Preventing delivery of unwanted bulk e-mail

• US 6,330,590 B1
• Filed: 01/05/1999
• Issued: 12/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cyren, Inc. (CYREN Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: William D. Cotten
• Inventors: Cotten, William D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell, Robert B.
• Application Number:
  US09/225,310
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/206, 709/204, 709/200
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

Unwanted e-mail messages from bulk advertisers (SPAM) are detected and removed from a stream of e-mail, either at a central server location or an individual recipient'"'"'s location. The basic on-line e-mail message, after elimination of source and addressee identification, is scanned and coded to provide a signature ID code. A set of typically three identical messages going to different e-mail addresses is detected to signify SPAM in the e-mail flow stream. Then the SPAM signature ID code is stored for use in eliminating future such messages at either a central server or one at an individual recipient'"'"'s site. The signature code is typically calculated numerically, i.e. as the well known checksum in a 16-bit cyclic redundancy check routine.

Claims

1. The method of eliminating unwanted bulk e-mail comprising in combination the steps of:

processing e-mail messages in transit, and deriving significant identical message patterns in a set of at least two individual e-mail messages sent to different e-mail addresses to identify the presence of bulk mailings.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

establishing in said processing step an e-mail message signature identification of the messages in transit by extracting a recognizable portion of e-mail message content and calculating a numerical signature identification code for such messages.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring a stream of e-mail directed to a specified subscriber e-mail address, and eliminating e-mail messages directed to said specified e-mail address containing said numerical signature identification code identifying the presence of said bulk mailings.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of processing a numerical signature identification code further comprises calculating a checksum with a 16-bit cyclic redundancy check routine.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising the further steps of establishing a set of subscriber stations, enlisting subscriber stations in said set to receive bulk e-mail messages from a plurality of known bulk mailing services, and deriving identification signatures for different bulk mailing messages received at said set of subscriber stations.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of providing the derived identification signatures to e-mail processing subscribers.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising the steps of processing an e-mail flow stream to determine identification signatures of messages flowing in said stream, and deleting those messages from the flow stream having signatures matching those identified from said different bulk mailings.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising the further steps for managing the detection and eliminating bulk e-mail messages from an e-mail flow stream of:

examining a sequence of e-mail messages derived from an e-mail flow stream, designating recognizable common portions of message patterns by a signature ID code for the messages of said sequence, detecting the presence of said signature codes for bulk mailings, and storing the signature codes of known bulk mail messages.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of deleting bulk mail identified by comparison of signatures from said sequence of e-mail messages with the stored signature codes of bulk mail messages.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of providing the signature codes for bulk mailings to e-mail recipients.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

stripping from individual e-mail messages address and personalization text materials therein to identify respective stripped messages by the remaining text material content.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of providing a coded signature for each said individual message comprising a numeric count factor for the contents of stripped messages.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of processing e-mail in transit through a central server location.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of processing e-mail in transit through a server located at a subscriber station.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of producing signature codes for identifying message contents of the e-mail messages, and inserting signature flags in processed e-mail messages identified as bulk mailings.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

designating identification codes for detected bulk mailing messages, and providing said identification codes to e-mail recipients.

17. Apparatus for eliminating unwanted bulk e-mail from an e-mail message flow stream, comprising in combination:

detection means for identifying in transit bulk e-mail messages by a signature code derived from a recognizable message content portion capable of identifying bulk e-mail, and storage means for retaining bulk mail signature codes for use in identifying SPAM in e-mail messages.

18. Apparatus as defined in claim 17, further comprising:

e-mail analysis means for establishing an e-mail signature identification code by extracting a common body of said message content from an e-mail message and calculating therefrom a signature identification code.

19. Apparatus as defined in claim 18, further comprising:

e-mail filtering means for monitoring an e-mail stream directed to a specified e-mail address and eliminating e-mail messages directed to said specified e-mail address containing identified bulk mail.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the means for processing a numerical signature identification code further comprises means for calculating a checksum with a 16-bit cyclic redundancy check routine.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the detection means processes an e-mail flow stream at an individual recipient'"'"'s e-mail reception site.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the detection means processes an e-mail flow stream at a central server location processing a set of subscribers.

23. The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising a signature code register for identified bulk mailings and comparator means for comparing signatures of signatures of e-mail messages in said flow stream with those of said register to identify bulk mailing messages.

24. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the detection means further comprises means for stripping from the e-mail messages address and personalization text materials to identify respective stripped messages by the remaining text materials.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 further comprising recognition means for providing a coded signature for each message comprising a numeric count factor for the contents of stripped messages.

26. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said detection means further comprises a set of e-mail reception stations, comprising on line subscribers for receiving bulk mailing messages from known bulk mail services communicated through established internet services, and e-mail message filtering means for removal of e-mail messages identified as SPAM from said e-mail flow stream.

27. Apparatus for identifying individual e-mail messages being communicated by established internets services, comprising in combination:

on stream interception means for analyzing the text of individual e-mail messages in transit, and stripping means for stripping from individual e-mail messages address and personalization text material content therein to identify respective e-mail messages from the remaining text material content.

28. Apparatus as defined in claim 27 further comprising:

means for analyzing stripped e-mail messages to provide a coded signature for individual messages comprising a numeric count factor for said remaining text material content.

29. Apparatus as defined in claim 28 wherein the means for analyzing messages further comprises checksum calculating means using a 16-bit cyclic redundancy check for determining a numeric signature code representation of the contents of individual processed e-mail messages.

30. The method of identifying individual e-mail messages being communicated by Internet Services, comprising the steps of:

stripping from individual e-mail messages address and personalization text materials therein to identify respective stripped messages by the remaining text material content.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of providing a coded signature for said individual e-mail messages comprising a numeric count factor for the contents of said stripped messages.