Correction of address information

• US 20050108208A1
• Filed: 11/17/2003
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aoki, Norihiro Edwin
• Granted Patent: US 7,194,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The invention provides a process for updating electronic information in a computer environment. A preferred embodiment of the invention automatically inspects a message that is to be delivered to a first address upon receiving the message to determine whether the message contains information about a status of a second address. In response to a determination that the message contains information about the status of the second address, a record for the second address in a database is updated. The record is a portion of an address book of the first user in the database. The message is stored at the first address for retrieval by a first user at the first address. When the status indicates a permanent error in delivering a message to the second address, the address book is updated according to a user preference.

Claims

1. A process for updating electronic information in a computer environment, comprising the steps of:

automatically inspecting a message that is to be delivered to a first address upon receiving the message to determine whether the message contains information about a status of a second address, and

in response to a determination that the message contains information about the status of the second address, updating a record for the second address in a database.

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

storing the message at the first address for retrieval by a first user at the first address.

3. The process of claim 2, wherein the record is a portion of an address book of the first user in the database.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein the status indicates a permanent error in delivering a message to the second address;

and

said updating is according to a user preference.

5. The process of claim 4, wherein said updating further comprises the steps of:

transparently removing the second address from the address book.

6. The process of claim 4, wherein said updating further comprises the steps of:

replacing the second address in the address book with a comment which indicates that it is undeliverable to the second address.

7. The process of claim 4, wherein said updating further comprises the steps of:

marking the second address; and

prompting the first user to take one or more actions with the second address.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein said updating further comprises the steps of:

counting a number of messages that indicate the status of the second address; and

determining whether or not the number of messages is above a threshold.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein said updating further comprises the step of:

determining an indicator indicating a likelihood of the second address being invalid.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein the second address comprises one of:

an address for electronic mails;

an address for a web page; and

a phone number.

11. The process of claim 2, wherein the record is a portion of an address book of a second user in the database.

12. The process of claim 2, wherein the second address is associated with a person who has a plurality of addresses;

and

said updating comprises the step of;

adjusting priorities of the plurality of addresses for the person.

13. An apparatus for updating address information in a computer environment, comprising:

a module for receiving a message that is to be delivered to a first address;

a module for automatically inspecting the message to determine whether the message contains information about a status of a second address; and

a module for updating a record for the address in a database, in response to a determination that the message contains information about the status of the second address.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a module for storing the message at the first address for retrieval by a first user at the first address.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the record is a portion of an address book of the first user in the database.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the status indicates a permanent error in delivering a message to the second address;

and

the record is updated according to a user preference.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said module for updating further comprises:

a module for transparently removing the second address from the address book.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said module for updating further comprises:

a module for replacing the second address in the address book with a comment which indicates that it is undeliverable to the second address.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said module for updating further comprises:

a module for marking the second address; and

a module for prompting the first user to take one or more actions with the second address.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said module for updating further comprises:

a module for counting a number of messages that indicate the status of the second address; and

a module for determining whether or not the number of messages is above a threshold.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said module for updating further comprises:

a module for determining an indicator indicating a likelihood of the second address being invalid.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second address comprises one of:

an address for electronic mails;

an address for a web page; and

a phone number.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the record is a portion of an address book of a second user in the database.

24. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second address is associated with a person who has a plurality of addresses;

and

said module for updating comprises;

a module for adjusting priorities of the plurality of addresses for the person.

25. A program storage medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform a method for updating address information in a computer environment, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a message that is to be delivered to a first address;

automatically inspecting the message to determine whether the message contains information about a status of a second address; and

in response to a determination that the message contains information about the status of the second address, updating a record for the address in a database.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises the step of:

storing the message at the first address for retrieval by a first user at the first address.

27. The medium of claim 26, wherein the record is a portion of an address book of the first user in the database.

28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the status indicates a permanent error in delivering a message to the second address;

and

said updating is according to a user preference.

29. The medium of claim 28, wherein said updating further comprises the step of:

transparently removing the second address from the address book.

30. The medium of claim 28, wherein said updating further comprises the steps of:

replacing the second address in the address book with a comment which indicates that it is undeliverable to the second address.

31. The medium of claim 28, wherein said updating further comprises the steps of:

marking the second address; and

prompting the first user to take one or more actions with the second address.

32. The medium of claim 25, wherein said updating further comprises the steps of:

counting a number of messages that indicate the status of the second address; and

determining whether or not the number of messages is above a threshold.

33. The medium of claim 32, wherein said updating further comprises the step of:

determining an indicator indicating a likelihood of the second address being invalid.

34. The medium of claim 25, wherein the second address comprises one of:

an address for electronic mails;

an address for a web page; and

a phone number.

35. The medium of claim 26, wherein the record is a portion of an address book of a second user in the database.

36. The medium of claim 26, wherein the second address is associated with a person who has a plurality of addresses;

and

said updating comprises the step of;

adjusting priorities of the plurality of addresses for the person.