Electronic mail system with pre-message-retrieval display of message metadata

• US 7,870,205 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 01/11/2011
• 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:
  US11/427,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005716A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,656 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 method of collaboratively filtering e-mail messages, comprising:

receiving, at an e-mail service of a server system from a sender that is registered with the e-mail service, an e-mail message addressed to a plurality of recipients, the sender being different than the plurality of recipients;

sending notification messages from the server system to each of the recipients regarding the e-mail message prior to a retrieval of the e-mail message, the notification messages including information for retrieving the e-mail message from the server system;

sending the e-mail message to at least one of the recipients that is registered with the e-mail service;

monitoring, at the server system, actions performed by the at least one of the recipients in connection with the e-mail message;

generating dynamic metadata indicating the performing of said actions by the at least one of the recipients in connection with the e-mail message;

storing the dynamic metadata at the server system; and

selectively communicating the dynamic metadata to another recipient that has been registered with the e-mail service and that has not yet retrieved the e-mail message, based on permissions of the e-mail message, to assist said other recipient in determining whether to retrieve the e-mail message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic metadata reflects how other recipients have rated the e-mail message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic metadata indicates at least one of the following:

(1) how many of the recipients have retrieved the e-mail message, (2) how many of the recipients have explicitly declined to retrieve the e-mail message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic metadata indicates how many of the recipients have replied to the e-mail message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic metadata indicates how many of the recipients have forwarded the e-mail message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification messages are sent via an account of a sender of the e-mail message, such that the notification messages appear to the recipients to come from the sender.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising encrypting the e-mail message on the server system in response to receipt thereof, and storing the encrypted e-mail message on the server system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating the e-mail message via the server system to the at least one of the recipients without using a store-and-forward model.

9. An e-mail system that operates according to the method of claim 1.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing access to the sender to a delivery slip including the dynamic metadata so that the sender can monitor at least some of the actions performed by recipients in connection with the e-mail message, wherein the delivery slip also includes modifiable message options such that the sender can modify the message options after receiving of the e-mail message from the sender at the server system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the message options indicate actions that are allowable by at least some of the recipients in connection with the e-mail message.

12. A computer-implemented method of securely transferring an e-mail message addressed to at least one recipient, the method comprising:

sending the e-mail message from a sender computing device to a server system for storage on the server system, the sender computing device being associated with a sender that is registered with an e-mail service of the server system;

sending a notification message from the server system to an e-mail address of a first recipient, said notification message including a message key associated with the e-mail message for accessing the e-mail message, and said notification message lacking at least some message content of the e-mail message;

on a first recipient computing device associated with the first recipient, retrieving the e-mail message from the server system if the first recipient is registered with the e-mail service;

on a second recipient computing device associated with a second recipient that is registered with the e-mail service, prior to retrieving the e-mail message, using the message key as obtained from the notification message to retrieve, from the server system, e-mail message metadata indicating performance of actions by the first recipient of the e-mail message in connection with the e-mail message; and

displaying the e-mail message metadata on the second recipient computing device to assist the second recipient in determining whether to retrieve the e-mail message from the server system.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising encrypting the e-mail message on the sender computing device, such that the e-mail message is sent from the sender computing device to the server system in an encrypted form.

14. The method of claim 12, where the step of using the message key to retrieve the e-mail message metadata comprises using an HTTPS protocol to retrieve the e-mail message metadata.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the e-mail message metadata includes information about how one or more other recipients of the e-mail message, including the first recipient, have rated the e-mail message.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the e-mail message metadata indicates how many other addressees of the e-mail message, including the first recipient, have retrieved the e-mail message.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the e-mail message metadata indicates how many other addressees of the e-mail message, including the first recipient, have replied to the e-mail message.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the e-mail message metadata includes a result of at least one virus scan of the e-mail message.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the e-mail message metadata includes a result of at least one virus scan performed by the first recipient computing device.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising presenting an option on the second recipient computing device for the second recipient to retrieve updated e-mail message metadata for the e-mail message, such that the second recipient can retrieve and view new metadata that becomes available.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of sending the e-mail message to the server system is performed by an e-mail client plug-in that runs on the sender computing device, said e-mail client plug-in configured to intercept the e-mail message as the e-mail message is sent via an e-mail client program.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising blocking, via the e-mail client plug-in, an ordinary transmission of the e-mail message from the sender computing device.

23. The method of claim 12, wherein the steps of retrieving the e-mail message metadata and displaying the e-mail message metadata on the second recipient computing device are performed via execution, by the second recipient computing device, of an e-mail client plug-in that augments functionality of an e-mail client.

24. The method of claim 12, wherein the steps of retrieving the e-mail message metadata and displaying the e-mail message metadata on the second recipient computing device are performed via a web-based e-mail interface.

25. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing reply messages from a plurality of recipients of the e-mail message, including the first recipient and the second recipient, on the server system, and automatically combining the plurality of reply messages into a single logical e-mail message for presentation.

26. The method of claim 12, wherein the server system verifies access rights of the second recipient computing device prior to sending the e-mail message metadata to the second recipient computing device.

27. The method of claim 12, further comprising communicating the e-mail message from the sender computing device to the first recipient computing device via the server system without using a store-and-forward model.

28. A computer-implemented method of securely transferring an e-mail message addressed to a plurality of recipients, the method comprising:

receiving, at an e-mail service of a server system, the e-mail message from a sender computing device of a sender that is registered with the e-mail service;

sending a first notification message lacking at least some of the e-mail message to a recipient computing device of a first one of the plurality of recipients that is registered with the e-mail service, the first notification message including a message key for providing access to the e-mail message;

sending the e-mail message to the first one of the plurality of recipients;

generating e-mail message metadata based on an action, by the first one of the plurality of recipients, in connection with the e-mail message;

sending a second notification message including the e-mail message metadata to a second one of the plurality of recipients to assist the second one of the plurality of recipients in deciding whether or not to retrieve the e-mail message; and

providing access to the sender computing device to a delivery slip that includes the e-mail message metadata so that a sender of the e-mail message can monitor actions performed by the plurality of recipients in connection with the e-mail message, wherein the delivery slip also includes modifiable message options such that the sender can modify the message options after receiving of the e-mail message from the sender computing device at the server system.

29. The method of claim 28, where the action by the first one of the plurality of recipients is one or more of a retrieval of the e-mail message, a forwarding of the e-mail message, and a rating of the e-mail message.