Method and system for disambiguated email notifications

• US 10,326,723 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mimecast North America, Inc. (Mimecast Limited)
• Original Assignee: Etorch Inc.
• Inventors: Everton, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Baturay, Alicia
• Application Number:
  US15/849,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20180115504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 544 Days
• Field of Search: 709206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A system comprises email processing circuitry of a mail transfer agent. The email processing circuitry is configured to receive an inbound email message, and detect, based on parsing of the inbound email message, that the inbound email message is intended for multiple recipients and comprises one or both of: a header which determines that notification objects are to be embedded in corresponding output email messages; and body content which determines that notification objects to be embedded in the corresponding output email messages. The email processing circuitry is configured to generate a plurality of unique notification objects. The email processing circuitry is configured to, in response to the detection, package the inbound email message into the outbound email messages, wherein each of the outbound email messages is intended for only one of the multiple recipients and comprises a respective one of the notification objects.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by email processing circuitry of a mail transfer agent, an inbound email message from a mail user agent;

detecting, by the email processing circuitry based on parsing of the envelope of the inbound email message, that the inbound email message;

is intended for multiple recipients; and

comprises one or both of;

a header which determines that notification objects are to be embedded in corresponding output email messages; and

body content which determines that notification objects to be embedded in the corresponding output email messages;

generating, by the email processing circuitry, a plurality of unique notification objects;

packaging, by the email processing circuitry, the inbound email message into the outbound email messages, wherein each of the outbound email messages is intended for only one of the multiple recipients and comprises a respective one of the notification objects.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the notification objects comprises a respective one of a plurality of unique uniform resource locators (URLs).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message body of the inbound email message comprises a first URL and the method comprises:

generating a plurality of second URLs, each of which is unique among the second URLs; and

replacing, in each of the multiple outbound messages, the first URL with a respective one of a plurality of second URLs.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the second URLs targets content hosted by a web server of the computing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the notification objects is a hypertext markup language (HTML) element.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising sending, by network interface circuitry of the computing system, the multiple outbound email messages into a network using simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP).

7. A system comprising:

email processing circuitry and networking circuitry of a mail transfer agent, wherein the email processing circuitry is configured to;

receive, via the networking circuitry, an inbound email message from a mail user agent; and

detect, based on a parse of the envelope of the inbound email message;

that the inbound email message is intended for multiple recipients; and

that the inbound email comprises one or both of;

a header which determines that notification objects are to be embedded in corresponding output email messages; and

body content which determines that notification objects to be embedded in the corresponding output email messages;

generate a plurality of unique notification objects;

package the inbound email message into the outbound email messages, wherein each of the outbound email messages is intended for only one of the multiple recipients and comprises a respective one of the notification objects.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the notification objects comprises a respective one of a plurality of unique uniform resource locators (URLs).

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the message body of the inbound email message comprises a first URL and the email processing circuitry is configured to:

generate a plurality of second URLs, each of which is unique among the second URLs; and

replace, in each of the multiple outbound messages, the first URL with a respective one of a plurality of second URLs.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the second URLs targets content hosted by a web server of the computing system.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the notification objects is a hypertext markup language (HTML) element.

12. The system of claim 7, comprising network interface circuitry operable to send the multiple outbound email messages into a network using simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP).

13. A computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more lines of code executable by a computer to configure the computer such that it comprises email processing circuitry and networking circuitry of a mail transfer agent, wherein the email processing circuitry is configured to:

receive, via the networking circuitry, an inbound email message from a mail user agent; and

detect, based on a parse of the envelope of the inbound email message;

that the inbound email message is intended for multiple recipients; and

that the inbound email comprises one or both of;

a header which determines that notification objects are to be embedded in corresponding output email messages; and

body content which determines that notification objects to be embedded in the corresponding output email messages;

generate a plurality of unique notification objects;

package the inbound email message into the outbound email messages, wherein each of the outbound email messages is intended for only one of the multiple recipients and comprises a respective one of the notification objects.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein each of the notification objects comprises a respective one of a plurality of unique uniform resource locators (URLs).

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the message body of the inbound email message comprises a first URL and the email processing circuitry is configured to:

generate a plurality of second URLs, each of which is unique among the second URLs; and

replace, in each of the multiple outbound messages, the first URL with a respective one of a plurality of second URLs.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein each of the second URLs targets content hosted by a web server of the computing system.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein each of the notification objects is a hypertext markup language (HTML) element.

18. The system of claim 16, comprising network interface circuitry operable to send the multiple outbound email messages into a network using simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP).