Associating a postmark with a message to indicate trust

• US 7,831,834 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramirez, Joshua Samuel, Hickman, Kenneth Truman, Libbey, Miles Augustus IV
• Primary Examiner(s): Lanier; Benjamin E
• Assistant Examiner(s): ARMOUCHE, HADI S
• Application Number:
  US11/080,734
• Publication Number:
  US 20060206713A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,066 Days
• Field of Search: 713/168, 713/176, 713/166, 726/3, 726/22, 709/206
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability

Abstract

A method and system directed to the communication of the trust characteristics of electronic messages using visual and audio postmarks. The postmarks may represent a particular trust level on a continuum that can range from suspicious to trusted. A message system may determine the baseline trust level of a message and assign a postmark to the message. The postmark can communicate the trust level of the message to a user without requiring the message to be opened or read. In one embodiment of the invention the user can create rules and filters to classify messages by trust level.

Claims

1. A method for indicating a trust level for a message, comprising:

determining a trust characteristic for a received message;

associating a postmark for the determined trust characteristic with the received message;

enabling a display of the postmark along with at least an indication of an unopened representation of the received message, wherein the trust characteristic of the received message is visually determinable by a user before the received message is opened based on the displayed postmark, and wherein the postmark is further displayed with one or more action selectors that enable one or more actions that are assigned to the postmark for handling the received message, based at least on the trust characteristic;

enabling the user to select at least one of the action selectors to execute at least one rule for handling the received message based, in part, on the postmark, wherein the at least one rule is selectable by the user as a default for handling future received messages with the same postmark; and

wherein the postmark is a customized postmark for a particular sender if the received message is from the particular sender, and wherein the customized postmark is a promotional postmark for at least one promotion if the at least one promotion is active for the received message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the postmark includes at least one of a graphic, image, picture, color, text, symbol, animation, cartoon, audio signal, or a movie.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the trust characteristic further comprises employing at least one of anti-spam detection, black lists, green lists, white lists, social networks, contacts, user groups, buddy lists, or DomainKeys.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the trust characteristic includes at least one of a Trusted level that indicates a sender of the received message is safe and content of the received message is safe, a Verified level that indicates a sender of the received message is safe, a General level that indicates that content of the received message is safe, a Bulk level that indicates that content of the received message is spam, or a Suspicious level that indicates that content of the received message is unsafe.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the postmark is customizable by at least one of a user for a particular sender of the received message or a sponsor that is at least a verifiable sender of the received message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule for handling the received message is further based a sender of the received message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule provides for at least one of demoting the trust characteristic, increasing the trust characteristic, discarding the received message based on the sender, and discarding the received message based on the trust characteristic.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule is selectable based on at least one of an action button or a pull-down menu.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule provides for routing the received message to at least one folder.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing at least one alert based on at least one of the trust characteristic and a sender of the received message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one alert includes at least one of an Instant Message (IM), Short Message Service (SMS), and electronic mail (email).

12. A mobile device for representing a trust level for a message, comprising:

a memory for storing instructions; and

a processor for performing actions based at least in part on the stored instructions, including;

determining a trust characteristic for a received message;

associating a postmark for the determined trust characteristic with the received message;

enabling a display of the postmark along with at least an indication of an unopened representation of the received message, wherein the trust characteristic of the received message is visually determinable by a user before the received message is opened based on the postmark, wherein the postmark is further displayed with one or more action selectors that enable one or more actions that are assigned to the postmark for handling the received message, based at least on the trust characteristic, and wherein each of the one or more actions is selectable by the user as a default for handling future received messages with the same postmark; and

wherein the postmark is a customized postmark for a particular sender if the received message is from the particular sender, and wherein the customized postmark is a promotional postmark for at least one promotion if the at least one promotion is active for the received message.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the postmark is displayable prior to the opening of the received message.

14. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the trust characteristic is associated with at least one of the received message'"'"'s content and a sender of the received message.

15. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the postmark is localized to at least one of a user'"'"'s language, location, culture, group, ethnicity, organization, or country.

16. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein determining the trust characteristic further comprises employing at least one of anti-spam detection, black lists, green lists, white lists, social networks, contacts, user groups, buddy lists, and DomainKeys.

17. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the postmark is customizable in view of a promotion that includes at least one of a holiday, season, coupon, contest, announcement, location, sporting event, festival, historical event, or birthday.

18. A server for representing a trust level for a message, comprising:

a memory for storing instructions; and

a processor for performing actions based at least in part on the stored instructions, including;

determining a trust characteristic for a received message;

associating a postmark for the determined trust characteristic with the received message;

enabling a display of the postmark along with at least an indication of an unopened representation of the received message, wherein the trust characteristic of the received message is visually determinable by a user before the received message is opened based on the postmark, wherein the postmark is further displayed with one or more action selectors that enable one or more actions that are assigned to the postmark for handling the received message, based at least on the trust characteristic, and wherein each of the one or more actions is selectable by the user as a default for handling future received messages with the same postmark; and

wherein the postmark is a customized postmark for a particular sender if the received message is from the particular sender, and wherein the customized postmark is a promotional postmark for at least one promotion if the at least one promotion is active for the received message.

19. The server of claim 18, wherein the trust characteristic includes at least one of a Trusted level that indicates a sender of the received message is safe and content of the received message is safe, a Verified level that indicates a sender of the received message is safe, a General level that indicates that content of the received message is safe, a Bulk level that indicates that content of the received message is spam, and a Suspicious level that indicates that content of the received message is unsafe.

20. The server of claim 18, further comprising enabling a user to select at least one rule for handling the received message that is based on at least one of the determined trust characteristic and a sender of the received message.

21. The server of claim 18, further comprising providing at least one alert based on at least one of the trust characteristic and a sender of the received message.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions for performing actions, including:

determining a trust characteristic for a received message;

associating a visual representation of a postmark for the determined trust characteristic with the received message;

enabling a display of the visual representation of the postmark along with at least an indication of an unopened representation of the received message, wherein the trust characteristic of the received message is visually determinable by a user before the received message is opened based on the visual representation of the postmark, wherein the visual representation of the postmark is further displayed with one or more action selectors that enable one or more actions that are assigned to the visual representation of the postmark for handling the received message, based at least on the trust characteristic, and wherein each of the one or more actions is selectable by the user as a default for handling future received messages with the same visual representation; and

wherein the postmark is a customized postmark for a particular sender if the received message is from the particular sender, and wherein the customized postmark is a promotional postmark for at least one promotion if the at least one promotion is active for the received message.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the visual representation is a postmark.

24. A system for managing a trust level for a message over a network, comprising:

a server to perform actions, including

determining a trust characteristic for a received message;

associating a postmark for the determined trust characteristic with the received message; and

a client to perform actions, including;

displaying the postmark along with at least an indication of an unopened representation of the received message, wherein the trust characteristic of the received message is visually determinable by a user before the received message is opened based on the postmark, wherein the postmark is further displayed with one or more action selectors that enable one or more actions that are assigned to the postmark for handling the received message, based at least on the trust characteristic, and wherein each of the one or more actions is selectable by the user as a default for handling future received messages with the same postmark; and

wherein the postmark is a customized postmark for a particular sender if the received message is from the particular sender, and wherein the customized postmark is a promotional postmark for at least one promotion if the at least one promotion is active for the received message.