Electronic mail (email) message lifecycle management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10397161-B2
Application number	US-201615154062-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2016
Priority date	May 13, 2016
Publication date	Aug 27, 2019
Grant date	Aug 27, 2019

Abstract

Systems and techniques to automatically delete emails from an inbox associated with an employee in an enterprise are described. A message lifecycle engine that interfaces with a corporate email system may select an inbox of an email client application. The message lifecycle engine may delete an email in the inbox based at least in part on: (i) one or more sender rules associated with the email; (ii) one or more system rules associated with an email system used by the enterprise; (iii) one or more user rules created based on an analysis of user behavior; and (iv) one or more data loss prevention (DLP) policies.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
selecting, by a message lifecycle engine, an inbox of an email client application associated with an employee in an enterprise;
displaying, by an email client, a sender lifecycle user interface to a sender of the email;
displaying, by the email client, a plurality of sender parameters, wherein the plurality of sender parameters comprise: a do not forward parameter, a security tag parameter, a classification parameter, a temporary delete parameter, a permanent delete parameter, an expiry date parameter, a read/unread parameter, and a time period parameter;
receiving, by the email client, a selection including at least one of the plurality of sender parameters;
creating, based on the selection, a particular sender rule of one or more sender rules, the particular sender rule identifying conditions that when satisfied cause the email to be deleted;
associating, by the email client, the particular sender rule with the email; and
deleting, by the message lifecycle engine, an email in the inbox based at least in part on:
the one or more sender rules associated with the email;
one or more system rules associated with an email system used by the enterprise;
one or more user rules associated with the email, the one or more user rules created based on an analysis of user behavior; and
one or more data loss prevention (DLP) policies.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying, by the message lifecycle engine, a system lifecycle user interface to a system administrator of the email system;
displaying, by the message lifecycle engine, a plurality of system parameters;
receiving, by the message lifecycle engine, a selection including at least one of the plurality of system parameters; and
creating, based on the selection, the one or more system rules identifying conditions that when satisfied cause a particular email to be deleted from the email system by the message lifecycle engine.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein deleting the email in the inbox comprises:
moving the email from the inbox to a trash folder, the trash folder enabling the email to be retrieved and viewed.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising:
deleting, by the message lifecycle engine, the email in the trash folder based at least in part on:
the one or more sender rules associated with the email;
the one or more system rules associated with an email system used by the enterprise;
the one or more user rules created based on an analysis of user behavior; and
the one or more DLP policies.

5. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
selecting an inbox of an email client application associated with an employee in an enterprise;
deleting an email in the inbox based at least in part on:
one or more sender rules associated with the email;
one or more system rules associated with an email system used by the enterprise;
one or more user rules created based on an analysis of user behavior; and
one or more data loss prevention (DLP) policies;

performing an analysis of stored emails associated with the employee;
determining, based at least in part on the analysis, that a particular type of email is deleted after being read; and
creating a particular user rule of the one or more user rules to automatically delete the particular type of email after the particular type of email has been read.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 5 , wherein deleting the email in the inbox comprises:
determining that the one or more sender rules specify an expiry date;
determining that a current date is greater than or equal to the expiry date; and
moving the email from the inbox to a trash folder of the email client application.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 5 , wherein deleting the email in the inbox comprises:
determining that the one or more sender rules specify an expiry date and an unread parameter;
determining that a current date is greater than or equal to the expiry date;
determining that the email is unread; and
moving the email from the inbox to a trash folder of the email client application.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 5 , wherein deleting the email in the inbox comprises:
determining that the one or more system rules specify a particular sender and a particular topic;
determining that a sender of the email comprises the particular sender;
determining that a topic of the email comprises the particular topic; and
moving the email from the inbox to a trash folder of the email client application.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein:
the particular topic comprises at least one of a status update or a change notification.

10. A server comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
selecting an inbox of an email client application associated with an employee in an enterprise;
performing, by a classifier, an analysis of stored emails associated with the employee;
determining, based at least in part on the analysis, that a particular type of email remains unread in the inbox for more than a predetermined period of time;
creating a particular user rule of the one or more user rules to automatically delete the particular type of email after the particular type of email has been received in the inbox; and
deleting an email in the inbox based at least in part on:
one or more sender rules associated with the email;
one or more system rules associated with an email system used by the enterprise;
one or more user rules created based on an analysis of user behavior; and
one or more data loss prevention (DLP) policies.

11. The server of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
creating a particular system rule of the one or more system rules to automatically delete a particular email that is classified with a particular classification after a pre-determined time interval.

12. The server of claim 11 , wherein the particular classification comprises one of a restricted classification, a confidential classification, or a do not forward classification.

13. The server of claim 10 , wherein deleting the email in the inbox comprises:
moving the email from the inbox to a trash folder, the email retrievable from the trash folder.

14. The server of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining that the email has been in the trash folder greater than a predetermined period of time; and
automatically removing the email from the trash folder, the email unretrievable by the employee after being removed from the trash folder.

Assignees

• Quest Software Inc

Inventors

• Brisebois Michel Albert
• Johnstone Curtis

Classifications

• G06Q10/107 Primary

  Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing] · CPC title

• H04L51/16

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/12

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/22 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/14

  Electricity · mapped topic