Patent Issued for Method for distributing emails (USPTO 11956200): United Services Automobile Association

2024 MAY 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Kwak, Victor (Frisco, TX, US), Lopez, Mark Anthony (Helotes, TX, US), Lyle, Ruthie D. (Durham, NC, US), Meyer, Gregory Brian (San Antonio, TX, US), Russell, Christopher (The Colony, TX, US), Russell, Ryan Thomas (The Colony, TX, US), Serrao, Nolan (Plano, TX, US), filed on February 28, 2023, was published online on April 9, 2024.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11956200, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “When a group of users who are often all the recipients of the same email from a particular source all log on to the same local area network (LAN) at approximately the same time, the emails may download relatively slowly simply due to the temporary congestion on the LAN. The congestion and consequent slow delivery occurs because the LAN has to distribute the emails to everyone in the group at roughly the same time. For example, a group of office workers all working in the same field or on the same project may all receive the same emails from their management, from their supervisor, or from another colleague. The delivery of these multiple-recipient emails may occur at the same time, for example they may occur when the office workers start their day by logging on to the office server and start opening up their email applications (such as Microsoft Outlook, for example). This surge in demand at the beginning of the workday may strain the resources of the office system, thus causing the emails to download very slowly for each of the office workers. The same issue may also cause slow email downloads in other environments, such as in universities, hospitals, volunteer organizations and other institutions.

“For these reasons, there is a need for systems and methods that reduce the email download time for recipients of multiple-recipient messages such as emails and text messages, for example.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, embodiments include a system for delivering multi-recipient emails to a group of personal computers. The system has a server in communication with the group of personal computers over a local area network. Each of the personal computers in the group of personal computers has an email cache, and the server is configured to download all multi-recipient emails into the email cache of the personal computer that is first used to read emails at a beginning of a particular day. This personal computer is also configured to then distribute the multi-recipient emails over a personal area network to each of the addressees’ personal computers as each of the addressees’ personal computers is used to read emails.

“In another aspect, embodiments include a method for distributing emails to a group of persons who are users of personal computers that are in direct communication with each other over a personal area network. The process starts by receiving at a server a number of multi-recipient emails addressed to at least one person in the group. The server then monitors the status of the personal computers, starting at a predetermined time early in a workday, and identifies which personal computer was first used on the workday to access an email account. The server then also distributes the multi-recipient emails to the identified personal computer that was first used on the workday to access the email account. Then that personal computer distributes the multi-recipient emails over the personal area network to each of the addressees of the multiple-recipient emails when each such addressee logs in to an email account. The server then distributes the multi-recipient emails to any addressees of the multi-recipient emails who are not among the persons who are the users of the personal computers. This step may be performed any time after the receipt of the multi-recipient emails.

“In another aspect, a method for reducing email download time for persons working on personal computers that are in communication with each other over a personal area network includes receiving multi-recipient emails from a server at a first one of the personal computers that is the first one of the personal computers that is used to access emails, then storing the multi-recipient emails in an email cache in the first one of the personal computers. The first one of the personal computers then monitors the status of the other personal computers that are in communication with each other over the personal area network, and successively distributes each of the multi-recipient emails to their addressees as those addressees access their email accounts.

“Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be, or will become, apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description and this summary, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for distributing emails to a group of personal computers that communicate with each other over a network, the group of personal computers including an identified personal computer and a first personal computer, the method comprising: receiving, at a server, a set of non-confidential emails addressed to at least one computer in the group; receiving, at the server, at least one confidential email intended for delivery to the first personal computer; sending, by the server, the at least one confidential email directly to the first personal computer when the first personal computer logs onto the network; identifying, by the server, an identified personal computer among the group of personal computers that accesses an email account before any other computer in the group of personal computers; distributing, by the server, the set of non-confidential emails to the identified personal computer, the server also sending instructions for the identified personal computer to distribute the set of non-confidential emails using the network to each of the addressees of the multiple-recipient emails after each such addressee logs in to the network; and wherein the identified personal computer precludes a user of the identified personal computer from accessing any of the non-confidential emails that do not list the user as an addressee.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a personal area network and the group of personal computers comprise a work group.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified personal computer includes a first application that distributes the set of non-confidential emails and second applications that are different than the first application; and wherein priority access to computing resources is granted to the second applications.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the server identifies an encrypted email addressed to a second personal computer among the group.

“5. The method of claim 4, wherein the server sends the encrypted email directly to the second personal computer when the second personal computer logs into the network.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the server identifies emails as being confidential, encrypted or non-confidential.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the server sends the set of non-confidential multi-recipient emails into an email cache of the identified personal computer for subsequent distribution.

“8. A method for distributing emails over a network to a group of personal computers that communicate with each other over a second network, the group of personal computers including an identified personal computer and a first personal computer, the method comprising: receiving, at a server, a plurality of emails; identifying, by the server, a set of non-confidential emails addressed to at least one computer in the group; identifying, by the server, a confidential email addressed to the first personal computer in the group; sending, by the server, the confidential email directly to the first personal computer when the first personal computer logs into the network; identifying, by the server, an identified personal computer among the group of personal computers, the identified personal computer being the computer in the group that lops into the second network before any other computer in the group of personal computers; distributing, by the server, the set of non-confidential emails to the identified personal computer, the set of non-confidential emails including instructions for the identified personal computer to distribute the set of non-confidential emails using the second network; and wherein the identified personal computer precludes a user of the identified personal computer from accessing any of the non-confidential emails that do not list the user as an addressee.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the network is a personal area network and the group of personal computers comprise a work group.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein the identified personal computer includes a first application that distributes the set of non-confidential emails and Page 4 of 11 second applications that are different than the first application; and wherein priority access to computing resources is granted to the second applications.

“11. The method of claim 8, wherein the server identifies an encrypted email addressed to a second personal computer among the group.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the server sends the encrypted email directly to the second personal computer when the second personal computer logs into the network.

“13. The system of claim 8, wherein the server identifies emails as being confidential, encrypted or non-confidential.

“14. The system of claim 8, wherein the server sends the set of non-confidential multi-recipient emails into an email cache of the identified personal computer for subsequent distribution.

“15. A method for distributing emails over a network to a group of personal computers that communicate with each other over a second network, the group of personal computers including an identified personal computer and a first personal computer, the method comprising: receiving, at a server, a plurality of emails; identifying, by the server, a non-confidential email addressed to at least one computer in the group among the plurality of emails; identifying, by the server, an encrypted email addressed to the first personal computer in the group among the plurality of emails; sending, by the server, the encrypted email directly to the first personal computer when the first personal computer logs into the network; identifying, by the server, an identified personal computer among the group of personal computers, the identified personal computer being the computer in the group that log into the second network before any other computer in the group of personal computers; distributing, by the server, the non-confidential email to the identified personal computer, the server providing instructions for the identified personal computer to distribute the non-confidential email using the second network; and wherein the identified personal computer precludes a user of the identified personal computer from accessing any of the non-confidential emails that do not list the user as an addressee.

“16. The method of claim 15, wherein the identified personal computer includes a first application that distributes the non-confidential email and second applications that are different than the first application; and wherein priority access to computing resources is granted to the second applications.

“17. The method of claim 15, wherein the server identifies a confidential email addressed to a second personal computer among the group.

“18. The system of claim 17, wherein the server sends the confidential email directly to the second personal computer when the second personal computer logs into the network.

“19. The system of claim 15, wherein the server identifies emails as being confidential, encrypted or non-confidential.

“20. The system of claim 15, wherein the server sends the non-confidential email into an email cache of the identified personal computer for subsequent distribution.”

For more information, see this patent: Kwak, Victor. Method for distributing emails. U.S. Patent Number 11956200, filed February 28, 2023, and published online on April 9, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11956200)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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