System and Method for Providing Certified Proof of Delivery Receipts for Electronic Mail
First Claim
1. A system for generating a proof-of-delivery for an email, the system comprising:
- an email transmission module configured for sending an email;
a proof-of-delivery-request creation module operating remotely from the email transmission module, the proof-of-delivery-request creation module being configured for producing a proof-of-delivery-request in response to a request for creating the proof-of-delivery-request;
a proof-of-delivery-request creation trigger module connectable to the proof-of-delivery-request creation module, the proof-of-delivery-request creation trigger module being configured for generating the request for creating the proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the sending of the email;
a proof-of-delivery-request processing module configured for generating a proof-of-delivery for the email in response to a request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request;
an email reception module configured for receiving the email; and
a proof-of-delivery-request processing trigger module connectable to the proof-of-delivery-request processing module, the proof-of-delivery-request processing trigger module being configured for triggering the request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the reception of the proof-of-delivery-request, whereby the generation of the proof-of-delivery by the proof-of-delivery-request processing module is a necessary condition for a recipient to read the email received by the email reception module.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present disclosure provides a system and method for certifying the delivery of electronic mail messages. In one embodiment, the sender contacts a proof-of-delivery-request creation server which receives the message the sender would like to obtain a proof-of-delivery for, generates a processed message and a proof-of-delivery-request, and returns both to the sender. The sender then uses his regular email infrastructure to transmit to the recipient the processed message and the proof-of-delivery-request as a single email. Upon receiving the sender'"'"'s email, the recipient contacts a proof-of-delivery-request processing server operated by a trusted-third-party and sends it the proof-of-delivery-request. Said server processes the proof-of-delivery-request, notifies the sender that the recipient has received the message and provides the recipient with information usable for extracting the original message from the processed message.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A system for generating a proof-of-delivery for an email, the system comprising:
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an email transmission module configured for sending an email; a proof-of-delivery-request creation module operating remotely from the email transmission module, the proof-of-delivery-request creation module being configured for producing a proof-of-delivery-request in response to a request for creating the proof-of-delivery-request; a proof-of-delivery-request creation trigger module connectable to the proof-of-delivery-request creation module, the proof-of-delivery-request creation trigger module being configured for generating the request for creating the proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the sending of the email; a proof-of-delivery-request processing module configured for generating a proof-of-delivery for the email in response to a request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request; an email reception module configured for receiving the email; and a proof-of-delivery-request processing trigger module connectable to the proof-of-delivery-request processing module, the proof-of-delivery-request processing trigger module being configured for triggering the request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the reception of the proof-of-delivery-request, whereby the generation of the proof-of-delivery by the proof-of-delivery-request processing module is a necessary condition for a recipient to read the email received by the email reception module. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A system for obtaining a proof-of-delivery for a message, the system comprising:
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a message transmission module configured for sending a message; a proof-of-delivery-request creation module operating remotely from the message transmission module, the proof-of-delivery request creation module being configured for producing a proof-of-delivery-request in response to a request for creating the proof-of-delivery-request, wherein; the request for creating a proof-of-delivery-request includes the message and meta-data about the message, the message is encrypted using a symmetric key, thereby producing an encrypted message, and the proof-of-delivery-request is produced as a function of the symmetric key, the meta-data about the message and a public key; a proof-of-delivery-request creation trigger module connectable to the proof-of-delivery-request creation module, the proof-of-delivery-request creation trigger module being configured for producing the request for creating the proof-of-delivery-request and substituting the message with a message formatted for proof-of-delivery contemporaneously with the sending of the message, wherein the message formatted for proof-of-delivery is produced by combining the encrypted message with the proof-of-delivery-request; a proof-of-delivery-request processing module configured for receiving a request for processing a proof-of-delivery-request, retrieving the symmetric key from the proof-of-delivery-request using a private key matching the public key and generating a proof-of-delivery for the message, wherein the request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request includes the proof-of-delivery-request and meta-data about the message; a message reception module configured for receiving the message formatted for proof-of-delivery; and a proof-of-delivery-request processing trigger module connectable to the proof-of-delivery-request processing module, the proof-of-delivery-request processing trigger module being configured for triggering the request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the reception of the message formatted for proof-of-delivery, receiving the symmetric key from the proof-of-delivery request-processing module and decrypting the encrypted message using said symmetric key. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for generating a proof-of-delivery for an email, the method comprising:
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a) generating a request for producing a proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the sending of an email, wherein the email is sent by an email transmission module; b) producing a proof-of-delivery-request remotely from the email transmission module in response to the request for producing a proof-of-delivery-request; c) generating a request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the reception of the proof-of-delivery-request; and d) generating a proof-of-delivery remotely from an email reception module in response to a request for processing a proof-of-delivery-request, wherein the generation of the proof-of-delivery is a necessary condition for a recipient to read the email received by the email reception module.
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35. A method for generating a proof-of-delivery for an email, the method comprising:
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a) generating a request for producing a proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the sending of an email, wherein the email is sent by an email transmission module; b) generating a symmetric key remotely from the email transmission module in response to the request for producing a proof-of-delivery-request; c) encrypting the email using the symmetric key, thereby obtaining an encrypted email; d) encrypting the symmetric key using a public key, thereby obtaining an encrypted symmetric key; e) substituting the email with an email formatted for proof-of-delivery, wherein the email formatted for proof-of-delivery is produced as a function of the encrypted email and the encrypted symmetric key; f) generating a request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request contemporaneously with the reception of the email formatted for proof-of-delivery by an email reception module; g) generating a proof-of-delivery remotely from the email reception module in response to the request for processing the proof-of-delivery-request; h) decrypting the encrypted symmetric key found in the email formatted for proof-of-delivery using a private key, thereby obtaining a decrypted symmetric key; and i) decrypting the encrypted email found in the email formatted for proof-of-delivery using the decrypted symmetric key.
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Specification