Automatic e-mail address directory and sorting system

• US 20050015451A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 01/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Jeremy Kagan, Nancy Palmarim, Valentine D'Arcy Sheldon
• Original Assignee: Jeremy Kagan, Nancy Palmarim, Valentine D'Arcy Sheldon
• Inventors: Kagan, Jeremy, Palmarim, Nancy, Sheldon, Valentine D'arcy
• Application Number:
  US10/770,108
• Publication Number:
  US 20050015451A1
• 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 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

The present invention provides e-mail communication management system for generating an e-mail user interface on a display device such that the e-mail user interface implements e-mail messaging for root e-mail address where a user can generate a suffix in order to associate each suffix e-mail address comprising a domain, user and suffix name with an existing directory at the e-mail user interface. The system provides the user with a plurality of suffix selections to accept, reject or otherwise sort the different e-mail messages.

Claims

1. A method for providing e-mail communication, comprising the steps of:

generating an e-mail user interface on a display device, the e-mail user interface implementing e-mail messaging for a plurality of root e-mail addresses, each root e-mail address comprising a domain name and a username;

upon receiving a request from a user, the user generating a first suffix e-mail address and associating the first suffix e-mail address with a first existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the first suffix e-mail address comprising the domain name, the username and a first suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in the first existing directory associated with the first suffix if the destination address includes the first suffix.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a request from a user, the user generating a second suffix e-mail address and associating the second suffix e-mail address with a second existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the second suffix e-mail address comprising the domain name, the username, and a second suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in the second existing directory associated with the second suffix if the destination address includes the second suffix.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a request from a user, the user generating a second suffix e-mail address and associating the second suffix e-mail address with the first existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the second suffix e-mail address comprising the domain name, the username, and a second suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in the first existing directory associated with the second suffix if the destination address includes the second suffix.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a request from a user, the user generating another suffix e-mail address and associating the other suffix e-mail address with a first existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the other suffix e-mail address comprising the domain name, the username, the first suffix name and another suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in the first directory if the destination address includes the first suffix name and not the other suffix name, and storing the e-mail message in the first existing other directory if the destination address includes the first suffix name and the other suffix name.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

prompting a user to select a further suffix e-mail address from a list of suffix e-mail addresses, and

upon receiving said selection, additionally prompting the user to associate the further selected suffix e-mail address with a first existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the further selected suffix e-mail address comprising the domain name, the username, and the further selected suffix name.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in a directory designated for deleted e-mails if the destination address includes the first suffix and the sender'"'"'s e-mail address corresponds to an e-mail address on a list of rejected e-mail addresses;

or storing the e-mail message in a directory designated for accepted e-mails if the destination address includes the first suffix and the sender'"'"'s address corresponds to an e-mail address on a list of accepted e-mail addresses.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a request from a user, deleting the first suffix from the system; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address including the domain name, username, and first suffix name, rejecting the e-mail message as sent to an address unknown to the system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first suffix name is a commercial suffix name, the commercial suffix name being associated with a third party e-mail address, the commercial suffix name being used by a plurality of users having a plurality of username and domain name combinations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user designates a color in which e-mail messages sent to the first suffix appear.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the suffix e-mail addresses includes a delimiter.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user creates a suffix comprising a single word or combination of characters and numerals in a system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the suffix name comprises a single word or combination of characters and numerals in a system.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the suffix comprises a unique code generated by the system.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the suffix name is requested by the user and generated by the system.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first directory created is named the same as the first suffix name.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first directory created is named differently from the first suffix name.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the root e-mail address is not permitted to receive any e-mail messages.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the domain name of a sender'"'"'s address is listed in a directory system either as accepted or rejected.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the directory created is named the same as the further suffix e-mail address.

20. The method of claim 5, wherein the directory created is named differently from the further suffix e-mail address.

21. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

upon receiving a request from a user, creating a system comprising a sub-directory within the directory on the e-mail user interface, the subdirectory comprising one or more of a file, an HTML page, and a hyperlink.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the system maintains a list of accepted domain names and a list of rejected domain names.

23. The method of claim 11, wherein the second directory created is named the same as the second suffix name.

24. The method of claim 11, wherein the second directory created is named differently from the second suffix name.

25. The method of claim 5, wherein the first directory comprises sub-directories forming an accepted section and a hold/new sender section.

26. The method of claim 6, wherein the domain name of the sender'"'"'s e-mail address corresponds to a domain name on the list of rejected domain names.

27. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, deleting the e-mail message if the destination address includes the first suffix and the sender'"'"'s e-mail address corresponds to an e-mail address on the list of rejected e-mail addresses.

28. The method of claim 6, wherein the domain name of the sender'"'"'s e-mail address corresponds to a domain name on the list of rejected domain names.

29. The method of claim 6, wherein the other created directory is named the same as the first suffix e-mail address.

30. The method of claim 6, wherein the created other directory is named differently from the first suffix e-mail address.

31. The method of claim 6, wherein each directory created is named the same as the commercial suffix names.

32. The method of claim 6, wherein each directory created is named differently from the commercial suffix names.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

associating the first suffix name with a device; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, sending the e-mail message to the device if the destination address includes the first suffix name.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the device is a printer.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the device is a telephone.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the device is a PDA.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the device is a pager.

38. The method of claim 33, further comprising converting the message to an audio signal prior to sending the message to the telephone.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is in a first language, and wherein the method further comprising translating the message from the first language to a second language.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the first and second languages are selected from the group consisting of Afrikaans, Albanian, Algerian Dardja, Amharic, Anishinaabe, Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Azerbaijani, Balinese, Bashkir, Basque, Belarusan, Bengali, Bisayan, Brahui, Breton, Buhi Bicol, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Cebuano, Chechen, Cherokee-Tsalagi, Cheyenne, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Etruscan, Farsi, Finnish, French, Frisian, Gaelic, Galician, German, Gilbertese, Greek, Guarani, Hakka, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Ingush, Inuktitut, Italian, Japanese, Kamilaroi, Kapampangan, Kend, Khowar, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lakhota, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Maltese, Maori, Mapudungun, Marathi, Mayan, Mayangna, Miskitu, Mohawk, Mongolian, Nauruan, Norwegian, Occitan, Ojibwe, Oriya, Pahlavi, Pali, Panamahka, Pashto, Passamaquoddy-Maliseet, Pirah, Polish, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Prussian, Punjabi, Rasta Patois, Romanian, Romany, Russian, Sami, Sanskrit, Sardinian, Serbo-Croatian, Sioux, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Sorbian, Spanish, Sranan, Sudovian, Sumerian, Swabian, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Taino, Taiwanese, Tamil, Tarahumara, Tatar, Thai, Tibetan, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tsalagi, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Ulwa, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Visayan, Votic, Warlpiri, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yiddish, and Yotvingian.

41. A method for providing e-mail communications comprising the steps of:

generating an e-mail user interface on a display device, the e-mail user interface implementing e-mail messaging for a root e-mail address, the root e-mail address including a domain name and a username;

upon receiving a plurality of requests from a user, generating a plurality of suffix e-mail addresses, creating a plurality of directories and correlating a plurality of existing directories to suffix e-mail addresses;

maintaining a challenge-response feature for the first directory of the user interface;

upon receiving an e-mail message addressed to a suffix e-mail address corresponding to the first directory of the user interface, programmatically issuing a reply message to the sender containing a human-solvable challenge; and

storing the e-mail message in the first directory if the sender successfully responds to the challenge, and deleting the message if the sender does not successfully respond to the challenge

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the challenge response feature is maintained for the root e-mail address.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the challenge response feature is maintained for a selected suffix e-mail address.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein the challenge response feature is maintained for an other directory.

45. A method for providing e-mail communication, comprising the steps of:

generating an e-mail user interface on a display device, the e-mail user interface implementing an account for a username, the account including a unique username and a domain name;

upon receiving a request from a user, generating a first suffix e-mail address and creating a first directory on the e-mail user interface for the first suffix e-mail address, the first suffix e-mail address including the domain name, the root user name and a first suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address including the domain name and root username, storing the email message in the first directory if the destination address includes the first suffix; and

rejecting the message if the destination address includes only the root user name and domain name.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the first directory created is named the same as the first suffix name.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the first directory created is named differently from the first suffix name.

48. The method of claim 45, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a request from a user, generating a second suffix e-mail address and creating a second directory on the e-mail address including the domain name, the username, and a second suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address including the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in the second folder if the destination address includes the second suffix.

49. A method for providing e-mail communication, comprising the steps of:

generating an e-mail user interface on a display device, the e-mail user interface implementing an account for a username, the account including a unique username and a domain name;

upon receiving a request from a user, generating a first suffix e-mail address and associating the first suffix e-mail address with a first existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the first suffix e-mail address including the domain name, the root user name and a first suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address including the domain name and root username, storing the email message in the first existing directory if the destination address includes the first suffix; and

rejecting the message if the destination address includes only the root user name and domain name.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a request from a user, generating a second suffix e-mail address and associating the second suffix e-mail address with a second existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the second suffix e-mail address comprising the domain name, the username, and a second suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address including the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in the second existing directory associated with the second suffix if the destination address includes the second suffix.

51. The method of claim 49, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a request from a user, generating a second suffix e-mail address and associating the second suffix e-mail address with the first existing directory on the e-mail user interface, the second suffix e-mail address comprising the domain name, the username, and a second suffix name; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, storing the e-mail message in the first existing directory associated with the second suffix if the destination address includes the second suffix.

52. The method of claim 49, wherein the second directory created is named the same as the second suffix name.

53. The method of claim 49, wherein the second directory created is named differently from the second suffix name.

54. A method for providing e-mail communication, comprising the steps of:

generating an e-mail user interface on a display device, the e-mail user interface implementing e-mail messaging for a root e-mail address, the root email address including a domain name and a username;

upon receiving a request from a user, generating a plurality of commercial suffix e-mail addresses and correlating an existing directory on the e-mail user interface for each commercial suffix e-mail address, each commercial suffix e-mail address including the domain name, the username, and a commercial suffix name, each commercial suffix name being associated with a third party e-mail address, the commercial suffix name being used by a plurality of users having a plurality of username and domain name combinations;

logging on to a plurality of web-sites, each web-site corresponding to one of the plurality of commercial suffix names; and

upon receiving an e-mail message having a destination address comprising the domain name and username, if the destination address includes one of the commercial suffix names, storing the e-mail message in the one of the directories corresponding to the commercial suffix name.