User controlled e-mail deletion
First Claim
1. An e-mail message having a deletion date in a header of the e-mail message and a delete table, the delete table comprising an e-mail message identifier and an address selected from the group consisting of (a) an address of a server to which an e-mail is adapted to be sent, (b) an address of a server from which an e-mail is adapted to be sent from, or (c) an address of a server to which an e-mail message is adapted to be sent and an address of a server from which an e-mail is adapted to be sent from.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for a user, either an originator or a receiver of an e-mail message, to erase the e-mail message from all servers which routed the message when the e-mail message is erased from the user'"'"'s client computer storage. By creating originator, server, and receiver delete tables, a pathway for a delete transaction containing the addresses of servers which routed the e-mail message enables the user, either an originator or receiver of the e-mail message, to sequentially delete the message along the pathway upon deletion from the client computer. Additionally, by inserting a deletion date into the header of the message, the message may be deleted from the client computer and all servers upon occurrence of the deletion date.
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Citations
46 Claims
- 1. An e-mail message having a deletion date in a header of the e-mail message and a delete table, the delete table comprising an e-mail message identifier and an address selected from the group consisting of (a) an address of a server to which an e-mail is adapted to be sent, (b) an address of a server from which an e-mail is adapted to be sent from, or (c) an address of a server to which an e-mail message is adapted to be sent and an address of a server from which an e-mail is adapted to be sent from.
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2. A method of deleting e-mail messages sent to and received by a computer linked to a network comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating an e-mail message having a deletion date inserted in a header of the e-mail message, (b) sending the e-mail message with the deletion date from a computer along a server path having at least one server which routes said e-mail message to said computer;
(c) receiving said e-mail message with the deletion date at each server along the server path; and
(d) deleting the e-mail message with the deletion date such that upon deletion the e-mail message is deleted from all servers. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of deleting e-mail messages sent to and received by a computer linked to a network comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating a delete transaction within said e-mail message, the delete transaction comprising a server delete table containing an identifier for said e-mail message, an address of a location from which said e-mail was received along a server path having at least one server which routes said e-mail message to said computer, and an address of a location to which said e-mail is sent along the server path;
(b) sending a delete transaction from said computer along the server path;
(c) receiving said delete transaction at each server along the server path; and
(d) executing said delete transaction by each server to delete said e-mail message sequentially along the server path. - View Dependent Claims (8, 13)
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14. A method of deleting an e-mail message from a server by an originator of the e-mail comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating a delete transaction within said e-mail message, the delete transaction comprising an originator delete table including an identifier for said e-mail message, and an address of a first server along a server path to which said e-mail message is sent;
(b) sending the delete transaction from the originator computer to a server path that routes the e-mail message from one or more servers to the originator computer upon the occurrence of step (a);
(c) receiving and executing said delete transaction by each server along the server path; and
(d) deleting said e-mail message sequentially along the server path whereby the originator delete table is updated and sends the delete transaction to the first server along the server path. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of deleting an e-mail message from a server by a receiver of the e-mail comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating a delete transaction within said e-mail message, the delete transaction comprising a receiver delete table including an identifier for said e-mail message, and an address of a last server along a server path to which said e-mail message is sent;
(b) sending the delete transaction from the receiver computer to a server path that routes the e-mail message from one or more servers to the receiver computer upon the occurrence of step (a);
(c) receiving and executing said delete transaction by each server along the server path; and
(d) deleting said e-mail message sequentially along the server path whereby the receiver delete table is updated and sends the delete transaction to the last server along the server path. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of deleting an e-mail message by a server along a server path comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, by said server, an e-mail message having a deletion date;
(b) creating a server delete table with an identifier of the e-mail message, an address of a location from which the e-mail message was received along the server path, and an address of a location to which the e-mail message is sent along the server path upon receipt of the e-mail message;
(c) deleting the e-mail message upon occurrence of the deletion date; and
(d) updating said server delete table with an indicator indicating that the e-mail message has been deleted. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. A method of creating and deleting e-mail comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating an e-mail message on a first client computer;
(b) inserting a deletion date into a header of the e-mail message;
(c) sending the e-mail message with the deletion date to one or more servers in a chain of gateway servers;
(d) sending the e-mail message with the deletion date, by a gateway server, to a final destination server;
(e) receiving the e-mail message with the deletion date, by a second client computer, from the final destination server; and
(f) deleting the e-mail message with the deletion date such that upon deletion the e-mail message is deleted from all servers. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of creating and utilizing an e-mail message delete table comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating an e-mail message on a client computer;
(b) creating an e-mail message delete table comprising an e-mail message identifier, and at least one address selected from (i) a location to which said e-mail message is to be sent or (ii) a location from which said e-mail message was sent from;
(c) updating said e-mail message delete table in response to a delete transaction; and
(d) indicating on said e-mail message delete table that said e-mail message has been deleted. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for a method of deleting e-mail messages sent to and/or received by a computer linked to a network, said method steps comprising:
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(a) deleting an e-mail message from a computer, said computer linked to a server path which routes said e-mail message to said computer;
(b) sending a delete table from said computer to the server path, the delete table selected from the group consisting of an originator delete table, a server delete table and a receiver delete table;
(c) receiving and executing said delete table by each server along the server path; and
(d) deleting said e-mail message sequentially along the server path. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instruction executable by the machine to perform method steps for a method of deleting an e-mail message by a server along a server path, said method steps comprising:
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(a) receiving, by said server, an e-mail message having a deletion date;
(b) creating a server delete table with an identifier of the e-mail message, an address of a location from which the e-mail message was received along the server path, and an address of a location to which the e-mail message is sent along the server path upon receipt of the e-mail message;
(c) deleting the e-mail message upon occurrence of the deletion date; and
(d) updating said server delete table with an indicator indicating that the e-mail message has been deleted.
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41. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instruction executable by the machine to perform method steps for a method of creating and deleting e-mail, said method steps comprising:
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(a) creating an e-mail message on a first client computer;
(b) inserting a deletion date into a header of the e-mail message;
(c) sending the e-mail message with the deletion date to one or more servers in a chain of gateway servers;
(d) sending the e-mail message with the deletion date, by a gateway server, to a final destination server;
(e) receiving the e-mail message with the deletion date, by a second client computer, from the final destination server; and
(f) deleting the e-mail message with the deletion date such that upon deletion the e-mail message is deleted from all servers.
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42. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instruction executable by the machine to perform method steps for a method of creating and utilizing an originator delete table, said method steps comprising:
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(a) creating an e-mail message on a client computer;
(b) creating an originator delete table on the client computer comprising an e-mail message identifier, an address of a location to which said e-mail message is to be sent;
(c) updating said originator delete table when a delete transaction is sent from the client computer; and
(d) indicating on said originator delete table that said e-mail message has been deleted.
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43. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instruction executable by the machine to perform method steps for a method of creating and utilizing a receiver delete table, said method steps comprising:
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(a) creating an e-mail message on an originator client computer;
(b) sending said e-mail message to a receiver client computer;
(c) creating a receiver delete table on the receiver client computer comprising an e-mail message identifier and an address of the server from which said e-mail message was sent from;
(d) updating said receiver delete table when a delete transaction is sent from the receiver client computer; and
(e) indicating on said receiver delete table that said e-mail message has been deleted.
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44. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instruction executable by the machine to perform method steps for a method of creating and utilizing a server delete table, said method steps comprising:
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(a) providing a server linked to a receiver computer, an originator computer, or both;
(b) creating a server delete table when a server has received or sent an e-mail message, said server delete table comprising an e-mail message identifier and an address of a server from which said e-mail message was sent from and an address of a server to which said e-mail message will be sent;
(c) updating said server delete table when a delete transaction, received by the server, is from a receiver client or an originator client computer;
(d) indicating on said server delete table that said e-mail message has been deleted.
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45. A program storage device readable by a machine having access to a delete table, the delete table comprising an e-mail message identifier, an address of a server to which an e-mail message is adapted to be sent and an address of a server from which an e-mail is adapted to be sent from, tangibly embodying a program of instructions to perform method steps for a method of deleting an e-mail message, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) checking the delete table for the e-mail message identifier after receiving instructions from a user to delete an e-mail message having the message identifier;
(b) locating the message identifier in the delete table;
(c) deleting the message identifier from the delete table;
(d) deleting the e-mail message from the machine; and
(e) sending a delete transaction from the machine to all addresses on the delete table for the e-mail message. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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Specification