.

In one embodiment, the method comprises steps of:

- providing a template database storing a plurality of predetermined mail templates associated with different types of data and business intelligence data,

- selecting a specific mail template from the plurality of predetermined mail templates based on an identity of the Databases that returned the collected business data and structuring and displaying the collected business data in accordance with the specific mail template in the enhanced outgoing email message. To allow convenient integration of the specific mail template in the enhanced outgoing email message, the master template may comprise one or more placeholders supporting inclusion of the specific mail template in a suitable format such as HTML coded. The specific mail template defines how the collected business data are structured and displayed in a predetermined region or regions of the master template so to provide a clean and structured presentation of the retrieved business data. In one such embodiment, the specific mail template is adapted or programmed to filter retrieved business data such that only a specific subset of the retrieved business data are displayed in the enhanced outgoing email message. In yet another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message utilizes a data abstraction layer for translation of the database query to one or more alternative database language(s) to ease access to existing Databases which are incompatible with the database query language. In this embodiment the method there- fore comprises further steps of translating the database query via a data abstraction layer from the first predetermined database language to a second predetermined database language compatible with a business intelligence database of one or more of the Databases. The first predetermined database language preferably comprises SQL due the popularity and widespread use of SQL database environments for structured storage and retrieval of business data. The translation or parsing of the database query from the first predetermined database language may be accomplished with a proprietary software application or an off-the-shelf application program such as GSP - General SQL Parser. Generally, there exist several different ways to translate SQL queries or statements into other database languages. For many database languages the details of how to make an appropriate translation from SQL is described in a white paper published by the database manufacturer. Finally, numerous other database languages already support SQL statements by an integral or build-in parser or translator. The method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message may comprise further steps of associating a score with the business data retrieved from one or more Database(s) according to relevance by the data abstraction layer and creating a subset of the retrieved business data based on the score and transmitting the subset. The score (or similar relevance attribute) has the advantage that only the most relevant business information is transmitted to the mail builder for possible inclusion in the outgoing email message. The score ensures that retrieved pieces or collections of business data that comprise many search terms, such as keywords, are ranked higher than retrieved pieces of business data that only comprise a single or few search terms. In yet another embodiment wherein a plurality of key words are utilized by the query builder, a Bayesian filter is applied to the retrieved search results by the DAL to provide selected keywords with a higher ranking or weight to assure that only the most relevant pieces of business data is transmitted to the mail builder.

In an embodiment of the invention, the business intelligence database(s) is/are adapted to indicate the type of business data such as voice, video or other data held therein and the mail builder may derive at least some of the predetermined search terms such as key words and/or key sentences from the indicated type of business data.

A second aspect of the present invention relates to a data carrier comprising a plurality of computer executable program instructions for carrying out the method of creating or building an enhanced outgoing email message according to any of the above-described methodologies. The data carrier may comprise a magnetic or optical disc or a flash-memory assembly such as a memory stick. The plurality of computer executable program instructions or object code may have been compiled from any appropriate high-level pro- gram language such as Delphi, JAVA, C++, Microsoft.net etc. Finally, the data carrier may alternatively, or additionally, comprise the source code of the plurality of computer executable program instructions. .

A third aspect of the present invention relates to an email server adapted for creating an enhanced outgoing email by insertion of business intelligence information into an incoming email message, the email server comprising:

- a query builder adapted to scanning an electronic text of the incoming email message and identifying search terms,

- the query builder being adapted to construct a database query in a first pre- determined database language based on the search terms identified in the electronic text and transmitting the database query to one or more business intelligence database(s); The mail building application is further adapted to:

- receiving data retrieved from the one or more Databases in response to the database query,

- creating the enhanced outgoing email message by inserting the retrieved business data and at least a portion of the electronic text of the incoming email message structured in accordance with a selected mail master template,

- transmitting the enhanced outgoing email message to an indicated email recipient through a data communication network. The present email server may comprise a dedicated corporate email server such as a SMTP/POP3 exchange server through which all incoming and outgoing email messages to and from a corporation is routed. The email server may be based on different types of popular computing platforms such as Windows Vista™ or Windows 7™ servers or Linux servers. The email server is preferably adapted to handle various types of email message formats such as but not limited to Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, G-mail etc.

In one embodiment, the present email server is adapted to divide the incoming emails between:

a) an outgoing email without addition of the enhanced e-mail functionality; b) an enhanced outgoing email derived from the incoming email message by retrieval and insertion of the retrieved business data such as voice, video or other data as described above. According to option a) of this embodiment, the recipient in question may wish not to receive marketing material or has opted-out to receive enhanced e-mails from the sender.

In one embodiment, the one or more Database(s) is/are operatively coupled to the email server through respective data communication networks. The business intelligence databases may reside on respective database servers located in proximity of the email server and coupled thereto through a closed corporate communication network. Alternatively, some or all of the business intelligence databases may be located at remote locations such as in another city, region, or even country or continent, and operatively coupled to the corporate email server through a TCP/IP connection or any other suitable data communication network including wireless data networks. Alternatively, the business intelligence database(s) may reside on the mail server which is advantageous for small businesses with limited IT and financial resources.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the email server is adapted to communicate with two or more business intelligence database(s) having different database languages. This adaptation is preferably performed by translating the database query via a data abstraction layer from a first predetermined database language, such as SQL or another widespread database language, to a second predetermined database language compatible with the business intelligence database that is incompatible with the first predetermined database language as explained above in connection with the first aspect of the invention. Finally, the skilled person will understand that the present email server may be adapted to perform any of the above-outlined methods of creating the enhanced outgoing email message by retrieval and insertion of business intelligence information or business data in the incoming email message. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in more detail in connection with the appended drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of an email server operatively coupled to a plurality of Databases in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 is a flow-chart of processing steps implemented by a query building application and a data abstraction layer in connection with identifying and retrieving data from the Databases in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 3 illustrates a layout of an exemplary incoming email message in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; and

Figs. 4-7 illustrate respective layouts of different types of enhanced outgoing email messages created from the incoming email message illustrated in Fig. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 is schematic drawing of an overall physical configuration and operation of a corporate email server or SMTP gateway 102 operatively coupled to a plurality of remote Databases, preferably comprising one or more business intelligence databases, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. In Fig. 1 , a mail source such as server, mail client or web-mail service etc. (not shown) is used to prepare, receive and send email messages through the dedicated corporate email server 102. The mail source may for example comprise a client running under Microsoft Outlook. The dedicated corporate email server 102 may be a SMTP/POP3 exchange server through which all incoming and outgoing email messages to and from the corporation is routed. The dedicated corporate email server 102 may be based on differ- ent computing platforms such as Windows Vista™ or Windows 7™ servers. The corporate email server 102 may be adapted to handle various types of email message formats such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, G- mail etc. A plurality of business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 is operatively coupled to the corporate email server 102 through respective data communication lines or interfaces. The business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 may reside on respective database server computers located in proximity to the corporate email server 102 and coupled thereto through a closed corporate communication network. Alternatively, some or all of the business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 may be located at remote locations such as in another city, region or even country or continent and operatively coupled to the corporate email server 102 through a TCP/IP connection or communication network. In the illustrated example, the business intelligence databases are programmed in different database languages but the skilled person will understand that the same database language may be used by all business intelligence databases or different groups of busi- ness intelligence databases may share the same database language. The first business intelligence database 1 10 comprises an Oracle SQL database, while the second business intelligence database 1 12 comprises a CRM CMS (Customer Relations Management Content Management System) database which tracks and monitors communication and interaction between employ- ees of the corporation and their respective customers. The CRM CMS database 1 12 is accordingly helping in sales or support quality, efficiency and decision support. A CRM CMS database backend preferably includes database types such as MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL. The third business intelligence database 1 14 is an exemplary ERP database that may be based on database types such as Java, MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL or Oracle working with business data types like accounting, payroll, financial forecasting, human resource, payment processing, production planning and associated resource allocation etc. The fourth business intelligence database 1 16 is a SAP or SAS database programmed in database languages such as: Microsoft NET, JAVA such as J2EE IBM Websphere and uses Oracle database, SQL, DB2 as a main database resource An important goal of the SAP/SAS database 1 16 is monitoring and tracking both communication and interaction with customers and/or vendors. These tasks allow the corporation to make sales forecasts, inventory optimization and order tracking throughout the entire manufacturing process from order acceptance to final delivery of the specified goods or services. Furthermore, these types of business data may make real time data information available to the corporate management to make proper decisions.

As exemplified above the business intelligence databases may comprise a variety of different types of business data. In the present context, business data shall mean any type of data e.g. voice, video or other data) pertinent to a corporation's normal business interactions with customers, suppliers, subcontractors, regulatory entities, news media, internal departments, employees and other stakeholders. The business data may be sourced from either the corporation's own internal Databases e.g. a CRM database a HR database etc. or from external Databases e.g. from Experian, Nielsen etc. The business data therefore comprises data such as financial records, purchase and sales figures, debtor and creditor details, invoice amounts, sales volumes, sales per customer per time period. The business data may also com- prise name and address details of customer, suppliers, employees etc. inventory information such as actual, historic and predicted manufacturing details etc.

The skilled person will understand that the respective functions and data pro- cessing operations performed by the query builder 120, mail builder 124 and database abstraction layer 1 18 can be implemented in hardware or software, for example as software application programs or software modules, or any appropriate combination thereof. In one preferred embodiment the query builder 120, mail builder 124 and database abstraction layer 1 18 are imple- mented as respective software applications programmed in an appropriate program language such as Delphi, JAVA, C++, Microsoft.net etc. The incoming email message 104 may have been prepared on a suitable application running on anyone of various types of mail sources such as a server, mail client or web-mail service. The incoming email message 104 is received by the SMTP server 106 forming part of the corporate email server or gateway 102 and forwarded to the mail builder application 124. The mail builder application 124 or mail builder strips all data elements such as textual content, pictures and graphic elements from the incoming email message and stores these as separate items in a mail database 128 as explained in further detail below in connection with Fig. 2. The mail database 120 is pref- erably organized so that each incoming email message is stored on a single database record in an itemized structure or format with individual header fields, body text and attachments where each item can be identified. The enhanced outgoing email message 126 is preferably constructed or built by selecting some, or possibly all, of the separate items of the stored incoming email message such as sender, recipient and body text and insert these items in the enhanced outgoing email message 126 in a structured manner in accordance a predefined master template as explained in detail below. By following this process, the mail builder 124 is capable of designing a structured and easily comprehensible layout of the enhanced outgoing email mes- sage 126. The mail builder 124 furthermore ensures that the enhanced outgoing email message 126 is built in compliance with the RFC standard for SMTP email messages, he mail builder 124 preferably also checks sender and recipient details in an Address/User database 129 to determine whether the sender is allowed to use a particular layout, or if a recipient has said no to the enhanced email message. The mail builder 124 may additionally, or alternatively, check the Address/User database 129 to determine whether the recipient has declined either through the Robinson list under data protection laws or declined directly to the sender e.g. via an opt out in the outgoing e- mail to receive the enhanced email message. The sender may finally not be allowed to send the intended enhanced email message. In the latter situation, the mail builder 124 may proceed to just save the incoming e-mail in the mail database 128 and transmit the email as is without inserting the enhancements.

A template database 122 comprises a plurality of message templates that can be applied to the enhanced outgoing email message 126 to provide a structured layout of the enhanced outgoing mail message 126. The message templates are associated with respective types of business data such as voice data or video data that may be held in the Databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16. The mail builder 124 selects an appropriate message template based on the type of business data retrieved from the business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 in response to a particular database query submitted by the query builder 120 as explained in further detail below in connection with Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a flow-chart of processing steps 202-214 executed by the query builder 120 and the data abstraction layer 1 18 in connection with identifying and retrieving business intelligence data from the corporate business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16. The query builder 120 constructs appropriate database queries based on the electronic text of the incoming email message 104. These database queries may comprise key words or specific names of database fields or records in one or more of the business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 already known to the mail builder 120 from earlier submitted inquires to the business intelligence databases. The database queries may also be based on information supplied through other channels about characteristics and/or content of the business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16.

In another embodiment of the invention, the query builder 120 is based on a so-called Search Oriented Architecture (SOA) using search terms to search through structured, semi-structured, or unstructured business intelligence data. This is particularly advantageous if one or more of the business intelli- gence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 comprises collections of unstructured business data such as the above-mentioned mail database 120 or a similar data repository comprising electronic text items or words/sentences of previously received incoming email messages and the like. The SOA architecture may also be advantageous if the respective content of some, or possibly all, of the business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 is unknown to the mail builder 124 at initialization of the corporate email server 102.

The SOA architecture may be realized or implemented by integrating a standard search engine index in the query builder 120 such as inverted Index, Forward Index, vertical index and optionally metatags. This type of search engine index may be integrated by using a dedicated object created for the purpose in a standard programming package such as but not limited to Bookshelf v 7.5 search index objects.

In the present embodiment of the invention, the query builder 120 uses SQL queries to interrogate the business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 through the DAL 1 18, but the skilled person will understand that many other types of database languages either standard languages or proprietary lan- guages may be used depending on the overall architecture of the SMTP gateway 102 and characteristics of the business intelligence databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16.

In step 202, the mail builder 124 receives the incoming email 104 from the corporate email client. The query builder 120 subsequently scans the electronic text of the incoming email 104 illustrated in the figure as the exemplary sentence "Do you have the sales number for December and January for the Smith's account?" The query builder 120 is configured or trained to recognize non-essential words of the above sentence in context of business intelligence data by training for example by reference to a predetermined list of "essential words" and skipping of unlisted words or sentences. In the alternative, a list of "non-essential words" may be referenced such that these automatically are skipped before creating the database query. In yet another useful embodiment, the predetermined list of "essential words" is dynamically updated with supplementary essential words during operation of the mail builder 124 based on successful responses from the DAL 1 18 to earlier submitted database queries. In addition, or alternative, the "essential words" may be defined and searched through the previously created index, e.g. the inverted index.

In step 208, the essential words of the above exemplary sentence are identi- fied and stored as illustrated by the query builder 120. The essential words are finally utilized by the query builder 120 to create a database query as indicated in step 210 and the database query submitted to the, in this case, four Databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 accessible to the query builder 120 in the present embodiment of the invention. However, in the illustrated embodi- ment, only the SQL Oracle database 1 10 of the, in this case, four Database 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 is SQL compatible. The three other Databases 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 are programmed in other types of database languages. To make the generated database query (indicated in step 210) comprehensible to these SQL incompatible Database 1 12, 1 14, 1 16, the DAL 1 18 is, through execu- tion of step 212, adapted to translate the generated database query to the individual database languages in question. The translation may be accomplished with a proprietary software application or an off-the-shelf application program such as GSP - General SQL Parser. There are several different ways to translate or parse SQL queries or statements to other database lan- guages. For many database languages the details of how to make an appropriate translation are described in a white paper published by the database manufacturer. Certain other database languages already support SQL statements by an integral or build-in parser or translator. The DAL 1 18 subsequently applies the database query directly to the SQL database 1 10 and applies the translated database queries to the appropriate ones of the business intelligence databases 1 12, 1 14, 1 16. The respective responses from the business intelligence database 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 are analyzed by the DAL 1 18 in step 214. The DAL 1 18 subsequently informs the mail builder 124 about which business intelligence database or databases that returned useful results in form of relevant pieces of business intelligence data. Based on the information about which of the business intelligence database or databases returned useful results, the mail builder 124 can select an appropriate mail template from the template database (item 122 on Fig. 1 ) that matches the type of business data returned by the database or data- bases. This allows the retrieved business data to be presented in a comprehensible and consistent way to the recipient(s) of the enhanced email message 126 in an easily comprehensible and clean layout. The template database preferably contains templates for each type of business data which the SMTP gateway 102 is expected to process and present. For example, if the mail builder 124 receives business data sourced from the ERP 1 14 system about customer address details, the mail builder 124 is adapted to select and apply a suitable address template held in the template database 122. Likewise, if the source of the retrieved business data is the previously described CMS 1 12 system which holds product specifications, the mail builder 124 is configured to select a product information/product data template.

Furthermore, the useful pieces of business data retrieved by one or more of the the business intelligence database 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 are preferably assessed for relevance by the DAL 1 18 and given a score or similar relevance attribute. The DAL 1 18 may adapted to filter the useful pieces of business intelligence data based on their score (or equivalent metric) and solely supply a subset of the retrieved pieces of business data to the mail builder 124 for inclusion in the enhanced outgoing email message 126. One advantage associated with this procedure is that only the most relevant business infor- mation is included in the outgoing email message and delivered to the mail recipient, i.e. if there is only one keyword or other search term present the retrieved piece of business data might not be as relevant as those pieces of business data that comprise more keywords or search terms such as 5-9 keywords or search terms. If there are many keywords present in the electronic text of a particular incoming email message 104, it may be advanta- geous to apply a Bayesian filter to provide selected keywords with a higher ranking so as to assure that only the most relevant pieces of business data are included by the mail builder 126.

Fig. 3 illustrates the layout of an exemplary incoming email message 300 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. The incoming email message 300 is arranged within an outer frame which encloses a text box 303 holding the electronic text "Main body text". The main body text comprises the user's message text to the intended recipient(s). Below, the main body text, the sender's signature which may be generated automatically according to rules of the mail-program.

Fig. 4 schematically illustrates a layout 400 of an exemplary enhanced outgoing email message derived from the incoming email message 300 depicted on Fig. 3. The enhanced outgoing email message is based on a mail master template selected by the mail builder 124 (Fig. 1 ) in accordance with the type of business data retrieved as previously explained. The layout of the mail master template is typically defined by the firm or corporation associated with the SMTP mail builder 102 in accordance with corporate preferences and the type of business operation. The mail master template 122 is preferably de- fined by a suitable HTML template in accordance with the standard specified by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make the email message universally compatible with normally utilized email protocols. The mail master template comprises a plurality of placeholders, 405, 407, 409, 41 1 etc. wherein additional HTML coded templates are insertable. The additional HTML coded templates are associated with the displayed type of business data so as to provide a clean and structured presentation of the underlying business data retrieved from the Database 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16. The additional HTML coded templates are preferably structured or programmed to filter the retrieved business data such that only a specific subset of the retrieved business data is displayed in an associated display area of the email message 400. The exemplary layout 400 of the present enhanced outgoing email message comprises a peripheral frame surrounding the layout. At the lower portion of the layout 400, a bottom text area 407 comprises e.g. corporate details such as name, addresses, phone and fax numbers, opt-out (option not to receive the enhanced email going forward) etc. These details are retrieved from an appropriate one of the Databases and inserted automatically by the mail builder 124 into the layout 400 of the outgoing email message. A dedicated HTML coded template ensures that the retrieved corporate details are structured and presented with a predefined text and graphics style. A top text area 409 is placed oppositely to the bottom text area 407 and preferably compris- es additional information about the corporation or of its products and/or services. The top text area 409 may for example include text, logos, artwork, pictures, video, voice etc that are of relevance to the recipient and/or allows the recipient to easily determine the origin of the outgoing email. The sender's signature 405 is moved to a predetermined portion of the email layout 400 by the mail builder 124 and the text and numbers re-formatted to comply with the relevant corporate standard. The main body text which may correspond exactly to the main body text of the original incoming email message 300 (Refer to Fig. 3), is arranged in a dedicated area 403 for the purpose as illustrated. A number of advertisement (voice, video or data) or menu areas 41 1 are arranged vertically on both sides of the dedicated main body text area. The content of each of these advertisement or menu areas is retrieved business data from the Databases 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 structured by the above-mentioned additional HTML coded templates to provide a clean layout of the outgoing email 400. The content of the advertisement or menu areas 41 1 is a function of the processing of the main body text of the incoming email message as discussed in connection with Fig. 2. The advertisement menu areas may accordingly comprise a variety of useful business intelligence information of suspected relevance in view of the analysis of the main body text such as links to information (e.g. voice, video or other data) held on a particular page of a web-server, financial data such as sales and purchase amounts or balance, product or service specifications, or data (e.g. voice, video, text) either in-house Database or from external Databases.

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a second exemplary layout 500 of an enhanced outgoing email message derived from the incoming email message 300 depicted on Fig. 3. The numbering of the reference signs on Fig. 5 corresponds to the numbering of reference signs on Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 schematically illustrates a third exemplary layout 600 of an enhanced outgoing email message derived from the incoming email message 300 de- picted on Fig. 3. In this embodiment, the layout 600 lacks the unbroken peripheral frame utilized in the previously illustrated layouts 400, 500. The numbering of the reference signs on Fig. 6 corresponds to the numbering of reference signs on Fig. 4. Fig. 7 schematically illustrates a fourth exemplary layout 700 of an enhanced outgoing email message derived from the incoming email message 300 depicted on Fig. 3. The numbering of the reference signs on Fig. 7 corresponds to the numbering of reference signs on Fig. 4.

Claims

1 . A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message by retrieval and insertion of business intelligence information in an incoming email message, the method comprising steps of:

- receiving the incoming email message from a mail source,

- scanning an electronic text of the incoming email message by a query builder to identify search terms in the electronic text,

- constructing a database query in a first predetermined database lan- guage based on the identified search terms of the electronic text,

- transmitting the database query to one or more Database(s) accessible to the query builder and comprising respective collection(s) of business data,

- collecting business data retrieved by the one or more Database(s) in response to receipt of the database query,

- transmitting the collected business data to a mail builder,

- creating the enhanced outgoing email message by the mail builder through insertion of the collected business data and at least a portion of the electronic text of the incoming email message in accordance with a mail master template,

2. A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to claim 1 , comprising further steps of:

- constructing the database query by translating the search string to a database query in a predetermined database language .

A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to claim 1 or 2, comprising further steps of:

- stripping the electronic text from the incoming email message,

- saving at least a portion of the electronic text in a mail content database,

- transmitting the database query to the mail content database.

A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to any of the preceding claims, comprising a further step of:

- associating one or more search terms such as record names, table names, key word(s) and/or key sentences, with a collection of business data held in a Database.

- storing the enhanced outgoing email messages in the mail content database.

A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to any of the preceding claims, comprising further steps of:

- providing a template database storing a plurality of predetermined mail templates associated with different types of Data,

- selecting a specific mail template from the plurality of predetermined mail templates based on an identity of the Database(s) that returned the collected business data,

- structuring and displaying the retrieved business data in accordance with the specific mail template in the enhanced outgoing email message.

- inserting one or more placeholders supporting insertion of the plurality of predetermined mail templates coded in HTML in the mail master template, - the specific mail template defining how the collected business data are structured and displayed in a predetermined region or regions of the master templates.

8. A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to any of the preceding claims, comprising further steps of:

- translating the database query via a data abstraction layer from the first predetermined database language to a second predetermined database language compatible with a Database of the one or more of the Data- base(s),

- transmitting the translated database query to the Database(s) compatible therewith.

9. A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to claim 8, comprising further steps of:

- associating a score with the business data retrieved from the one or more Database(s) according to relevance by the data abstraction layer,

- creating a subset of the retrieved business data based on the score and transmitting the subset to the mail builder for inclusion in the enhanced outgoing email message.

10. A method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to any of the preceding claims, comprising further steps of:

- indicating by a Database(s), the type of business data such as voice, video or other data, held therein,

- deriving at least some of the predetermined search terms from the indicated type of business data.

1 1 . A data carrier comprising a plurality of computer executable program in- structions for carrying out the method of creating an enhanced outgoing email message according to any of claims 1 -10.

12. An email server adapted for creating an enhanced outgoing email by insertion of business intelligence information into an incoming email message, the email server comprising:

- the query builder being adapted to construct a database query in a first predetermined database language based on the search terms identified in the electronic text and transmitting the database query to one or more Da- tabase(s);

wherein the mail building application is further adapted to:

- creating the enhanced outgoing email message by inserting the re- trieved business data and at least a portion of the electronic text of the incoming email message in accordance with a mail master template,

- transmitting the enhanced outgoing email message to an indicated email recipient through a data communication network.

13. An email server according to claim 12, wherein the one or more Database^) are operatively coupled to the email server through respective data communication networks.

14. An email server according to claim 12 or 13 adapted to communicate with two or more Database(s) having different database languages.