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Method and apparatus for selective E-mail processing

  • US 8,621,020 B2
  • Filed: 06/19/2012
  • Issued: 12/31/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2004
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method for routing electronic mail to a plurality of message transfer agents, each message transfer agent having a respective amount of resources that configures a message transfer agent to a performance level associated with a level of trust, the method comprising:

  • receiving electronic mail traffic from a network source address;

    comparing the network source address to a stored list of network addresses;

    in response to determining that the network source address appears in the stored list of network addresses;

    determining a level of trust associated with the network source address;

    selecting a first message transfer agent of the plurality of message transfer agents based on the level of trust, each of the plurality of message transfer agents having a respective amount of resources that configures each message transfer agent to a performance level associated with a respective level of trust, androuting the electronic mail traffic to the first message transfer agent; and

    in response to determining that the network source address does not appear in the stored list of network addresses;

    assigning a particular level of trust to the network source address based on the electronic mail traffic and a threshold and a percentage of unknown recipients associated with previous traffic from the network source address;

    selecting a second message transfer agent of the plurality of message transfer agents based on the particular level of trust; and

    routing the electronic mail traffic to the second message transfer agent.

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