International Business Machines Corporation

Michael R O'Brien

Niklas Heidloff

Gregory Robert Klouda

Ashok C Mammen

Oliver Kieselbach

Stephen T Auriemma

Shruti Kumar

Maria M Corbett

Carl Kraenzel

James Patrick Galvin, Jr

Hardy Groeger

Patrick Joseph O'Sullivan

Lin Sun

Itzhack Goldberg

David Andrew Brooks

Paul Brian Moody

Thomas R Haynes

Boaz Mizrachi

Corinne M Ryan

John Douglas Curtis

Xiao Feng Ji

Bruce A Kahn

Igor Belakovskiy

Molly Chang

Thomas M Bentley

Margo L Ezekiel

Steven Robert Beckhardt

Jonathan David Champlin

Douglas M Conmy

William G Stoddard

Kathryn A Glickman

Elizabeth A Lorenson

A system and method is provided for optimizing a SyncML slow sync between a proprietary client and server. When a slow sync is detected, the client and server can depart from the normal SyncML protocol and process summary data without having to compare all items on a field-by-field basis.

Optimizing a slow synchronization package

A method for processing software layout can include exporting layout setting information from design elements of a software; formatting the layout setting information, and storing it in a layout characteristic file; and importing the layout setting information in the layout characteristic file into design elements of another software. Layout information of each language can be stored in a customizable layout characteristic file.

Software layout processing localization

System and method for optimizing synchronization

A system for automatically providing notifications to a user regarding interesting content, which automatically collects information regarding persons that are important to the user, as well as indications of important content sources. The important content sources are then monitored for actions performed by one of the important persons for the user, and notifications are generated to the user in the event that the important person performs an action on a document or other information item stored in the important content source. Important persons for a user may be determined through a communication application used by the user, such as an electronic mail program, instant messaging program, or the like, in response to indications of persons that the user has either sent messages to and/or received messages from. The notifications may be provided through the user's communication application, by electronic mail messages, instant messages, or the like. The notification may include a name, identifier, or other indication of the important person that performed the action on the important content source. Notifications may be provided to the user in response to any specific kind of action by the important persons on an important content source, such as create operations, modify operations, and/or delete operations.

Automatically providing notifications regarding interesting content from shared sources based on important persons and important sources for a user

A system for minimizing the time required to initiate and terminate an instant messaging session. An initial message in an instant messaging session is checked to determine whether it has any significant content. If the received initial message has insignificant content, then a non-intrusive notification is provided to the user, without changing the current focus in the user interface. A pre-composed response message may also be automatically transmitted to the initiating user, requesting that a more significant message be sent. When an initial message in an instant messaging session is received that is determined to have significant content, the user is promptly notified in a different manner, which may be intrusive such that the current focus of the user interface is changed to a new window or the like containing the newly initiated instant messaging session.

Minimizing the time required to initiate and terminate an instant messaging session

A follow-on message processing system for an integrated information management application. The follow-on message processing system includes a client computer coupled to a network, an email client coupled to the client computer, and a follow-on message controller coupled to the email client. The email client receives an email and a follow-on command from another email client. The follow-on command is associated with the email received from the other email client. The follow-on message controller interrupts access to the email client in response to a determination that an email draft is in progress. The email draft in progress is associated with the received email.

System and method for follow-on message processing

A system for forcing e-mail addresses into the Bcc: field of transmitted messages in order to enforce user privacy. A user interface enables a user to indicate that their e-mail address is not to be included in a 'To:' or 'Cc:' field of an e-mail message from another user when the number of e-mail addresses contained in those fields exceeds a threshold size. The user's e-mail address and the associated threshold are stored for future reference when new messages are sent by the other user. Subsequently, when a new message is generated by the other user in which the number of e-mail addresses contained in the &#x201c;To:&#x201d; and/or &#x201c;Cc:&#x201d; field exceeds the threshold, then the disclosed system moves the user's e-mail address from the &#x201c;To:&#x201d; or &#x201c;Cc:&#x201d; field to the &#x201c;Bcc:&#x201d; field of the message before the message is transmitted to its recipients. Privacy messages may either be sent individually to specific users, or may be automatically generated as a result of a general privacy setting being indicated by the user.

Method and system for forcing e-mail addresses into blind carbon copy ('Bcc') to enforce privacy

A system that persistently maintains and exposes one or more previous object hierarchies to which an object belonged across one or more hierarchy destroying operations, such as operations that delete parent objects, add parent objects subsequent to addition of their descendent objects, forward objects to or from the hierarchy, and/or modify hierarchy determining rules. A user interface object allows user access to one or more persistent hierarchies for the corresponding object. A hierarchy list or the like allows a user to select a desired one of the persistent hierarchies. A persistent hierarchy can be accessed in the disclosed system through a display object associated with any object within the hierarchy, including the root, leaves, and any intervening objects. When objects are deleted, 'ghost' objects are maintained and displayed to the user in the hierarchical positions of the deleted objects when a persistent hierarchy is displayed.

Persistent object linkage using ghosting

A system for providing version control for documents attached to electronic mail messages in which a user's personal document library is used to store documents attached to the email messages the user sends and/or receives. Each time an attached document is transmitted or received within a message thread, a different version of the document is created and stored in the personal document library. The multiple document versions created allow the disclosed system to provide the user with the options of opening the most recent version of an attached document and/or opening the version of the attached document that is associated with the specific opened message. An attached document is represented within an email message using a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), where the stored URL points to the version of the attached document for that message that is stored in the user's personal document library. Through an API (Application Programming Interface) provided by the personal document library, the most recent version of a document can be requested, or another specific version of the document can be indicated for opening.

Providing version control for electronic mail attachments

A system for minimizing the time required to initiate and terminate an instant messaging session. An initial message in an instant messaging session is checked to determine whether it has any significant content. If the received initial message has insignificant content, then a non-intrusive notification is provided to the user, without changing the current focus in the user interface. A pre-composed response message may also be automatically transmitted to the initiating user, requesting that a more significant message be sent. When an initial message in an instant messaging session is received that is determined to have significant content, the user is promptly notified in a different manner, which may be intrusive such that the current focus of the user interface is changed to a new window or the like containing the newly initiated instant messaging session. Detection of instant messaging session termination by the local user triggers a period of special processing of received instant messages from other participants in the terminated instant messaging session. Instant messages received from other participants in the terminated session during this time period that are insignificant farewell messages are processed without disturbing the local user.

A system for blending synchronous and asynchronous computer communication applications that determines when a user of a synchronous communication application, such as an instant messaging application, attempts to send a message to another user that is unavailable for synchronous communications, and that forwards the message from the synchronous communication application to an asynchronous communication application for delivery. The forwarded message may be an email message, and the system may operate to determine a destination electronic mail address of the destination user for inclusion in the forwarded message, and include an indication in the forwarded message that it has been forwarded from the synchronous communication application. This indication enables the asynchronous communication application to perform special processing with regard to the forwarded message.

Providing blended synchronous/asynchronous messaging

A system for blending synchronous and asynchronous computer communication applications that determines when a user of a synchronous communication application, such as an instant messaging application, attempts to send a message to another user that is unavailable for synchronous communications, and that forwards the message from the synchronous communication application to an asynchronous communication application for delivery. The forwarded message may be an email message, and the system may operate to determine a destination electronic mail address of the destination user for inclusion in the forwarded message, and include an indication in the forwarded message that it has been forwarded from the synchronous communication application. This indication enables the asynchronous communication application to perform special processing when the receiving user retrieves the forwarded message from the asynchronous communication application. The special processing may include automatically determining whether the sending user is currently available for synchronous communications, and, if so, providing a synchronous communication session between the receiving user and the sending user. If the sending user is not currently available for synchronous communications, the receiving user is provided with the option of responding to the forwarded message using the asynchronous communication application.

Blended synchronous/asynchronous messaging

A method of increasing email correspondence responsiveness may include detecting a first set of email messages transmitted by a first correspondent to a second correspondent, creating a tracking record based on the responsiveness of the second correspondent to each email message of the first set of email messages, performing a first statistical analysis of the tracking record, generating a set of responsiveness metrics based on the first statistical analysis, detecting new outgoing email messages addressed to the second correspondent, and providing a user-configurable email message format for each detected outgoing message, the user-configurable email message format. According to the example embodiment, the user-configurable email message format is configured to increase effective email response time from the second correspondent and the user-configurable email message format is based on the set of responsiveness metrics.

Utilizing E-mail response time statistics for more efficient and effective user communication

A system for providing automatic off-line availability of shared document content linked in electronic mail ('email') messages. Documents indicated by links in processed email messages may accessed when a client system user is working either online or offline. A software component operates to read through email messages sent to a client system user, and to locate messages including links to content stored on the server system. The software component accesses the content indicated by the links contained in the email messages, and moves the content onto the client system for offline access. The software component may include a periodically scheduled agent, and/or a component that is called just prior to the client system or email application going offline.

Automatic off-line availability for document content linked in electronic mail messages

A method, system and apparatus for the selective notification of incoming electronic messages. In this regard, a selective message notification method can include selectively generating a notification for a received message based upon pre-determined criteria irrespective of how the received message is handled. The pre-determined criteria can include a manually specified criteria, a rules based criteria, or a profile based criteria.

Growing community of inventors

Westford, MA, United States of America

Michael R O'Brien