Communicating information about the character of electronic messages to a client

• US 20060047768A1
• Filed: 07/02/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gellens, Randall C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,671,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

A messaging system on a server computes a spamicity value (spam score) for incoming messages. The messaging system may filter the incoming messages using that spamicity value, or using any other basis. Conversely, the messaging system may not filter the messages at all. In either case, the spamicity value is communicated to a remote device prior to communicating the messages to the remote device. In this way, a messaging client at the remote device may determine whether to retrieve the messages using the calculated spamicity values from the server

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for communicating information about content of an electronic message to a remote device, the method comprising:

receiving at a server the electronic message;

calculating at the server a spam score for the electronic message, the spam score being related to a likelihood that the electronic message comprises spam; and

communicating the spam score to the remote device.

2. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 1, wherein the spam score is communicated to the remote device prior to communicating the electronic message to the remote device.

3. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 1, wherein the electronic message comprises an e-mail message.

4. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 1, wherein the electronic message comprises an instant message.

5. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 1, wherein communicating the spam score to the remote device comprises returning a listing of messages at the server and including the spam score in the listing.

6. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 1, wherein communicating the spam score to the remote device comprises issuing a notification of the spam score to the remote device.

7. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 6, wherein the notification is issued to the remote device asynchronously.

8. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 7, wherein the notification is issued in response to the receipt of the electronic message at the server.

9. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 6, wherein the notification is issued in response to a request from the remote device for information about messages stored at the server.

10. A computer-implemented method for communicating information about content of an electronic message to a remote device, comprising:

receiving at the remote device from a server a notification of the electronic message, the notification including a spam score that identifies a likelihood that the electronic message comprises spam.

11. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 10, wherein the notification comprises a listing of messages stored at the server, and the notification further comprises a unique identifier for the messages stored at the server.

12. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 11, wherein the notification is sent to the remote device by the server in response to a request for the unique identifiers.

13. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 10, wherein the notification is sent to the remote device by the server asynchronously.

14. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 13, wherein the notification is issued in response to the arrival of the electronic message at the server.

15. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 10, wherein the spam score is calculated at the server using resources local to the server.

16. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 15, wherein the resources comprise a message analysis mechanism.

17. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 10, further comprising performing a message filtering operation using the spam score.

18. The computer-implemented method recited in claim 10, further comprising performing a further message analysis using the spam score.

19. A remote device having computer-executable components, comprising:

a messaging client configured to receive from a server a notification of an electronic message, the notification including a spam score identifying a likelihood that the electronic message comprises spam, the spam score having been calculated using resources local to the server.

20. The remote device recited in claim 19, wherein the messaging client is further configured to perform message filtering on the electronic message using the spam score.

21. The remote device recited in claim 20, wherein the message filtering further comprises a determination whether to retrieve the electronic message from the server.

22. The remote device recited in claim 19, wherein the messaging client is further configured to perform further message analysis using the spam score.

23. A server having computer-executable components, comprising:

a messaging system configured to receive an electronic message, to perform a message analysis on the electronic message to achieve a spam score, and to communicate the spam score to a remote device.

24. The server recited in claim 23, wherein the spam score indicates a likelihood that the electronic message comprises spam.

25. The server recited in claim 24, wherein the spam score is communicated to the remote device asynchronously.

26. The server recited in claim 24, wherein the spam score is communicated to the remote device in response to a request from the remote device for a listing of messages at the server.

27. The server recited in claim 23, wherein the spam score is communicated to the remote device prior to communicating the electronic message to the remote device.

28. The server recited in claim 23, wherein the spam score is communicated to the remote device in conjunction with the electronic message.