Method and apparatus for automatically checking e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications
First Claim
1. A method of providing a system for automatically checking for an incorrect e-mail address in an outgoing e-mail communication, comprising:
- creating an incoming domain name list in a memory;
receiving an incoming email communication;
extracting a domain name from a sender'"'"'s email address from the incoming email communication;
storing the domain name in the incoming domain name list in the memory;
checking if a domain name of an e-mail address associated with an intended recipient of an outgoing e-mail communication is included in the incoming domain name list in the memory;
checking if a discrepancy exists between a domain name of an e-mail address associated with an intended recipient of an outgoing e-mail communication and a domain name included in the incoming domain name list in the memory by detecting when there is at least one but no more than a maximum number of discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the extracted domain name; and
transmitting the outgoing email communication if the domain name is included in the incoming domain name list, otherwise generating a prompt for a user to confirm an e-mail address associated with the intended recipient of the outgoing e-mail communication.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method for detecting incorrect e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications. In a first embodiment, a domain name database creates a table of domain names by automatically storing the domain names of e-mail addresses from which incoming e-mails are received. When a user creates an outgoing e-mail communication, the system checks the domain names provided by the user with those domain names stored in the table. If the user-provided domain name does not match any of the domain names in the table, or closely resembles a domain name in the table, the user is prompted to confirm the provided e-mail address. In a second embodiment, e-mail addresses are extracted from incoming e-mail communications and stored in a memory in a client computer e-mail communications system. The system checks the memory for the presence of the e-mail addresses provided in outgoing e-mail communications, and generates a prompt when an e-mail address is not present in the memory.
105 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of providing a system for automatically checking for an incorrect e-mail address in an outgoing e-mail communication, comprising:
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creating an incoming domain name list in a memory; receiving an incoming email communication; extracting a domain name from a sender'"'"'s email address from the incoming email communication; storing the domain name in the incoming domain name list in the memory; checking if a domain name of an e-mail address associated with an intended recipient of an outgoing e-mail communication is included in the incoming domain name list in the memory; checking if a discrepancy exists between a domain name of an e-mail address associated with an intended recipient of an outgoing e-mail communication and a domain name included in the incoming domain name list in the memory by detecting when there is at least one but no more than a maximum number of discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the extracted domain name; and transmitting the outgoing email communication if the domain name is included in the incoming domain name list, otherwise generating a prompt for a user to confirm an e-mail address associated with the intended recipient of the outgoing e-mail communication. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications prior to transmission by an e-mail communications server, comprising:
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receiving email communications incoming to the email communications server; creating a domain name database; extracting domain names in sender'"'"'s e-mail addresses from the e-mail communications incoming to the email communications server; storing extracted domain names in the domain name database; receiving outgoing e-mail communications from client computers connected to the e-mail communications server through a local network; searching the domain name database for domain names spelled similarly to the domain names in e-mail addresses associated with intended recipients of the outgoing e-mail communication provided in the outgoing e-mail communications by detecting when there is at least one but no more than a maximum number of discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the extracted domain name; and generating an error prompt upon detecting that a domain name in an e-mail address provided in an outgoing e-mail communication is misspelled. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An e-mail server for automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications prior to transmission by an e-mail communications server, comprising:
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an interceptor for extracting domain names from e-mail addresses provided in incoming and outgoing e-mail communications; a database generator for generating a domain name database for storing domain names extracted from sender'"'"'s e-mail addresses in incoming e-mail communications; and a checker for searching the domain name database for domain names spelled similarly to the domain names in e-mail addresses associated with intended recipients of in the outgoing e-mail communications by detecting when there is at least one but no more than a maximum number of discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the extracted domain name, wherein the e-mail server prompts the user when it detects misspelled domain names in e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A method of automatically checking for an incorrect e-mail address in an outgoing e-mail communication, comprising:
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creating an incoming email address list in a memory; receiving an incoming email communication; storing, in the incoming email address list in the memory, an email address extracted from the incoming email communication; checking is an e-mail address associated with an intended recipient of the outgoing e-mail communication is included in the incoming email address list in the memory; checking if a discrepancy exists between an e-mail address associated with an intended recipient of the outgoing e-mail communication and an email address included in the incoming email address list in the memory by detecting when there is at least one but no more than a maximum number of discrepancies between an email address in the email address list and the e-mail address associated with an intended recipient of the outgoing e-mail communication; and transmitting the outgoing email communication if the e-mail address is included in the incoming email address list, otherwise generating a prompt for a user to confirm an e-mail address if the email address is not included in the incoming email address list. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. An e-mail communications system stored in a client computer for automatically checking for incorrect e-mail addresses provided in outgoing e-mail communications from the client computer prior to transmission to an e-mail server, comprising:
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an address extractor for extracting sender'"'"'s e-mail addresses from incoming e-mail communications; a previous sender addresses memory for storing e-mail addresses extracted from sender'"'"'s e-mail addresses in incoming e-mail communications; a checker for searching the previous sender addresses memory for e-mail addresses of intended recipients that are provided in outgoing e-mail communications, and a checker for searching for a discrepancy between a sender address and the previous sender addresses memory for e-mail addresses of intended recipients that are provided in outgoing e-mail communications by detecting when there is at least one but no more than a maximum number of discrepancies between a previous sender address in the previous sender address memory and the email address of an intended recipient, wherein the checker generates a prompt for verification of an e-mail address of an intended recipient upon detecting that an e-mail address of an intended recipient in an outgoing e-mail communication is not present in the previous sender addresses memory. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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Specification