Methods and apparatuses for increasing the timeliness and accuracy with which electronic mail massages are communicated
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving an e-mail address from a user as input to a processing system, the e-mail address having one or more address portions;
evaluating one or more of the address portions at the processing system;
determining the e-mail address is invalid if one or more of the evaluated address portions does not meet specified criteria; and
providing an indication of invalidity to the user, the indication indicating the one or more evaluated address portions that do not meet the specified criteria.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An e-mail message system that evaluates each e-mail message address. During evaluation one or more portions of the address are compared to corresponding valid address portions or to portions of other addresses. These address portions include the user name portion, the domain name portion, and the domain name-type extension, which may include a national identifier. The method of comparison and the response to the evaluation are dependent upon the address portion being evaluated and whether the e-mail message is being going to be sent or has been received. If the evaluation indicates that an address may be invalid or in any way incorrect, appropriate action is taken to ensure the e-mail is directed to the intended recipient. Embodiments of the invention not only help to ensure accurate addressing and delivery of e-mail messages, but also reduce web traffic as less erroneously addressed e-mails will be sent and bounced back.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving an e-mail address from a user as input to a processing system, the e-mail address having one or more address portions;
evaluating one or more of the address portions at the processing system;
determining the e-mail address is invalid if one or more of the evaluated address portions does not meet specified criteria; and
providing an indication of invalidity to the user, the indication indicating the one or more evaluated address portions that do not meet the specified criteria. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A machine-readable medium containing executable instructions which when executed by a digital process system cause the system to perform a method comprising:
- receiving an e-mail address from a user as input to a processing system, the e-mail address having one or more address portions;
evaluating one or more of the address portions at the processing system;
determining the e-mail address is invalid if one or more of the evaluated address portions does not meet specified criteria; and
providing an indication of invalidity to the user, the indication indicating the one or more evaluated address portions that do not meet the specified criteria. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- receiving an e-mail address from a user as input to a processing system, the e-mail address having one or more address portions;
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13. A method comprising:
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receiving an e-mail message at a receiving mail server, the e-mail message having an associated e-mail address, the e-mail address including a user name portion;
evaluating the e-mail address to determine that the e-mail address is not a valid e-mail address;
determining if a threshold level of correlation exists between the user name portion of the e-mail address at least one of a set of one or more valid user name portions; and
storing the e-mail message if the threshold level of correlation exists. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification