System for selective delivery of electronic communications
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- receiving electronically a communication having associated trace data;
parsing the received communication to determine a sender electronic address associated with the received communication;
determining if the trace data associated with the received communication is valid;
transmitting a request to the sender electronic address to authenticate an origin of the received communication in response to a determination that the trace data is not valid;
storing the communication electronically until a response to the request to authenticate is received from the sender electronic address;
determining, in response to the request to authenticate being returned from the sender electronic address as undeliverable, a reason that the request to authenticate was undeliverable and delivering the received communication to the recipient electronic address if the reason the request to authenticate was returned as undeliverable indicates that the sender electronic address is associated with a legitimate entity; and
wherein determining the reason that the request to authenticate was undeliverable includes determining whether the request to authenticate was undeliverable due to an error, lack of disk space, server malfunction, or network malfunction.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for selective delivery of electronic communications to reduce the amount of unwanted email (spam) that is received. An electronic message is not delivered to a recipient until the sender address is verified. If the address is not verified, it can be compared to a database that includes known spammers. Also, records of spamming and forged emails can be compiled and forwarded to an enforcement agency.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving electronically a communication having associated trace data; parsing the received communication to determine a sender electronic address associated with the received communication; determining if the trace data associated with the received communication is valid; transmitting a request to the sender electronic address to authenticate an origin of the received communication in response to a determination that the trace data is not valid; storing the communication electronically until a response to the request to authenticate is received from the sender electronic address; determining, in response to the request to authenticate being returned from the sender electronic address as undeliverable, a reason that the request to authenticate was undeliverable and delivering the received communication to the recipient electronic address if the reason the request to authenticate was returned as undeliverable indicates that the sender electronic address is associated with a legitimate entity; and wherein determining the reason that the request to authenticate was undeliverable includes determining whether the request to authenticate was undeliverable due to an error, lack of disk space, server malfunction, or network malfunction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An article of manufacture including a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:
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determining whether associated trace data and a sender electronic address data associated with a received electronic communication are valid; transmitting a request to the sender electronic address to authenticate the origin of the sender electronic address, in response to a determination that the trace data is invalid; delivering the received electronic communication to a recipient electronic address in response to a returned request to authenticate that is returned as undeliverable, the returned undeliverable request to authenticate including information that identifies the sender electronic address as a legitimate entity; and determining a reason that the request to authenticate was returned as undeliverable, the reason including at least one of a lack of disk space, a server malfunction, or a network malfunction. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus comprising:
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a receiver to receive an electronic communication from a sender electronic address, the received electronic communication having associated trace data; a processor, coupled to the receiver, configured to determine whether the sender electronic address and the associated trace data are valid, and in response to a determination that the trace data is not valid, generate a request for authentication to authenticate the origin of the received communication; and a transmitter to transmit the request for authentication to the sender electronic address, and to deliver the received electronic communication to a recipient electronic address in response to the apparatus receiving a response to the request for authentication, the response indicating the request to authenticate was undeliverable and that the sender electronic address is associated with a legitimate entity; and wherein the processor is further configured to determine a reason the response was undeliverable, the reason being one or more of;
lack of memory space was available at the sender electronic address, a server malfunction occurred, or a network malfunction occurred. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification