Managing electronic messages using contact information

• US 20050198171A1
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Landsman, Richard A., Logue, Jay Dare, Sullivan, Timothy Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,469,292 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A system may include an electronic messaging management application that may access contact information. The contact information may include information maintained by one or more system users. The electronic messaging management application may determine how to process an incoming electronic message using at least a portion of the contact information. The electronic messaging management application may determine whether to send a challenge-response message to a sender of an electronic message using at least a portion of the contact information.

Claims

1. A system for managing the delivery of an electronic message, the system comprising:

a data storage device comprising at least one computer-readable medium;

system contact information stored on the data storage device, the system contact information including user contact information for a plurality of users, the user contact information identifying one or more contacts; and

an electronic messaging management module configured to access the user contact information for a plurality of users and configured to determine whether a challenge-response process should be initiated at least in part based upon the accessed user contact information;

the electronic messaging management module further configured to perform two or more of the following;

determine whether the user contact information for the plurality of users includes at least one non-rejected contact for the sender;

determine whether user contact information for the plurality of users includes at least one rejected contact for the sender;

determine whether the sender has exceeded an activity limit;

determine whether the user contact information for the plurality of users includes a minimum number of contacts for the sender; and

determine whether the number of rejected contacts in the user contact information for the plurality of users exceeds a threshold.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user contact information for the plurality of users comprises one or more contact data structures embodied on a computer-readable medium and wherein the electronic messaging management module is further configured to determine an amount of information for the sender of the electronic message that is stored in the contact data structures.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic messaging management module is further configured to perform three or more of the following:

determine whether the user contact information for the plurality of users includes at least one non-rejected contact for the sender;

determine whether user contact information for the plurality of users includes at least one rejected contact for the sender;

determine whether the sender has exceeded an activity limit;

determine whether the user contact information for the plurality of users includes a minimum number of contacts for the sender; and

determine whether the number of rejected contacts in the user contact information for the plurality of users exceeds a threshold.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user contact information for the plurality of users comprises one or more contact data structures embodied on a computer-readable medium and including data manually entered by a user.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a recipient user is associated with the electronic message and wherein the electronic messaging management module is further configured to identify at least one contact chain for the recipient user and determine a length of the at least one contact chain for the recipient user.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a recipient user is associated with the electronic message and wherein the electronic messaging management module is further configured to identify at least one contact chain for the recipient user and calculate a strength value for at least one link in the at least one contact chain for the recipient user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a recipient user is associated with the electronic message and wherein the electronic messaging management module is further configured to identify at least one contact chain for the recipient user and calculate an average strength value for two or more links in the at least one contact chain for the recipient user.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein a recipient user is associated with the electronic message and wherein the electronic messaging management module is further configured to identify at least one contact chain for the recipient user and calculate a total strength value for two or more links in the at least one contact chain for the recipient user.

9. A method for processing an electronic message received within a computing system, the method comprising:

identifying a sender of the electronic message;

identifying, from a set of system contact information comprising contact information associated with a plurality of system users, any contact information associated with the sender of the electronic message; and

using the contact information associated with the sender to determine whether a challenge-response message should be sent to the sender;

wherein using the contact information comprises two or more of;

determining whether the system contact information includes at least one non-rejected contact for the sender;

determining whether the system contact information includes at least one rejected contact for the sender;

determining whether the sender has exceeded an activity limit;

determining whether the system contact information includes a minimum number of contacts for the sender; and

determining whether the number of rejected contacts in the system contact information exceeds a threshold.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the contact information associated with the plurality of system users comprises one or more contact data structures embodied on a computer-readable medium and including data manually entered by a system user.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein using the contact information comprises three or more of:

determining whether the system contact information includes at least one non-rejected contact for the sender;

determining whether the system contact information includes at least one rejected contact for the sender;

determining whether the sender has exceeded an activity limit;

determining whether the system contact information includes a minimum number of contacts for the sender; and

determining whether the number of rejected contacts in the system contact information exceeds a threshold.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the contact information associated with the plurality of system users comprises one or more contact data structures embodied on a computer-readable medium and wherein using the contact information comprises determining an amount of information for the sender of the electronic message that is stored in the contact data structures.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein a recipient system user is associated with the electronic message and wherein using the contact information comprises identifying at least one contact chain for the recipient system user and determining a length of the at least one contact chain for the recipient system user.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein a recipient system user is associated with the electronic message and wherein using the contact information comprises identifying at least one contact chain for the recipient system user and calculating a strength value for at least one link in the at least one contact chain for the recipient system user.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein a recipient system user is associated with the electronic message and wherein using the contact information comprises identifying at least one contact chain for the recipient system user and calculating an average strength value for two or more links in the at least one contact chain for the recipient system user.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein a recipient system user is associated with the electronic message and wherein using the contact information comprises identifying at least one contact chain for the recipient system user and calculating a total strength value for two or more links in the at least one contact chain for the recipient system user.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the contact information comprises data stored in one or more event data structures.

18. A method for communicating an electronic message within a computing system, the method comprising:

receiving a challenge-response message;

the challege-response message sent from a computing system that

identified, from a set of system contact information comprising contact information associated with a plurality of system users, contact information associated with a sender of the electronic message; and

used the contact information associated with the sender to determine that the challenge-response message should be sent, the use of the contact information comprising two or more of;

determining whether the system contact information includes at least one non-rejected contact for the sender;

determining whether the system contact information includes at least one rejected contact for the sender;

determining whether the sender has exceeded an activity limit;

determining whether the system contact information includes a minimum number of contacts for the sender; and

determining whether the number of rejected contacts in the system contact information exceeds a threshold.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising transmitting the challenge-response message to the sender of the electronic message.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising transmitting a response to the challenge-response message.