Systems and Method for Managing Emails

Abstract

The embodiment of the present invention allows for a simple and intuitive system and method to manage email by applying time-elapsed rules to emails matching specific criteria (i.e. emails coming from specific email addresses): Time-elapsed rules are rules that will execute an action on an email message after the email has been in the inbox for a certain period of time. These actions may include, but are not limited to, moving the email to another folder, copying the email to another folder, and deleting the email.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A computer implemented method of managing electronic emails, the method comprising:
 detecting receipt of an email, received over a communications network, from a sender for an email account of a recipient;   executing, via a processor, upon the receipt of the email, an instruction based on a rule defined by the recipient prior to receipt of the email, the rule specifying deletion of emails from the sender upon elapse of a defined time period, wherein the elapse of the defined time period becomes satisfied at a future time; and   deleting the email from the sender upon elapse of the defined time period.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising an action of moving the email to another location, performed after elapse of the predefined time period. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least one additional condition set by the user is satisfied before performing the deletion of the email. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the additional condition relates to the email being marked as read. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising the step of displaying an identifier associated with the email within a list of emails, the identifier indicating that the action is scheduled to be performed at a future time based on satisfying the at least one condition. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the identifier visually indicates the at least one condition and/or the action. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein creation of the rule comprises the recipient selecting at least one email in a plurality of emails displayed in the recipient interface and selecting at least one menu option that triggers the recipient interface to display (1) a window containing the sender of the at least one email, (2) an option to set the defined time period for the sender, and (3) a confirmation control, and   wherein the rule results in emails from the sender that arrive at different times being deleted at different times, each email from the sender being deleted after elapse of the predefined time period from receipt of each of the at least one email.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting receipt of a second email, received over a communications network, from the sender for an email account of a recipient;   executing, via a processor, upon the receipt of the second email, an instruction based on the rule defined by the recipient prior to receipt of the email, the rule specifying deletion of emails from the sender upon elapse of a defined time period,   wherein the elapse of the defined time period becomes satisfied at a future time;   wherein the defined time period for the email is measured from receipt of the email; and   deleting the second email from the sender upon elapse of the defined time period, wherein the second email is deleted at a different time than the first email but after the same predefined time.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein all rules defined by the recipient to delete received emails in the future use the same predefined time period. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein different rules defined by the recipient to delete received emails in the future use different predefined time periods. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the defined time period for the email is measured from receipt of the email. 
     
     
         12 . A computer implemented method of managing electronic emails, the method comprising:
 detecting receipt of an email, received over a communications network, from a sender for a user's email account;   executing, via a processor, an instruction based on a rule defined by the recipient before receipt of the email to delete the email upon elapse of a defined time period associated with the sender in the rule, wherein a future expiration time for the email is determined when receipt of the email is detected, the future expiration time being a predefined time period after receipt of the email;   wherein the first sender is identified by an email address; and   deleting the email upon elapse of the first defined time period.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 ,
 wherein the rule is created upon receipt from the user of a request to create the rule and the rule comprises an identity of the sender and the defined time period;   wherein, upon the selection by the recipient of at least one email in a plurality of emails and at least one option, the user interface is triggered to display to the user both the identity of the sender of the at least one email and at least an option to set the first defined time period, which is to be associated with the sender; and   wherein the rule is added to a rule list.   
     
     
         14 . A computer implemented method of managing electronic emails, the method comprising:
 detecting receipt of a first email in an email inbox of a user, received over a communications network, from a sender;   detecting receipt of a second email in the email inbox of the user, received over a communications network, from the sender;   executing, via a processor, an instruction based on a rule defined by the recipient before receipt of the first email to delete the first email upon elapse of a defined time period associated with the sender in the rule, wherein a first future expiration time for the first email is determined when receipt of the first email is detected, the first future expiration time being a predefined time period after receipt of the first email;   executing, via a processor, an instruction based on the rule to delete the second email upon elapse of a defined time period associated with the sender in the rule, wherein a second future expiration time for the second email is determined when receipt of the second email is detected, the second future expiration time being the predefined time period after receipt of the second email and being different from the first future expiration time;   wherein the sender is identified by an email address;   deleting the first email at the first future expiration time and   deleting the second email at the second future expiration time.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the user, a selection of the defined time period, wherein the defined time period identifies the duration that will elapse between receipt and deletion of emails received from the sender;   generating a rule for the user's email account, wherein the rule comprises the identification of the first sender and the first defined time period associated with deletion of emails received from the sender;   providing a deletion indicator in an email list view of the user's inbox interface for emails marked for deletion; and   activating the deletion indicator for emails marked for deletion, wherein said activation effects display of deletion criterion associated with said emails marked for deletion.