Controlling receipt of undesired electronic mail

• US 20060085506A1
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Hong, Meyers, Don, Johnson, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,495,145 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 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002

Abstract

Spam and other unwanted electronic-mail may be controlled by a system in which a given external message transfer agent using a given Internet protocol address and a given domain name is limited in the number of connections that it may make and the number of messages it may deliver over a given time period. Based on the performance of that external message transfer agent, the passage of time and the number of connections, its assigned connection limit may be increased so that progressively trust is increased and more message connections and a higher number of messages delivered may be permitted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

authorizing a given message transfer agent to connect a given number of times and deliver a given number of messages within a time period;

determining when the given number of connections has been completed and the given number of messages delivered; and

controlling further connections after the given number of connections has been completed and messages delivered.

2. The method of claim 1 including authorizing the message transfer agent to deliver a given number of messages within a time period.

3. The method of claim 2 including determining when said given number of messages has been delivered and controlling further connections after the given number of messages has been delivered.

4. The method of claim 1 including receiving information from a trust influencer to adjust the given number of times within a time period that a given message transfer agent is able to connect.

5. The method of claim 1 including authorizing a given message transfer agent to complete a given rate of connections over a given period of time.

6. The method of claim 1 including logging each connection from the given message transfer agent.

7. The method of claim 1 including increasing the given number of times within a time period that a given message transfer agent may connect based on the connection history of that message transfer agent.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein controlling further connections includes dropping the connection and issuing an error code.

9. The method of claim 1 including blocking messages of a given size from said message transfer agent.

10. The method of claim 1 including counting a message directed to a plurality of recipients as a separate message to each recipient and using said count to determine whether a message threshold has been reached.

11. An article comprising a medium storing instructions that, if executed, enable a processor-based device to:

authorize a given message transfer agent to connect a given number of times and deliver a given number of messages within a time period;

determine when the given number of connections has been completed and the given number of messages delivered; and

control further connections after the given number of connections has been completed and messages delivered.

12. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to authorize the message transfer agent to deliver a given number of messages within a time period.

13. The article of claim 12 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to determine when the given number of messages have been delivered and control further connections after the given number of messages has been delivered.

14. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to receive information from a trust influencer to adjust the given number of times within a time period that a given message transfer agent is able to connect.

15. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to authorize a given message transfer agent to complete a given rate of connections over a given period of time.

16. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to log each connection from the given message transfer agent.

17. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to increase the given number of times within a time period that a given message transfer agent may connect based on the connection history of that message transfer agent.

18. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to drop a connection and issue an error code when the given number of connections has been exceeded.

19. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to block messages of a given size from said message transfer agent.

20. The article of claim 11 further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to count a message directed to a plurality of recipients as a separate message to each such recipient and use said count to determine whether a message threshold has been reached.

21. A processor-based device comprising:

a controller;

a storage, coupled to said controller, storing instructions that, if executed, enable the processor-based device to authorize a given message transfer agent to connect a given number of times and deliver a given number of messages within a time period, determine when the given number of connections has been completed and the given number of messages delivered, and control further connections after the given number of connections has been completed and messages delivered; and

a wireless interface coupled to said controller.

22. The system of claim 21, said storage storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to authorize the message transfer agent to deliver a given number of messages within a time period.

23. The system of claim 22, said storage storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to determine when the given number of messages have been delivered and control further connections after the given number of messages have been delivered.

24. The system of claim 22, said storage storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to receive information from a trust influencer to adjust the given number of times within a time period that a given message transfer agent is able to connect.

25. The system of claim 21, said storage further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to authorize a given message transfer agent to complete a given rate of connections over a given period of time.

26. The system of claim 21, said storage storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to log each connection from the given message transfer agent.

27. The system of claim 21, said storage storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to increase the given number of times within a time period that a given message transfer agent may connect based on the connection history of that message transfer agent.

28. The system of claim 21, said storage storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to drop a connection and issue an error code when the given number of connections has been exceeded.

29. The system of claim 21, said storage further storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to block messages of a given size from said message transfer agent.

30. The system of claim 21, said storage storing instructions that, if executed, enable the system to count a message directed to a plurality of recipients as a separate message to each recipient and use said count to determine whether a message threshold as been reached.