System, method, and computer program product for filtering messages and training a classification module
First Claim
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1. A method for filtering messages received by a user, comprising:
- determining, in a message classification module, a score for a received message by analyzing a plurality of portions of a body of the received message, wherein each portion in the plurality of portions is scored with a portion score;
determining a user-defined authoritative status for the received message, wherein step (b) comprises;
(i) determining whether an address associated with a sender of the received message matches an entry on a positive screening list,(ii) assigning a non-spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the address associated with the sender matches an entry on the positive screening list,(iii) storing the received message in a quarantine folder if the address associated with the sender does not match an entry on the positive screening list,(iv) receiving a filtering status indication for the received message,(v) assigning a non-spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the filtering status indication indicates user approval of the message, and(vi) assigning a spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the filtering status indication indicates user disapproval of the message; and
automatically training the message classification module when the score is inconsistent with the user-defined authoritative status.
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Abstract
The present invention provides systems, methods, computer program products, and combinations and subcombinations thereof for filtering received messages. The invention includes a client system having filtering logic, a statistical classifier module, and a classifier database. The classifier module is automatically trained, without manual intervention, when the score generated by the classifier for a received message is inconsistent with a user-defined authoritative status indication. In addition, the classifier module is initialized using user-identified messages in a ratio representative of the ratio of non-spam to spam messages received by the user.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for filtering messages received by a user, comprising:
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determining, in a message classification module, a score for a received message by analyzing a plurality of portions of a body of the received message, wherein each portion in the plurality of portions is scored with a portion score; determining a user-defined authoritative status for the received message, wherein step (b) comprises; (i) determining whether an address associated with a sender of the received message matches an entry on a positive screening list, (ii) assigning a non-spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the address associated with the sender matches an entry on the positive screening list, (iii) storing the received message in a quarantine folder if the address associated with the sender does not match an entry on the positive screening list, (iv) receiving a filtering status indication for the received message, (v) assigning a non-spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the filtering status indication indicates user approval of the message, and (vi) assigning a spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the filtering status indication indicates user disapproval of the message; and automatically training the message classification module when the score is inconsistent with the user-defined authoritative status. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable medium including control logic stored therein, the control logic enabling the filtering of messages received by a user, and the control logic, if executed, causing a processor to perform operations comprising:
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determining, in a message classification module, a score for a received message by analyzing a plurality of portions of a the body of the received message, wherein each portion in the plurality of portions is scored with a portion score; determining a user-defined authoritative status for the received message; determining whether an address associated with a sender of the received message matches an entry on a positive screening list; and assigning a non-spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the address associated with the sender matches an entry on the positive screening list; storing the received message in a quarantine folder if the address associated with the sender does not match an entry on the positive screening list; receiving a filtering status indication for the received message; assigning a non-spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the filtering status indication indicates user approval of the message; assigning a spam user-defined authoritative status for the received message if the filtering status indication indicates user disapproval of the message; and automatically training the classification module when the score is inconsistent with the user-defined authoritative status. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for initializing a statistical classification module in a message filtering system, comprising:
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initializing a spam message classification module, wherein initializing the spam message classification module comprises; receiving a first indication by a message recipient of a set of existing non-spam messages stored for the message recipient and second indication by the message recipient of a set of existing spam messages stored for the message recipient, determining a ratio of the non-spam messages stored for the message recipient to the spam messages stored for the message recipient, training the spam message classification module to recognize spam messages and non-spam messages using a subset of the indicated messages, and removing redundant training information from the spam message classification module; receiving a third indication by the message recipient identifying a received message as spam or non-spam; determining that a spam classification error has occurred if a spam classification generated by the spam message classification module is inconsistent with the third indication; and in response to determining that the spam classification error has occurred, re-training the spam message classification module using the received message.
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23. A method for filtering messages received by a first user, comprising:
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determining whether an address of a sender of a received message matches an entry on a positive screening list of a second human user, wherein the second human user is identified as trusted by the first user; if the address associated with the sender of the received message matches the entry, applying a broad approval process to the received message, wherein each sender address and each recipient address in a header of the received message is added to the positive screening list during the broad approval process; and applying the broad approval process to a subsequently received message if the sender address in the subsequently received message matches an entry on the positive screening list of the second human user. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable medium including control logic stored therein, the control logic enabling the filtering of messages received by a first user, and the control logic, if executed, causing a processor to perform operations comprising:
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determining whether an address of a sender of a received message matches an entry on a positive screening list of a second human user, wherein the second human user is identified as trusted by the first user; applying a broad approval process to the received message, wherein each sender address and each recipient address in a header of the received message is added to the positive screening list during the broad approval process, if the address associated with the sender of the received messages matches an entry on the positive screening list; and applying the broad approval process to a subsequently received message if the sender address in the subsequently received message matches an entry on the positive screening list of the second human user. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for filtering messages received by a user, comprising:
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determining, in a content analysis engine, a score for each received message by analyzing a plurality of portions of a body of each received message, wherein each portion in the plurality of portions is associated with a portion score; determining whether an address associated with a sender of each received message matches an entry on a positive screening list; storing a set of received messages in a quarantine folder if the address associated with the sender of each message in the set of received messages does not match an entry on the positive screening list; and sorting the set of received messages stored in the quarantine folder according to their associated scores. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
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34. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable medium including control logic stored therein, the control logic enabling the filtering of messages received by a user, and the control logic, if executed, causing a processor to perform operations comprising:
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determining a score for each received message by analyzing a plurality of portions of a body of each received message, wherein each portion in the plurality of portions is scored with a portion score; determining whether an address associated with a sender of each received message matches an entry on a positive screening list; storing a set of received messages in a quarantine folder if the address associated with the sender of each message in the set of received messages does not match an entry on the positive screening list; and sorting the set of received messages stored in the quarantine folder according to their associated scores. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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Specification