US20050188044A1 - Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages - Google Patents

Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US20050188044A1
US20050188044A1 US11/080,104 US8010405A US2005188044A1 US 20050188044 A1 US20050188044 A1 US 20050188044A1 US 8010405 A US8010405 A US 8010405A US 2005188044 A1 US2005188044 A1 US 2005188044A1
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
electronic mail
mail message
sender
authorized
user
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US11/080,104
Inventor
Hoyt Fleming
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Round Rock Research LLC
Original Assignee
Fleming Hoyt A.Iii
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Fleming Hoyt A.Iii filed Critical Fleming Hoyt A.Iii
Priority to US11/080,104 priority Critical patent/US20050188044A1/en
Publication of US20050188044A1 publication Critical patent/US20050188044A1/en
Priority to US12/642,577 priority patent/US8209387B2/en
Assigned to ROUND ROCK RESEARCH, LLC reassignment ROUND ROCK RESEARCH, LLC ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Priority to US13/532,667 priority patent/US20130061334A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
    • G06Q10/107—Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
    • H04L51/21—Monitoring or handling of messages
    • H04L51/212—Monitoring or handling of messages using filtering or selective blocking
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
    • H04L51/42—Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/12—Applying verification of the received information
    • H04L63/126—Applying verification of the received information the source of the received data
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S707/00—Data processing: database and file management or data structures
    • Y10S707/99941—Database schema or data structure
    • Y10S707/99943—Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S707/00—Data processing: database and file management or data structures
    • Y10S707/99941—Database schema or data structure
    • Y10S707/99944—Object-oriented database structure
    • Y10S707/99945—Object-oriented database structure processing

Definitions

  • This invention relates generally to electronic mail systems and more particularly to the filtering of electronic mail messages.
  • Electronic mail is becoming an increasingly popular form of communications.
  • Electronic mail systems allow one user of a computer system (i.e., a sender) to send a message electronically to another user (i.e., a recipient).
  • the sender designates the recipient to whom the electronic mail is to be sent and creates the body (e.g., text) of the electronic mail message.
  • the electronic mail system then forwards the electronic mail message to the recipient via a communications mechanism such as a local area network or the Internet.
  • a communications mechanism such as a local area network or the Internet.
  • the electronic mail messages are formatted in accordance with a conventional format such as defined by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”).
  • SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
  • the electronic mail message contains an envelope portion and a body portion.
  • the envelope portion identifies the sender and the recipient, identifies the electronic mail address of the recipient, and may identify the subject of the electronic mail message.
  • the body portion contains the message itself, which is typically in text format.
  • the electronic mail system may need to route an electronic mail message through various computer systems until it reaches the computer system of the recipient. Each of the computer systems through which the electronic mail message is routed use the recipient's electronic mail address to forward the electronic mail message.
  • Electronic mail systems store electronic mail messages that have been sent or received in a file referred to as the electronic mail file.
  • the electronic mail files are typically organized into various folders and subfolders.
  • the folders allow a user of the electronic mail system to store related electronic mail messages in the same folder in a way that is very similar to how directories allow a user of a file system to store related files in the same directory.
  • the electronic mail system receives an electronic mail message for a user, the electronic mail system stores the electronic mail message in a folder that is designated as the “Inbox” folder within the user's electronic mail file.
  • the electronic mail system allows the user to view the electronic mail messages that are currently in the Inbox folder.
  • the electronic mail system When the user selects to display the contents of the Inbox folder, the electronic mail system displays information from the envelope portion (e.g., sender's name and subject information) for each of the electronic mail messages currently in the folder. Based on the envelope information, the user can select to display the body of an electronic mail message.
  • the electronic mail system also allows the user to move the electronic mail messages from the Inbox folder to other folders or to delete the electronic mail messages.
  • the electronic mail system typically saves a copy of the electronic mail message in a folder that is designated as the “Sent” folder. The user can move and delete the electronic mail messages stored in any of the folders in the same manner as done for the Inbox folder.
  • the electronic mail address for a user uniquely identifies the computer system at which the recipient expects to receive the electronic mail messages.
  • Electronic mail addresses can be very complex strings of characters that identify countries, companies, divisions within companies, and individual users.
  • typical electronic mail systems maintain an address book that contains a mapping of the names of the users to their electronic mail addresses.
  • the user need only indicate the name of the recipient and the electronic mail system uses the address book to retrieve the electronic mail address for that recipient.
  • a user will generally have a personal address book with the names and electronic mail addresses of those recipients to whom the user normally sends electronic mail messages.
  • the electronic mail systems typically maintain a global address book that is shared by all users of the electronic mail system.
  • the global address book may contain the names and electronic mail addresses of all the employees of a company. An employee may then store the names and electronic mail addresses of non-employee friends in the employee's own personal address book.
  • the electronic mail system sends an electronic mail message, it searches the global and personal address books for the electronic mail address of the recipient.
  • a user of an electronic mail system Prior to the popularity of the Internet, a user of an electronic mail system generally received electronic mail messages only from known senders. For example, an employee of a company would receive electronic mail messages only from other employees of the company. The electronic mail system may only be connected to computer systems owned by the company. However, with the increasing popularity of the Internet, a user may be able to send electronic mail messages to anyone who is connected to the Internet. The sender of an electronic mail message needs only to know the electronic mail address of the recipient. Thus, users can and often do receive electronic mail messages from unknown senders.
  • spammming The process of sending these promotional electronic mail messages indiscriminately to the various electronic mail addresses by the promotional companies is referred to as “spamming.” Because a recipient may receive so many unsolicited (i.e., junk) electronic mail messages, it may be very difficult for the recipient to sort through and determine which electronic mail messages are not junk. Such sorting has been a serious impediment to the effectiveness of the electronic mail systems. The seriousness of the problem has been recognized and legislation has even been proposed that would outlaw such spamming practices. In addition, several litigations have been spawned to force such promotional companies to cease their spamming practices.
  • a service known as a “de-spamming service” that attempts to limit the junk mail that is sent.
  • Such a de-spamming service maintains a list of the electronic mail addresses of users who have requested not to receive junk mail.
  • the promotional company first sends the electronic mail messages to the de-spamming computer system.
  • the de-spamming computer system checks its list of electronic mail addresses and deletes any of the electronic mail messages that are destined to any electronic mail addresses on its list.
  • the de-spamming computer system then forwards the remaining electronic mail messages onto the recipients.
  • the recipient can notify the de-spamming computer system, which will add the recipient's electronic mail address to the list of electronic mail addresses that are not to receive junk mail.
  • de-spamming services have ceased offering the service because it has proved to be uneconomical.
  • a user cannot specify how to automatically handle electronic mail messages if they are unaware of any characteristic of the electronic mail message. In particular, a user may not know in advance the identity of the sender of junk mail and thus cannot have the junk mail automatically deleted.
  • Some embodiments of the present invention provide a computer system and method for filtering unauthorized messages that are received by a user. For each message received, the system determines whether the sender of the message is designated as being authorized to send messages to the user. When the sender of the message is determined to be authorized, the system indicates that the message is from an authorized sender. When the sender of the message is determined to be not authorized, the system indicates that the message is from an unauthorized sender. In this way, the recipient (i.e., the user) of the messages can identify whether a message is authorized based solely on the indications.
  • the messages are electronic mail messages, and the system provides the indications by storing the filtered electronic mail messages in separate folders.
  • the system also maintains a list of authorized senders that it uses when determining whether the sender of the message is designated as being authorized.
  • the system automatically adds each recipient of an electronic mail message sent by a user to the list of senders who are authorized to send electronic mail messages to that user.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system for practicing the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the authorizing for the authorization component.
  • FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the automatic updating of the authorized senders list.
  • the present invention provides a method and system for filtering electronic mail messages that are received from unauthorized senders.
  • an authorization component is included with an electronic mail system.
  • the authorization component intercepts electronic mail messages that are sent to a user before they are placed in the user's Inbox folder.
  • the authorization component has the identifications of all senders who are authorized to send electronic mail messages to the user.
  • the authorization component retrieves the identification of the sender from the envelope portion of the intercepted electronic mail message.
  • the authorization component determines whether the retrieved identification of the sender matches the identification of one of the authorized senders.
  • the authorization component stores the intercepted electronic mail message in a pre-designated location, such as a “Junk Mail” folder. Otherwise, the authorization component forwards the intercepted electronic mail message to the electronic mail system for normal processing and storage.
  • a pre-designated location such as a “Junk Mail” folder.
  • the authorization component can store the identifications of the authorized senders in a list that is either manually or automatically updated.
  • a user can manually update the authorized sender list in several circumstances. For example, when an electronic mail message is stored in the Junk Mail folder but the user does not consider the electronic mail message to be junk, the user can add the identification of the sender to the authorized sender list. Conversely, when an electronic mail message is not stored in the Junk Mail folder but the user considers the electronic mail message to be junk, the user can remove the identification of the sender from the authorized sender list.
  • the authorization component can also automatically update the authorized sender list in several circumstances. For example, the authorization component can scan previously sent electronic mail messages and add the identifications of the recipients to the authorized sender list.
  • the authorization component can also scan previously received electronic messages (e.g., in a certain folder) and add the identifications of the senders to the authorized sender list. In addition, the authorization component can automatically add the identification of each recipient to the authorized sender list whenever the user sends an electronic mail message. The authorization component can also allow the user to disable the filtering of electronic mail messages. It may be desirable to disable such filtering, for example, when the authorized sender list has not yet been updated to contain the identification of most of the authorized senders.
  • the authorization component can be used by an administrator of an electronic mail system of a company to ensure that the employees do not receive unauthorized electronic mail messages.
  • the administrator could maintain a global authorized sender list that is shared by all employees.
  • the authorized sender list could contain only the names of the employees of the company. If the authorization component automatically deleted the electronic mail messages from senders not in the authorized sender list, then the employees would only receive electronic mail messages sent by other employees.
  • the global authorized sender list can serve to relieve each individual employee of maintaining an authorized sender list with the names of all employees.
  • Each employee could also maintain a personal authorized sender list that identifies additional senders (e.g., spouse) who are authorized to send electronic mail messages to the employee.
  • the authorization component would only consider an electronic mail message to be junk when the identification of the sender is not in either the global or the personal authorized sender list.
  • a user may be allowed to specify and de-specify many different authorized sender lists at various times. For example, a user may have an authorized sender list for business acquaintances and another authorized sender list for social acquaintances.
  • the authorization component can handle the electronic mail message from unauthorized senders in different ways other than automatically storing in a Junk Mail folder or deleting. For example, electronic mail messages received from a sender who is not an employee of a company can automatically be routed to the electronic mail system administrator. Also, all electronic mail messages from unauthorized senders can be automatically forwarded to an assistant of the user who can determine whether the electronic mail message is really junk. If the electronic mail message is not junk, then the assistant can re-send the electronic mail message to the user and update the authorized sender list for the user accordingly. Also, the authorization component can simply store an indication that indicates whether or not an electronic mail message is from an authorized sender.
  • the electronic mail system When the electronic mail system displays electronic mail messages, it can display a visual indicator as to whether each electronic mail message is junk based on the stored indication.
  • the visual indication could be the displaying of information relating to the junk electronic mail messages in a dimmer intensity than the non-junk electronic mail messages.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system for practicing the present invention.
  • the computer system 100 includes memory 101 , central processing unit 102 , I/O interface 103 , display device 104 , and electronic mail connection 109 .
  • the memory contains the electronic mail system 105 which includes the authorization component 106 of the present invention.
  • the electronic mail system passes each electronic mail message it receives to the authorization component.
  • the authorization component uses the authorized sender list 108 to determine whether the sender of the electronic mail message is authorized to send the received electronic mail message. If the sender is not authorized, the authorization component stores the received electronic mail message in a designated Junk Mail folder in the electronic mail file 107 .
  • the authorization component can operate as an add-on component to any system (e.g., Internet browsers) that supports the receiving of electronic mail messages.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the authorizing for the authorization component.
  • This routine receives the authorized sender list and the electronic mail messages. The routine determines whether the identification of the sender of each electronic mail message is in the authorized sender list. If the sender is authorized, then the routine stores the electronic mail message in a designated folder for authorized senders. If the sender is not authorized, then the routine stores the electronic mail message in a Junk Mail folder. In step 201 , the routine selects the next electronic mail message starting with the first. In step 202 , if all the electronic mail messages have already been selected, then the routine is complete, else the routine continues at step 203 . In step 203 , the routine retrieves the identification of the sender of the selected electronic mail message.
  • step 204 if the retrieved identification is in the authorized sender list, then the routine continues at step 205 , else the routine continues at step 206 .
  • step 205 the routine stores the selected electronic mail message in the Inbox folder and loops to step 201 to select the next electronic mail message.
  • step 206 the routine stores the selected electronic mail message in the Junk Mail folder and loops to step 201 to select the next electronic mail message.
  • FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the automatic updating of the authorized sender list.
  • This flow diagram shows the portion of the authorization component that adds the recipients of a sent electronic mail message to the authorized sender list for the sender of the electronic mail message.
  • the ellipsis shown in the figure indicates conventional processing to send an electronic mail message.
  • the routine retrieves the identification of the next recipient of the electronic mail message to be sent starting with the first.
  • step 302 if the identifications of all the recipients of the electronic mail message to be sent have already been selected, then the routine continues with the sending of the electronic mail message, else the routine continues at step 303 .
  • step 303 if the retrieved identification is already in the authorized sender list, then the routine loops to step 301 to retrieve the identification of the next recipient, else the routine continues at step 304 .
  • step 304 the routine adds the retrieved identification to the authorized sender list and loops to step 301 to select the next recipient.

Abstract

A computer system and method for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages that are sent by senders to a user. The system includes a list of the identifications of the senders who are authorized to send an electronic mail message to the user. When an electronic mail message is received, the system determines whether the sender of the electronic mail message is authorized by determining whether the identification of sender in the electronic mail message is in the list of the identifications of the senders who are authorized. When the sender of the electronic mail message is determined to be authorized, the system stores the electronic mail message in an Inbox folder. When the sender of the electronic mail message is determined to be not authorized, the system stores the electronic mail message in a Junk Mail folder. In this way, the electronic mail messages are automatically stored in the appropriate folder based on whether the sender is authorized so that the user can view the Inbox folder containing the electronic mail messages sent by authorized senders separately from the Junk Mail folder containing the electronic mail messages sent by unauthorized senders.

Description

    TECHNICAL FIELD
  • This invention relates generally to electronic mail systems and more particularly to the filtering of electronic mail messages.
    • BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
  • Electronic mail is becoming an increasingly popular form of communications. Electronic mail systems allow one user of a computer system (i.e., a sender) to send a message electronically to another user (i.e., a recipient). To create an electronic mail message, the sender designates the recipient to whom the electronic mail is to be sent and creates the body (e.g., text) of the electronic mail message. The electronic mail system then forwards the electronic mail message to the recipient via a communications mechanism such as a local area network or the Internet. When the recipient receives the electronic mail messages, the recipient can view the body of the electronic mail message.
  • To ensure format compatibility among various electronic mail systems, the electronic mail messages are formatted in accordance with a conventional format such as defined by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”). According to this format, the electronic mail message contains an envelope portion and a body portion. The envelope portion identifies the sender and the recipient, identifies the electronic mail address of the recipient, and may identify the subject of the electronic mail message. The body portion contains the message itself, which is typically in text format. The electronic mail system may need to route an electronic mail message through various computer systems until it reaches the computer system of the recipient. Each of the computer systems through which the electronic mail message is routed use the recipient's electronic mail address to forward the electronic mail message.
  • Electronic mail systems store electronic mail messages that have been sent or received in a file referred to as the electronic mail file. The electronic mail files are typically organized into various folders and subfolders. The folders allow a user of the electronic mail system to store related electronic mail messages in the same folder in a way that is very similar to how directories allow a user of a file system to store related files in the same directory. When the electronic mail system receives an electronic mail message for a user, the electronic mail system stores the electronic mail message in a folder that is designated as the “Inbox” folder within the user's electronic mail file. The electronic mail system allows the user to view the electronic mail messages that are currently in the Inbox folder. When the user selects to display the contents of the Inbox folder, the electronic mail system displays information from the envelope portion (e.g., sender's name and subject information) for each of the electronic mail messages currently in the folder. Based on the envelope information, the user can select to display the body of an electronic mail message. The electronic mail system also allows the user to move the electronic mail messages from the Inbox folder to other folders or to delete the electronic mail messages. When a user sends an electronic mail message, the electronic mail system typically saves a copy of the electronic mail message in a folder that is designated as the “Sent” folder. The user can move and delete the electronic mail messages stored in any of the folders in the same manner as done for the Inbox folder.
  • The electronic mail address for a user uniquely identifies the computer system at which the recipient expects to receive the electronic mail messages. Electronic mail addresses can be very complex strings of characters that identify countries, companies, divisions within companies, and individual users. Thus, to provide a more friendly user interface, typical electronic mail systems maintain an address book that contains a mapping of the names of the users to their electronic mail addresses. Thus, when a user wishes to designate a recipient, the user need only indicate the name of the recipient and the electronic mail system uses the address book to retrieve the electronic mail address for that recipient. A user will generally have a personal address book with the names and electronic mail addresses of those recipients to whom the user normally sends electronic mail messages. In addition, the electronic mail systems typically maintain a global address book that is shared by all users of the electronic mail system. For example, the global address book may contain the names and electronic mail addresses of all the employees of a company. An employee may then store the names and electronic mail addresses of non-employee friends in the employee's own personal address book. When the electronic mail system sends an electronic mail message, it searches the global and personal address books for the electronic mail address of the recipient.
  • Prior to the popularity of the Internet, a user of an electronic mail system generally received electronic mail messages only from known senders. For example, an employee of a company would receive electronic mail messages only from other employees of the company. The electronic mail system may only be connected to computer systems owned by the company. However, with the increasing popularity of the Internet, a user may be able to send electronic mail messages to anyone who is connected to the Internet. The sender of an electronic mail message needs only to know the electronic mail address of the recipient. Thus, users can and often do receive electronic mail messages from unknown senders.
  • Recently, a problem has developed which seriously impairs the effectiveness of electronic mail systems. Many large promotional companies are turning to the Internet to advertise products of their clients. These promotional companies acquire and maintain lists of electronic mail addresses for thousands of users. When a client wants to advertise a product, the promotional company will send an electronic mail message to each electronic mail address in its list. A user may occasionally receive an unsolicited electronic mail message from such a promotional company. Such occasional receipt of such electronic mail message, while annoying, does not seriously impair the effectiveness of the electronic mail system. However, because of the perceived benefits of advertising via the Internet, a user may now receive so many unsolicited electronic mail messages on a daily basis, that the unsolicited electronic mail messages vastly outnumber the electronic mails messages received from known senders. The process of sending these promotional electronic mail messages indiscriminately to the various electronic mail addresses by the promotional companies is referred to as “spamming.” Because a recipient may receive so many unsolicited (i.e., junk) electronic mail messages, it may be very difficult for the recipient to sort through and determine which electronic mail messages are not junk. Such sorting has been a serious impediment to the effectiveness of the electronic mail systems. The seriousness of the problem has been recognized and legislation has even been proposed that would outlaw such spamming practices. In addition, several litigations have been spawned to force such promotional companies to cease their spamming practices.
  • One potential solution to the problems resulting from the spamming practices has been tried, but unfortunately has been unsuccessful. A service, known as a “de-spamming service,” has been provided that attempts to limit the junk mail that is sent. Such a de-spamming service maintains a list of the electronic mail addresses of users who have requested not to receive junk mail. When a promotional company wishes to send an electronic mail message to all the users whose electronic mail addresses are on its mailing list, the promotional company first sends the electronic mail messages to the de-spamming computer system. The de-spamming computer system checks its list of electronic mail addresses and deletes any of the electronic mail messages that are destined to any electronic mail addresses on its list. The de-spamming computer system then forwards the remaining electronic mail messages onto the recipients. Whenever a recipient does not want to be included on a mailing list, the recipient can notify the de-spamming computer system, which will add the recipient's electronic mail address to the list of electronic mail addresses that are not to receive junk mail. Recently, however, such de-spamming services have ceased offering the service because it has proved to be uneconomical.
  • Certain electronic mail systems also allow a user to designate how to automatically handle a received electronic mail message. For example, a user can indicate that all electronic mail messages received from a certain sender can automatically be stored in a designated folder, be deleted, or be forwarded to another recipient. To provide such routing of electronic mail messages, the user needs to specify a characteristic (e.g., sender=John Smith) of the envelope portion or the body portion so that the electronic mail system can determine which electronic mail systems satisfy the characteristic. However, with such electronic mail systems, a user cannot specify how to automatically handle electronic mail messages if they are unaware of any characteristic of the electronic mail message. In particular, a user may not know in advance the identity of the sender of junk mail and thus cannot have the junk mail automatically deleted.
    • SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
  • Some embodiments of the present invention provide a computer system and method for filtering unauthorized messages that are received by a user. For each message received, the system determines whether the sender of the message is designated as being authorized to send messages to the user. When the sender of the message is determined to be authorized, the system indicates that the message is from an authorized sender. When the sender of the message is determined to be not authorized, the system indicates that the message is from an unauthorized sender. In this way, the recipient (i.e., the user) of the messages can identify whether a message is authorized based solely on the indications. In one embodiment, the messages are electronic mail messages, and the system provides the indications by storing the filtered electronic mail messages in separate folders. The system also maintains a list of authorized senders that it uses when determining whether the sender of the message is designated as being authorized. In another aspect of the present invention, the system automatically adds each recipient of an electronic mail message sent by a user to the list of senders who are authorized to send electronic mail messages to that user.
    • BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system for practicing the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the authorizing for the authorization component.
  • FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the automatic updating of the authorized senders list.
    • DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
  • The present invention provides a method and system for filtering electronic mail messages that are received from unauthorized senders. In one embodiment of the present invention, an authorization component is included with an electronic mail system. The authorization component intercepts electronic mail messages that are sent to a user before they are placed in the user's Inbox folder. The authorization component has the identifications of all senders who are authorized to send electronic mail messages to the user. When an electronic mail message is intercepted, the authorization component retrieves the identification of the sender from the envelope portion of the intercepted electronic mail message. The authorization component then determines whether the retrieved identification of the sender matches the identification of one of the authorized senders. If the retrieve identification does not match, then the authorization component stores the intercepted electronic mail message in a pre-designated location, such as a “Junk Mail” folder. Otherwise, the authorization component forwards the intercepted electronic mail message to the electronic mail system for normal processing and storage. With the use of such an authorization component a user can effectively filter out unauthorized (i.e., junk) electronic mail messages. Periodically, the user can view the Junk Mail folder to delete or read the electronic mail messages that were designated as junk.
  • The authorization component can store the identifications of the authorized senders in a list that is either manually or automatically updated. A user can manually update the authorized sender list in several circumstances. For example, when an electronic mail message is stored in the Junk Mail folder but the user does not consider the electronic mail message to be junk, the user can add the identification of the sender to the authorized sender list. Conversely, when an electronic mail message is not stored in the Junk Mail folder but the user considers the electronic mail message to be junk, the user can remove the identification of the sender from the authorized sender list. The authorization component can also automatically update the authorized sender list in several circumstances. For example, the authorization component can scan previously sent electronic mail messages and add the identifications of the recipients to the authorized sender list. The authorization component can also scan previously received electronic messages (e.g., in a certain folder) and add the identifications of the senders to the authorized sender list. In addition, the authorization component can automatically add the identification of each recipient to the authorized sender list whenever the user sends an electronic mail message. The authorization component can also allow the user to disable the filtering of electronic mail messages. It may be desirable to disable such filtering, for example, when the authorized sender list has not yet been updated to contain the identification of most of the authorized senders.
  • The authorization component can be used by an administrator of an electronic mail system of a company to ensure that the employees do not receive unauthorized electronic mail messages. For example, the administrator could maintain a global authorized sender list that is shared by all employees. The authorized sender list could contain only the names of the employees of the company. If the authorization component automatically deleted the electronic mail messages from senders not in the authorized sender list, then the employees would only receive electronic mail messages sent by other employees. Alternatively, the global authorized sender list can serve to relieve each individual employee of maintaining an authorized sender list with the names of all employees. Each employee could also maintain a personal authorized sender list that identifies additional senders (e.g., spouse) who are authorized to send electronic mail messages to the employee. The authorization component would only consider an electronic mail message to be junk when the identification of the sender is not in either the global or the personal authorized sender list. A user may be allowed to specify and de-specify many different authorized sender lists at various times. For example, a user may have an authorized sender list for business acquaintances and another authorized sender list for social acquaintances.
  • The authorization component can handle the electronic mail message from unauthorized senders in different ways other than automatically storing in a Junk Mail folder or deleting. For example, electronic mail messages received from a sender who is not an employee of a company can automatically be routed to the electronic mail system administrator. Also, all electronic mail messages from unauthorized senders can be automatically forwarded to an assistant of the user who can determine whether the electronic mail message is really junk. If the electronic mail message is not junk, then the assistant can re-send the electronic mail message to the user and update the authorized sender list for the user accordingly. Also, the authorization component can simply store an indication that indicates whether or not an electronic mail message is from an authorized sender. When the electronic mail system displays electronic mail messages, it can display a visual indicator as to whether each electronic mail message is junk based on the stored indication. For example, the visual indication could be the displaying of information relating to the junk electronic mail messages in a dimmer intensity than the non-junk electronic mail messages.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system for practicing the present invention. The computer system 100 includes memory 101, central processing unit 102, I/O interface 103, display device 104, and electronic mail connection 109. The memory contains the electronic mail system 105 which includes the authorization component 106 of the present invention. The electronic mail system passes each electronic mail message it receives to the authorization component. The authorization component uses the authorized sender list 108 to determine whether the sender of the electronic mail message is authorized to send the received electronic mail message. If the sender is not authorized, the authorization component stores the received electronic mail message in a designated Junk Mail folder in the electronic mail file 107. The authorization component can operate as an add-on component to any system (e.g., Internet browsers) that supports the receiving of electronic mail messages.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the authorizing for the authorization component. This routine receives the authorized sender list and the electronic mail messages. The routine determines whether the identification of the sender of each electronic mail message is in the authorized sender list. If the sender is authorized, then the routine stores the electronic mail message in a designated folder for authorized senders. If the sender is not authorized, then the routine stores the electronic mail message in a Junk Mail folder. In step 201, the routine selects the next electronic mail message starting with the first. In step 202, if all the electronic mail messages have already been selected, then the routine is complete, else the routine continues at step 203. In step 203, the routine retrieves the identification of the sender of the selected electronic mail message. In step 204, if the retrieved identification is in the authorized sender list, then the routine continues at step 205, else the routine continues at step 206. In step 205, the routine stores the selected electronic mail message in the Inbox folder and loops to step 201 to select the next electronic mail message. In step 206, the routine stores the selected electronic mail message in the Junk Mail folder and loops to step 201 to select the next electronic mail message.
  • FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an implementation of the automatic updating of the authorized sender list. This flow diagram shows the portion of the authorization component that adds the recipients of a sent electronic mail message to the authorized sender list for the sender of the electronic mail message. The ellipsis shown in the figure indicates conventional processing to send an electronic mail message. In step 301, the routine retrieves the identification of the next recipient of the electronic mail message to be sent starting with the first. In step 302, if the identifications of all the recipients of the electronic mail message to be sent have already been selected, then the routine continues with the sending of the electronic mail message, else the routine continues at step 303. At step 303, if the retrieved identification is already in the authorized sender list, then the routine loops to step 301 to retrieve the identification of the next recipient, else the routine continues at step 304. In step 304, the routine adds the retrieved identification to the authorized sender list and loops to step 301 to select the next recipient.
  • From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.

Claims (11)

1-28. (canceled)
29. A computer system receiving electronic mail messages each of which includes a respective identification of a sender of the electronic mail message, the computer system comprising:
a storage device retaining a record of the identifications of the senders who are authorized to send an electronic mail message to the user, the record being created at least in part by being automatically supplemented with the identification if any third party to whom the user sends an electronic mail message,
a processing system operable to filter unauthorized electronic mail messages that are sent by senders to a user of the computer system, the processing system being operable to compare the identification of a sender of each electronic mail message with the record of the identifications retained in the storage device to determine whether the sender of the electronic mail message is authorized, the processing system being operable to store the electronic mail message in a first folder designated for electronic mail messages received from authorized senders responsive to a positive comparison, the processing system further being operable to store the electronic mail message in a second folder that is optionally viewable by the user responsive to a negative comparison.
30. The computer system of claim 29, further comprising a user interface for allowing a user to manually input to the storage device respective identifications of senders who are authorized to send an electronic mail message to the user.
31. The computer system of claim 29 wherein the first folder comprises an in-box message folder.
32. A computer system having a default location for storing received electronic mail messages each of which includes a respective identification of a sender of the electronic mail message, the computer system comprising:
a storage device retaining a record of the identifications of the senders who are authorized to send an electronic mail message to the user; and
a processing system operable to compare the identification of a sender of each electronic mail message with the record of the identifications retained in the storage device to determine that the sender of the electronic mail message is authorized responsive to a comparison match and to determine that the sender of the electronic mail message is unauthorized in the absence of a comparison match, the processing system being operable to cause the electronic mail message to be stored in the default location only if the sender of the electronic mail message is determined to be authorized, the processing system being operable to forward the received electronic mail message to an other user if the sender of the electronic mail message is determined to be unauthorized, the processing system further being operable to receive an electronic mail message from the other user when the electronic mail message should be viewed by the user even though the electronic mail message was sent by an un authorized sender.
33. The computer system of claim 32 wherein the default location comprises a message folder.
34. The computer system of claim 33 wherein the default location comprises an in-box message folder.
35. The computer system of claim 32 wherein the processing system if operable to automatically delete any electronic mail message received from an unauthorized sender.
36. A computer system receiving electronic mail messages each of which has a sender, the computer system including a personal list of authorized senders that is personalized to a recipient, the computer system comprising:
a system for filtering unauthorized received electronic mail messages, the system including a list generator for automatically generating a list of senders authorized to send electronic mail messages, the list being shared by multiple recipients of electronic mail messages; and
a processor operable for each of a plurality of received electronic mail messages to determine whether the sender of the electronic mail message is designated as being authorized by determining whether the sender is in the generated list of authorized senders and determining whether the sender of the electronic mail message is designated as being unauthorized by determining that the sender is not in either list.
37. The computer system of claim 36 wherein the system for filtering unauthorized received electronic mail messages is operable to generate the list of authorized senders by adding the senders of previously received electronic mail messages to the list.
38. The computer system of claim 36 wherein the system for filtering unauthorized received electronic mail messages is operable to generate the list of authorized senders by adding the recipients of previously sent messages to the list.
US11/080,104 1997-08-12 2005-03-14 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages Abandoned US20050188044A1 (en)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US11/080,104 US20050188044A1 (en) 1997-08-12 2005-03-14 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US12/642,577 US8209387B2 (en) 1997-08-12 2009-12-18 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US13/532,667 US20130061334A1 (en) 1997-08-12 2012-06-25 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US08/909,811 US6249805B1 (en) 1997-08-12 1997-08-12 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US09/634,691 US6868436B1 (en) 1997-08-12 2000-08-08 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US11/080,104 US20050188044A1 (en) 1997-08-12 2005-03-14 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages

Related Parent Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US09/634,691 Continuation US6868436B1 (en) 1997-08-12 2000-08-08 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages

Related Child Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/642,577 Continuation US8209387B2 (en) 1997-08-12 2009-12-18 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20050188044A1 true US20050188044A1 (en) 2005-08-25

Family

ID=25427873

Family Applications (5)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US08/909,811 Expired - Lifetime US6249805B1 (en) 1997-08-12 1997-08-12 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US09/634,691 Expired - Fee Related US6868436B1 (en) 1997-08-12 2000-08-08 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US11/080,104 Abandoned US20050188044A1 (en) 1997-08-12 2005-03-14 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US12/642,577 Expired - Fee Related US8209387B2 (en) 1997-08-12 2009-12-18 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US13/532,667 Abandoned US20130061334A1 (en) 1997-08-12 2012-06-25 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages

Family Applications Before (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US08/909,811 Expired - Lifetime US6249805B1 (en) 1997-08-12 1997-08-12 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US09/634,691 Expired - Fee Related US6868436B1 (en) 1997-08-12 2000-08-08 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages

Family Applications After (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/642,577 Expired - Fee Related US8209387B2 (en) 1997-08-12 2009-12-18 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US13/532,667 Abandoned US20130061334A1 (en) 1997-08-12 2012-06-25 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages

Country Status (1)

Country Link
US (5) US6249805B1 (en)

Cited By (31)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20040139098A1 (en) * 2000-02-18 2004-07-15 Permabit, Inc., A Delaware Corporation Data repository and method for promoting network storage of data
US20040177271A1 (en) * 2003-02-25 2004-09-09 Susquehanna International Group, Llp Electronic message filter
US20040193684A1 (en) * 2003-03-26 2004-09-30 Roy Ben-Yoseph Identifying and using identities deemed to be known to a user
US20060224632A1 (en) * 2000-08-08 2006-10-05 Franz Gregory J Information distribution system and method
GB2436184A (en) * 2006-03-17 2007-09-19 Empower Interactive Group Ltd Monitoring the distribution of messages
US20080082512A1 (en) * 2003-12-30 2008-04-03 Aol Llc Enhanced Search Results
WO2008089161A2 (en) * 2007-01-15 2008-07-24 John Almeida A virtual email method for preventing delivery of unsolicited and undesired electronic messages
US20080208992A1 (en) * 2007-01-03 2008-08-28 Madnani Rajkumar R Mechanism for discovering and recovering missing emails in an email conversation
US20090089375A1 (en) * 2003-10-30 2009-04-02 Osterberg Jr Donald H Unsolicited electronic message source verification and tracking system and method
US20090100073A1 (en) * 2004-09-02 2009-04-16 Liquid Systems, Inc. System and method for enabling an external-system view of email attachments
US20090313333A1 (en) * 2008-06-11 2009-12-17 International Business Machines Corporation Methods, systems, and computer program products for collaborative junk mail filtering
US20110196931A1 (en) * 2010-02-05 2011-08-11 Microsoft Corporation Moderating electronic communications
US8452849B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2013-05-28 Facebook, Inc. Host-based intelligent results related to a character stream
US8504619B1 (en) * 2006-09-18 2013-08-06 Nvidia Corporation Operator-based system, method and computer program product for generating a contact set
US8577972B1 (en) 2003-09-05 2013-11-05 Facebook, Inc. Methods and systems for capturing and managing instant messages
US8701014B1 (en) 2002-11-18 2014-04-15 Facebook, Inc. Account linking
US8965964B1 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-02-24 Facebook, Inc. Managing forwarded electronic messages
US20150100652A1 (en) * 2013-10-03 2015-04-09 Yandex Europe Ag Method of and system for constructing a listing of e-mail messages
US9185067B1 (en) 1999-12-01 2015-11-10 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9203647B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-12-01 Facebook, Inc. Dynamic online and geographic location of a user
US9203794B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-12-01 Facebook, Inc. Systems and methods for reconfiguring electronic messages
US9203879B2 (en) 2000-03-17 2015-12-01 Facebook, Inc. Offline alerts mechanism
US9246975B2 (en) 2000-03-17 2016-01-26 Facebook, Inc. State change alerts mechanism
US9319356B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2016-04-19 Facebook, Inc. Message delivery control settings
US9462046B2 (en) 2003-04-02 2016-10-04 Facebook, Inc. Degrees of separation for handling communications
US9647872B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-05-09 Facebook, Inc. Dynamic identification of other users to an online user
US9667585B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-05-30 Facebook, Inc. Central people lists accessible by multiple applications
US9727631B2 (en) 2004-12-20 2017-08-08 Facebook, Inc. Automatic categorization of entries in a contact list
US10187334B2 (en) 2003-11-26 2019-01-22 Facebook, Inc. User-defined electronic message preferences
US10341289B2 (en) 2004-03-05 2019-07-02 Facebook, Inc. Systems and methods of calculating communications strengths
USRE48102E1 (en) 2002-12-31 2020-07-14 Facebook, Inc. Implicit population of access control lists

Families Citing this family (187)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8182473B2 (en) * 1999-01-08 2012-05-22 Palomar Medical Technologies Cooling system for a photocosmetic device
US6708221B1 (en) * 1996-12-13 2004-03-16 Visto Corporation System and method for globally and securely accessing unified information in a computer network
US20060195595A1 (en) 2003-12-19 2006-08-31 Mendez Daniel J System and method for globally and securely accessing unified information in a computer network
US6249805B1 (en) * 1997-08-12 2001-06-19 Micron Electronics, Inc. Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US8412778B2 (en) * 1997-11-25 2013-04-02 Robert G. Leeds Junk electronic mail detector and eliminator
US6393465B2 (en) * 1997-11-25 2002-05-21 Nixmail Corporation Junk electronic mail detector and eliminator
WO1999032985A1 (en) * 1997-12-22 1999-07-01 Accepted Marketing, Inc. E-mail filter and method thereof
IL137704A0 (en) * 1998-02-05 2001-10-31 A Pty Ltd System for handling electronic mail
US6219694B1 (en) 1998-05-29 2001-04-17 Research In Motion Limited System and method for pushing information from a host system to a mobile data communication device having a shared electronic address
US6438585B2 (en) * 1998-05-29 2002-08-20 Research In Motion Limited System and method for redirecting message attachments between a host system and a mobile data communication device
US9374435B2 (en) 1998-05-29 2016-06-21 Blackberry Limited System and method for using trigger events and a redirector flag to redirect messages
US7275082B2 (en) * 1998-07-15 2007-09-25 Pang Stephen Y F System for policing junk e-mail messages
US6275850B1 (en) * 1998-07-24 2001-08-14 Siemens Information And Communication Networks, Inc. Method and system for management of message attachments
US6549957B1 (en) * 1998-12-22 2003-04-15 International Business Machines Corporation Apparatus for preventing automatic generation of a chain reaction of messages if a prior extracted message is similar to current processed message
US20010013069A1 (en) * 1999-01-11 2001-08-09 Infospace, Inc. Data messaging aggregation
US6732149B1 (en) * 1999-04-09 2004-05-04 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for hindering undesired transmission or receipt of electronic messages
AUPQ030299A0 (en) 1999-05-12 1999-06-03 Sharinga Networks Inc. A message processing system
DE19922300A1 (en) * 1999-05-14 2000-11-16 Alcatel Sa Device for automatic processing of incoming electronic mail (= email)
US6592627B1 (en) * 1999-06-10 2003-07-15 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for organizing repositories of semi-structured documents such as email
US6571238B1 (en) 1999-06-11 2003-05-27 Abuzz Technologies, Inc. System for regulating flow of information to user by using time dependent function to adjust relevancy threshold
US6539385B1 (en) * 1999-06-11 2003-03-25 Abuzz Technologies, Inc. Dual-use email system
US6546390B1 (en) 1999-06-11 2003-04-08 Abuzz Technologies, Inc. Method and apparatus for evaluating relevancy of messages to users
US20040236721A1 (en) * 2003-05-20 2004-11-25 Jordan Pollack Method and apparatus for distributing information to users
US6578025B1 (en) 1999-06-11 2003-06-10 Abuzz Technologies, Inc. Method and apparatus for distributing information to users
US7853989B2 (en) * 2000-02-08 2010-12-14 Katsikas Peter L System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail
US7840639B1 (en) 1999-09-21 2010-11-23 G&H Nevada-Tek Method and article of manufacture for an automatically executed application program associated with an electronic message
US9092535B1 (en) 1999-09-21 2015-07-28 Google Inc. E-mail embedded textual hyperlink object
US6360221B1 (en) 1999-09-21 2002-03-19 Neostar, Inc. Method and apparatus for the production, delivery, and receipt of enhanced e-mail
US6823350B1 (en) * 1999-09-28 2004-11-23 Microsoft Corporation Database clean-up system
US6832321B1 (en) * 1999-11-02 2004-12-14 America Online, Inc. Public network access server having a user-configurable firewall
US7249175B1 (en) * 1999-11-23 2007-07-24 Escom Corporation Method and system for blocking e-mail having a nonexistent sender address
US6460050B1 (en) * 1999-12-22 2002-10-01 Mark Raymond Pace Distributed content identification system
US6651063B1 (en) * 2000-01-28 2003-11-18 Andrei G. Vorobiev Data organization and management system and method
US7072942B1 (en) * 2000-02-04 2006-07-04 Microsoft Corporation Email filtering methods and systems
US7822977B2 (en) * 2000-02-08 2010-10-26 Katsikas Peter L System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail
US7644124B1 (en) * 2000-02-15 2010-01-05 Porter Swain W Privacy enhanced methods and apparatuses for conducting electronic communications
US20050278416A1 (en) * 2000-02-29 2005-12-15 Alan Kay Marketplace system computer network
US6691156B1 (en) * 2000-03-10 2004-02-10 International Business Machines Corporation Method for restricting delivery of unsolicited E-mail
US7739334B1 (en) * 2000-03-17 2010-06-15 Visto Corporation System and method for automatically forwarding email and email events via a computer network to a server computer
US7644274B1 (en) * 2000-03-30 2010-01-05 Alcatel-Lucent Usa Inc. Methods of protecting against spam electronic mail
US8013840B1 (en) 2000-04-06 2011-09-06 Microsoft Corporation User notification system with an illuminated computer input device
US7707252B1 (en) * 2000-05-12 2010-04-27 Harris Technology, Llc Automatic mail rejection feature
US7428576B2 (en) * 2000-05-16 2008-09-23 Hoshiko Llc Addressee-defined mail addressing system and method
AU2001263503A1 (en) * 2000-05-16 2001-11-26 America Online, Inc. E-mail sender identification
US7032023B1 (en) 2000-05-16 2006-04-18 America Online, Inc. Throttling electronic communications from one or more senders
US6839737B1 (en) * 2000-07-19 2005-01-04 Neoplanet, Inc. Messaging system for indicating status of a sender of electronic mail and method and computer program product therefor
TW569106B (en) * 2000-07-29 2004-01-01 Hai Lin A method preventing spam
US7711790B1 (en) 2000-08-24 2010-05-04 Foundry Networks, Inc. Securing an accessible computer system
US7725587B1 (en) 2000-08-24 2010-05-25 Aol Llc Deep packet scan hacker identification
US7225231B2 (en) * 2000-09-20 2007-05-29 Visto Corporation System and method for transmitting workspace elements across a network
US6650890B1 (en) * 2000-09-29 2003-11-18 Postini, Inc. Value-added electronic messaging services and transparent implementation thereof using intermediate server
US7072943B2 (en) * 2000-11-01 2006-07-04 Buyerleverage Email Solutions Llc System and method for granting deposit-contingent E-mailing rights
US7379972B2 (en) * 2000-11-01 2008-05-27 Buyerleverage E-Mail Solutions Llc System and method for granting deposit-contingent e-mailing rights
US7725546B2 (en) * 2000-11-01 2010-05-25 Buyerleverage System and method for granting deposit-contingent e-mailing rights
US6701348B2 (en) * 2000-12-22 2004-03-02 Goodcontacts.Com Method and system for automatically updating contact information within a contact database
US20020143963A1 (en) * 2001-03-15 2002-10-03 International Business Machines Corporation Web server intrusion detection method and apparatus
US7849141B1 (en) * 2001-06-14 2010-12-07 Apple Inc. Training a computer storage system for automatic filing of data using graphical representations of storage locations
US7043506B1 (en) 2001-06-28 2006-05-09 Microsoft Corporation Utility-based archiving
US7454464B2 (en) * 2001-09-10 2008-11-18 Intel Corporation Peer discovery and connection management based on context sensitive social networks
JP3717829B2 (en) * 2001-10-05 2005-11-16 日本デジタル株式会社 Junk mail repelling system
US7818268B2 (en) 2001-10-16 2010-10-19 Fitzsimmons Todd E System and method for mail verification
US7752166B2 (en) * 2001-11-15 2010-07-06 Visto Corporation System and methods for asynchronous synchronization
US6988129B2 (en) * 2001-11-26 2006-01-17 Pitney Bowes Inc. Method for providing address change notification in an electronic message forwarding system
US7155608B1 (en) * 2001-12-05 2006-12-26 Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corp. Foreign network SPAM blocker
US20040158540A1 (en) * 2002-01-31 2004-08-12 Cashette, Inc. Spam control system requiring unauthorized senders to pay postage through an internet payment service with provision for refund on accepted messages
US20030149726A1 (en) * 2002-02-05 2003-08-07 At&T Corp. Automating the reduction of unsolicited email in real time
US7228335B2 (en) * 2002-02-19 2007-06-05 Goodcontacts Research Ltd. Method of automatically populating contact information fields for a new contract added to an electronic contact database
EP1476819B1 (en) * 2002-02-19 2009-04-01 Postini, Inc. E-mail management services
US20030212745A1 (en) * 2002-05-08 2003-11-13 Caughey David A. Selective multi-step email message marketing
KR20030087787A (en) * 2002-05-09 2003-11-15 와이더덴닷컴 주식회사 Selective E-mail Delivery Utilizing Personal Identifier
US7606920B2 (en) * 2002-05-17 2009-10-20 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Method and apparatus for controlling communication ports for an online session of a multi-user application by associating each of the ports with a protocol and designating an active port
US20030229672A1 (en) * 2002-06-05 2003-12-11 Kohn Daniel Mark Enforceable spam identification and reduction system, and method thereof
US7139801B2 (en) * 2002-06-14 2006-11-21 Mindshare Design, Inc. Systems and methods for monitoring events associated with transmitted electronic mail messages
US20080046592A1 (en) * 2002-06-26 2008-02-21 Research In Motion Limited System and Method for Pushing Information Between a Host System and a Mobile Data Communication Device
US20040203589A1 (en) * 2002-07-11 2004-10-14 Wang Jiwei R. Method and system for controlling messages in a communication network
US20080058013A1 (en) * 2002-07-29 2008-03-06 Research In Motion Limited System and Method for Pushing Information from a Host System to a Mobile Data Communication Device
US20040019651A1 (en) * 2002-07-29 2004-01-29 Andaker Kristian L. M. Categorizing electronic messages based on collaborative feedback
US7490128B1 (en) * 2002-09-09 2009-02-10 Engate Technology Corporation Unsolicited message rejecting communications processor
DE10243243B4 (en) * 2002-09-17 2005-01-27 T-Mobile Deutschland Gmbh Method for the receiver-side automatic treatment of unwanted electronic mail in communication networks
US7334020B2 (en) * 2002-09-20 2008-02-19 Goodcontacts Research Ltd. Automatic highlighting of new electronic message address
US20040068543A1 (en) * 2002-10-03 2004-04-08 Ralph Seifert Method and apparatus for processing e-mail
US7472163B1 (en) * 2002-10-07 2008-12-30 Aol Llc Bulk message identification
US20040111480A1 (en) * 2002-12-09 2004-06-10 Yue Jonathan Zhanjun Message screening system and method
WO2004054188A1 (en) * 2002-12-10 2004-06-24 Mk Secure Solutions Ltd Electronic mail system
WO2004063877A2 (en) * 2003-01-03 2004-07-29 Kryptiq Corporation Customized electronic messaging
GB2382900A (en) * 2003-01-15 2003-06-11 Gfi Software Ltd Regulating receipt of electronic mail with a whitelist based on outgoing email addresses
US20040148201A1 (en) * 2003-01-27 2004-07-29 Smith Tracy Lee Insurance management system
US20040176072A1 (en) * 2003-01-31 2004-09-09 Gellens Randall C. Simplified handling of, blocking of, and credit for undesired messaging
US7603472B2 (en) * 2003-02-19 2009-10-13 Google Inc. Zero-minute virus and spam detection
US7958187B2 (en) * 2003-02-19 2011-06-07 Google Inc. Systems and methods for managing directory harvest attacks via electronic messages
US20060265459A1 (en) * 2003-02-19 2006-11-23 Postini, Inc. Systems and methods for managing the transmission of synchronous electronic messages
US20040181581A1 (en) * 2003-03-11 2004-09-16 Michael Thomas Kosco Authentication method for preventing delivery of junk electronic mail
US7529754B2 (en) 2003-03-14 2009-05-05 Websense, Inc. System and method of monitoring and controlling application files
US7185015B2 (en) 2003-03-14 2007-02-27 Websense, Inc. System and method of monitoring and controlling application files
US8005899B2 (en) 2003-03-19 2011-08-23 Message Level Llc System and method for detecting and filtering unsolicited and undesired electronic messages
US20040221016A1 (en) * 2003-05-01 2004-11-04 Hatch James A. Method and apparatus for preventing transmission of unwanted email
US7590695B2 (en) 2003-05-09 2009-09-15 Aol Llc Managing electronic messages
US7308716B2 (en) * 2003-05-20 2007-12-11 International Business Machines Corporation Applying blocking measures progressively to malicious network traffic
US7617526B2 (en) * 2003-05-20 2009-11-10 International Business Machines Corporation Blocking of spam e-mail at a firewall
US7454467B2 (en) * 2003-05-22 2008-11-18 International Business Machines Corporation Method for managing email messages
WO2004107137A2 (en) * 2003-05-24 2004-12-09 Safe E Messaging, Llc Method and code for authenticating electronic messages
US7657599B2 (en) * 2003-05-29 2010-02-02 Mindshare Design, Inc. Systems and methods for automatically updating electronic mail access lists
US7739602B2 (en) 2003-06-24 2010-06-15 Aol Inc. System and method for community centric resource sharing based on a publishing subscription model
US7155484B2 (en) * 2003-06-30 2006-12-26 Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation Filtering email messages corresponding to undesirable geographical regions
US7051077B2 (en) * 2003-06-30 2006-05-23 Mx Logic, Inc. Fuzzy logic voting method and system for classifying e-mail using inputs from multiple spam classifiers
US7562119B2 (en) * 2003-07-15 2009-07-14 Mindshare Design, Inc. Systems and methods for automatically updating electronic mail access lists
US7200637B2 (en) * 2003-07-16 2007-04-03 Thomas John Klos System for processing electronic mail messages with specially encoded addresses
US20050015455A1 (en) * 2003-07-18 2005-01-20 Liu Gary G. SPAM processing system and methods including shared information among plural SPAM filters
US8645697B1 (en) 2003-08-08 2014-02-04 Radix Holdings, Llc Message authorization
US8112483B1 (en) 2003-08-08 2012-02-07 Emigh Aaron T Enhanced challenge-response
US20050065906A1 (en) * 2003-08-19 2005-03-24 Wizaz K.K. Method and apparatus for providing feedback for email filtering
US20050060643A1 (en) * 2003-08-25 2005-03-17 Miavia, Inc. Document similarity detection and classification system
US7130819B2 (en) * 2003-09-30 2006-10-31 Yahoo! Inc. Method and computer readable medium for search scoring
US20050076220A1 (en) * 2003-10-02 2005-04-07 Xiao Quan Zhang Method and System for Using a Point System to Deliver Advertisement Emails and to Stop Spam
US7930351B2 (en) * 2003-10-14 2011-04-19 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Identifying undesired email messages having attachments
US7610341B2 (en) * 2003-10-14 2009-10-27 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Filtered email differentiation
US7451184B2 (en) * 2003-10-14 2008-11-11 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Child protection from harmful email
US20050080642A1 (en) * 2003-10-14 2005-04-14 Daniell W. Todd Consolidated email filtering user interface
US7664812B2 (en) * 2003-10-14 2010-02-16 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Phonetic filtering of undesired email messages
US7395314B2 (en) * 2003-10-28 2008-07-01 Mindshare Design, Inc. Systems and methods for governing the performance of high volume electronic mail delivery
US7519559B1 (en) * 2003-10-30 2009-04-14 Aol Llc Messaging stamp authority
US7844589B2 (en) * 2003-11-18 2010-11-30 Yahoo! Inc. Method and apparatus for performing a search
US7620690B1 (en) 2003-11-20 2009-11-17 Lashback, LLC Privacy control system for electronic communication
US7660857B2 (en) * 2003-11-21 2010-02-09 Mindshare Design, Inc. Systems and methods for automatically updating electronic mail access lists
US20050120019A1 (en) * 2003-11-29 2005-06-02 International Business Machines Corporation Method and apparatus for the automatic identification of unsolicited e-mail messages (SPAM)
US7730137B1 (en) 2003-12-22 2010-06-01 Aol Inc. Restricting the volume of outbound electronic messages originated by a single entity
US20050198174A1 (en) * 2003-12-30 2005-09-08 Loder Theodore C. Economic solution to the spam problem
US7222158B2 (en) * 2003-12-31 2007-05-22 Aol Llc Third party provided transactional white-listing for filtering electronic communications
US7693943B2 (en) 2004-01-23 2010-04-06 International Business Machines Corporation Classification of electronic mail into multiple directories based upon their spam-like properties
US7076347B2 (en) * 2004-01-23 2006-07-11 General Motors Corporation Brake booster vacuum sensor diagnostic
US20050198177A1 (en) * 2004-01-23 2005-09-08 Steve Black Opting out of spam
US20050216588A1 (en) * 2004-03-25 2005-09-29 International Business Machines Corporation Blocking specified unread messages to avoid mailbox overflow
WO2005096572A1 (en) * 2004-03-26 2005-10-13 Hisham Arnold El-Emam Method for monitoring the transmission of electronic messages
US7647321B2 (en) * 2004-04-26 2010-01-12 Google Inc. System and method for filtering electronic messages using business heuristics
US7627670B2 (en) * 2004-04-29 2009-12-01 International Business Machines Corporation Method and apparatus for scoring unsolicited e-mail
US7747860B2 (en) 2004-05-04 2010-06-29 Message Level, Llc System and method for preventing delivery of unsolicited and undesired electronic messages by key generation and comparison
WO2005116979A2 (en) * 2004-05-17 2005-12-08 Visible Path Corporation System and method for enforcing privacy in social networks
US7912905B2 (en) * 2004-05-18 2011-03-22 Computer Associates Think, Inc. System and method for filtering network messages
CN101288060B (en) * 2004-05-25 2012-11-07 波斯蒂尼公司 Electronic message source reputation information system
US7953814B1 (en) * 2005-02-28 2011-05-31 Mcafee, Inc. Stopping and remediating outbound messaging abuse
US8484295B2 (en) 2004-12-21 2013-07-09 Mcafee, Inc. Subscriber reputation filtering method for analyzing subscriber activity and detecting account misuse
US7680890B1 (en) 2004-06-22 2010-03-16 Wei Lin Fuzzy logic voting method and system for classifying e-mail using inputs from multiple spam classifiers
WO2006015238A2 (en) * 2004-07-28 2006-02-09 Visible Path Corporation System and method for using social networks to facilitate business processes
US8176126B2 (en) 2004-08-26 2012-05-08 International Business Machines Corporation System, method and program to limit rate of transferring messages from suspected spammers
US20080086532A1 (en) * 2004-10-04 2008-04-10 Brian Cunningham Method for the Verification of Electronic Message Delivery and for the Collection of Data Related to Electronic Messages Sent with False Origination Addresses
US8180834B2 (en) 2004-10-07 2012-05-15 Computer Associates Think, Inc. System, method, and computer program product for filtering messages and training a classification module
US7580982B2 (en) * 2004-12-14 2009-08-25 The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Email filtering system and method
US9160755B2 (en) 2004-12-21 2015-10-13 Mcafee, Inc. Trusted communication network
US9015472B1 (en) 2005-03-10 2015-04-21 Mcafee, Inc. Marking electronic messages to indicate human origination
US8738708B2 (en) * 2004-12-21 2014-05-27 Mcafee, Inc. Bounce management in a trusted communication network
US20060149820A1 (en) * 2005-01-04 2006-07-06 International Business Machines Corporation Detecting spam e-mail using similarity calculations
US20060149823A1 (en) * 2005-01-06 2006-07-06 The Go Daddy Group, Inc Electronic mail system and method
US7412483B2 (en) * 2005-01-07 2008-08-12 International Business Machines Corporation Automated email activity management
US7571189B2 (en) * 2005-02-02 2009-08-04 Lightsurf Technologies, Inc. Method and apparatus to implement themes for a handheld device
US7693071B2 (en) * 2005-05-27 2010-04-06 Microsoft Corporation System and method for routing messages within a messaging system
US20090044006A1 (en) * 2005-05-31 2009-02-12 Shim Dongho System for blocking spam mail and method of the same
US7895651B2 (en) 2005-07-29 2011-02-22 Bit 9, Inc. Content tracking in a network security system
US8272058B2 (en) 2005-07-29 2012-09-18 Bit 9, Inc. Centralized timed analysis in a network security system
US8984636B2 (en) 2005-07-29 2015-03-17 Bit9, Inc. Content extractor and analysis system
US7908329B2 (en) * 2005-08-16 2011-03-15 Microsoft Corporation Enhanced e-mail folder security
US20070061400A1 (en) * 2005-09-13 2007-03-15 The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Methods for organizing emails in folders
US20070118759A1 (en) * 2005-10-07 2007-05-24 Sheppard Scott K Undesirable email determination
EP1999613A4 (en) 2006-02-14 2014-08-06 Message Level Llc Method for predelivery verification of an intended recipient of an electronic message and dynamic generation of message content upon verification
US20060184634A1 (en) * 2006-05-18 2006-08-17 The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Electronic mail system using email tickler
US8527592B2 (en) 2006-10-31 2013-09-03 Watchguard Technologies, Inc. Reputation-based method and system for determining a likelihood that a message is undesired
US20080140826A1 (en) * 2006-12-08 2008-06-12 Microsoft Corporation Monitoring and controlling electronic message distribution
US8763114B2 (en) * 2007-01-24 2014-06-24 Mcafee, Inc. Detecting image spam
US8214497B2 (en) 2007-01-24 2012-07-03 Mcafee, Inc. Multi-dimensional reputation scoring
US20080313541A1 (en) * 2007-06-14 2008-12-18 Yahoo! Inc. Method and system for personalized segmentation and indexing of media
US8428367B2 (en) * 2007-10-26 2013-04-23 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for electronic document classification
US8239537B2 (en) 2008-01-02 2012-08-07 At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. Method of throttling unwanted network traffic on a server
US10354229B2 (en) * 2008-08-04 2019-07-16 Mcafee, Llc Method and system for centralized contact management
US20100106764A1 (en) * 2008-10-29 2010-04-29 The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Datacenter hosting multiple online data management solutions
US20100107085A1 (en) * 2008-10-29 2010-04-29 The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Control panel for managing multiple online data management solutions
US20100106615A1 (en) * 2008-10-29 2010-04-29 The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Providing multiple online data management solutions
US8566406B2 (en) * 2010-01-14 2013-10-22 Microsoft Corporation Filtering of electronic mail messages destined for an internal network
CN101795324A (en) * 2010-02-09 2010-08-04 中兴通讯股份有限公司 Method and device for switching e-mail client account on mobile phone terminal
US8086684B2 (en) 2010-04-20 2011-12-27 The Go Daddy Group, Inc. Detecting and mitigating undeliverable email
US20130203397A1 (en) * 2012-02-02 2013-08-08 Joel Vidal Phone that prevents accidental dialing to a contact
US9787644B2 (en) * 2012-10-11 2017-10-10 Mobile Search Security LLC System and method for machine-to-machine privacy and security brokered transactions
US8892672B1 (en) * 2014-01-28 2014-11-18 Fmr Llc Detecting unintended recipients of electronic communications
US9686308B1 (en) * 2014-05-12 2017-06-20 GraphUS, Inc. Systems and methods for detecting and/or handling targeted attacks in the email channel
US9928465B2 (en) 2014-05-20 2018-03-27 Oath Inc. Machine learning and validation of account names, addresses, and/or identifiers
US9565147B2 (en) 2014-06-30 2017-02-07 Go Daddy Operating Company, LLC System and methods for multiple email services having a common domain
US10372931B2 (en) * 2015-12-27 2019-08-06 Avanan Inc. Cloud security platform
US10657182B2 (en) * 2016-09-20 2020-05-19 International Business Machines Corporation Similar email spam detection
US10826908B1 (en) * 2017-11-30 2020-11-03 Growpath, Inc. Systems and methods for email attachment routing in a client management system

Citations (16)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5093918A (en) * 1988-12-22 1992-03-03 International Business Machines Corporation System using independent attribute lists to show status of shared mail object among respective users
US5283856A (en) * 1991-10-04 1994-02-01 Beyond, Inc. Event-driven rule-based messaging system
US5377354A (en) * 1989-08-15 1994-12-27 Digital Equipment Corporation Method and system for sorting and prioritizing electronic mail messages
US5619648A (en) * 1994-11-30 1997-04-08 Lucent Technologies Inc. Message filtering techniques
US5684951A (en) * 1996-03-20 1997-11-04 Synopsys, Inc. Method and system for user authorization over a multi-user computer system
US5826022A (en) * 1996-04-05 1998-10-20 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for receiving electronic mail
US5864684A (en) * 1996-05-22 1999-01-26 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for managing subscriptions to distribution lists
US5930479A (en) * 1996-10-21 1999-07-27 At&T Corp Communications addressing system
US5931905A (en) * 1996-02-29 1999-08-03 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba TV mail system
US6023723A (en) * 1997-12-22 2000-02-08 Accepted Marketing, Inc. Method and system for filtering unwanted junk e-mail utilizing a plurality of filtering mechanisms
US6092101A (en) * 1997-06-16 2000-07-18 Digital Equipment Corporation Method for filtering mail messages for a plurality of client computers connected to a mail service system
US6189026B1 (en) * 1997-06-16 2001-02-13 Digital Equipment Corporation Technique for dynamically generating an address book in a distributed electronic mail system
US6249805B1 (en) * 1997-08-12 2001-06-19 Micron Electronics, Inc. Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US6453327B1 (en) * 1996-06-10 2002-09-17 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for identifying and discarding junk electronic mail
US6615241B1 (en) * 1997-07-18 2003-09-02 Net Exchange, Llc Correspondent-centric management email system uses message-correspondent relationship data table for automatically linking a single stored message with its correspondents
US20050081059A1 (en) * 1997-07-24 2005-04-14 Bandini Jean-Christophe Denis Method and system for e-mail filtering

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20010048738A1 (en) * 1997-04-03 2001-12-06 Sbc Technology Resourses, Inc. Profile management system including user interface for accessing and maintaining profile data of user subscribed telephony services
US6073142A (en) * 1997-06-23 2000-06-06 Park City Group Automated post office based rule analysis of e-mail messages and other data objects for controlled distribution in network environments

Patent Citations (19)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5093918A (en) * 1988-12-22 1992-03-03 International Business Machines Corporation System using independent attribute lists to show status of shared mail object among respective users
US5377354A (en) * 1989-08-15 1994-12-27 Digital Equipment Corporation Method and system for sorting and prioritizing electronic mail messages
US5283856A (en) * 1991-10-04 1994-02-01 Beyond, Inc. Event-driven rule-based messaging system
US5619648A (en) * 1994-11-30 1997-04-08 Lucent Technologies Inc. Message filtering techniques
US5931905A (en) * 1996-02-29 1999-08-03 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba TV mail system
US5684951A (en) * 1996-03-20 1997-11-04 Synopsys, Inc. Method and system for user authorization over a multi-user computer system
US5826022A (en) * 1996-04-05 1998-10-20 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for receiving electronic mail
US5864684A (en) * 1996-05-22 1999-01-26 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for managing subscriptions to distribution lists
US6453327B1 (en) * 1996-06-10 2002-09-17 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for identifying and discarding junk electronic mail
US5930479A (en) * 1996-10-21 1999-07-27 At&T Corp Communications addressing system
US6092101A (en) * 1997-06-16 2000-07-18 Digital Equipment Corporation Method for filtering mail messages for a plurality of client computers connected to a mail service system
US6189026B1 (en) * 1997-06-16 2001-02-13 Digital Equipment Corporation Technique for dynamically generating an address book in a distributed electronic mail system
US7386591B2 (en) * 1997-07-18 2008-06-10 Netexchange, Llc Correspondent-centric management email system for associating message identifiers with instances of properties already stored in database
US7222159B2 (en) * 1997-07-18 2007-05-22 Netexchange Llc Correspondent-centric management email system for associating message identifiers with instances of properties already stored in database
US6615241B1 (en) * 1997-07-18 2003-09-02 Net Exchange, Llc Correspondent-centric management email system uses message-correspondent relationship data table for automatically linking a single stored message with its correspondents
US20050081059A1 (en) * 1997-07-24 2005-04-14 Bandini Jean-Christophe Denis Method and system for e-mail filtering
US6868436B1 (en) * 1997-08-12 2005-03-15 Micron Technology, Inc. Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US6249805B1 (en) * 1997-08-12 2001-06-19 Micron Electronics, Inc. Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US6023723A (en) * 1997-12-22 2000-02-08 Accepted Marketing, Inc. Method and system for filtering unwanted junk e-mail utilizing a plurality of filtering mechanisms

Cited By (98)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9405843B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2016-08-02 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9819629B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2017-11-14 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9813370B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2017-11-07 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9749276B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2017-08-29 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9749279B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2017-08-29 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9185067B1 (en) 1999-12-01 2015-11-10 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9705834B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2017-07-11 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9619575B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2017-04-11 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US9514233B2 (en) 1999-12-01 2016-12-06 Facebook, Inc. System and method for analyzing communications
US7657931B2 (en) * 2000-02-18 2010-02-02 Burnside Acquisition, Llc Data repository and method for promoting network storage of data
US20040139098A1 (en) * 2000-02-18 2004-07-15 Permabit, Inc., A Delaware Corporation Data repository and method for promoting network storage of data
US9736209B2 (en) 2000-03-17 2017-08-15 Facebook, Inc. State change alerts mechanism
US9246975B2 (en) 2000-03-17 2016-01-26 Facebook, Inc. State change alerts mechanism
US9203879B2 (en) 2000-03-17 2015-12-01 Facebook, Inc. Offline alerts mechanism
US20060224632A1 (en) * 2000-08-08 2006-10-05 Franz Gregory J Information distribution system and method
US9667585B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-05-30 Facebook, Inc. Central people lists accessible by multiple applications
US9075867B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-07-07 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent results using an assistant
US9621376B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-04-11 Facebook, Inc. Dynamic location of a subordinate user
US9571439B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-02-14 Facebook, Inc. Systems and methods for notification delivery
US9571440B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-02-14 Facebook, Inc. Notification archive
US10778635B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2020-09-15 Facebook, Inc. People lists
US8452849B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2013-05-28 Facebook, Inc. Host-based intelligent results related to a character stream
US9560000B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-01-31 Facebook, Inc. Reconfiguring an electronic message to effect an enhanced notification
US10389661B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2019-08-20 Facebook, Inc. Managing electronic messages sent to mobile devices associated with electronic messaging accounts
US9647872B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-05-09 Facebook, Inc. Dynamic identification of other users to an online user
US8701014B1 (en) 2002-11-18 2014-04-15 Facebook, Inc. Account linking
US8775560B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2014-07-08 Facebook, Inc. Host-based intelligent results related to a character stream
US9515977B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2016-12-06 Facebook, Inc. Time based electronic message delivery
US8819176B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2014-08-26 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent map results related to a character stream
US9729489B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-08-08 Facebook, Inc. Systems and methods for notification management and delivery
US10033669B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2018-07-24 Facebook, Inc. Managing electronic messages sent to reply telephone numbers
US9356890B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2016-05-31 Facebook, Inc. Enhanced buddy list using mobile device identifiers
US8954530B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-02-10 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent results related to a character stream
US8954534B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-02-10 Facebook, Inc. Host-based intelligent results related to a character stream
US8954531B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-02-10 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent messaging label results related to a character stream
US8965964B1 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-02-24 Facebook, Inc. Managing forwarded electronic messages
US9894018B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2018-02-13 Facebook, Inc. Electronic messaging using reply telephone numbers
US9852126B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-12-26 Facebook, Inc. Host-based intelligent results related to a character stream
US9047364B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-06-02 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent client capability-based results related to a character stream
US9053174B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-06-09 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent vendor results related to a character stream
US9053175B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-06-09 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent results using a spelling correction agent
US9053173B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-06-09 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent results related to a portion of a search query
US9319356B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2016-04-19 Facebook, Inc. Message delivery control settings
US9313046B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2016-04-12 Facebook, Inc. Presenting dynamic location of a user
US9075868B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-07-07 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent results based on database queries
US9253136B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2016-02-02 Facebook, Inc. Electronic message delivery based on presence information
US9171064B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-10-27 Facebook, Inc. Intelligent community based results related to a character stream
US9769104B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-09-19 Facebook, Inc. Methods and system for delivering multiple notifications
US9774560B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2017-09-26 Facebook, Inc. People lists
US9203647B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-12-01 Facebook, Inc. Dynamic online and geographic location of a user
US9203794B2 (en) 2002-11-18 2015-12-01 Facebook, Inc. Systems and methods for reconfiguring electronic messages
USRE48102E1 (en) 2002-12-31 2020-07-14 Facebook, Inc. Implicit population of access control lists
US8250158B2 (en) 2003-02-25 2012-08-21 Susquehanna International Group, Llp Electronic message filter
US20040177271A1 (en) * 2003-02-25 2004-09-09 Susquehanna International Group, Llp Electronic message filter
US7496628B2 (en) * 2003-02-25 2009-02-24 Susquehanna International Group, Llp Electronic message filter
US9531826B2 (en) 2003-03-26 2016-12-27 Facebook, Inc. Managing electronic messages based on inference scores
US8874672B2 (en) 2003-03-26 2014-10-28 Facebook, Inc. Identifying and using identities deemed to be known to a user
US9516125B2 (en) 2003-03-26 2016-12-06 Facebook, Inc. Identifying and using identities deemed to be known to a user
US20040193684A1 (en) * 2003-03-26 2004-09-30 Roy Ben-Yoseph Identifying and using identities deemed to be known to a user
US9736255B2 (en) 2003-03-26 2017-08-15 Facebook, Inc. Methods of providing access to messages based on degrees of separation
US8117265B2 (en) * 2003-03-26 2012-02-14 Aol Inc. Identifying and using identities deemed to be known to a user
US9462046B2 (en) 2003-04-02 2016-10-04 Facebook, Inc. Degrees of separation for handling communications
US10102504B2 (en) 2003-09-05 2018-10-16 Facebook, Inc. Methods for controlling display of electronic messages captured based on community rankings
US8577972B1 (en) 2003-09-05 2013-11-05 Facebook, Inc. Methods and systems for capturing and managing instant messages
US9070118B2 (en) 2003-09-05 2015-06-30 Facebook, Inc. Methods for capturing electronic messages based on capture rules relating to user actions regarding received electronic messages
US20090089375A1 (en) * 2003-10-30 2009-04-02 Osterberg Jr Donald H Unsolicited electronic message source verification and tracking system and method
US8266217B2 (en) * 2003-10-30 2012-09-11 Oracle International Corporation Unsolicited electronic message source verification and tracking system and method
US10187334B2 (en) 2003-11-26 2019-01-22 Facebook, Inc. User-defined electronic message preferences
US20080082512A1 (en) * 2003-12-30 2008-04-03 Aol Llc Enhanced Search Results
US8473855B2 (en) 2003-12-30 2013-06-25 Microsoft Corporation Enhanced search results
US10341289B2 (en) 2004-03-05 2019-07-02 Facebook, Inc. Systems and methods of calculating communications strengths
US11509613B2 (en) 2004-09-02 2022-11-22 Vmware, Inc. System and method for enabling an external-system view of email attachments
US8805934B2 (en) * 2004-09-02 2014-08-12 Vmware, Inc. System and method for enabling an external-system view of email attachments
US10110528B2 (en) 2004-09-02 2018-10-23 Vmware, Inc. System and method for enabling an external-system view of email attachments
US20090100073A1 (en) * 2004-09-02 2009-04-16 Liquid Systems, Inc. System and method for enabling an external-system view of email attachments
US9727631B2 (en) 2004-12-20 2017-08-08 Facebook, Inc. Automatic categorization of entries in a contact list
GB2436184B (en) * 2006-03-17 2011-01-26 Empower Interactive Group Ltd Message forwarding system and method
GB2436184A (en) * 2006-03-17 2007-09-19 Empower Interactive Group Ltd Monitoring the distribution of messages
US8504619B1 (en) * 2006-09-18 2013-08-06 Nvidia Corporation Operator-based system, method and computer program product for generating a contact set
US11057327B2 (en) 2007-01-03 2021-07-06 Tamiras Per Pte. Ltd., Llc Mechanism for associating emails with filter labels
US11343214B2 (en) * 2007-01-03 2022-05-24 Tamiras Per Pte. Ltd., Llc Mechanism for associating emails with filter labels
US20120330981A1 (en) * 2007-01-03 2012-12-27 Madnani Rajkumar R Mechanism for associating emails with filter labels
US20110173548A1 (en) * 2007-01-03 2011-07-14 Madnani Rajkumar R Mechanism for Implementing Labels and Reminders in a Email System
US9619783B2 (en) * 2007-01-03 2017-04-11 Tamiras Per Pte. Ltd., Llc Mechanism for associating emails with filter labels
US10616159B2 (en) 2007-01-03 2020-04-07 Tamiras Per Pte. Ltd., Llc Mechanism for associating emails with filter labels
US8874659B2 (en) 2007-01-03 2014-10-28 Misaki Acquisitions L.L.C. Mechanism for generating a composite email
US8856244B2 (en) 2007-01-03 2014-10-07 Misaki Acquisitions L.L.C. Mechanism for implementing reminders in an electronic messaging system
US20080208992A1 (en) * 2007-01-03 2008-08-28 Madnani Rajkumar R Mechanism for discovering and recovering missing emails in an email conversation
WO2008089161A2 (en) * 2007-01-15 2008-07-24 John Almeida A virtual email method for preventing delivery of unsolicited and undesired electronic messages
WO2008089161A3 (en) * 2007-01-15 2009-01-29 John Almeida A virtual email method for preventing delivery of unsolicited and undesired electronic messages
US20090313333A1 (en) * 2008-06-11 2009-12-17 International Business Machines Corporation Methods, systems, and computer program products for collaborative junk mail filtering
US9094236B2 (en) * 2008-06-11 2015-07-28 International Business Machines Corporation Methods, systems, and computer program products for collaborative junk mail filtering
US9191235B2 (en) * 2010-02-05 2015-11-17 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Moderating electronic communications
US20110196931A1 (en) * 2010-02-05 2011-08-11 Microsoft Corporation Moderating electronic communications
US20150100652A1 (en) * 2013-10-03 2015-04-09 Yandex Europe Ag Method of and system for constructing a listing of e-mail messages
US20150100651A1 (en) * 2013-10-03 2015-04-09 Yandex Europe Ag Method of and system for constructing a listing of e-mail messages
US9749275B2 (en) * 2013-10-03 2017-08-29 Yandex Europe Ag Method of and system for constructing a listing of E-mail messages
US9521102B2 (en) * 2013-10-03 2016-12-13 Yandex Europe Ag Method of and system for constructing a listing of e-mail messages

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US8209387B2 (en) 2012-06-26
US6249805B1 (en) 2001-06-19
US20130061334A1 (en) 2013-03-07
US6868436B1 (en) 2005-03-15
US20100100944A1 (en) 2010-04-22

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US6249805B1 (en) Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
US6266692B1 (en) Method for blocking all unwanted e-mail (SPAM) using a header-based password
US11509613B2 (en) System and method for enabling an external-system view of email attachments
US8606854B2 (en) System and method for opportunistic image sharing
US7428576B2 (en) Addressee-defined mail addressing system and method
US7039949B2 (en) Method and system for blocking unwanted communications
US7054906B2 (en) System and method for controlling and organizing Email
US9667583B2 (en) Sorting electronic messages using attributes of the sender address
US7373607B2 (en) System and method for forwarding full header information in email messages
US6993561B2 (en) Method and apparatus for maintaining a unified view of multiple mailboxes
US6615241B1 (en) Correspondent-centric management email system uses message-correspondent relationship data table for automatically linking a single stored message with its correspondents
US7499976B2 (en) Warning and avoidance of sending email messages to unintended recipients
US20020152272A1 (en) Method for managing multiple dynamic e-mail aliases
US8204483B2 (en) Electronic file transfer for a communications device
US7627642B1 (en) Methods and systems for automatically presenting users with option to call sender responsive to email message
US20020120748A1 (en) Method and apparatus for selective delivery and forwarding of electronic mail
US20080098078A1 (en) System and Method for Forwarding Full Header Information in Email Messages
US20030233577A1 (en) Electronic mail system, method and apparatus
US7818381B2 (en) System for sending, receiving and displaying message, method for sending, receiving and displaying message and computer readable storage medium storing program for that method
KR100369898B1 (en) System and Method to categorize e-mail automatically by specific directory
KR100644388B1 (en) Method and system for providing thread mail service and record media recorded program for realizing the same
JP2000036830A (en) Mail transfer device
JP2005057811A (en) Nuisance mail preventing apparatus, its method, and recording medium

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: ROUND ROCK RESEARCH, LLC,NEW YORK

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.;REEL/FRAME:023786/0416

Effective date: 20091223

Owner name: ROUND ROCK RESEARCH, LLC, NEW YORK

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.;REEL/FRAME:023786/0416

Effective date: 20091223

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION