Method and system for remotely sensing the file formats processed by an E-mail client

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the processing of E-mail messages over a telecommunications network. More particularly, the present invention relates to the detection and monitoring of file formats which can be processed and displayed at an E-mail client.

E-mail has become a major method of communicating information over telecommunication networks; this includes the "Internet" and intranets. There are estimates that about 30-55 million American homes are wired for E-mail communication today, and this number is rapidly growing. This provides a large audience for E-mail advertisers. Thus, through E-mail, vendors can make millions of customers aware of their products. One method is to reach the largest audience possible. However, blanket advertising is akin to junk mail and is ineffective in terms of actual sales.

Targeting advertising to customer profiles has been a method to improve E-mail sales. The challenge has been to identify the audience and tailor the advertising to that audience. Vendor lists of prior customers provide a basis to identify the target audience. Once the customer base is determined, the format of the advertisement is another important factor in increasing sales. Certain sections of the population respond favorably to visual media, e.g., graphics over pure text. This "visual media" group is several times more likely to respond when they receive visual images, then when they receive only pure text. As this "visual media" group represents a significant portion of the E-mail consumers, it is one group to focus on.

Blanket advertising using visual images instead of only text is still ineffective. As the sender, chooses the file format, what the receiver, i.e., user, can process and display may be incompatible. Thus many users, to include members of the "visual media" group, may display the visual images as illegible characters. Thus there is a need to insure the user gets the file format that he/she can display.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention describes a method and system for analyzing an E-mail client by an E-mail sensor server. The E-mail client may be, for example, the home personal computer and E-mail client software, Netscape Mail, which a person uses to access his/her E-mail. The E-mail sensor server may be, for example, a merchant's Windows NT server. One goal is to develop a customer base which receives visual advertisements targeted to their interests and that respond by buying the advertised products. The present invention detects through an E-mail sensor message, the file format that an E-mail client can process and display. Thus, those E-mail clients that can display images can receive compatible visual image advertisements and those that cannot receive text. The invention in addition tracks the responses of the E-mail clients to further refine the "visual media" group that responds positively to targeted advertisements with images. Another advantage of the invention is that the invention works with most commercially available E-mail client software, e.g., Qualcomm's Eudora, Novell's Groupwise, Microsoft OutLook/Exchange and Netscape's E-mail client, and hence there is typically no need for users to purchase special software.

Specific embodiments of the method of the present invention include, sending an E-mail message to the E-mail client; determining at the E-mail client a file format that the E-mail client can process and display and indicating to the E-mail sensor server the file format that the E-mail client can process and display. In one specific embodiment, the E-mail sensor server may only determine if a particular file format can be processed and displayed at the E-mail client, and not if it cannot be processed and displayed at the E-mail client. The processing may further determine if hyper text mark up language (HTML) statements or dynamic HTML(DHTML) statements or Java applets can be executed by the E-mail client. Specific embodiments may include the E-mail client executing an HTML image tag having a call to an E-mail server sensor program. The E-mail server sensor program may save information about the E-mail client, such as the E-mail client software type, to an E-mail sensor server database. These embodiments may also include monitoring the status of the E-mail message received at the E-mail client.

These and other embodiments of the present invention, as well as its advantages and features, are described in more detail in conjunction with the text below and the attached figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a simplified representation of the E-mail sensor system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified block diagram of one specific connection of a specific embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a specific embodiment of the E-mail sensor format;

FIG. 3A shows a simplified display of an E-mail sensor message;

FIG. 3B shows the visual images that results by the user "clicking" on a hyperlink in FIG. 3A;

FIGS. 4 illustrates the process by which an E-mail sensor message is sent to the E-mail client;

FIG. 5 shows the format of the second E-mail sensor message.

FIG. 5A shows an example of a display of the second E-mail sensor message;

FIG. 6 shows a specific embodiment of the present invention of sending a second E-mail sensor message to the E-mail client;

FIG. 7 shows a simplified specific embodiment of the E-mail sensor server.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Specific embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for determining at the E-mail sensor server, the file format that an E-mail client can display. If the file format allows visual images to be displayed, then the E-mail sensor server may update its sensor database and may send subsequent files of the same format to the E-mail client. In addition, the E-mail client may send to the E-mail sensor server, the type and version of the E-mail client software and status information on the opening and re-openings of the E-mail sensor message. If visual images cannot be displayed, the E-mail sensor server may send only textual messages to the client.

E-mail Sensor System

FIG. 1 shows a simplified representation of the E-mail sensor system of the present invention. The E-mail sensor server 130 is connected both to the vendor systems through Internet 110 and to the E-mail clients through Internet 140. Internet 110 and Internet 140 belong to the same global Internet and are separated only for convenience of illustration. The E-mail sensor server 130, runs the sensor server program which communicates with the E-mail sensor database 132. E-mail server 134 is an additional server which sends E-mail to and receives E-mail from the E-mail clients. E-mail server 134 is also connected to the E-mail sensor database 132. In another embodiment E-mail server 134 and E-mail sensor server 130 may run on one computer. Internet 110 connects several vendor systems, for example vendor A system 112, vendor B system 114, and vendor C system 115, to the E-mail sensor server 130. Internet 140 connects several E-mail clients, for example E-mail clients 142, 144, 146, and 148, to the E-mail sensor server 130 and Email server 134. Thus the E-mail sensor server 130 serves as a middleman information collection point between the vendor systems 112, 114, 116 and the E-mail clients 142, 144, 146, 148. This information is stored by the E-mail sensor server 130 in its E-mail sensor database 132.

In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the vendor's 112, 114, and 116 may have their own hypertext markup language (HTML) documents which include visual images. The vendor may for example, have his own World Wide Web home site with the site's web pages containing these HTML documents. Vendor A 112, for example, would then pass it's HTML document information along with its E-mail client customer list through internet 110, to the E-mail sensor server 130 which would then store the information in the E-mail sensor database 132. The E-mail server 134 would access the database 132 and include Vendor A's HTML information in the E-mail sensors sent out to all E-mail clients listed on Vendor A's customer list. For illustration, let this be E-mail clients 142 and 144. If E-mail client 142 can process and execute HTML statements, E-mail client 142 will send a response back to E-mail sensor server 130. In a specific embodiment, the response is implemented by the E-mail client software executing a HTML "image tag" statement which calls a program on the E-mail sensor server. The E-mail sensor server may then update its E-mail sensor database 132.

The E-mail client display includes any hyperlinks to Vendor's A HTML document and any visual images that are the result of executing the HTML statements. For example, an E-mail client by "clicking" on a HTML hyperlink displayed at the E-mail client's computer could then display a vendor's Web page (This is later shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B). Future E-mail messages to E-mail client 142 from E-mail sensor server 130 may contain HTML content including visual images and hyperlink's back to Vendor A. The hyperlinks to Vendor A are all channeled through E-mail sensor server 130. If, for example, E-mail client 144 cannot process and execute HTML, but only text, then E-mail client 144 may display only the textual information included in the E-mail sensor. Future E-mail messages sent to E-mail client 144 may contain only textual information.

In other alternative embodiments, the information transferred between vendor's 112, 114, 116, E-mail sensor server 130 and E-mail clients 142, 144, 146, 148 may include dynamic hypertext mark up (DHTML) statements and/or Java applets. DHTML is a combination of HTML style sheets and scripts that allows documents to be animated. In these alternative embodiments an E-mail sensor server program may be called by the E-mail client executing a HTML "image tag" statement, in the case of DHTML, or by the E-mail client executing a Java applet triggered by the E-mail sensor message. The E-mail sensor server program would also receive the E-mail client's software type and version from the E-mail client. This information could be used to tailor the type and version of DHTML and Java that the E-mail client can process and display.

FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified block diagram of one specific connection of a specific embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a connection between the E-mail sensor server 130 and the E-mail sensor database 132 through the Internet 140 to one of the E-mail clients 142. The E-mail sensor server includes a processor 246, a memory 248, a network interface 242, and an input/output interface 244. These are all connected together through internal bus 250. The processor 246 may contain one or more central processing units (CPU), for example a Pentium II, a Motorola 68000 or a UltraSparc processor. The memory includes both volatile memory, for example, RAM, and nonvolatile memory, for example, hard disk, and ROM. The input/output interface may include a CRT display, keyboard, and mouse. The network interface 242 connects the E-mail sensor server 130 to the Internet 140 and may include, for example, a modem or an Ethernet card. The E-mail sensor server 130 is connected through connection 252 to its E-mail sensor database 132. The E-mail sensor database 132 includes information on the E-mail client profile, E-mail client software type and version, whether or not the E-mail client can process and display HTML, and the E-mail client's message status. The sensor database may be a relational SQL database implemented for example on a personal computer or on a UNIX server. Not shown is the E-mail server 134 which has hardware similar to the E-mail sensor server 130. This is a typical E-mail server 134 with E-mail server software customized to append a unique HTML image tag. The E-mail server is connected to database 132 and Internet 140.

One specific embodiment of the E-mail client 142 shows a processor 218, memory 220, a display 212, a keyboard and mouse 214, and a network interface 216 connected together through an internal bus 222. The network interface 216, which may for example be a modem, connects the E-mail client 142 to the Internet 140. The processor 218 may, for example, be a Pentium II. The memory 220 includes both volatile memory, for example RAM, and nonvolatile memory, for example, a hard disk. Thus in this specific embodiment the E-mail client 142 can be represented by a personal computer with a Pentium processor 218 which executes E-mail client software stored in 220. Examples of E-mail client software are Qualcomm's Eudora, Novell's Groupwise, Microsoft OutLook/Exchange and Netscape's E-mail client.

E-mail Sensor

FIG. 3 shows a specific embodiment of the E-mail sensor format 300. This format 300 represents an E-mail message which is sent from the E-mail server 134 through the Internet 140 to the E-mail client 142. The E-mail sensor format 300 includes an E-mail message header 310, a section of plain text 312, a section of text in HTML 314, and an HTML image tag 316. For example, FIG. 3A shows a simplified display of an E-mail sensor message that a user may view at his/her Netscape E-mail client on his/her home PC. FIG. 3B shows the visual images that results by the user "clicking" on the "Tower" hyperlink 320 to the Tower Records home page.

FIG. 4 illustrate the process by which an E-mail sensor is sent to the E-mail clients. In FIG. 4 the vendor identifies a list of its E-mail clients (step 410). These E-mail clients are stored in the E-mail sensor database 132. The E-mail server 134 then sends an E-mail sensor message 300 to the E-mail clients (step 412). The E-mail sensor message 300 is processed at the E-mail client by hardware similar to E-mail client processor 218 using E-mail client software stored in its memory 220. The E-mail client software determines if it can process and display HTML (step 416). If the client is HTML enabled (step 416) then the plain text part 312 is ignored and the HTML part 314 is displayed at the E-mail client 142 (step 417). In addition, if the client is HTML enabled (step 416), then an automatic response is sent to the E-mail sensor server 130 (step 418). This response is accomplished by the E-mail client software executing the HTML image tag 316. This image tag is a call to a E-mail sensor server program described below. The E-mail client also passes to the sensor server program information, such as the type and version of the E-mail client's software. At step 420 the E-mail sensor server 130 updates its sensor database 132 with the retrieved information. The next step 430 is to go to node A and will be described with respect to FIG. 6.

If the client is not HTML enabled (step 416) then the client reads the plain text (step 422) and goes to node A (step 430). The HTML part 314 and the HTML image tag 316 may appear as unreadable marks at the end of the text part 312. The amount and complexity of the HTML sent in this first Email sensor message is kept small and simple to reduce the unreadable marks. see FIG. 3A). The E-mail sensor message in this specific embodiment only determines if the E-mail client can process and display HTML and does not determine if only pure text can be processed and displayed. Thus the E-mail sensor server does not get an automatic response telling it that the E-mail client cannot process and display HTML.

Not shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 6 is that the client is typically given the opportunity through a line of text in the message to unsubscribe from the service. If the client decides to unsubscribe then all further service may be stopped. This line that allows the client to unsubscribe may be present in all E-mail messages sent to the client.

A specific example of the E-mail sensor message of the format of FIG. 3 sent to the E-mail client 142 by the E-mail server 134 is given below:

Return-Path: <Vendor@app1.merchantmail.net>

Received: from app4.merchantmail.net (app4.merchantmail.net [206.79.71.110])

by ws10.digital-impact.tngi.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id WAA29568

for <gcapie1@digital-impact.tngi.com>; Mon, Nov. 30, 1998 22:41:51-0800

Date: Mon, Nov. 30, 1998 22:41:51-0800

Message-Id: <199812010641.WAA29568@ws10.digital-impact.tngi.com>

From: Vendor <Vendor@merchantmail.net>

Reply-to: Vendor <Vendor@merchantmail.net>

To: gcapie1@digital-impact.tngi.com

Mime-version: 1.0

Subject: Holiday Music From Vendorrecords.com

Errors-to: Vendor@app1.merchantmail.net

Content-type: multipart/alternative;

boundary="141511991.912494616853. root@app6.merchantmail.net"

X-cid: 10424522

Status:

--141511991.912494616853. root@app6.merchantmail.net

Content-Type: text/plain

Dear Gerardo,

Vendor is in the Holiday mood--come and join us! http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17652

We have gift ideas and boxed sets for every budget. http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17690

Here are some holiday hits to get you started:

Nat King Cole--The Christmas Song

** Sale Price: $9.99--You save: $2.00 **

For more info: http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17653

- - -

Thanks for letting us contact you!

If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE from future mailings, please go to:

http://Vendor.m0.net/m/u/t.asp?E-mail=gcapie1% 40digital-impact.tngi.com.

--141511991.912494616853.root@app6.merchantmail.net

Content--Type: text/html

<HTML><BODY>

Dear Gerardo, 

 

<a href="http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17651">Vendor</a> is in the <a href="http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17652">Holiday mood</a>--come and join us! 

 

We have <a href="http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17690">gift ideas</a> and

<a href="http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17691">boxed sets</a> for every budget. 

 

Here are some holiday hits to get you started: 

 

<a href="http://Vendor.m0.net/m/s.asp?H10424522X17653">Nat King Cole--The Christmas Song</a> 

** Sale Price: $9.99--You save: $2.00** 

- - - 

Thanks for letting us contact you! 

 

If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE from future mailings, please go to: 

<a href="http://Vendor.m0.net/m/u/t.asp?E-mail=gcapie1% 40digital-impact.tngi.com">http://Vendor.m0.net/m/u/t. asp?E-mail=gcapie1% 40digital-impact.tngi.com</a>. 

 

<img width=`1` height=`1`

src="http://Vendor.m0.net/mm/logopen02. asp?catid=10424522&E-mail=gcapie1@digital-impact.tngi.com" alt=" ">

 </BODY></HTML>

--141511991.912494616853.root@app6.merchantnail.net--.

The example above shows a multi-purpose internet mail extensions (MIME) E-mail message having four parts. The HTML displayed at the E-mail client is shown in FIG. 3A. The first part between "Return-Path" and "Status" is part of the E-mail message header 310. The "boundary" text line is:

"--141511991.912494616853. root@app6.merchantmail.net." and the first "boundary" text line is between the message header and the second part 312. In the first part 310, the MIME version is given: "MIME_version: 1.0." MIME allows the E-mail sensor server to send a variety of data types using E-mail, including sound files, picture files, textual data, video files, and messages consisting of multiple parts. Both the E-mail server 134 and E-mail clients, 142, 144, 146, and 148, should have MIME compliant E-mail software. Most commercial E-mail client software packages are MIME compliant. In this specific example, both the E-mail server 134 and E-mail client 142 have MIME compliant E-mail software used to process the E-mail messages. The content-type "multipart/alternative" means that if the E-mail client 142 can process and display HTML, then the third part 314 and fourth part 316 of E-mail message format 300 will be executed and displayed and the second part 312 is ignored. If the E-mail client 142 cannot process and display HTML, then the second part 312 is displayed as human readable textual information and the third 314 and fourth 316 parts maybe displayed and maybe unreadable.

The second 312 and third 314 parts are also separated by the same "boundary" text line and both contain the same content. The second part 312 in the above E-mail sensor message example starts with "Content-Type: text/plain", and ends with the "boundary" text line. The second part 312 contains ASCII text which can be displayed by most E-mail clients. The third part 314 starts with "Content-Type: text/html" and ends with the line before "<img width=`1` height=`1`". The third part 314 is the HTML version of the second part 312 with additions to include HTML hyperlinks to vendor documents and visual images.

The fourth part 316 includes a HTML image tag that has the following format:

<img width=`1` height=`1`

src="http://sensorserver.domain.com/sensorserverprogram?

catid=uniqueEmailcode&email=emailaddress">

The line <img width=`1` height =`1`" is a small image square that is displayed by the E-mail client 142 near the end of the E-mail sensor server's 130, execution of the "sensor server program" given in the above HTML line beginning with "src=". The E-mail sensor sever program, in the example E-mail sensor message shown above is "mm/logopen 02.asp".

The E-mail address of each recipient, i.e., "email=," is included as a parameter in the above HTML "src=" statement along with a unique E-mail code, i.e., "catid=", that is unique to every E-mail delivered. In the E-mail sensor message example given above, email=gcapie1@digital-impact.com, which represents, in this example, the Internet address of E-mail client 142, and catid=10424522, which represents the unique identifier assigned to this E-mail sensor message. When multiple messages are sent to the same recipient, the unique E-mail code will change to identify different messages. In an alternative DHTML embodiment the HTML image tag would still be present. Since the image tag passes to the E-mail sensor server the type and version of the E-mail client software, the type and version of DHTML that can be processed by the E-mail client can be determined. Thus the correct type and version of DHTML can be sent to the E-mail client.

In another alternative embodiment of the HTML image tag shown above, the E-mail sensor message may include a Java-related tag in place of the HTML image tag. This Java "object" tag in the HTML document specifies the applet to be run on the E-mail client 142. When the HTML document is executed on the E-mail client, the Java "object" tag is executed and the applet is downloaded from the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) specified in the tag, for example, the E-mail sensor server 130. The applet is executed and a connection is established back to the E-mail sensor server 130. The E-mail client' software type, i.e., "browserType", and E-mail address, i.e., "urlinfo", is sent from the E-mail client to the E-mail sensor server. An example applet follows:

import java.applet.*;

import java.awt.*;

import java.net.*;

import java.util.*;

import java.io.*; public class MailSensor extends Applet { static public void main (String argv[ ]) { new MailSensor ( ); } public void MailSensor ( ) { String urlInfo = this.getParameter ("urlInfo"); String browserType = this.getParameter ("browserType"); urlInfo = urlInfo + "&browserType=" + browserType; try { URL url = new URL (urlInfo); try { url getContent ( ) } catch (IOException e) { ; } } catch (MalformedURLException e2) { ; } } }

Other alternative embodiments which perform the same functions as the Java applet or HTML image tag could be written in Active X, VBscripts, or JavaScript.

In a specific embodiment from node A (step 430), a second E-mail sensor message is prepared to be sent to the E-mail client. If the E-mail client can process and display HTML then FIG. 5 shows the format 500 of the second E-mail sensor message. FIG. 5A shows an example of a display of the second E-mail sensor message of format 500. Note that it contains more complicated HTML statements and visual images than the first E-mail sensor message. Format 500 is like format 300 of FIG. 3, except the Message Header 512 is of "Content-Type: text/html" and Text/Plain 312 is replaced by a HTML comment 514. An example of the message header 512 is:

Received: from gatekeeper.townsend.com

([10.1.31.150])

by mailhub.townsend.com; Wed, Jan. 27, 1999 18:26:37-0800

Received: from ws23. digital-impact.tngi.com (ws23.digital-impact.tngi.com

[207.214.203.120])

by gatekeeper.townsend.com (2.5 Build 2630 (Berkeley 8.8.6)/8.8.4) with ESMTP

id SAA06538 for <kk@townsend.com>; Wed, Jan. 27, 1999 18:23:32-0800

Received: from app1.merchantmail.net (nobody@ws23.digital-impact.tngi.com

[207.214.203.120])

by ws23.digital-impact.tngi.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id SAA05227

for <kk@townsend.com>; Wed, Jan. 27, 1999 18:24:43-0800

Date: Wed, Jan. 27, 1999 18:24:43-0800

Message-Id: <199901280224.SAA05227@ws23.digital-impact.tngi.com>

From: Tower Records <tower@merchantmail.net>

Reply-to: Tower Records <tower@merchantmail.net>

To: kk@townsend.com

Subject: Super Clearance Sale

Errors-to: tower@merchantmail.net

Content-Type: text/html

X-cid: 32578156

Mime-version: 1.0

An example of the HTML comment 514 is:



This HTML comment 514 is not displayed if the E-client can process and display HTML. If the first E-mail sensor was incorrect and the E-mail client cannot process or display HTML, then this comment is displayed. The user at the E-mail client sends an E-mail message to the E-mail server to have subsequent messages sent with only a format similar to the message header 310 and Text/Plain 312. In an alternative embodiment, the second E-mail sensor message would have format 500 of FIG. 5 without the HTML comment 514. And thus would assume the first E-mail sensor message was correct in determining that the E-mail client could process and display HTML.

In the specific embodiment, FIG. 6 shows sending a second E-mail message, including the E-mail sensor from the E-mail server 134 to the E-mail client 142. This second E-mail message is sent after the first E-mail sensor message. All subsequent E-mail messages will go through routine of FIG. 6. FIG. 6 starts at node A 430 which is a continuation from FIG. 4. The E-mail server first gets a request for another E-mail message (step 550). The E-mail server 134 checks the E-mail sensor database 132 to determine if the E-mail client can process and display HTML (step 552). If the E-mail client is HTML enabled (step 554) then the E-mail server 134 sends the second E-mail sensor message of format 500 to the E-mail client 142 (step 556). If the user at the E-mail client display 212 can read the HTML comment 514, then the user sends an E-mail message to the E-mail address given in the HTML comment 514 to have subsequent messages sent with only pure text. The E-mail server 134 then updates the database 132 for this E-mail client. Otherwise, the E-mail server will continue to send E-mail messages of format 500. If the user at the E-mail client display 212 cannot read the HTML comment 514 then the E-mail client 142 displays the HTML part 516 of the E-mail message, and using the HTML image tag 518, reports the E-mail message status information back to the E-mail sensor server 130. The HTML image tag contains a call to the sensor server program stored on the E-mail sensor server 130. The sensor server program then updates the database 132 with, for example, the date and time the E-mail message was opened.

If the E-mail client is not HTML enabled (step 554) then the E-mail sensor server 130 again sends another E-mail sensor message of format 300 to the E-mail client 142 (step 558). The E-mail client then displays the plain text part 312 of the E-mail sensor message (step 560). In this case, although the HTML 314 and HTML image tag 316 portions of the E-mail sensor message may be displayed, they are typically unreadable. The E-mail client may continue to receive in subsequent messages, E-mail sensor messages of format 300.

E-mail Sensor Server

FIG. 7 shows a simplified specific embodiment of the E-mail sensor server, when the E-mail client is HTML enabled. Upon receiving information from the HTML image tag 316 from the E-mail client 142, the E-mail sensor server 130 accesses the sensor database 132 (step 610). The E-mail sensor server 130 gets the type and version of E-mail client's software (step 612). If the E-mail client's software type is not in the E-mail sensor database 132 (step 614) then a new record is created in the sensor database 132 (step 616). This normally occurs when the E-mail sensor first executes the HTML image tag in an HTML enabled E-mail client 142. The type and vers