Method and system for distributing e-mail messages to recipients

A data processing system supporting an electronic mail (e-mail) messaging service, comprising:

• a sender mail user agent;
• a remote directory of contacts of recipients including e-mail addresses of recipients, said remote directory being located remotely with respect to the sender mail user agent;
• a mail transfer agent having an interface function with said remote directory, said interface function being adapted to interact with the directory so as to perform queries and obtain in reply list of e-mail addresses of recipients;
• the interface function being adapted to:
• identify an e-mail message received at the mail transfer agent and having, in an address field, a pseudo-address comprising an address of said mail transfer agent, and at least one directive for the interface function;
• translate the at least one directive into a corresponding query;
• submitting the query to said directory;
• and
• retrieve a list of recipients e-mail addresses to which the e-mail message has to be propagated.

A method for sending e-mail to a plurality of recipients, comprising:

• providing a directory of contact information of recipients including e-mail addresses of recipients, said directory being located remotely with respect to a sender mail user agent;
• providing a mail transfer agent having an interface function with said directory, said interface function being adapted to interact with the directory so as to perform queries and obtain in reply lists of e-mail addresses of recipients, said mail transfer agent being responsive to an address field of an e-mail message containing a pseudo-address including an address of said mail transfer agent and at least one directive for the interface function;
• upon reception of the e-mail message by the mail transfer agent, having the interface function translate the at least one directive into a corresponding query, submitting the query to said directory, and retrieve a list of e-mail addresses of recipients;
• and
• propagating the e-mail message from the mail transfer agent to the recipients whose e-mail addresses are in the list.

A data processing system supporting an electronic mail (e-mail) messaging service, comprising:

• a directory of contacts of recipients including e-mail addresses of recipients, said directory being located remotely with respect to a sender mail user agent;
• a mail transfer agent having an interface function with said directory, said interface function being adapted to interact with the directory so as to perform queries and obtain in reply list of e-mail addresses of recipients;
• the interface function being configured to:
• identify an e-mail message received at the mail transfer agent and having, in an address field, a pseudo-address comprising an address of said mail transfer agent, and at least one directive for the interface function;
• translate the at least one directive into a corresponding query;
• submitting the query to said directory;
• and
• retrieve a list of recipients e-mail addresses to which the e-mail message is to be propagated.