Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGE NOTIFICATION METHOD AND
APPARATUS
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for notiying a
recipient of an electronic mail message that the message has been received.
Background of the Invention
Currently, a user of a consumer online service has no way of telling
when there are unread electronic mail (email) messages present in the
user's account when the user is off line. The user must periodically logon
to the email messaging system to check for new email. The logon process
may be rather lengthy, involving steps such as turning on a computer,
waiting for the computer to boot, launching an application program,
initiating a connection, and waiting for the connection to be made. Due to
the inconvenience of this process, many users logon infrequently, for
example, once a day. Thus, the time it takes for an email message to be
delivered to the recipient may be a day or more. This delay tends to
diminish the usefulness of email and make it less likely that email will be
used when a quicker response is desired.
A need arises for a technique by which the email message delivery
delay time may be reduced. Such a reduction would result if a user was
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notified of new email message soon after the message was received by the
email messaging system. A need arises for a technique by which users of
email messaging are notified of a new email message soon after the
message is received by the email messaging system.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention is a method and apparatus for notifying a
recipient that an electronic mail (email) message addressed to the recipient
has been received at an electronic mail messaging system. The invention
provides a simple and inexpensive way of notifying the recipient when
they should logon to retrieve an email message.
Responsive to an email messaging system receiving an email
message addressed to a recipient, the email messaging system places an
alert telephone call to the recipient. The alert telephone call indicates that
the email message has been received. A notification device at the
recipient's location detects the alert telephone call and indicates that the
alert telephone call has been detected.
The notification device comprises a detection circuit detecting an
alert call placed in response to receipt of the email message and an
indicator circuit indicating that the alert call has been detected. In one
embodiment, the indicator circuit comprises a counter circuit counting a
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number of alert calls that have been detected and a display displaying the
' number of alert calls that have been detected.
Brief Description of the Drawings
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and
operation, can best be understood by referring to the accompanying
drawings, in which like reference numbers and designations refer to like
elements.
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a system including an email notification
device 116, according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a notification
device 116, according to the present invention.
Fig. 3a is a block diagram of a typical email recipient system
configuration including a notification device, according to the present
invention.
Fig. 3b is a block diagram of another typical email recipient system
configuration including a notification device, according to the present
invention.
Fig. 4a is a block diagram of an exemplary system, in which an
automated notification process, according to the present invention, may be
implemented.
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Fig. 4b is a flow diagram of an email notification process 450,
implemented in the system of Fig. 4a.
Detailed Description of the Invention
An electronic mail (email) notification device 116 of the present
invention, and the system in which it operates, is shown in Fig. 1. An
email sender 102 transmits an email message 104, which is addressed to
email recipient lOb, to email messaging system 108. The email message
may be sent over any conventional transmission medium, such as a local
or wide area network, or the Internet. The email messaging system places
the received email message in the inbox of the account belonging to email
recipient 106.
After the email sender 102 transmits the email message, he may
then place an alert telephone call 110a to email recipient 106 at a
designated telephone number using the public switched telephone network
(PSTN) 112: Alternatively, after the email message has been placed in the
inbox, the email messaging system 108 may place an alert telephone call
110b to email recipient 106 at the designated telephone number using the
PSTN 112. The PSTN 112 completes the alert call to the telephone line
114 corresponding to the designated telephone number. Notification
device 116 is connected to telephone line 114 and detects the ring signal of
the alert call. Email sender 102 or email messaging system 108 allows the
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call to ring a predetermined number of times, then terminates the call.
Notification device 116 detects the call and determines that it is an alert
call based on the number of rings. Notification device 116 then generates
an indication 118 that an alert call has been detected for email recipient
$ 106, thus notifying recipient 106 that an email message has arrived.
A block diagram of one embodiment of a notification device 116,
according to the present invention, is shown in Fig. 2. Notification device
116 detects each alert call which comes in on line 114, which is a standard
telephone line. Notification device 116 includes a well-known telephone
ring detector circuit 204, which is connected to telephone line 114. Ring
detector 204 outputs a signal 206 that indicates that line 114 is ringing.
Signal 206 is input to counter/comparator 208, which counts each ring on
line 114. Once the call is detected to have terminated, such as by no ring
detected for an interval of five seconds, counter/comparator 208 compares
1$ the number of rings counted with a predefined target number of rings.
When the number of rings equals, but does not exceed the predefined
target number. counter comparator 208 outputs signal 210, which indicates
that an alert call has been received. This allows notification device 116 to
distinguish alert calls from other types of calls that may come in on line
114. For example, the target number of rings may be set to one. When a
call comes in on line 114, ring detector 204 will detect each ring. After the
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first ring, counter comparator 208 will detect that the target number of
rings has been reached. If the call is not an alert call, line 114 will
continue ringing. Counter/comparator 208 will detect that the preset
number of rings has been exceeded and will not output signal 210. If the
call is an alert call, the call will terminate, counter/comparator 208 will
detect that the preset number of rings has not been exceeded, and will
output signal 210, which indicates that an alert call has been detected.
Signal 210 is input to counter circuit 212, which counts the number
of alert calls that have been received on line 204. Counter circuit 212
outputs a signal 214 to indicator 216 indicating the current count of alert
calls. Indicator 216 displays the number of alert calls. When an alert call
110a or 110b, as shown in Fig. 1, which indicates that an email message is
waiting, is received, the notification device indicates that the email
message is waiting to the email recipient. After being notified, the
recipient may reset the count of alert calls using reset device 218, which is
typically a button or switch. Thus, counter 212 counts alert calls that have
arrived since the last reset.
In another embodiment of the notification device, counter 212 is
replaced by a simple latching device, which latches signal 210. This
embodiment indicates only that one or more alert calls have been received,
thus notifying that one or more email messages are waiting. The number
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of alert calls is not displayed. The recipient may reset the notification
' device using reset device 218.
. Indicator 216 may be a visual display device or an audible
indicator. In an embodiment in which the number of messages is
displayed, the visual display device may be, for example, an alpha-
numeric display device that directly displays the number of alert calls or a
flashing light indicating the number of alert calls by its flashing pattern.
In
such an embodiment, an audible indicator may be a simple beeper,
indicating the number of alert calls by its beeping pattern, or the audible
indicator may be a speech synthesis device generating a spoken message
indicating the number of alert calls waiting. Visual and audible indicators
may both be present in one notification device.
Notification device 116 may be advantageously installed on any
telephone line used by the email recipient. A typical configuration is
shown in Fig. 3a. In this configuration, the recipient has a separate
dedicated telephone line that is used to access the email messaging system.
The typical email recipient has a computer system 302, which is often a
standard personal computer. The typical email recipient also has a
conventional modem 304, which is used to logon to the email messaging
system in order to transmit and receive email messages. Both modem 304
and notification device 116 are connected to telephone line 114.
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Notification device 116 may include a conventional telephone line pass-
through circuit, to allow convenient connection of the device to the
telephone line and the modem. Generally, a typical email user initiates
telephone calls to the email messaging system.
Another typical configuration is shown in Fig. 3b. In this
configuration, the email recipient uses a single telephone line that is shared
among several devices. For example, in addition to notification device
116 and modem 304, a telephone set 306 and one or more additional
telephone devices 308, such as a telephone answering machine, a fax
machine, etc., are connected as well. Many of these devices include pass-
through circuits, to facilitate connection of additional devices.
Notification device 116 may be advantageously used in this configuration
as long as the target number of rings is properly set to correspond to the
number of rings of an alert call. As an example, in a typical configuration,
notification device 116 is set to respond to the number of rings of an alert
call, for example, one ring, and device 308 may be set to respond to four
rings. An incoming call, regardless of type, will ring on line 114. If the
call is an alert call, the call will ring once and then terminate.
Notification
device 116 will detect the alert call and indicate that an email message is
waiting. Device 308 will not respond to the call. If the call is not an alert
call, the call will ring on line 114 more than once. Notification device 116
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will detect this situation and will not register the call as an alert call. As
the call continues ringing, any person present may answer the call with
telephone station 306, or after four rings, device 308 will respond by
answering the call.
An exemplary system, in which an automated notification process,
according to the present invention, may be implemented, is shown in Fig.
4a. The system of Fig. 4a includes an email messaging system 402, public
switched telephone network (PSTN) 404 and an email recipient system
406. Email messaging system 402 includes an email server 408 and a
telephone dialer device 411. Email recipient system 406 typically includes
notification device 116, modem 414 and computer system 416. Email
server 408 is a conventional online server system with multiple user
account email capability. Email server 408 may include only one server
computer system, or it may include multiple, networked computer systems
present at one location or at several geographically separate locations.
Email server 408 includes email messages 409 and telephone numbers
410, both of which are typically stored in one or more mass storage
devices, such as hard disk drives.
Dialer device 411 is connected to email server 408 and to PSTN
404. Device 411 receives commands and data from server 408 and
transmits status and data to server 408. Device 411 is capable of initiating
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telephone calls over PSTN 404 to telephone numbers received from server
408. When an email message is received by email server 408, the message
is stored in email server 408 at block 409. Email server 408 then selects
the telephone number corresponding to the recipient of the email message
5 from among telephone numbers 410 and transmits the selected telephone
number, along with commands, to dialer device 411. A conventional
modem with outdialing capability may be used as dialer device 411.
However, since alert calls are terminated before connection occurs, full
modem capability is not required. Thus, less expensive dial-only devices
10 may be used as dialer device 411.
An email notification process 450, implemented in the system of
Fig. 4a, is shown in Fig. 4b. The process begins with step 451, in which
email messaging system 402 receives an email message addressed to an
email recipient registered with email messaging system 402, such as the
recipient at email recipient system 406. In step 452, email messaging
system 402 places the received email message in the inbox corresponding
to the email recipient. Typically, this inbox resides on emaiI server 408.
In step 453, email messaging system 402 places an alert call to a telephone
line that has been designated by the email recipient. The alert call is
allowed to ring a predetermined number of times, then is terminated. In
step 454, notification device 116 detects the alert call and indicates to the
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email recipient that the email message is waiting. Steps 455 and 456 may
be performed at the option of the recipient. In optional step 455, the email
recipient may reset notification device 116. In optional step 456, the email
recipient may retrieve the waiting email using system 406. The timing of
the performance of steps 455 and 456, or whether the steps are performed
at all, is at the option of the recipient.
Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been
described, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that there are
other
embodiments that are equivalent to the described embodiments.
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by
the specific illustrated embodiments, but only by the scope of the appended
claims.
