Device for automatically processing incoming electronic mail (=e-mail)

Abstract

A device and process for receiving and/or forwarding electronic mail (=e-mail) are characterised in that, in the case of all the e-mail messages (4) incoming in a receiving unit (1), information is extracted automatically in accordance with predetermined search criteria, that as a function of the extracted information and predetermined assignment criteria, an automatic assignment of the incoming e-mail to at least one of a plurality of addresses takes place, and that the incoming e-mail is automatically stored in a storage area (11, 12, 13, 14) designated by the corresponding address(es) or forwarded to the address(es). In this way the incoming e-mail can be automatically pre-sorted and appropriately stored or forwarded to assigned addresses without the user having to perform manual tasks or the subsequent processing via a macro of the e-mail which has already arrived and been stored in a mailbox. (FIG. 1)

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.