Delivery control for email communicated among multiple end user communication devices

Abstract

An exemplary method is implemented by end-user communication devices for processing the receipt of an email wherein a received email comprises a digital packet having a header and a user data segment. The user data segment contains a user message and an acknowledgement command where the acknowledgement command conveys a request from an originating device to acknowledge receipt of the subject email. The received user message is prevented from being displayed on a screen of the first end-user communication device of content until input is entered authorizing a reply to the acknowledgement request. Upon receiving the authorization: a reply email with an acknowledgement is automatically generated by the first end-user communication device and transmitted to the originating device corresponding to the subject email; the content of the corresponding received user message is displayed on the screen of the first end-user communication device; and the first end-user communication device stores a read message indicator having a value that represents that the reply email was authorized and the content of the received email enabled to be displayed.