Email Coediting Interface for Real-Time Attachment Collaboration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods of discussing and writing emails offline lead to inefficiencies due to participants' tardiness and overlooked issues, and attachment processing in emails is limited, failing to meet user requirements for collaboration and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A synchro edit interface allows multiple users to coedit emails online, enabling real-time collaboration, attachment processing, and history tracking, with features like coeditor identifiers, edit cursors, and discussion groups to enhance efficiency and user experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If multiple people discuss offline at a designated location and time, then communication can be performed, but participant tardiness increases and meeting implementation difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical offline meeting system with an online collaborative editing system. Instead of requiring physical presence at a designated location and time, users can access the email editing interface through network connections from any location, eliminating tardiness issues associated with physical travel and scheduling constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The email client system serves multiple functions: it allows real-time collaborative editing of emails, displays coeditor identifiers and edit cursors, manages attachment processing, and tracks editing history. This multi-functionality consolidates what previously required separate offline meetings into a single unified platform.
2Productivity
If multiple people discuss offline how to write a mail, then communication can be performed, but mail writing efficiency decreases due to omitted problems requiring additional discussions
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time feedback to all coeditors as they work on the email. Coeditor identifiers and edit cursors are displayed to all users, allowing immediate visibility of others' contributions. This continuous feedback loop eliminates the need for additional discussions to address omitted problems, as all participants can see and respond to changes instantly.
Solution Approach 2:
The collaborative editing process allows multiple users to work on the email simultaneously without interruption. The system maintains continuous editing sessions where users can add, modify, or review content at any time, eliminating the breaks and follow-up meetings that occur in offline collaborative writing.
3Productivity
If attachment processing in emails is limited to download operations, then processing is simple, but user requirements for collaboration and efficiency are not satisfied
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges attachment processing with the email editing interface. Attachments can be viewed, edited, and managed within the same synchro edit interface where the email body is being composed. This integration allows collaborative work on both the email content and its attachments simultaneously, eliminating the need to switch between separate applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The synchro edit interface provides universal access to multiple operations: email composition, attachment viewing, attachment editing, coeditor management, and history tracking. This multi-functional interface replaces the need for separate tools for each task, enabling comprehensive email and attachment processing in a single unified system.
Data Source
Figure 1~2A
Figure 2B
Figure 2C
AI summary
Provided are an information exchange method and apparatus, an electronic device, and a storage medium. The method includes, in response to detecting a coedit trigger operation with regard to a mail, determining a coeditor; acquiring a synchro edit interface containing the content of the mail; and presenting the synchro edit interface to allow the coeditor to coedit the content of the mail through the presented synchro edit interface.