Techniques for displaying emails listed in an email inbox

• US 7,413,085 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2004
• Issued: 08/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iconix Incorporated (Matthews Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Iconix Incorporated (Matthews Group LLC)
• Inventors: Zager, Robert Philip, Picazo, Jose Jesus Jr., Duvvoori, Vikram, Trytten, Chris David, Ames, William, Vempaty, Nageshwara Rao
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell; Robert B
• Application Number:
  US10/935,260
• Publication Number:
  US 20060053293A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,442 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 209/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/29 characterised by micropayments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1483 service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing detection of rogue wireless access points H04W12/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response

Abstract

A protocol for protected email transmission using micropayments and a segregated inbox in which protected emails are displayed. The protocol also involves authentication of the sender to defeat phishers and an opt out protocol which can be used to block protected emails from sources from which the user no longer wishes to receive emails even if the source has made a micropayment. Branded email is also taught wherein a sender of protected emails can pay extra to have a miniature version of its brand logo or trademark displayed with its email in the segregated inbox. A white list is maintained on the protected email server (along with the opt out black list) so that recipients can designate specific senders who may send email to that recipient without paying a micropayment and still have the protected email displayed in the segregated inbox.

Claims

1. In a recipient computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of segregating paid emails and white list emails from other emails on the display, the method comprising:

A) displaying a navigation pane and a content pane in a browser or an email client application window;

B) retrieving and displaying in the navigation pane a set of navigation icons including a paid email icon representing an inbox in which the paid emails and the white list emails are displayed and an inbox icon representing a different inbox in which all the other emails which are not the paid emails or the white list emails are displayed;

C) receiving a selection signal when a particular icon in the navigation pane is selected with the selection device;

D) when the selection signal indicates the paid email icon has been selected, responding to the selection signal by populating the content pane with selected Exsis emails which include in a header of each selected Exsis email, data indicating a micropayment was already made for purposes of sending the selected Exsis email or which indicates the sender of the selected Exsis email is on a white list of the recipient; and

E) when the selection signal indicates the inbox icon has been selected, responding to the selection signal by displaying a different content pane in which unpaid emails that are not from a particular sender that which is on a white list of the recipient are displayed.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step D further comprises simultaneously displaying in a single content pane both the paid emails and the white list emails interspersed with one another within the single content pane.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein step A comprises displaying a split content pane comprised of first and second panes, and wherein step D comprises populating the first pane with a current date'"'"'s Exsis white list emails and a current date'"'"'s Exsis paid emails interspersed together, and populating the second pane with a day before the current date'"'"'s white list and paid Exsis emails.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein step A further comprises displaying a split content pane with two distinct portions thereof and wherein step D further comprises simultaneously displaying in the split content pane both the paid emails and the white list emails with the paid emails being displayed in one portion of the split content pane and the white list emails being displayed in another portion of the split content pane.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein step A comprises displaying third and fourth panes of said first pane of said split content pane and displaying fifth and sixth panes of said second pan, and wherein step D comprises populating said third pane with a current date'"'"'s Exsis white list emails and populating said fourth pane with a day before the current date'"'"'s white list emails and populating said fifth pane of said second pane with the current date'"'"'s paid Exsis emails and populating said sixth pane of said second pane with the day before the current date'"'"'s paid Exsis emails.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein step D further comprises displaying a Truemark logo with each Exsis email from a particular sender who has paid extra to have that sender'"'"'s company logo displayed in miniature as a source icon, but displaying the Truemark just for those Exsis emails which have already been authenticated and which have already been paid extra for in order to have a Truemark type source icon.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the following steps carried out in a sender computer coupled to a protected email server and to a recipient computer system via a wide area network (WAN):

D-1 at the sender computer, receiving data from the particular sender to compose a proposed email message and receiving a user command to send the proposed email message to a particular recipient;

D-2 sending a request message to a protected email server requesting a code in a form of a stemp for inclusion in a particular header of the proposed email and passing information with the request message which identifies the particular sender;

D-3 at the protected email server, authenticating an identity of the particular sender using the information from the request message and verifying the particular sender has an account with sufficient money in that account to pay for the code requested in step D-2 and is not on a black list or an opt out list of the recipient or that the particular sender is on a particular white list of the recipient;

D-4 at the protected email server, when conditions in step D-3 are proper to send the proposed email, the protected email server;

generates a transaction number, encrypts the stemp that contains the identification of the particular sender and the transaction number, saves an encryption key, deducts an amount of the micropayment from the account of the particular sender if the particular sender is not on the white list of the recipient, sends back to the particular sender the proposed email message header with the stemp encoded therein;

D-5 wherein the protected email server sends the encryption key used in step D-4 and the transaction number generated in step D-4 and a Truemark or generic logo identifying the particular sender of the proposed email message associated with the transaction number to the recipient computer system operated by the recipient;

D-6 at said sender computer, attaching the header received from the protected email server to the proposed email message and sending the proposed email message to the recipient computer system via the WAN and other normal email sending processes;

D-7 at the recipient computer system, receiving the encryption key, the transaction number and the Truemark or the generic logo from the protected email server;

D-8 at the recipient computer, receiving the proposed email message sent by the sender computer, and responding thereto by retrieving the encryption key used to encrypt the stemp and attempting to decrypt the stemp to retrieve the account number and the transaction number encrypted therein; and

D-9 if the stemp decrypts properly and the decrypted transaction number matches the transaction number received from the protected email server, the recipient computer places the proposed email message in a segregated inbox folder and stores an appropriate Truemark or generic logo with the proposed email message for display when the recipient gives a command to display contents of the segregated inbox folder and the particular sender has been authenticated.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein step D further comprises:

displaying a friend content pane which has a friend'"'"'s tab and a logo mail tab each of which can be selected by the selection device; and

receiving a different selection signal which indicates whether the friend'"'"'s tab or the logo mail tab has been selected;

if the different selection signal indicates the friend'"'"'s tab has been selected, responding thereto by displaying in the friend content pane just Exsis emails that have data in their headers which indicates those Exsis emails originated from a particular sender which is on the white list of the recipient;

if the different selection signal indicates the logo mail tab has been selected, responding thereto by displaying in the friend content pane just Exsis emails that have data in the headers indicating micropayments have been made to send those particular Exsis emails.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein step A comprises displaying a split content pane, and wherein step D comprises populating a first pane of the split content pane with a current date'"'"'s Exsis emails and populating a second pane of the split content pane with a day before the current date'"'"'s Exsis emails.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein step A comprises displaying a split content pane, with a first pane displaying a current date'"'"'s Exsis white list emails and a second pane displaying a day before the current date'"'"'s white list emails when a friends tab is selected, and, when a logo mail tab is selected, the first pane displays the current date'"'"'s paid Exsis emails and the second pane displays the day before the current date'"'"'s paid Exsis emails.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein step D further comprises displaying a source icon with each Exsis email a presence of which indicates at least that a particular email can be authenticated as to that particular email'"'"'s source or already has been automatically authenticated as to that particular email'"'"'s source, and wherein a particular type of source icon displayed gives a visual indication as to whether that particular email is from a white list member designated by the recipient to be able to send free emails to the recipient for free or is from a company or an individual who has paid a subscription to have a company'"'"'s or an individual'"'"'s emails segregated into the Exsis inbox and to have a miniature replica of that company'"'"'s or that individual'"'"'s logo, called a Truemark type source icon, displayed as the source icon, or is from a different company or a different individual who did not pay a subscription to have that different company'"'"'s or that different individual'"'"'s logo displayed as a Truemark type source icon but did make a micropayment to have that different company'"'"'s or that different individual'"'"'s email segregated away from other spam in the Exsis inbox.

12. In a recipient computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of segregating paid emails and white list emails from other emails on the display, the method comprising:

A) displaying a navigation pane and a split content pane in a browser or email client application window, the split content pane having a first pane and a second pane, and displaying a friends tab and a logo mail tab associated with the split content pane;

B) retrieving and displaying in the navigation pane a set of navigation icons including an Exsis email icon representing a paid inbox in which the paid emails and the white list emails are displayed and an inbox icon representing a different inbox in which all the other emails which are not the paid emails or the white list emails are displayed;

C) receiving a selection signal when a particular in the navigation pane is selected with the selection device;

D) when the selection signal indicates the Exsis email icon has been selected and another selection signal indicating the logo mail tab has been selected, responding to the selection signals by populating the first pane of the content pane with paid Exsis emails from a current date and populating the second pane with paid Exsis emails from a day before the current date, the paid Exsis emails including in a header of each of the paid Exsis emails, data indicating a micropayment was made for sending the paid Exsis email;

E) when the selection signal indicates said Exsis email icon has been selected and another selection signal indicating the friends tab has been selected, responding to said selection signals by populating the first pane of the content pane with white list Exsis emails from the current date and populating said second pane with white list Exsis emails from the day before the current date, the white list Exsis emails including in a header of each of the white list Exsis emails, data indicating a sender is on a white list of a recipient; and

F) when the selection signal indicates the inbox icon has been selected, responding to said selection signal by displaying a different content pane in which the other emails are displayed, and wherein the other emails have not been not paid for and are not from a particular sender identified within the white list of the recipient.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the following steps carried out in a sender computer coupled to a protected email server and to a recipient computer system via a wide area network (WAN):

G) at the sender computer, receiving data from the sender to compose a proposed email message and receiving a sender command to send the proposed email message to a particular recipient;

H) sending a request message to the protected email server requesting a code in the form of a stemp for inclusion in a header of the proposed email message and passing information with the request message which identifies the sender;

I) at the protected email server, authenticating an identity of the sender using the information from the request message and verifying the sender has an account with sufficient money in the account to pay for the code requested in step H and is not on a black list or an opt out list of the particular recipient or that the sender is on the white list of the recipient;

J) at the protected email server, when conditions in step I are proper to send the proposed email message, the protected email server;

generates a transaction number, encrypts the stemp which contains the identity of the sender and the transaction number, saves an encryption key, deducts an amount of the micropayment from the account of the sender if the sender is not on the white list of the recipient, and sends back to the sender the header with the stemp encoded therein;

K) wherein the protected email server sends the encryption key used in step J and the transaction number generated in step J and sends a Truemark or a generic logo associated with the transaction number, to the recipient computer system operated by the particular recipient;

L) at the sender computer, attaching the header received from the protected email server to the proposed email message and sending the proposed email message to the recipient computer system via the WAN and other normal email sending processes;

M) at the recipient computer system, receiving the encryption key, the transaction number and the Truemark or the generic logo from the protected email server;

N) at the recipient computer, receiving the proposed email message sent by the sender computer, and responding thereto by retrieving the encryption key used to encrypt the stemp and attempting to decrypt the stemp to retrieve the account number and transaction number encrypted therein; and

O) if the stemp decrypts properly and the decrypted transaction number matches the transaction number received from the protected email server, the recipient computer places the proposed email message in a segregated inbox folder and stores an appropriate Truemark or generic logo associated with the transaction number for display when the sender gives another command to display contents of the segregated inbox folder.

14. In a recipient computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of segregating paid emails and white list emails from other emails on the display, the method comprising:

A) displaying a navigation pane and a content pane in a browser or email client application window;

B) retrieving and displaying in the navigation pane a set of navigation icons including a paid email icon representing a segregated inbox in which the paid emails and the white list emails are displayed and an inbox icon representing an inbox in which the other emails that are not the paid emails and are not the white list emails are displayed;

C) receiving a selection signal when a particular icon in the navigation pane is selected with the selection device;

D) when the selection signal indicates the paid email icon has been selected, responding to the selection signal by populating the content pane with selected Exsis emails which include in a header of each said selected Exsis email, data indicating a micropayment was made to send a particular email or which indicates a sender of the particular email is on a white list of a recipient;

E) when the selection signal indicates the inbox icon has been selected, responding to the selection signal by displaying a content pane in which the other emails that are not paid for and are not from a particular sender which is on the white list of the recipient;

F) displaying a user interface mechanism which provides an ability for a user of the recipient computer system to select a particular Exsis email in the segregated inbox and provide an option to give a command to authenticate that particular Exsis email;

G) responding to a given selection of the particular Exsis email and giving of another a command to authenticate the particular Exsis email by preparing and sending an authentication request message to a protected email server which includes at least an encrypted micropayment account number and a transaction number, both the transaction number and the encrypted micropayment account number being extracted from the particular Exsis email via a header associated therewith; and

H) receiving a different message back from the protected email server which includes either an identity of the sender of the particular Exsis email or an indication that the sender is or is not from who it purports to be from.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the following steps carried out in a protected email server coupled to said recipient computer:

I) receiving the authentication request message from the recipient computer containing the encrypted micropayment account number and the transaction number;

J) using the transaction number to look up an encryption key used to encrypt the micropayment account number which was encrypted in a stemp in the header which was sent back to a sender computer which requested a micropayment transaction to send the particular Exsis email;

K) using the encryption key to attempt to decrypt the encrypted micropayment account number received from the recipient computer with the authentication request message;

L) if the encrypted micropayment account number does not decrypt properly, sending a different message to the recipient computer indicating that the Exsis email is not being sent from who it purports to be sent from;

M) if the encrypted micropayment account number does decrypt properly, using the micropayment account number to look up the identity of the sender of the particular Exsis email; and

N) sending an information message to the recipient computer system containing the identity of the sender of the particular Exsis email or containing an indication that the particular Exsis email is authenticated and is being sent from whom it purports to be sent from.

16. In a recipient computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of segregating paid emails and white list emails from other emails on the display, the method comprising:

A) displaying a navigation pane and a content pane in a browser or email client application window;

B) retrieving and displaying in the navigation pane a set of navigation icons including a paid email icon representing a segregated inbox in which the paid emails and the white list emails are displayed and an inbox icon representing an inbox in which the other emails that are not the paid emails and that are not the white list emails are displayed;

C) receiving a selection signal when a particular icon in the navigation pane is selected with the selection device;

D) when the selection signal indicates the paid email icon has been selected, responding to the selection signal by populating the content pane with selected Exsis emails which include a header in each of the selected Exsis emails, data indicating a micropayment was made to send the selected Exsis email or which indicates a sender of the selected Exsis email is on a white list of a recipient;

E) when the selection signal indicates the inbox icon has been selected, responding to the selection signal by displaying a different content pane in which the other emails that have not been paid for and which are not on the white list of the recipient are displayed;

F) displaying a user interface mechanism which provides an ability for a user of a recipient computer system to select a particular Exsis email in the segregated inbox and provide an option to give a command to opt out of receiving any more Exsis emails from a source of the particular Exsis email; and

G) responding to a particular selection of the particular Exsis email and giving of a different command to opt out by preparing and sending an opt out request message to a protected email server which includes at least an encrypted micropayment account number and a transaction number, both the transaction number and the encrypted micropayment account number being extracted from a header of the particular Exsis email.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the following steps carried out in the protected email server coupled to the recipient computer:

H) receiving the opt out request message from the recipient computer containing the encrypted micropayment account number and the transaction number;

I) using the transaction number to look up an encryption key used to encrypt the micropayment account number which was encrypted in a stemp in the header which was sent back to a sender computer and which requested a micropayment transaction to send the particular Exsis email;

J) using the encryption key to attempt to decrypt the encrypted micropayment account number received from the recipient computer with the authentication request message;

K) if the encrypted micropayment account number does not decrypt properly, sending a message to the recipient computer that the particular Exsis email is not being sent from who it purports to be from;

L) if the encrypted micropayment account number does decrypt properly, using the micropayment account number to look up an identity of the sender of the particular Exsis email; and

N) adding the identity of the sender to an opt out list maintained on the protected email server for the recipient of the particular Exsis email.