Self-removing email verified or designated as such by a message distributor for the convenience of a recipient

• US 20020026487A1
• Filed: 08/13/2001
• Published: 02/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Genie L. Ogilvie, John W.L. Ogilvie
• Inventors: Ogilvie, Genie L., Ogilvie, John W.L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,487,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for providing email message originators and distributors with default control over message removal at a message recipient'"'"'s location, regardless of whether the message has been opened. For instance, a self-removing message is designated as such by the message'"'"'s originator, and a self-removal enhancement is added to conventional message content before the message is transmitted over a computer network toward one or more recipients. At the recipient'"'"'s location, the message is automatically deleted without additional effort by the recipient, before or after being displayed, according to the originator'"'"'s instructions unless they are overridden by the recipient. ISPs and other message distributors may identify messages that should be self-removing, and make them self-removing if they are not. Thus, the burden of removing unsolicited email messages is transferred from recipients to the system and the message'"'"'s originators and/or to ISPs and other email distributors. Security of messages may also be enhanced.

Claims

1. A method for use by a distributor to verify that self-removing messages are being used to shift the burden of message removal from a message recipient, the method comprising the steps by or for the distributor of:

receiving at an intermediate node a message intended for a recipient;

determining that the message meets at least one check triggering criterion and should therefore contain a self-removing message indicator; and

checking the message to determine whether the message contains a selfremoving message indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, embodied in software which configures a computer storage medium.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the checking step determines that the message contains a self-removing message indicator, and the method further comprises transmitting the message from the intermediate node toward the recipient.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises stripping out the self-removing message indicator before transmitting the message to the recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the checking step determines that the message does not contain a self-removing message indicator, and the method further comprises preventing transmittal of the message to the recipient.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the checking step determines that the message does not contain a self-removing message indicator, and the method further comprises inserting a self-removing message indicator in the message and then transmitting the message from the intermediate node toward the recipient.

7. A method for removing email messages from a recipient'"'"'s location in response to an instruction from an ISP, the method comprising the steps of:

checking an email message at the recipient'"'"'s location to determine whether it contains a self-removing message indicator inserted by the ISP indicating that the message is to be deleted automatically; and

automatically removing the email message in response to the indicator if the message contains the indicator.

8. The method of claim 7, embodied in software which configures a computer storage medium.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes the message only after the message is opened by the recipient.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes the message regardless of whether it has been opened by the recipient.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes the message on a date specified by the indicator.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes the message after it is received and within a period of time specified by the indicator.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes the message if a replacement message is not received by the recipient by a specified date.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes the message if a replacement message is not received by the recipient within a specified period after the first message is received.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes a notice by removing the message.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes a news item by removing the message.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes an advertisement by removing the message.

18. The method of claim 7, wherein the removing step deletes a link to a web site by removing the message.

20. The improved system of claim 19, wherein the improvement further comprises code allowing the message distributor to insert a self-removing message indicator in a message.

21. The improved system of claim 20, wherein the self-removing message indicator indicates the message will be automatically deleted in response to a specified storage space condition.

22. The improved system of claim 20, wherein the self-removing message indicator indicates the message will be automatically deleted in response to a replacement message.

23. The improved system of claim 19, wherein the improvement code allows the message distributor to identify messages that should contain a self-removal enhancement by determining whether the message is part of an authorized mailing.

24. The improved system of claim 19, wherein the improvement code allows an ISP acting as message distributor to identify email messages that should contain a selfremoval enhancement for automatic removal of a copy of the message'"'"'s content.

19. In a computer system comprising a network and tools for sending and receiving messages through the network, an improvement for using self-removing messages to shift the burden of removing a message from a message recipient to at least one of a message originator and a message distributor, the improvement comprising code allowing the message distributor to identify messages that should contain a self-removal enhancement for automatic removal of a copy of the message'"'"'s content.