Managing electronic messages

• US 20050055410A1
• Filed: 05/07/2004
• Published: 03/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Goldman, Phillip Y., Landsman, Richard A., Evans, John S., Goldman, Susan Rayl, Heiner, Jeffrey N., Migliore, Michael R., Logue, Jay
• Granted Patent: US 7,590,695 B2
• 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 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263

Abstract

A recipient computer system may receive one or more electronic messages. The recipient computer system may send one, two, or more challenge messages to the sender of the electronic messages in determining whether to deliver the electronic message. The recipient computer system may accept or reject an electronic message based on the response, or lack of response, to the challenge messages. The recipient computer system may send two or more challenge messages at intervals. A sender computer system may record activity of the sender computer system for a recipient computer system to use in determining whether to deliver an electronic message. A sender computer system may provide a summary of that activity with an electronic message. A sender computer system may provide an authorization key for a recipient computer system to use in determining whether to deliver an electronic message. The authorization key may be generated by a third party.

Claims

1. In a computer system that monitors electronic messages that are sent from senders to recipients, a method of determining whether an electronic message has been sent from an authorized sender, comprising:

receiving an electronic message that includes information identifying a sender of the electronic message; and

transmitting to the sender a sequence of at least two challenge messages that operate to determine whether the sender is designated as being authorized to send electronic messages to the recipient, the sender being designated as being authorized only if the sender provides appropriate responses to the sequence of at least two challenge messages, wherein a first challenge message and a second challenge message of the sequence are separated by a period of time determined by the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing an operation associated with delivery of the electronic message to a recipient, the operation being selected based on whether the sender has been designated as being authorized.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein performing an operation comprises sending the electronic message to a specified message folder available to the recipient only if the sender has been designated as being authorized.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein performing an operation further comprises, if the sender has not been designated as being authorized, separating the electronic message from other electronic messages that have been sent by senders that have been designated as being authorized.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein separating the electronic message from other electronic messages comprises deleting the electronic message.

6. The message of claim 4, wherein separating the electronic message from other electronic messages comprises sending the electronic message to another message folder that is different from the specified message folder.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the appropriate responses can be generated by a computer associated with the sender without assistance by the sender.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the appropriate responses can be generated only with the assistance of the sender to determine that the electronic message has been generated personally rather than automatically by a computer.

9. In a computer system that monitors electronic messages that are sent from senders to recipients, a method of determining whether an electronic message has been sent from an authorized sender, comprising:

receiving an electronic message that includes information indicating the manner in which an electronic message was created;

determining the manner in which the electronic message should be processed according to an analysis of the information indicating the manner in which an electronic message was created; and

processing the electronic message according to the analysis;

wherein the information indicating the manner in which the electronic message was created indicates one or more of the following;

an amount of keyboard activity used in creating the electronic message and an amount of mouse activity used in creating the electronic message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information indicating the manner in which the electronic message was created further indicates at least a portion of the amount of time spent in creating the electronic message.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein processing the electronic message according to the analysis comprises:

selecting at least one challenge message based upon the information indicating the manner in which the electronic message was created, which information indicates that the electronic message was generated automatically.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

granting the sender of the electronic message authorization to send future electronic messages based upon the manner in which the electronic message was created, which information indicates that the electronic message was generated manually.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the information indicating the manner in which the electronic message was created is generated by a software module adapted to record pre-transmission activity of a sender computer.

15. The method of claim-9 further comprising:

granting the sender of the electronic message authorization to send future electronic messages based upon information indicating, a third-party authorization.

14. In a computer system that monitors electronic messages that are sent from senders to recipients, a method of determining whether an electronic message has been sent from an authorized sender, comprising:

receiving an electronic message that includes information indicating a third-party authorization;

determining the manner in which the electronic message should be processed according to an analysis of the information indicating the third-party authorization; and

processing the electronic message according to the analysis.