Systems and methods for integrating electronic mail and distributed networks into a workflow system

US7941486B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Xerox Corporation · US

Inventors

• Victoria M. E. Bellotti · San Francisco, US
• Ian E. Smith · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 16, 2002
• Grant date: May 10, 2011
• Expiry date: Dec 4, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q10/103
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Electronic messages with system-generated network addresses are transmitted to recipients to enable access to specific locations in the workflow system. The network addresses may be used only once, are generated using secure identifications and/or can be generated randomly. These secure identifications can be created by encoding a large number into the network address. The recipient of this network address may be required to himself to the workflow system, for example, as a means for minimizing security risks to the workflow system. The network addresses generated to specific locations within a workflow system are intended for specific recipients but may be shared by the recipients as circumstances require. Electronic mail can be transmitted with specific electronic mail addresses encoded in the electronic mail message. The specific email address can be encoded into a “Reply-to” function. Alternatively, specific email addresses can be embedded into the message portion of the email message.