Electronic mail metadata generation and management
AssigneeStorage Technology Corporation
InventorSteven McCown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Electronic mail is archived and retrieved based on metadata generated by the client sending the electronic mail. The metadata is generated based on variable metadata generation policies distributed to each client. The metadata generation policies are executed in each client in conjunction with each electronic mail sent from the client. The electronic mail is received in a mail server on route to at least one addressee of the electronic mail. The received electronic mail is processed based on the metadata attached to the received electronic mail.
Claims18
A method of managing electronic mail received from a plurality of clients, the method comprising:
- distributing variable metadata generation policies to each client;
- in each client, executing the metadata generation policies in conjunction with each electronic mail sent from the client, the executed metadata generation policies generating metadata associated with the sent electronic mail, and attaching the generated metadata to the sent electronic mail;
- receiving the sent electronic mail in a mail server on route to at least one addressee of the electronic mail;
- and
- archiving the received electronic mail based on the metadata attached to the received electronic mail;
- whereby metadata generation functions are distributed to the clients for execution by the clients rather than by the mail server.
A system for managing electronic mail comprising:
- a plurality of clients, each client generating electronic mail including metadata generated by the client based on variable metadata generating policies, the variable metadata generating policies received by the client;
- and
- at least one mail server in communication with the plurality of clients, each mail server receiving electronic mail generated by the plurality of clients, each mail server processing the received electronic mail for archiving based on the metadata included with the received mail.
A method of managing electronic mail comprising:
- developing script for generating metadata describing the electronic mail;
- distributing the script from a server to a plurality of clients;
- executing the script within each client in conjunction with each electronic mail message sent by the client so as to generate metadata describing the electronic mail message;
- and
- sending the generated metadata to the server.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.