A communication apparatus enhances security in transmitting electronic mail to a destination mail address without degrading operability. An MFP is connected to an authentication server and a mail server via a network. A user name and password are entered in a user name entry screen. The MFP requests the authentication server to authenticate the entered user name and password. When the user name and password are authenticated, the MFP is operable to acquire an e-mail address, a SMTP authentication user name, and a SMTP authentication password according to SMTP associated with the authenticated user name and password from the authentication server. The MFP requests the mail server to authenticate the acquired SMTP authentication user name and SMTP authentication password according to SMTP. When the SMTP authentication user name and the SMTP authentication password are authenticated, the MFP is operable to transmit e-mail to the mail server.

Messages exchanged among users of a relationship management and work collaboration system are organized within user-defined, secure communication channels organized according to user-defined hierarchies that represent the users' personal relationships with one another. Security of the communications channels is maintained using individual, dynamic keys, each of the keys being uniquely associated with a respective one of the channels, and being generated according to combinations of individual passwords established by each respective channel's participants. In-bound messages in the form of e-mails are received and associated with respective ones of the channels according to e-mail aliases associated with the inbound messages. Out-bound e-mails may be sent to channel participants according to e-mail addresses associated with the participants and channel preferences established by the system users. In some instances, messages are posted or not posted to those of the channels under the control of respective moderators and channel participants.

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for group management during M2M communication. The method for group management during M2M communication includes receiving a group creation request sent by a requesting apparatus and carrying a group type of a group requested to be created, checking consistency between member types of members in the group and the group type and setting a consistency check flag of the group according to a consistency check result, and returning a group creation response that carries the consistency check result to the requesting apparatus.

A phone appliance and method of use are provided where the phone appliance can be used to make VoIP communications calls. In a preferred embodiment, the phone appliance includes an RF connection for connecting to a computer or other computing device for facilitating the placement of the VoIP communications calls. The phone appliance further includes a display or portal for depicting advertisements provided by various advertisers. The advertisements provided can be used to defray all or part of the cost associated with making VoIP communications calls. The portal can also be used to communicate with businesses for ordering products. such as ordering a pizza, and to perform various services, such as purchasing stocks. In an exemplary system, the phone appliance is used to transmit to a control center information related to the user of the phone appliance, such as interests and buying habits, and queries for receiving additional information for various advertised products and services. The control center transmits the queries to the appropriate vendors for providing the user with additional information. Other functions and features are provided to the phone appliance, such as being able to download e-mail messages stored within or received by the computer.

Modifying a notification on one client device can trigger the generation and transmission of a silent notification to another client device that is associated with the same user account. The silent notification can include instructions to query for and modify a similar notification, if present, on the other client device. Silent notifications that are undeliverable can be stored in offline storage and delivery can be reattempted at a later point in time.

Systems and methods of the present disclosure facilitate managing information technology service level agreements. In some embodiments, the system includes a server that accesses a database storing a support ticket in memory. The support ticket can include a creation time and a service level agreement. The service level agreement can include a maximum response time. The server initiates, via the computer network, responsive to input from a computing device, a chat session associated with the computing device and the support ticket. The initiating can be associated with a time stamp. The server can be configured to determine a compliance with the service level agreement. The compliance can be computed as a difference between the time stamp and the creation time being less than the maximum response time. The server can be configured to generate a notification of the compliance with the service level agreement.

An avatar display system monitors the activities or status of different members on a network site. Avatars representing the different members are displayed in conjunction with an on-line application according to the different identified member activities or status. Different avatar display techniques and filtering schemes are used to both promote and improve interactions between different members of the on-line application or website.

Facilitating replying to received email messages includes presenting a selectable set of fast reply tokens that correspond to snippets of multimedia content, providing a mechanism to superimpose a selected subset of the fast reply tokens on to different portions of the received email message to compose an annotated email messages, wherein the fast reply tokens are separate from any reply email text, and sending the annotated email message. The fast reply tokens may include action icons, status icons, emoticons, emojis, expressive elements, clip art, highlighters, geometric shapes, arrows, short tunes, audio clips, video clips, abbreviated standard texts, and freehand notes. Facilitating replying to received email messages may also include providing cultural adaptations and localization of fast reply tokens based on a setting provided by a recipient of the annotated email message.

A user operating a messaging client can use control codes to defer messages for later action. For example, a user can defer a message by forwarding the message to herself and including in a field of the message a control code indicating that the message should be deferred until a particular condition is met. A message management service can receive the forwarded message, detect the control code, and defer the forwarded message, the original message, or both, e.g., by temporarily moving the message(s) to a deferred-message store until the condition is met.

A system may include a first computer system and a second computer system. The first computer system may be configured to generate a Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) message including authentication data and message data. The first computer system may be further configured to communicate the CoAP message for delivery to the second computer system. The second computer system may be configured to perform message validation based on the authentication data.