Updating the Recipients of a Previously Delivered Electronic Message

Abstract

A system and method for updating the list of recipients of a previously delivered email message are provided. An electronic message server may store an electronic message and a list of recipients associated with that electronic message. Recipient information identifying a new recipient to be added to the list of recipients may be received from an email client. The list of recipients may be updated based on the recipient information such that the new recipient is added to the list of recipients for the electronic message. The recipient information may be provided to another electronic message client that stores a copy of the electronic message as well as a copy of the list of recipients. The copy of the list of recipients may also be updated based on the recipient information such that the new recipient is added to the copy of the list of recipients.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method of managing electronic messages comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, information from a first electronic message client, the information identifies a recipient to be removed from a list of recipients of an electronic message previously delivered to the computing device; and   providing, by the computing device, the received information to a second electronic message client so as to update a copy of the electronic message on the second electronic message client to remove the recipient from the list of recipients of the copy of the electronic message.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein:
 the previously delivered electronic message is an email; and 
 the received information includes an email address associated with the recipient. 
 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21  wherein providing the received information to the second electronic message client comprises pushing the received information to the second electronic message client upon receipt of the received information from the first electronic message client. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21  wherein providing the received information to the second electronic message client comprises providing the received information to the second electronic message client in response to a sync request received from the first electronic message client. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 storing, at the computing device, a change log associated with the previously delivered electronic message; and 
 updating the change log based on the received information such that the change log identifies the recipient removed from the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25  wherein the received information includes date information and further comprising updating the change log based on the date information such that the change log identifies a date on which the recipient was removed from the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 receiving, from the computing device, additional information identifying a new recipient to be included in the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message; 
 updating the previously delivered electronic message by including the new recipient in the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message; 
 providing the additional information to the second electronic message client; and 
 wherein receipt of the additional recipient information at the second electronic message client causes the second electronic message client to update the copy of the electronic message by including the new recipient in the list of recipients of the copy of the electronic message. 
 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  further comprising, for each recipient in the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message, associating a status with the recipient wherein the status indicates whether the recipient is either a current recipient or a removed recipient. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27  wherein the additional information includes date information and further comprising updating a change log associated with the previously delivered electronic message such that the change log identifies a date on which the new recipient was included in the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message. 
     
     
         30 . A system for managing electronic messages comprising:
 one or more processors;   a data store storing a previously delivered electronic message comprising a list of recipients the previously delivered electronic message has been delivered to; and   memory storing instructions that, when executed by one of the one or more processors, cause the system to:
 receive information from a first electronic message client, the information identifies a recipient to be removed from the list of recipients; and 
 provide the received information to a second electronic message client so as to update a copy of the electronic message on the second electronic message client to remove the recipient from the list of recipients of the copy of the electronic message. 
   
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30  wherein:
 the previously delivered electronic message is an email; and 
 the received information includes an email address associated with the recipient. 
 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 30  further comprising a change log associated with the previously delivered electronic message wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the system to update the change log based on the received information such that the change log identifies the recipient removed from the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 32  wherein the received information includes date information and wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the system to update the change log based on the date information such that the change log identifies a date on which the recipient was removed from the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 30  wherein:
 the instructions when executed, further cause the system to:
 receive, from the first electronic message client, additional recipient information that identifies a new recipient to be included in the list of recipients, 
 update the previously delivered electronic message by including the new recipient in the list of recipients, and 
 provide the additional recipient information to the second electronic message client; and 
 
 receipt of the additional recipient information at the second electronic message client causes the second electronic message client to update the copy of the electronic message by including the new recipient in the list of recipients of the copy of the electronic message. 
 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34  wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the system to update a change log associated with the previously delivered electronic message such that the change log identifies a date on which the new recipient was included in the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 30  wherein:
 the previously delivered electronic message is associated with an electronic message thread comprising one or more additional previously delivered electronic messages, wherein each of the one or more additional previously delivered electronic messages comprises an individual list of recipients the respective additional previously delivered electronic message has been delivered to; and 
 the instructions, when executed, further cause the system to, for each of the one or more additional previously delivered electronic messages, update the list of recipients of the respective additional previously delivered electronic message by removing the recipient from the list of recipients of the respective additional previously delivered electronic message. 
 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 36  wherein:
 the second electronic message client stores, for each of the one or more additional previously delivered electronic messages, a copy of the respective additional previously delivered electronic message comprising the individual list of recipients; and 
 receipt of the information at the second electronic message client causes the second electronic message client to, for each of the one or more additional previously delivered electronic messages, update the copy of the respective additional previously delivered electronic message by removing the recipient from the individual list of recipients of the copy of the respective additional previously delivered electronic message. 
 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 30  wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the system to either (i) push the received information to the second electronic message client, or (ii) provide the information to the second electronic message client in response to receipt of a sync request from the second electronic message client. 
     
     
         39 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, information from a first client device, the information identifying a new recipient to be added to a list of recipients of a previously delivered electronic message received by the computing device; and   updating, by the computing device, the previously delivered electronic message to include the new recipient in the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message based on the received information.   
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the computing device, additional information from a second client device, the additional information identifying a current recipient to be deleted from the list of recipients; and   updating, by the computing device, the previously delivered electronic message to remove the current recipient from the list of recipients of the previously delivered electronic message based on the received additional information.