Process for automatically handling electronic requests for notification of unsolicited commercial email and other service disruptions

• US 8,316,092 B2
• Filed: 12/24/2008
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Corporate Services Group Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Bowie, David J., Buford, John F., Huang, Xiaolan
• Primary Examiner(s): Shingles, Kristie
• Application Number:
  US12/343,693
• Publication Number:
  US 20090106065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,427 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/225
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/32 Holograms used as optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133504 Diffusing, scattering, diffracting elements associated to illuminating devices G02F1/133606
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133553 Reflecting elements associated to illuminating devices G02F1/133605
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133567 on the back side
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1336 Illuminating devices
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133615 Edge-illuminating devices, i.e. illuminating from the side
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133618 for ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133626 providing two modes of illumination, e.g. day-night
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 1/0408 Total internal reflection [TIR] holograms, e.g. edge lit or substrate mode holograms
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A system and method for automatically processing and responding to large volumes of customer requests regarding Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) and other service disruptions. The process combines manual and automated steps, and includes routing, filtering, aggregating, validating, ticketing, custom and automated responses, tracking, analyzing, and closing each validated request. The process can be used by the Customer Support Center (CSC) of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to insure that all complaints are handled successfully, that promotion of complaints is done correctly, that legal aspects of certain criminal or fraud related incidents are handled correctly, and that portions of the processing of complaints are handled automatically.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by way of a computing device, a complaint about an incident on a computer network;

identifying a category of the complaint, the category being at least a security-related complaint;

validating the complaint by determining whether the complaint includes information relating to a source of the complaint;

identifying the source of the complaint;

determining whether the complaint is serious based at least in part on a type of attempted unauthorized access;

sending a message to the source of the complaint when it is determined that the complaint is not serious; and

terminating service to the source of the complaint when it is determined that the complaint is serious.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the complaint is received by an Internet Service Provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the category of the complaint further comprises one of an Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), a forum complaint, and a newsgroup complaint.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the complaint by determining whether the complaint includes source-identifying information relating to the source of the complaint.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the source-identifying information includes at least one of a header portion, a body portion, trace information, and an IP address.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the complaint by determining whether evidence of the incident is attached to the complaint.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating validated complaints for the identified category.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving evidence of the incident attached to the complaint.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether a duplicate complaint exists for a similar incident;

wherein the duplicate complaint and the received complaint each have at least one of;

a similar first line of text in a body of the attached evidence;

a common domain name in a body of the attached evidence;

a common website in a body of the attached evidence; and

a common Internet Protocol (IP) address and timestamp in a body of the attached evidence.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a duplicate complaint exists for a similar incident; and

ticketing the complaint if there is not a duplicate complaint relating to a similar incident.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding the complaint to an existing ticket if there is a duplicate complaint relating to a similar incident.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a warning relating to the service disruption.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the complaint is serious at least in part by determining whether the number of duplicate complaints for the incident reaches a predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising sending the message to the source of the complaint if the number of the duplicate complaints does not meet the predetermined threshold.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising terminating service to the source of the incident if the number of duplicate complaints reaches the predetermined threshold.

16. A system, comprising:

a plurality of computers connected over a network;

a complainant that experiences a service issue;

a service provider that provides service to the complainant via the network, wherein the service provider

receives a complaint from the complainant relating to the service issue,

validates the complaint by determining whether the complaint includes information relating to a source of the complaint,

identifies a source of the service issue,

identifies a category of the complaint, the category being at least a security-related complaint,

determines whether the complaint is serious based at least in part a type of attempted unauthorized access,

when it is determined that the complaint is serious, the service provider terminates service to the source of the service issue,

when it is determined that the complaint is not serious, the service provider

determines whether a duplicate complaint exists,

determines whether a number of the duplicate complaints reaches a predetermined threshold if a duplicate complaint exists, and

terminates service to the source of the service issue if the number of duplicate complaints reaches the predetermined threshold.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the complainant is a customer of the service provider.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the complaint includes attached evidence of the service disruption.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the service provider aggregates a plurality of validated complaints for the identified category.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the service provider tickets the complaint if there is not a duplicate complaint.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the service provider adds the complaint to an existing ticket if there is a duplicate complaint.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the service provider sends a message to the source of the service issue when it is determined that the complaint is not serious and the number of the duplicate complaints does not meet the predetermined threshold.

23. A method comprising:

receiving, by way of a computing device, a complaint from a complainant about an incident on a computer network;

validating the complaint in part by determining whether evidence of the incident is attached to the complaint;

identifying a source of the incident based on the evidence;

identifying a category of the complaint, the category being at least one of an Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) complaint and a security-related complaint;

when the complaint is a security-related complaint, determining whether the complaint is serious based at least in part on a type of attempted unauthorized access;

when the complaint is an Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) complaint, determining whether the complaint is serious by

determining whether a duplicate complaint exists; and

if a duplicate complaint exists, determining whether a number of duplicate complaints for the incident reaches a predetermined threshold; and

terminating service to the source of the incident when it is determined that the complaint is serious.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the duplicate complaint and the received complaint each have at least one of:

a common first line of text in a body of the attached evidence;

a common domain name in a body of the attached evidence; and

a common Internet Protocol (IP) address and timestamp in a body of the attached evidence.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising sending a message to the source of the incident when it is determined that the complaint is not serious, the message including the evidence.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising sending a warning message to the source of the incident when the complaint is an Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) complaint and the number of duplicate complaints does not meet the predetermined threshold.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising ticketing the complaint if there is not a duplicate complaint.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising adding the complaint to an existing ticket if there is a duplicate complaint.

29. The method of claim 23, further comprising aggregating a plurality of validated complaints for the identified category.