Method and apparatus for automatically checking E-mail addresses in outgoing E-mail communications

• US 8,239,463 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Malik, Dale W.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US12/014,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20080168147A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,666 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/245
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4555 Directories for electronic mail or instant messaging

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for detecting incorrect e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications. In a first embodiment, a domain name database creates a table of domain names by automatically storing the domain names of e-mail addresses from which incoming e-mails are received. When a user creates an outgoing e-mail communication, the system checks the domain names provided by the user with those domain names stored in the table. If the user-provided domain name does not match any of the domain names in the table, or closely resembles a domain name in the table, the user is prompted to confirm the provided e-mail address. In a second embodiment, e-mail addresses are extracted from incoming e-mail communications and stored in a memory in a client computer e-mail communications system. The system checks the memory for the presence of the e-mail addresses provided in outgoing e-mail communications, and generates a prompt when an e-mail address is not present in the memory.

Claims

1. A method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications prior to transmission by an e-mail communications server, comprising:

checking, at a client computer, if an e-mail address provided in a recipient list of an outgoing e-mail communication is included in a plurality of e-mail addresses from a memory in a personalized address directory of a user before sending the outgoing e-mail communication to the e-mail communications server;

sending the outgoing e-mail communication from the client computer to the e-mail communications server after each e-mail address in the recipient list is checked and the each e-mail address is included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the personalized address directory;

extracting, at the e-mail communications server, domain names in senders'"'"' e-mail addresses from e-mail communications incoming to the e-mail communications server;

storing, at the e-mail communications server, extracted domain names in a domain name database;

receiving, at the e-mail communications server, the outgoing e-mail communication from the client computer;

searching, at the e-mail communications server, the domain name database for domain names spelled similarly to the domain names in e-mail addresses provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communication by checking each alphanumeric character comprised in a domain name of an e-mail address provided in the recipient list with the alpha-numeric characters comprised in the domain names in the domain name database, and detecting when there is at least one but no more than two discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the domain name of the e-mail address; and

generating, at the e-mail communications server, an error prompt upon detecting that the domain name of the e-mail address provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communication is misspelled.

2. The method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications according to claim 1, further comprising determining whether the extracted domain names are already stored in the domain name database, whereby only a single copy of an extracted domain name is stored in the domain name database.

3. The method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications according to claim 2, further comprising storing tally information in the domain name database to tally the frequency in which domain names in the domain name database are extracted from incoming e-mail communications.

4. The method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications according to claim 3, further comprising deleting domain names from the domain name database that are not frequently extracted from incoming e-mail communications according to respective tally information.

5. The method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications according to claim 4, wherein the tally information for each domain name in the domain name database includes the calendar date in which the domain name was most recently extracted.

6. The method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications according to claim 1, wherein the error prompt is an e-mail message from the e-mail communications server to the client computer sending the e-mail communication.

7. The method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications according to claim 1, wherein the error prompt is a network message from the e-mail communications server to the client computer sending the e-mail communication.

9. The method of checking for an incorrect e-mail address according to claim 1, wherein the outgoing e-mail communication is intercepted in the e-mail server to check the domain name in the e-mail address prior to transmission from the e-mail server.

10. The method of checking for an incorrect e-mail address according to claim 9, wherein the second prompt is an e-mail message from the e-mail server to the user.

11. The method of checking for an incorrect e-mail address according to claim 9, wherein the second prompt is a network message to the user.

12. The method of checking for an incorrect e-mail address according to claim 1, further comprising extracting a domain name from each e-mail address provided in the outgoing e-mail communication, wherein the e-mail communication is transmitted after checking each extracted domain name in the list of domain names, and confirming each e-mail address for which the extracted domain name is not included in the list of domain names.

13. The method of checking for an incorrect e-mail address according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a corrected e-mail address from the user in response to the second prompt;

and repeating the checking a corrected domain name and generating a third prompt if the corrected domain name is not included in the list of domain names, until the user either confirms that the domain name provided in the e-mail address is correct or provides a domain name that is in the list of domain names.

8. A method of automatically checking for an incorrect e-mail address in an outgoing e-mail communication, comprising:

storing, at a client computer, a plurality of e-mail addresses in a memory in a personalized address directory of a user;

checking, at the client computer, if an e-mail address provided in a recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communication is included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the personalized address directory of the user before transmission of the outgoing e-mail communication to an e-mail server;

generating, at the client computer, a first prompt for the user to confirm the e-mail address if the e-mail address provided in the recipient list is not included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the personalized address directory of the user;

transmitting the outgoing e-mail communication from the client computer to the e-mail server if the e-mail address provided in the recipient list is included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the personalized e-mail address directory of the user after each e-mail address in the recipient list is checked;

storing, at the e-mail server, a list of domain names in a domain name database, wherein domain names in the list of domain names are extracted from senders'"'"' e-mail addresses from e-mail communications incoming to the e-mail server;

checking, at the e-mail server, if a domain name of the e-mail address provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communication is included in the list of domain names in the domain name database after transmission of the outgoing e-mail communication to the e-mail server, wherein the checking of the domain name of the e-mail address is performed by checking each alphanumeric character comprised in the domain name of the e-mail address with alpha-numeric characters comprised in the domain names in the domain name database, and detecting when there is at least one but no more than two discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the domain name of the e-mail address;

generating, at the e-mail server, a second prompt for the user to confirm the e-mail address if the domain name of the e-mail address is not included in the list of domain names when the discrepancy exists; and

transmitting the outgoing e-mail communication from the e-mail server if the domain name of the e-mail address is included in the list of domain names after the domain name of each e-mail address in the recipient list is checked.

14. An e-mail system for automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications prior to transmission by an e-mail communications server, comprising:

the e-mail communications server comprising;

an interceptor for extracting domain names from sender'"'"'s e-mail addresses provided in incoming e-mail communications and from email addresses in a recipient list provided in outgoing e-mail communications;

a domain name database for storing domain names extracted from the senders'"'"' e-mail addresses in the incoming e-mail communications; and

a domain name checker for searching the domain name database for domain names spelled similarly to domain names extracted from the e-mail addresses provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communications,

wherein the e-mail communications server detects misspelled domain names in the e-mail addresses in the recipient lists of the outgoing e-mail communications by checking each alphanumeric character comprised in an extracted domain name of an e-mail address in the recipient list with alpha-numeric characters comprised in the domain names in the domain name database, and detecting when there is at least one but no more than two discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the extracted domain name of the e-mail address;

an input/output communications interface for receiving the outgoing e-mail communications to be transmitted from client computers and delivering the incoming e-mail communications from a network to the client computers,

wherein the domain name checker generates an error prompt for user when detecting a misspelled domain name exists, which is transmitted from the input/output communications interface to a client computer requesting transmission of the corresponding outgoing e-mail communication; and

a network communications interface for receiving the incoming e-mail communications from the network and sending the outgoing e-mail communications transmitted from the client computer to the network; and

wherein the domain name checker confirms the domain name of each e-mail address provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communications is spelled similarly to the domain names in the domain name database before the outgoing e-mail communications are transmitted from the network communications interface to the network

the client computer comprising;

an input/output interface;

a memory;

a personalized address directory comprising a memory to store a plurality of e-mail addresses which a user may intend to contact;

an email messaging software comprising a checker to check, if an e-mail address provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communication is included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the memory in the personalized address directory of the user before the transmission of the outgoing e-mail communication to the e-mail communications server;

wherein the checker generates a prompt for the user to confirm the e-mail address if the e-mail address provided in the recipient list is not included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the personalized address directory of the user; and

wherein the checker transmits the outgoing e-mail communication to the e-mail communications server if the e-mail address provided in the recipient list is included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the personalized address directory of the user after each e-mail address in the recipient list is checked.