PLATFORM INDEPENDENT IDN E-MAIL STORAGE TRANSLATION

• US 20110022675A1
• Filed: 03/10/2009
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Afilias PLC.
• Original Assignee: Afilias PLC.
• Inventors: Bayles, Len Albert
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A method is described for providing platform independent e-mail translation. The method comprising the following steps. An e-mail message is received for a recipient IDN username. An ASCII identifier corresponding with the IDN username is retrieved using a predefined mapping. The received e-mail message is stored in local storage using the retrieved ASCII identifier. An e-mail server configured to implement the method and a computer readable medium comprising instructions for implementing the method are also described.

Claims

1. An e-mail server comprising:

a mail transport agent (MTA) configured to receive an e-mail message for an IDN username;

a local delivery agent configured to store the received e-mail message in local storage; and

a translation table configured to maintain a mapping between the IDN username and a corresponding ASCII identifier, the translation table in communication with at least one of the MTA or the local delivery agent;

wherein the local delivery agent stores the received e-mail message in the local storage in accordance with the ASCII identifier.

2. The e-mail server of claim 1, wherein the translation table is further configured to generate the mapping between the IDN username and the corresponding ASCII identifier.

3. The e-mail server of claim 2, wherein the ASCII identifier is a random ASCII string such that for each of a plurality of IDN usernames a random ASCII string is generated.

4. The e-mail server of claim 3, wherein each ASCII identifier is compared with previously generated ASCII identifier to avoid collisions.

5. The e-mail server of claim 2, wherein the ASCII identifier a sequential ASCII string such that for each of a plurality of IDN usernames a subsequent ASCII string in a sequence of ASCII strings is generated.

6. The e-mail server of claim 1 further comprising a message retrieval server for delivering e-mail messages from the e-mail server to a recipient, the message retrieval server configured to communicate with:

the translation table in order to obtain the ASCII identifier correlated with the recipient'"'"'s IDN username; and

the local storage for retrieving e-mail messages associated with the obtained ASCII identifier.

7. The e-mail server of claim 6, wherein the message retrieval server is further configured to validate the recipient by using the obtained ASCII identifier to access validation information in the local storage.

8. A method for providing platform independent e-mail translation, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an e-mail message for a recipient IDN username;

retrieving an ASCII identifier corresponding with the IDN username using a predefined mapping; and

storing the received e-mail message in local storage using the retrieved ASCII identifier.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising the further step of generating the mapping between the IDN username and the corresponding ASCII identifier.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the ASCII identifier is a random ASCII string such that for each of a plurality of IDN usernames a random ASCII string is generated.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each ASCII identifier is compared with previously generated ASCII identifier to avoid collisions.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the ASCII identifier a sequential ASCII string such that for each of a plurality of IDN usernames a subsequent ASCII string in a sequence of ASCII strings is generated.

13. The method of claim 8 comprising the further steps of

receiving a request to deliver e-mail messages from the e-mail server to a recipient, the request including the recipient'"'"'s IDN username;

obtaining the ASCII identifier correlated with the recipient'"'"'s IDN username; and

retrieving e-mail messages associated with the obtained ASCII identifier for transmission to the recipient.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising the further step of validating the recipient using the obtained ASCII identifier to access validation information in the local storage.

15. A computer readable medium comprising instructions for providing platform independent e-mail translation, the instructions, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to implement the steps of

receiving an e-mail message for an IDN username;

retrieving an ASCII identifier corresponding with the IDN username using a predefined mapping; and

storing the received e-mail message in local storage using the retrieved ASCII identifier