System and method for preventing unnecessary message duplication in electronic mail
First Claim
1. A method for an email server to reduce the unintended duplication of messages forwarded to an email recipient, comprising:
- forming a first composite message comprising a first email message sent by a client to the email server;
computing and storing a first representative value in the email server for said first composite message when the email server does not receive a confirmation from a client in response to a receipt message sent by the email server, the receipt message representing an acknowledgement for the client that the email server received the message in full;
forming, after said first composite message, a second composite message comprising a second email message;
computing a second representative value for said second composite message;
comparing said first and second representative values;
forwarding said second email message to an email recipient only if the comparison of said first and second representative values do not indicate duplication; and
discarding at least one stored representative value from the email server based on at least one predetermined criterion.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The system for preventing unnecessary message duplication in electronic mail forms a message digest of each message received. The message digest is then compared with stored message digests from previous messages to determine if there is a match. If there is a match, this means that the first and second messages are the same, and so the second message is discarded. If, on the other hand, there is no match, then the second message processed because it is assumed that it is a message that is a non-redundant message. The list of stored message digests is culled based on some predetermined criteria to ensure that it does not grow indefinitely.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for an email server to reduce the unintended duplication of messages forwarded to an email recipient, comprising:
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forming a first composite message comprising a first email message sent by a client to the email server; computing and storing a first representative value in the email server for said first composite message when the email server does not receive a confirmation from a client in response to a receipt message sent by the email server, the receipt message representing an acknowledgement for the client that the email server received the message in full; forming, after said first composite message, a second composite message comprising a second email message; computing a second representative value for said second composite message; comparing said first and second representative values; forwarding said second email message to an email recipient only if the comparison of said first and second representative values do not indicate duplication; and discarding at least one stored representative value from the email server based on at least one predetermined criterion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer-readable storage medium having software code stored thereon, the code comprising:
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code to form a first composite message comprising a first email message sent by a client to an email server; code to compute and store a first representative value in the email server for said first composite message when the email server does not receive a confirmation from a client in response to a receipt message sent by the email server, the receipt message representing an acknowledgement for the client that the email server received the message in full; code to form, after said first composite message, a second composite message comprising a second email message sent by the client to the email server; code to compute a second representative value for said second composite message; code to compare said first and second representative values; code to forward said second email message to an email recipient only if the comparison of said first and second representative values do not indicate duplication; and code to discard at least one stored representative value from the server based on at least one predetermined criterion. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An email server platform having a program memory associated therewith, the program memory comprising software code configured to:
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form a first composite message comprising a first email message; compute and store a first representative value in the server for said first composite message when the email server does not receive a confirmation from a client in response to a receipt message sent by the email server, the receipt message representing an acknowledgement for the client that the email server received the message in full; form, after said first composite message, a second composite message comprising a second email message; compute a second representative value for said second composite message; compare said first and second representative values; forward said second email message to an email recipient only if the comparison of said first and second representative values do not indicate duplication; and discard at least one stored representative value in the server based on at least one predetermined criterion. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification