Addressee-defined mail addressing system and method

• US 7,428,576 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2001
• Issued: 09/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hoshiko LLC (Raoul Management LLC)
• Inventors: Shuster, Brian Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Refai; Ramsey
• Application Number:
  US09/860,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20020023135A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,687 Days
• Field of Search: 709202-206, 709/228
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A mail delivery system and method utilize unique delivery addresses, each for a corresponding addressee, and addressee-controlled delivery codes. Each delivery code is embedded in a message address but is distinct from the unique root delivery address for the addressee. Mail that bears an address that includes an embedded valid delivery code is delivered and optionally sorted according to the code. Mail that lacks an embedded delivery code is segregated as lacking a valid code. Addressees of the system may define any number of delivery codes and may invalidate delivery codes as desired.

Claims

1. A method for disposition of mail comprised of a plurality of pieces, the method comprising the steps of:

reading an address associated with a piece of the plurality of pieces, wherein the address comprises a root delivery address of an addressee for the piece and a delivery code defined by the addressee;

providing the delivery code in a return-address field of outgoing mail as distinct from and prefixed to the root delivery address so that the delivery code appears as a dot-separated prefix to the root delivery address in a subdivided SMTP address necessary for specifying an electronic mail account;

determining whether the address comprises a valid delivery code; and

disposing of the piece based on a result of the determining step, wherein the piece is segregated from mail bearing any valid delivery code if the address does not comprise a valid delivery code and the piece is delivered to the addressee if the address comprises a valid delivery code.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said reading step further comprises reading the piece of the plurality of pieces comprised of an electronic message delivered over a computer network.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said reading step further comprises reading the piece of the plurality of pieces comprised of an email message.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising organizing the piece in a directory of received mail according to the delivery code.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing the addressee with an option to define a plurality of valid delivery codes comprising the delivery code.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising providing the addressee with an option to invalidate any of the plurality of valid delivery codes that have been defined by the addressee.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising dispatching the plurality of pieces of mail by repeating said reading step, said determining step, and said disposing step in sequence for each of the plurality of pieces of mail.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising organizing at least selected ones of the plurality of pieces of mail in a directory according to a plurality of delivery codes defined by the addressee.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said disposing step further comprises discarding the piece without delivering to the addressee if the address does not contain the valid delivery code.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising automatically notifying a sender of the piece that the piece is not addressed with a valid delivery code defined by the addressee.

11. A system for delivering email messages, the system comprising:

a computer connected to a network and operable to send and receive the email messages to and from the network;

a memory connected to the computer; and

an application stored in the memory and operable with the computer to perform functions of;

reading an address associated with a message of the email messages, wherein the address comprises a root delivery address of an individual addressee for the message and a delivery code defined by the addressee;

providing the delivery code in a return-address field of outgoing mail as distinct from and prefixed to the root delivery address so that the delivery code appears as a dot-separated prefix to the root delivery address in a subdivided SMTP address necessary for specifying an electronic mail account;

determining whether the address comprises a valid delivery code; and

disposing of the message based on a result of the determining step, wherein the message is segregated from mail bearing any valid delivery code if the address does not comprise a valid delivery code and the message is delivered to the addressee if the address comprises a valid delivery code.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the application is further operable to perform the function of reading the piece of the plurality of pieces comprised of an electronic message delivered over a computer network.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the application is further operable to perform the function of reading the piece of the plurality of pieces comprised of an email message.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the application is further operable to perform a function of organizing the piece in a directory of received mail according to the delivery code.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the application is further operable to perform a function of providing the addressee with an option to define a plurality of valid delivery codes comprising the delivery code.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the application is further operable to perform the function of providing the addressee with an option to invalidate any of the plurality of valid delivery codes that have been defined by the addressee.

17. The system according to claim 11, wherein the application is further operable to perform the functions of dispatching the plurality of pieces of mail by repeating said reading step, said determining step, and said disposing step in sequence for each of the plurality of pieces of mail.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the application is further operable to perform the function of organizing at least selected ones of the plurality of pieces of mail in a directory according to a plurality of delivery codes defined by the addressee.

19. The system according to claim 11, wherein the application is further operable to perform the function of discarding the piece without delivering to the addressee if the address does not contain the valid delivery code.

20. The system according to claim 11, wherein the application is further operable to perform the function of automatically notifying a sender of the piece that the piece is not addressed with a valid delivery code defined by the addressee.