Electronic mail system with functionality to include both private and public messages in a communication

• US 7,730,142 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Appriver Canada, ULC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: 0733660 Bc Ltd.
• Inventors: Astudillo, Esteban, McLean, Matt, Chen, Kung Ming, LeVasseur, Thierry, Rasmussen, Jeremy, Houg, Derek
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Nghi V
• Application Number:
  US11/427,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005714A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,432 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/68 Special signature format, e.g. XML format
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 : the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 : above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/306 : intercepting packet switched data communications, e.g. Web, Internet or IMS communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3213 : using tickets or tokens, e.g. Kerberos network architectures or network communication protocols for entities authentication using tickets in a packet data network H04L63/0807
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 : involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 : involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

An e-mail system is disclosed that overcomes many deficiencies of, but is backward compatible with, existing e-mail systems. Embodiments of the system may include various features, including but not limited to: (1) secure transfer of e-mail messages, without the need for users to replace existing e-mail clients or to change e-mail addresses; (2) tracking of all actions performed in connection with an e-mail transmission; (3) the ability for a recipient to view information about an e-mail message, optionally including information about how other addressees have responded to it, before deciding whether to retrieve the e-mail message; (4) the aggregation of entire e-mail conversations into a single threaded view; (5) the ability to include both private and public messages in a single e-mail communication; (6) sender control over downstream actions performed in connection with an e-mail message; (7) flexible control over cryptographic methods used to encrypt emails messages for storage.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing different versions of an e-mail message to different recipients, the method comprising:

receiving an e-mail message composed by a sender on a sender computing device, said e-mail message being addressed to at least a first recipient and a second recipient, wherein the e-mail message includes a non-private text message portion that is not private to any particular recipient, and includes a private text message portion that is private to the first recipient, and where the e-mail message has a sender-specified policy regarding tracking of metadata;

securely transferring the e-mail message to a server system, and storing the e-mail message on the server system such that both the non-private and private text message portions are stored in association with a common message identifier;

sending a first notification message including a first message key to the first recipient at a first recipient e-mail client;

sending a second notification message including a second message key to the second recipient at a second recipient e-mail client;

receiving and authenticating a first recipient e-mail address and the first message key from the first recipient e-mail client;

providing the first recipient e-mail client access to retrieve the non-private text message portion and the private text message portion of the e-mail message from the server system via a secure HTTPS communications protocol responsive to the authenticating of the first e-mail address and the first message key;

receiving and authenticating a second e-mail address and the second message key from the second recipient e-mail client;

if the sender-specified policy enables e-mail message tracking for the second recipient e-mail client, sending e-mail message tracking metadata to the second recipient e-mail client indicating retrieval of the e-mail message by the first recipient; and

providing the second recipient e-mail client restricted access to retrieve the non-private text message portion responsive to the authenticating of the second e-mail address and the second message key.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of securely transferring the e-mail message to the server system is performed with an e-mail client plug-in running on the sender computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the e-mail client plug-in blocks an ordinary transmission of the e-mail message from the sender computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of securely transferring the e-mail message to the server system is performed via a web-based e-mail interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises communicating the e-mail message from the sender computing device, via the server system, to at least the first recipient without using a store-and-forward model.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of access to the first recipient e-mail client to retrieve the non-private and private text message portions includes presenting the non-private and private text message portions to the first recipient in a single logical e-mail message.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving reply messages from at least some of the recipients, and storing the reply messages on the server system in association with the common message identifier.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising representing the reply messages collectively as a single inbox entry presented to the sender.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising combining the reply messages into a single logical e-mail message presented to the sender.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-private text message portion of the e-mail message is presented in a common tab of a sender'"'"'s user interface, and wherein the private text message portion of the e-mail message is presented in a recipient-specific tab of the sender'"'"'s user interface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a reply message from the first recipient is presented in the recipient-specific tab of the sender'"'"'s user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying to the second recipient, the e-mail message tracking metadata indicating that the first recipient e-mail client has retrieved the non-private text message portion.