Company-only electronic mail

• US 20040199587A1
• Filed: 04/01/2003
• Published: 10/07/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: McKnight, Russell F.
• Application Number:
  US10/404,843
• Publication Number:
  US 20040199587A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing company-only e-mail are disclosed. The systems and methods detect a tag in an e-mail that designates the e-mail as “company only.” If the tag is present, the systems and methods of the present invention prevent the e-mail from being sent to a recipient that is not within the company. In one aspect, the system detects the tag within an e-mail client. In another aspect, the system detects the tag within an e-mail server. In still another aspect, the system detects the tag within a firewall. In a still further aspect, the system detects the tag within a suitably configured router. Upon detection of a company-only tag, the e-mail is prevented from being sent to an entity that may route the e-mail to a non-company destination.

Claims

1. A system for sending and receiving electronic mail, the system comprising:

an electronic mail processor;

a tag generation module coupled to the electronic mail processor and operable to associate with an e-mail a tag relating to distribution of the e-mail; and

a tag check module coupled to the electronic mail processor and operable to detect the tag;

wherein the tag indicates to the electronic mail processor to refuse to send the e-mail to a destination address outside of a company.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the electronic mail processor comprises an electronic mail client.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the electronic mail client comprises a version of the Microsoft Outlook electronic mail client.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic mail processor comprises an electronic mail server.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the electronic mail server comprises a version of the Microsoft Exchange electronic mail server.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic mail processor comprises a router.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic mail processor comprises a firewall.

8. A computerized method for processing electronic mail (e-mail), the method comprising:

receiving an e-mail object, the e-mail object having a source address within a company and a destination address outside of the company;

detecting whether the e-mail object has a tag indicating that the e-mail is a company-only e-mail; and

if the tag is detected then preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address.

9. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein determining if the destination address is a company-only e-mail address comprises comparing a domain portion of the destination address with a domain portion of a source address.

10. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein determining if the destination address is a company-only e-mail address comprises determining if the e-mail object will be sent to a router capable of routing the e-mail object to the destination address.

11. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address comprises preventing the e-mail object from being sent to an e-mail server.

12. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address comprises preventing the e-mail object from being sent to a router within a company domain that routes to a second company outside of the company domain.

13. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address comprises preventing, by a router within the company domain, the e-mail object from being sent to a router outside of the company domain.

14. A computerized method for designating an e-mail as company-only, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that e-mail is company-only;

generating a company-only tag; and

embedding the company-only tag in the e-mail;

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the company-only tag is a tamper resistant tag.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the company-only tag is embedded in the header of the e-mail.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the company-only tag is embedded in the body of the e-mail.

18. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

an electronic mail processor executed by the processor in the memory; and

an tag check module coupled to the electronic mail processor and operable to detect a tag indicating to the electronic mail processor to refuse to send the e-mail to a destination address outside of a company.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the electronic mail processor comprises an electronic mail client.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the electronic mail processor comprises an electronic mail server.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the electronic mail processor comprises a router.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the electronic mail processor comprises a firewall.

23. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for processing electronic mail (e-mail), the method comprising:

receiving an e-mail object, the e-mail object having a source address within a company and a destination address outside of the company;

detecting whether the e-mail object has a tag indicating that the e-mail is a company-only e-mail; and

if the tag is detected then preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein determining if the destination address is a company-only e-mail address comprises comparing a domain portion of the destination address with a domain portion of a source address.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein determining if the destination address is a company-only e-mail address comprises determining if the e-mail object will be sent to a router capable of routing the e-mail object to the destination address.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address comprises preventing the e-mail object from being sent to an e-mail server.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address comprises preventing the e-mail object from being sent to a router within a company domain that routes to a second company outside of the company domain.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein preventing the e-mail object from being sent to the destination address comprises preventing, by a router within the company domain, the e-mail object from being sent to a router outside of the company domain.

29. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method for designating an e-mail as company-only, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that e-mail is company-only;

generating a company-only tag; and

embedding the company-only tag in the e-mail;

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the company-only tag is a tamper resistant tag.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the company-only tag is embedded in the header of the e-mail.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the company-only tag is embedded in the body of the e-mail.