Method, system and program product for verifying an attachment file within an e-mail

• US 8,375,098 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2011
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carro, Fernando Incertis
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ashok
• Assistant Examiner(s): GOLDBERG, ANDREW C
• Application Number:
  US13/073,287
• Publication Number:
  US 20110173284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/10 with dictation recording and playback systems

Abstract

System, method and program product for managing a file attached to an e-mail. The attached file'"'"'s file name is obtained. A voice message file address is received and encoded into a modified address to comply with file naming rules of a recipient computer. A composite file name results from inserting the modified address into the attached file'"'"'s file name and is displayed in the e-mail. The recipient computer extracts the modified address from the composite file name in the e-mail and decodes the modified address to obtain the voice message file address. Using the voice message file address, the recipient computer requests and receives the voice message file. The voice message is analyzed and verified prior to accessing the attached file. Verifying the voice message includes comparing a voice of the voice message to a voice signature.

Claims

1. A method of managing a first file attached to an e-mail, the first file having a file name, the method comprising the steps of:

a first computer determining the file name of the first file attached to the e-mail, the e-mail being addressed to a recipient utilizing a second computer;

the first computer sending a second file including a voice message to a third computer, the voice message including a description of contents of the first file;

responsive to the first computer sending the second file to the third computer, the first computer receiving from the third computer an address of the second file, the address indicating a location at which the second file is stored;

the first computer modifying the address of the second file to comply with a set of rules for naming files in a file system of the second computer;

the first computer modifying the file name of the first file attached to the e-mail by enclosing the modified address between a first delimiter and a second delimiter and inserting the enclosed modified address into the file name, the first file having remained attached to the e-mail from the step of determining the file name up to and including the step of modifying the file name; and

the first computer sending to the second computer the e-mail with the modified file name to indicate to the recipient that the first file is associated with the voice message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of inserting the enclosed modified address into the file name includes inserting the enclosed modified address in front of an extension dot of the file name.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the address of the second file includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the second file, and wherein the step of modifying the address of the second file includes modifying the URL by:

replacing a colon character in the URL with a first set of one or more replacement characters, and

replacing a forward slash character in the URL with a second set of one or more replacement characters, wherein the first set of one or more replacement characters is different from the second set of one or more replacement characters, and wherein the enclosed modified address includes the first set of one or more replacement characters and the second set of one or more replacement characters.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the address of the second file includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the second file, wherein the step of modifying the address of the second file includes modifying the URL by replacing a set of characters in the URL with one or more replacement characters, wherein the set of characters includes a sequence of three characters :

//, and wherein the enclosed modified address includes the one or more replacement characters.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice message further includes an indication of an author or an originator of the first file.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sending the e-mail with the modified file name includes sending the e-mail with an icon adjacent to the modified file name, and wherein the modified file name and adjacent icon indicate the first file is an attachment to the e-mail.

7. A computing system comprising a processor, a computer-readable, tangible storage device, a computer-readable memory unit, and a software application stored in the computer-readable, tangible storage device, the software application comprising instructions when executed by the processor via the memory unit implement the method of claim 1.

8. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable, tangible storage device and computer-readable program code stored on the computer-readable, tangible storage device, the computer-readable program code when executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of a first computer implementing a method of managing a first file attached to an e-mail, the first file having a file name, the method comprising the steps of;

determining the file name of the first file attached to the e-mail, the e-mail being addressed to a recipient utilizing a second computer;

sending a second file including a voice message to a third computer, the voice message including a description of contents of the first file;

responsive to sending the second file to the third computer, receiving from the third computer an address of the second file, the address indicating a location at which the second file is stored;

modifying the address of the second file to comply with a set of rules for naming files in a file system of the second computer;

modifying the file name of the first file attached to the e-mail by enclosing the modified address between a first delimiter and a second delimiter and inserting the enclosed modified address into the file name, the first file having remained attached to the e-mail from the step of determining the file name up to and including the step of modifying the file name; and

sending to the second computer the e-mail with the modified file name to indicate to the recipient that the first file is associated with the voice message.

9. The program product of claim 8, wherein the step of inserting the enclosed modified address into the file name includes inserting the enclosed modified address in front of an extension dot of the file name.

10. The program product of claim 8, wherein the address of the second file includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the second file, and wherein the step of modifying the address of the second file includes modifying the URL by:

replacing a colon character in the URL with a first set of one or more replacement characters, and

replacing a forward slash character in the URL with a second set of one or more replacement characters, wherein the first set of one or more replacement characters is different from the second set of one or more replacement characters, and wherein the enclosed modified address includes the first set of one or more replacement characters and the second set of one or more replacement characters.

11. A method of authenticating a first file attached to an e-mail, the method comprising the steps of:

a computer receiving the e-mail with the first file attached thereto, wherein the e-mail includes a modified file name of the first file, the modified file name including an original file name of the first file and an encoded address of a second file inserted into the original file name, the modified file name further including a first delimiter and a second delimiter enclosing the encoded address, the first file having remained attached to the e-mail from a determination of the original file name up to and including a generation of the modified file name, wherein the encoded address is a string of characters that complies with a set of rules for naming files in a file system of the computer;

the computer extracting the encoded address from the modified file name;

the computer decoding the encoded address to identify an address of a second file including a voice message, the voice message including a description of contents of the first file;

the computer sending a request to fetch the second file from a computing data storage device, wherein the request includes the identified address of the second file;

responsive to the step of sending the request to fetch the second file, the computer receiving the second file; and

the computer sending to a recipient of the e-mail, the voice message included in the second file.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

prior to any access of the first file by the recipient, the computer verifying that the voice message includes a voice of a sender of the e-mail based on a voice signature of the sender; and

based on the verified voice message, the computer initiating a display of the first file.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of verifying includes:

the computer downloading a voice authentication program and the voice signature of the sender; and

the computer executing the voice authentication program to compare characteristics of the voice included in the voice message to the voice signature.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of decoding the encoded address includes:

the computer determining a first set of one or more characters in the encoded address is associated with a second set of one or more characters included in the address of the second file based on a table of lexicographic transformations; and

in response to the step of determining the first set of one or more characters in the encoded address is associated with the second set of one or more characters, the computer replacing the first set of one or more characters in the encoded address with the second set of one or more characters included in the address of the second file, wherein the first set of one or more characters complies with a set of rules for naming files in a file system of the computer, and wherein the second set of one or more characters does not comply with the set of rules for naming files.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second set of one or more characters complies with a set of rules for naming a Uniform Resource Locator address.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of the computer determining the encoded address is included in the modified file name, wherein the step of extracting is performed automatically in response to the step of determining the encoded address is included in the modified file name.

17. A computing system comprising a processor, a computer-readable, tangible storage device, a computer-readable memory unit, and a software application stored in the computer-readable, tangible storage device, the software application comprising instructions when executed by the processor via the memory unit implement the method of claim 11.

18. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable, tangible storage device having a computer-readable program code stored therein, the computer-readable program code containing instructions that are carried out by a processor of a computer system to implement the method of claim 11.