Method and system for centralized storage and management of electronic messages

Abstract

A system for distributing electronic messages in an efficient manner using centralized storage and management. In particular, the system receives electronic messages to be distributed to one or more recipients, centrally stores a single copy of the message as well as various information about sending the message, and sends to each recipient a short indicator message to notify the recipient that the electronic message is available. The system then tracks and manages requests from the recipients to access the message by permitting access when appropriate, performing activities such as decrypting/encrypting the message if necessary, recording information about the access and about recipient instructions related to the message, archiving the message if necessary, and deleting the message when it is no longer needed. After a recipient receives an indicator, the recipient can use the indicator to access and review the message. The recipient can also provide various instructions about actions to be taken with the message corresponding to an indicator, such as to save or delete the message or to forward the message to another recipient. After all recipients have reviewed the message and no recipient has currently indicated to save the message (or all have indicated to delete the message), the system can then delete the single copy of the message.

1 . A method for securely sending an electronic message to multiple recipients, the method comprising: 
 (a) receiving an indication of an encrypted electronic message to be sent to multiple recipient users;    (b) storing a single copy of the electronic message;    (c) creating a notification electronic message including a reference to the electronic message;    (d) sending a copy of the notification electronic message to each of the recipient users; and    upon receiving a request from a recipient user for the referenced electronic message, 
 (e) decrypting the received encrypted electronic message;  
 (f) retrieving an encryption key for the recipient user;  
 (g) encrypting a copy of the decrypted electronic message with the retrieved encryption key; and  
 (h) sending the encrypted copy to the recipient user for temporary storage while the sent encrypted copy is reviewed.  
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  including: 
 under the control of the server, when it is determined that an encrypted copy of the electronic message has been sent to all of the recipient users, deleting the stored single copy of the electronic message.  
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  including: 
 under the control of the server, when it is determined that an encrypted copy of the electronic message has been sent to all of the recipient users and that none of the recipient users have indicated that the electronic message is to be saved, deleting the stored single copy of the electronic message.  
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  including: 
 under the control of the server, when it is determined that a specified period of time after the sending of the notification electronic messages has expired, deleting the stored single copy of the electronic message.  
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein contents of the notification electronic message consist of the reference to the received electronic message, an identification of a sender of the electronic message, and a subject of the electronic message.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  including retrieving message sending instructions for a recipient user, and wherein the sending of the copy of the notification electronic message to that recipient user is performed according to the message sending instructions.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the retrieved message sending instructions specify types of information to be included in the notification electronic message sent to that recipient user, and wherein the copy of the notification electronic message to be sent to that recipient user includes the specified types of information.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein for at least one recipient user, before the copy of the notification electronic message is sent to the at least one recipient user, the copy is encrypted with the encryption key for the at least one recipient user.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the recipient user is unable to permanently store the electronic message.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein steps (a)-(h) are performed under control of a server computer, and including: 
 before the receiving of the indication, under control of a sending computer, 
 receiving an indication of the electronic message;  
 retrieving an encryption key for the server computer, the server encryption key distinct from the retrieved encryption key for the recipient user;  
 encrypting the electronic message with the retrieved server encryption key; and  
 sending the encrypted electronic message to the server computer.  
 
 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method for sending an electronic communication to recipients, the method comprising: 
 receiving an indication of an electronic communication and of at least one recipient to receive the electronic communication;    determining whether multiple recipients of the electronic communication have been indicated; and    when it is determined that multiple recipients have been indicated, 
 storing the electronic communication;  
 notifying each of the multiple recipients of the electronic communication without sending the electronic communication to the recipients; and  
 in response to a request for the electronic communication from a recipient, sending the electronic communication to the recipient.  
   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  including: 
 when it is determined that multiple recipients have not been indicated, 
 sending the electronic communication to the recipient without waiting for a request for the electronic communication.  
 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  including: 
 tracking the sending of the electronic communication to the recipients; and  
 when the electronic communication has been sent to all of the recipients, deleting the stored electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11  including: 
 when it is determined that the electronic communication has been sent to all of the recipients and that none of the recipients have indicated that the electronic communication is to be saved, deleting the stored electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11  including: 
 when it is determined that the electronic communication has been sent to all of the recipients and that all of the recipients have indicated that the electronic communication can be deleted, deleting the stored electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11  including: 
 determining a period of time for which the electronic communication will be stored; and  
 when the determined period of time has expired, deleting the stored electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the notifying of a recipient of the electronic communication involves sending a distinct indicator electronic communication to the recipient.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11  including retrieving notifying instructions for a recipient, and wherein the notifying of the recipient is performed according to the notifying instructions.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the notifying instructions are supplied by a sender of the electronic communication.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the notifying instructions are supplied by the recipient.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the notifying instructions are determined automatically based on past interactions with the recipient.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the notifying instructions indicate that the notifying is to be performed in an encrypted manner.  
     
     
         23 . A computer-implemented method for sending an electronic communication to a plurality of recipients, the method comprising: 
 receiving an indication of the electronic communication and of the plurality of recipients to receive the electronic communication;    storing a single copy of the electronic communication;    notifying each of the recipients of the electronic communication without sending the electronic communication to the recipients; and    in response to a request for th e electronic communication from a recipient, sending the electronic communication to the recipient.    
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23  including: 
 tracking the requests for the electronic communication from the recipients; and  
 after all of the recipients have requested the electronic communication, deleting the stored electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the deleting is performed only when none of the recipients desire continuing access to the electronic communication.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 23  including automatically sending the electronic communication to a non-recipient authorized to access the electronic communication.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 23  including retrieving sending instructions for a recipient, and wherein the sending of the electronic communication is performed according to the sending instructions.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  wherein the sending instructions are supplied by a sender of the electronic communication.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27  wherein the sending instructions indicate that the sending is to be performed in an encrypted manner.  
     
     
         30 . A computer-implemented method for one of a plurality of designated recipients of an electronic communication to receive the electronic communication from a server that stores a single copy of the electronic communication, the method comprising: 
 receiving an electronic communication notification from the server that references the single copy of the electronic communication, the electronic communication notification distinct from the electronic communication;    requesting from the server the referenced electronic communication; and    receiving from the server a copy of the requested electronic communication.    
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  including: 
 when access to the electronic communication is no longer desired, indicating to the server to delete the electronic communication, so that the server deletes the single stored copy of the electronic communication after receiving indications from all recipients to delete the electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  including: 
 after the receiving of the electronic communication notification, storing the electronic communication notification locally; and  
 after the indicating to the server to delete the electronic communication, deleting the stored electronic communication notification even if all recipients have not indicated to delete the electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31  including storing the electronic communication locally such that the local stored electronic communication is preserved even when the server deletes the single stored copy.  
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 30  wherein the electronic communication received from the server is encrypted using a public encryption key for the one of the plurality of designated recipients, and including retrieving a private encryption key for the one of the plurality of designated recipients to decrypt the electronic communication.  
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 30  wherein the method is performed by a receiving computer lacking sufficient permanent storage to store the electronic communication.  
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 30  wherein contents of the received electronic communication notification are based on preferences for the one of the plurality of designated recipients, the preferences previously supplied to the server.  
     
     
         37 . A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to send an electronic communication to recipients by: 
 receiving an indication of an electronic communication and of at least one recipient to receive the electronic communication;    determining whether multiple recipients of the electronic communication have been indicated; and    when it is determined that multiple recipients have been indicated, 
 storing the electronic communication;  
 notifying each of the multiple recipients of the electronic communication without sending the electronic communication to the recipients; and  
 in response to a request for the electronic communication from a recipient, sending the electronic communication to the recipient.  
   
     
     
         38 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 37  wherein the computer system is further controlled by: 
 when it is determined that multiple recipients have not been indicated, 
 sending the electronic communication to the recipient without waiting for a request for the electronic communication.  
 
 
     
     
         39 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 37  wherein the computer system is further controlled by: 
 tracking the sending of the electronic communication to the recipients; and  
 when the electronic communication has been sent to all of the recipients, deleting the stored electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         40 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 37  wherein the computer system is further controlled: 
 when it is determined that the electronic communication has been sent to all of the recipients and that the electronic communication has not been indicated to be saved by any of the recipients, deleting the stored electronic communication.  
 
     
     
         41 . A computer system for sending an electronic communication to recipients, comprising: 
 a communication distributor for receiving an indication of the electronic communication and of at least one recipient to receive the electronic communication, for determining whether multiple recipients of the electronic communication have been indicated, for storing the electronic communication and notifying each of the multiple recipients of the electronic communication without sending the electronic communication to the recipients when it is determined that multiple recipients have been indicated, and for sending the electronic communication to a recipient in response to a request for the electronic communication from the recipient.    
     
     
         42 . The computer system of  claim 41  wherein the communication distributor is further for sending the electronic communication to a single recipient without waiting for a request for the electronic communication when it is determined that multiple recipients have not been indicated.  
     
     
         43 . The computer system of  claim 42 , further comprising: 
 a communication tracker for tracking the sending of the electronic communication to the recipients, and for deleting the stored electronic communication when the electronic communication has been sent to all of the recipients.    
     
     
         44 . The computer system of  claim 43 , further comprising: 
 a communication tracker for deleting the stored electronic communication when it is determined that the electronic communication has been sent to all of the recipients and that that the electronic communication has not been indicated to be saved by any of the recipients.