Methods and systems to provide a message in a messaging system without revealing an identity of the sending party

• US 6,608,888 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2001
• Issued: 08/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.), Mavenir Systems Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Braudes, Robert E., McLaughlin, Ann V., Candell, Emily A., Chung, Janice C., Bedingfield, James Carlton, Patel, Navneet
• Primary Examiner(s): WEAVER, SCOTT LOUIS
• Application Number:
  US09/964,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20020110227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 693 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379/88.12, 379/88.13, 379/88.17, 379/88.18, 379/88.19, 379/88.21, 379/88.22, 379/221.08, 379/201.01, 379/201.11, 379/210.03, 705/74, 705/80, 709/217, 709/219, 709/227, 709/228
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53325 Interconnection arrangements between voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

Methods and systems to send a message from a sending party to a recipient without the message revealing an identity of the sending party. The identity may be the name of the sending party, a calling line number associated with a calling line of the sending party, or an e-mail address of the sending party. The message may be a reply to a previous message or a forwarding message of an earlier message. In response to a message being received, a check is made to determine whether an anonymity feature is enabled for all messages received from the sending party, or whether the anonymity feature is enabled for the message. In response to finding the anonymity feature enabled for all messages or for the message, an anonymity indicator is included with the message. The presence of the anonymity indicator has the effect of withholding the identity of the sending party when the message is made available to or retrieved by the recipient. Despite the withholding of the identity of the sending party, the recipient may reply to the message. An embodiment provides that a message including an anonymity indicator may be rejected instead of routed to the recipient.

Claims

1. In a messaging system including a mail system that serves a plurality of subscribers including a recipient, that receives messages from sending parties to recipients, the messages including respective identities relating to the sending parties, and that makes the messages and the respective identities of the sending parties available for retrieval by the recipients, a method to provide a recipient with a message without revealing an identity of a sending party associated with the message, comprising:

A. receiving the message for the recipient, the message including the identity of the sending party and including an anonymity indicator; and

B. in response to receipt of the message including the anonymity indicator, withholding the identity of the sending party when making the message available for retrieval by the recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymity indicator comprises a flag associated with an E.164 compliant number corresponding to the message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymity indicator comprises an indicator in a RFC822 header field corresponding to the message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymity indicator comprises an indicator in an attachment to the message, the attachment being compliant with multi-part mail encoding (MIME) protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identity comprises a name associated with the sending party, a calling line number associated with a calling line of the sending party, or an electronic mail (e-mail) address of the sending party.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a reply to a previous message received by the sending party, or a forwarding message of an earlier message received by the sending party.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

C. providing the recipient with an option to send a reply to the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was made available for retrieval by the recipient.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

D. receiving a reply to the message from the recipient for the sending party; and

E. routing the reply to the sending party by using the identity of the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was made available for retrieval by the recipient.

9. In a messaging system including a mail system that serves a plurality of subscribers including a recipient, that receives messages from sending parties to recipients, the messages including respective identities relating to the sending pates, and that makes the messages and the respective identities of the sending pates available for retrieval by the recipients, a method to provide a recipient with a message without revealing an identity of a sending party associated with the message, comprising:

A. receiving the message for the recipient, the message including the identity of the sending party and including an anonymity indicator; and

B. in response to receipt of the message including the anonymity indicator, rejecting the message based on the anonymity indicator.

10. In a messaging system including a mail system that serves a plurality of sending parties by routing messages to recipients, the messages including respective identities of the sending parties, a method to mark a message to a recipient so the message as made available to the recipient fails to reveal an identity of the sending party, the method comprising:

A. receiving the message to be made available to the recipient, the message including the identity of the sending party;

B. determining that a desire of the sending party associated with the message is for the message to be delivered to the recipient without revealing the identity of the sending party; and

C. in response to determining the desire of the sending party for the message to be delivered without revealing the identity of the sending party, associating an anonymity indicator with the message including the identity of the sending party.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein action B comprises determining that the desire of the sending party associated with the message is for the message to be delivered to the recipient without revealing the identity of the sending party by checking subscription information associated with the sending party.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein action B comprises determining that the desire of the sending party associated with the message is for the message to be delivered to the recipient without revealing the identity of the sending party by receiving an indication from the sending party that the message is to be delivered without revealing the identity of the sending party.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the identity comprises a name associated with the sending party, a calling line number associated with a calling line of the sending party, or an electronic mail (e-mail) address of the sending party.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the message comprises a reply to a previous message received by the sending party, or a forwarding message of an earlier message received by the sending party.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

D. routing the message including the identity of the sending party and the anonymity indicator to the recipient, the anonymity indicator serving to alert that the message is to be delivered without revealing the identity of the sending party, and the identity of the sending party serving to provide the recipient with an option to send a reply to the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was delivered.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

E. receiving a reply to the message from the recipient for the sending party; and

F. routing the reply to the sending party by using the identity of the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was delivered.

17. In a communications system including at least two functionally connected voice mail systems, wherein a first voice mail system serves a plurality of subscribers including a sending party, and wherein a second voice mail system serves another plurality of subscribers including a recipient, the second voice mail system providing the recipient with a calling line identification service, a method to send the recipient a message from the sending party without the message revealing an identity of the sending party when the message is retrieved, the method comprising:

receiving the message at the first voice mail system;

in response to receiving the message, causing the first voice mail system to check whether an anonymity feature is enabled for all messages received from the sending party, or whether the anonymity feature is enabled for the message;

in response to finding the anonymity feature enabled for all messages or for the message, causing the first voice mail system to include an anonymity indicator with the message and to route the message to the second voice mail system;

receiving the message including the anonymity indicator at the second voice mail system; and

causing the second voice mail system in response to receipt of the message with the anonymity indicator to withhold the identity of the sending party when the message is retrieved from the second voice mail system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the identity comprises a name associated with the sending party, a calling line number associated with a calling line of the sending party, or an electronic mail (e-mail) address of the sending party.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the message comprises a reply to a previous message received by the sending party, or a forwarding message of an earlier message received by the sending party.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

causing the second voice mail system to provide the recipient with an option to send a reply to the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was retrieved from the second voice mail system.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

causing the second voice mail system to receive a reply to the message from the recipient for the sending party; and

causing the second voice mail system to route the reply to the sending party by using the identity of the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was retrieved from the second voice mail system.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein in response to the receipt of the message with the anonymity indicator, causing the second voice mail system to reject the message based on the anonymity indicator.

23. In a functionally interconnected communications system including the public switched telephone network (PSTN), an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN), and the Internet, the communications system also including a network voice mail system serving a plurality of subscribers including a sending party, the network voice mail system being at least functionally connected to an other network voice mail system in the communications system, the other network voice mail system serving an other plurality of subscribers including a recipient, the other voice mail system providing at least the recipient with a calling line identification service, a system to send the recipient a message from the sending party without the message revealing an identity of the sending party when the message is retrieved, the system comprising:

the network voice mail system operative to receive the message over the PSTN, the AIN, or the Internet from the sending party and directed to the recipient, to check whether an anonymity feature is enabled for all messages received from the sending party, and if the anonymity feature is not enabled for all messages, to check whether the anonymity feature is enabled for the message, and in response to finding the anonymity feature enabled for all messages or for the message, to include an anonymity indicator with the message and to route the message to the other network mail system serving the recipient over the PSTN, the AIN, or the Internet; and

the other network voice mail system operative to receive the message including the anonymity indicator over the PSTN, the AIN, or the Internet from the network voice mail system, and in response to the anonymity indicator, to withhold the identity of the sending party when the message is retrieved from the other network voice mail system.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the identity comprises a name associated with the sending party, a calling line number associated with a calling line of the sending party, or an electronic mail (e-mail) address of the sending party.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the message comprises a reply to a previous message received by the sending party or a forwarding message of a previous message received by the sending party.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the other network mail system is further operative to provide the recipient with an option to send a reply to the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was retrieved from the other network voice mail system.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the other network mail system is farther operative to receive a reply to the message from the recipient for the sending party;

and to route the reply to the sending party by using the identity of the sending party even though the identity of the sending party was withheld when the message was retrieved from the other network voice mail system.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein in response to the receipt of the message including the anonymity indicator, the other network voice mail system is operative to reject the message based on the anonymity indicator.