摘要 |
The sender (101) of a message is able to specify to the recipient's messaging system (112) or to the sender's own messaging system (102) a reply time at which the sender wishes to be informed of whether or not the recipient (111) has accessed the sent message. The reply time is included (204, 304) in the message. Upon occurrence (220) of the response time, the recipient's messaging system checks if the recipient has accessed (222) the message, and if not, whether the recipient's present schedule (115) is available (226). It then sends (232) a reply (224, 230), with the schedule if it is available (228), to the sender. Upon occurrence (320) of the response time, the sender's messaging system checks (322) if a reply has been received from the recipient, and if so, whether it indicates (324) that the message has been accessed and whether it contains (328) the recipient's schedule. It then notifies (330) the sender accordingly. The schedule preferably contains information that enables the sender to contact the recipient by other ways.
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