Patent · US Expired

Method for controlling an electronic mail preview pane to avoid system disruption

US6134566A · kind A · utility

57Cited by
11References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 30, 1997
Grant dateOct 17, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 30, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06Q10/107
  • WIPO fieldIT methods for management
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A message viewing program displays a preview pane that is controlled to avoid previewing messages with disruptive message content. Before the body of a message is previewed in the preview pane, an identifier relating to the message is written to a nonvolatile storage location. After the message is previewed in the preview pane without causing a system disruption, the identifier is deleted. Before a message is previewed, the nonvolatile storage location is searched for the identifier relating to the message. If the identifier is found, the message is not previewed in the preview pane. Also, an icon is displayed indicating that the message may contain disruptive message content. Alternatively, the message viewing program writes an enable identifier to a nonvolatile storage location when it shuts down without encountering a system disruption. If the enable identifier is not present upon start up, messages are not previewed in the preview pane.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.