System and method for sorting e-mail

• US 7,580,984 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2006
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Malik, Dale W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Quang N.
• Application Number:
  US11/554,459
• Publication Number:
  US 20080120379A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/203, 709/206, 709/207, 709/225, 709/238, 709/245, 707/10, 705/401
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system for intelligently sorting e-mail comprises a client which downloads e-mails from a server. Prior to presenting the e-mails to the user, the client sorts the e-mail into classifications based upon whether the e-mail is from a personal contact, i.e. someone that that the user knows, whether the e-mail is from a commercial vendor from whom the user has indicated that he or she wishes to accept commercial e-mail, or whether the e-mail is from an unknown source. The client presents the e-mails to the user in these classifications.

Claims

1. A method of sorting e-mail, comprising:

receiving an e-mail from an e-mail source;

identifying whether the e-mail has a vendor registration code for identifying a vendor from whom the e-mail was forwarded;

determining a source category of the e-mail by matching the e-mail source to an associated source category from a plurality of source categories, wherein each source category identifies related e-mail sources, the e-mail sources belonging to the same source category related to each other by a shared characteristic other than unwanted e-mail being delivered from the e-mail sources;

downloading from a database server the plurality of source categories associated with the e-mail sources;

when the e-mail has a vendor registration code that was previously assigned by a recipient to the e-mail source, presenting the e-mail with other e-mails received from sources having vendor registration codes; and

when the e-mail does not have a valid vendor registration code, presenting the e-mail grouped together with other e-mails determined to be in the same source category, adding information about vendor registration codes to the e-mail and returning the e-mail to the e-mail source;

wherein the information about the vendor registration codes includes instructions on how to register to obtain a vendor registration code.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of presenting the e-mail with other e-mails having vendor registration codes further comprises presenting the e-mail with other e-mails having the same vendor registration code and a vendor registration purpose code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying whether the e-mail has a registration code further comprises identifying the username from which the e-mail was forwarded and the source of the e-mail.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying whether the username and source identify a valid contact; and

when the username and source identify a valid contact, presenting the e-mail with other emails having a username and source identifying a valid contact.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein an e-mail source is determined by a domain associated with the e-mail.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating periodically from a database server the plurality of source categories associated with e-mail sources.

7. A system for sorting e-mails, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, wherein the processor is operable to;

receive an indication that an e-mail has been received from an e-mail source;

identify whether the e-mail has a vendor registration code for identifying a vendor from whom the e-mail was forwarded;

determine a source category of the e-mail by matching the e-mail source to an associated source category from a plurality of source categories, wherein each source category identifies related e-mail sources, the e-mail sources belonging to the same source category related to each other by a shared characteristic other than unwanted e-mail being delivered from the e-mail sources;

download from a database server the plurality of source categories associated with the e-mail sources;

when the e-mail has a vendor registration code that was previously assigned to the e-mail source, presenting the e-mail with other e-mails that have vendor registration codes; and

when the e-mail does not have a valid vendor registration code, presenting the e-mail together with other e-mails determined to be in the same source category, adding information about vendor registration codes to the e-mail and returning the e-mail to the e-mail source;

wherein the information about the vendor registration codes includes instructions on how to register to obtain a vendor registration code.

8. A computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for performing a method of sorting e-mails, the method comprising:

receiving an e-mail from an e-mail source;

identifying whether the e-mail has a vendor registration code for identifying a vendor from whom the e-mail was forwarded;

determining a source category of the e-mail by matching the e-mail source to an associated source category from a plurality of source categories, wherein each source category identifies related e-mail sources, the e-mail sources belonging to the same source category related to each other by a shared characteristic other than unwanted e-mail being delivered from the e-mail sources;

when the e-mail has a vendor registration code that was previously assigned to the e-mail source, presenting the e-mail with other e-mails received from sources having vendor registration codes; and

when the e-mail does not have a valid vendor registration code, presenting the e-mail together with other e-mails determined to be in the same source category, adding information about vendor registration codes to the e-mail and returning the e-mail to the e-mail source;

wherein the information about the vendor registration codes includes instructions on how to register to obtain a vendor registration code.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising parsing the e-mail to identify at least one of the following:

a username from whom the e-mail was forwarded; and

a source from which the e-mail was forwarded.