E-mail role templates for classifying e-mail

Abstract

An e-mail categorization system can include a plurality of role templates, each role template being associated with an e-mail account and defining a plurality of categories for categorizing e-mail messages. An authorized account holder can establish the plurality of categories and can designate programmatic actions that are to be selectively executed by an e-mail receiving application upon the receipt of e-mail messages. The selection of actions can be based upon categories of the received e-mail messages. Role templates can be distributed to e-mail originators so that when e-mail originators direct e-mail messages to an account associated with a role template, the originators are prompted to select one of the categories defined by a corresponding role template.

1 . An e-mail categorization system comprising:
 a plurality of role templates, each role template being associated with an e-mail account and defining a plurality of categories for categorizing e-mail messages, wherein an authorized account holder establishes the plurality of categories and designates programmatic actions that are to be selectively executed by an e-mail receiving application upon the receipt of e-mail messages based upon categories of the received e-mail messages, and wherein role templates are distributed to e-mail originators so that when e-mail originators direct e-mail messages to an account associated with a role template, the originators are prompted to select one of the categories defined by a corresponding role template.   
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an originator module associated with an e-mail application of one of the e-mail originators, the originator module having machine-readable code that directs a computing device to:
 detect an e-mail origination event; 
 responsive to the origination event and for each e-mail recipient that is to be conveyed an e-mail message, identify a role template associated with the e-mail recipient; and 
 when a role template is detected, prompt the e-mail originator to designate one of the categories defined by the identified role template that pertains to the e-mail message. 
   
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an account holder module associated with an e-mail application of one of the e-mail account holders, the account holder module having machine-readable code that directs a computing device to:   receive account holder provided input that defines the categories for the associated e-mail account;   establish one of the role templates in accordance with the received input; and   use the established categories when handling e-mail messages received from e-mail communicators.   
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a role manager module configured to mark selected categories defined by a role template as stale and to prevent new e-mail messages from being associated with a categories marked as stale.   
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the role manager module further defines actions that an account holder is to take when receiving e-mail messages associated with a stale category, wherein one of said actions includes conveying an e-mail notification to the e-mail originator to inform the e-mail originator that a stale role has been designated against an e-mail message. 
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a template distribution module configured to disseminate role template information and updates to the e-mail originators.   
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a template editor module configured to provide an interface through which authorized parties are capable of establishing and editing role templates.   
   
   
       8 . A computerized e-mailing method comprising the steps of:
 identifying a role template for an e-mail account, wherein said role template establishes a plurality of account holder defined categories for an e-mail account; and   prompting an e-mail originator to designate one of the categories based upon said role template when said e-mail originator directs an e-mail message to said e-mail account, wherein the designated category is conveyed to the e-mail account along with the e-mail message.   
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the designated category is specified within metadata of the e-mail message. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:
 specifying e-mail originator identification information within said metadata.   
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising the steps of:
 detecting an attempt to disseminate said role template;   validating the role template; and   responsive to the validating step, selectively accepting the role template, wherein accepting the template results in a category pop-up interface item populated with categories defined by the role template to appear when the e-mail originator attempts to send an e-mail message to the e-mail account associated with the role template.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising the steps of:
 before the prompting step, querying the e-mail account for updates to said role-template; and   updating said categories based upon query results, wherein said prompting step utilizes updated category information from the updating step.   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising the steps of:
 identifying a different role template for a different e-mail account, wherein said different role template establishes a plurality of account holder defined categories for a the different e-mail account; and   prompting the e-mail originator to designate one of the different account categories based upon said different role template when the e-mail originator directs an e-mail message to the different e-mail account, wherein the designated category is conveyed to the different e-mail account along with the e-mail message.   
   
   
       14 . A computerized e-mailing method comprising the steps of:
 receiving account holder provided input that defines a plurality of categories for an e-mail account;   establishing a role template in accordance with the received input;   distributing the role template to a plurality of e-mail communicators; and   using indicators from the e-mail communicators that designate one of the categories defined by said role template to handle e-mail messages received from the e-mail communicators.   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein said using step comprises the steps of:
 receiving an e-mail message;   examining an indicator associated with the e-mail message to determine a category specified for the received e-mail message;   comparing the determined category against a list of current categories associated with the role template; and   performing at least one previously defined programmatic action based upon results of said comparing step.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the comparing step determines that the determined category is not one of the categories included within the list of current categories, said performing step further comprising the step of:
 automatically rejecting said received e-mail.   
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the comparing step determines that the determined category is not one of the categories included within the list of current categories, said performing step further comprising the step of:
 automatically conveying an e-mail message to an originator of the e-mail message that indicates that a valid category for the e-mail message is to be selected in order for the e-mail to be conveyed to the intended recipient.   
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , said performing step further comprising the step of:
 conveying said role template to the originator of the e-mail message.   
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising the steps of:
 receiving account holder provided input that modifies the role template;   updating the role template in accordance with the received input; and   distributing the updated role template to said plurality of e-mail communicators.   
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising the steps of:
 upon receiving an e-mail message, determining whether an originator of the e-mail message has a current version of said role template; and   when the originator does not have a current version, automatically conveying a current version of said role template to the originator.