Electronic message delivery with estimation approaches
First Claim
1. A method of facilitating transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver, comprising:
- storing sender identification information in association with a penalty that a sender is willing to incur for a first message that is unwanted by the receiver;
receiving a query about whether a sender of a first message satisfies specified sending criteria;
determining whether the sender satisfies the specified sending criteria; and
sending a second message specifying whether the sender of the first message satisfies the specified sending criteria, for use by the receiver in determining whether to accept the first message.
13 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Message delivery approaches are disclosed through which senders can guarantee that their messages are desired by intended recipients. In one embodiment, a Sender agrees with a Service Operator to pay a fine for each message that is reported as an unwanted by its Recipient. For senders that agree in advance to pay such fines, Service Operators may provide preferential message routing around “spam” filters knowing that a guarantee is in place. If the Recipient reports that the message is unwanted, the Service Operator can penalize the Sender by a fine in the agreed amount, or by modifying a bond ratio value, rating, or other experience value associated with the Sender. Estimates of the complaints expected for a Sender may be used to determine the outcomes of the tests applied by the Receiver.
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Citations
69 Claims
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1. A method of facilitating transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver, comprising:
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storing sender identification information in association with a penalty that a sender is willing to incur for a first message that is unwanted by the receiver;
receiving a query about whether a sender of a first message satisfies specified sending criteria;
determining whether the sender satisfies the specified sending criteria; and
sending a second message specifying whether the sender of the first message satisfies the specified sending criteria, for use by the receiver in determining whether to accept the first message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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6. A method of authorizing transmission of a first message from a sender to a receiver, comprising:
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storing sender identification information in association with a penalty value identifying an amount of monetary value that a sender is willing to pay for a specified message that is sent by the sender to the receiver and that is unwanted by the receiver;
receiving a query about whether a first message from the sender is subject to a penalty offered by the sender;
determining whether the first message is subject to a penalty offered by the sender; and
sending a second message specifying whether the first message is subject to a penalty offered by the sender. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 69)
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23. A method for sending a bonded message to a recipient, comprising:
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agreeing, with a service operator, to pay a penalty if a recipient receives an unwanted bonded message;
sending a bonded message to the recipient; and
paying a penalty if the recipient in response to the recipient indicating that the bonded message is unwanted.
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24. A method for processing an electronic message, comprising:
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receiving a first message from a sender that is sent to an intended recipient;
requesting a service operator to determine whether the first message is bonded;
receiving a second message from the service operator indicating whether the first message is bonded; and
forwarding the first message to the intended recipient only when the second message indicates that the first message is bonded.
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25. A method for processing an electronic message, comprising:
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receiving a first message from a sender that is sent to an intended recipient;
requesting a service operator to determine whether the sender of the first message satisfies specified sending criteria;
receiving a second message from the service operator indicating whether the sender satisfies the specified sending criteria;
forwarding the first message to the intended recipient only when the second message indicates that the sender of the first message satisfies the specified sending criteria. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method managing electronic messages sent from a sender to a recipient, comprising:
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receiving agreement from a message sender to pay a penalty, wherein the penalty is based upon a determination that one or more electronic messages sent by the message sender to message recipients are unwanted by the message recipients;
receiving one or more indications that a message sent by the message sender is unwanted by one or more of the message recipients;
creating and storing one or more records of the indications; and
charging the message sender a penalty based upon the number of indications that are received. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method of penalizing a sender of unsolicited messages directed to a recipient, comprising the steps of:
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receiving information specifying that the sender has deposited monetary value in an account associated with information identifying the sender;
receiving, from the recipient, information identifying an allegedly wanted message dispatched from the sender to the recipient;
determining that the allegedly unsolicited electronic message was unwanted; and
penalizing the sender by conveying some or all of the monetary value from the account to a service operator, a receiver, or the recipient in response to determining that the allegedly unsolicited electronic message was unsolicited.
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44. A method of operating an electronic message gateway, comprising the steps of:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender;
determining whether the sender is identified in a list of known senders;
determining whether the message is a mass unsolicited electronic message; and
issuing one or more instructions to convey some or all of monetary value, held in an account associated with the sender, from an account associated with the sender to a service operator, a receiver, or the recipient of the electronic message, in response to determining that the electronic message is a mass unsolicited electronic message.
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45. A method of operating an electronic messaging system, comprising the steps of:
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receiving information specifying that the sender has deposited monetary value in an account associated with information identifying the sender;
receiving an electronic message from a sender;
determining whether the sender is identified in a list of known senders;
determining whether the message is an unwanted message; and
conveying some or all of the monetary value, from the account associated with the sender, to service operator, a receiver, or the recipient of the electronic in response to determining that the electronic message is an unwanted electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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47. A method of penalizing a sender of unsolicited messages directed through a receiver to a recipient, comprising the steps of:
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receiving an encrypted token that the sender provided in the message;
determining, based on values in the encrypted token, whether the sender actually created the token;
determining whether the sender has sufficient credit to suffer a penalty if the message is unwanted by the recipient;
sending a response message identifying whether the sender actually created the token and whether the sender has sufficient credit;
receiving information specifying that the message is unwanted; and
penalizing the sender. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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Specification