Method, apparatus and system for regulating electronic mail

• US 9,626,655 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2005
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Haff, Maurice W., Fahey, Christopher S., Curtis, Daniel B., Larson, Michael J., Clarke, Christopher D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Parry, Chris
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chou, Alan S
• Application Number:
  US11/058,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20050193075A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,444 Days
• Field of Search: 709206, 12585, 12 58, 12581
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263

Abstract

A Postal Authority regulated e-Mail messaging application is provided over a public network to a plurality of mailers and addressees using authenticated transaction records. The application transmits at least one e-Mail message through at least one e-Mail account configured for a specific class of service. The application creates transaction records relevant to the specific class of service based upon details of completed transactions. Electronic postmarks are obtained to authenticate transaction records. Authenticated transaction records are sent to the mailer. A unique identifier of an electronic postmark is embedded in the e-Mail message. The e-Mail message incorporating the unique identifier is sent to at least one addressee. Authenticated e-Mail messages and transaction records are created and protected from undetectable modification.

Claims

1. A method for processing an electronic mail message (“

email”

), comprising;

receiving, at a computing device, the email, the email being transmitted from an electronic device;

generating, by the computing device, a transaction record relevant to a specific class of service of the email based upon details of a transaction associated with the email;

receiving, by the computing device, an electronic postmark, the electronic postmark configured to authenticate the transaction record resulting in an authenticated transaction record;

adding, by the computing device, a unique identifier of the electronic postmark to the email;

transmitting the email, including the unique identifier, from the computing device;

transmitting the authenticated transaction record from the computing device to the electronic device, the authenticated transaction record being transmitted to confirm the delivery of the email, including a confirmation of restricted delivery of the email to an addressee, the delivery of the email to the addressee configured to provide a notification of the email via a notice;

receiving, by the computing device, the digitally signed notice via an electronic universal reference locator-type link in the notice; and

delivering, by the computing device, a key to the addressee, the key configured to facilitate opening of the email.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, the authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier;

submitting the received authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier to a verifier device; and

receiving details of a verification of the authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier from the verifier device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selectively accepting the email at a recipient device according to a presence of the unique identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein an identity associated with the mailer device is verified by one of a postal authority and an agent of the postal authority.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is the electronic postmark.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is a serial number of the electronic postmark.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is a graphical image in which the electronic postmark is embedded using stegonography.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction record is a certificate of mailing attesting to delivery of the email to an email server unassociated with the mailer device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction record is a certificate of delivery attesting to delivery of the email to an email server associated with the recipient device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said adding the unique identifier to the email includes:

embedding the authenticated transaction record into the email.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the authenticated transaction record in conjunction with the email to another recipient device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

electronically signing by the computing device the email using a digital certificate.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said adding the unique identifier to the email is performed by mail filter invoked from a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) mail server.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said adding the unique identifier to the email includes:

embedding the unique identifier into multiple emails.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

sending the email, including the unique identifier, from the computing device to multiple recipient devices.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the computing device, a waybill that includes a listing of multiple emails to be delivered to the recipient device; and

sending, from the computing device to the recipient device, the waybill before the sending of the email from the computing device to the recipient device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a mailer simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) mail terminal server.

18. A system for processing an electronic mail message (“

email”

), comprising;

a memory device to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions stored in the memory device to;

receive an email that was transmitted from an electronic device;

create a transaction record associated with a class of service of the email based upon details of a transaction associated with the email;

receive an electronic postmark to authenticate the transaction record;

add a unique identifier of the electronic postmark to the email, the electronic postmark configured to authenticate the transaction record resulting an authenticated record;

transmit the email including the unique identifier; and

transmit the authenticated transaction record to the electronic device, the authenticated transaction record being transmitted to confirm the to delivery of the email, including a confirmation of restricted delivery of the email to an addressee, the delivery of the email to the addressee configured to provide a notification of the email via a notice, the notice configured to receive a digital signature from the addressee resulting in a digitally signed notice;

receive the digitally signed notice via an electronic universal reference locator-type link included in the notice; and

deliver a key to the addressee, the key configured to facilitate opening the email.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to:

receive the authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier;

submit the received authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier to a verifier device; and

receive details of a verification of the authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier from the verifier device.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein a recipient device is configured to selectively accept the email at the recipient device according to a presence of the unique identifier.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein an identity associated with the electronic device is verified by one of a postal authority or an agent of the postal authority.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the unique identifier is the electronic postmark.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the unique identifier is a serial number of the electronic postmark.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the unique identifier is a graphical image in which the electronic postmark is embedded using stegonography.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the transaction record is a certificate of mailing attesting to delivery of the email to an email server unassociated with the electronic device.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the transaction record is a certificate of delivery attesting to delivery of the email to an email server associated with a recipient device.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to:

embed the authenticated transaction record into the email.

28. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to:

transmit the authenticated transaction record in conjunction with the email to a recipient device.

29. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to:

electronically sign the email using a digital certificate.

30. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to add the unique identifier to the email by invoking a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) mail server.

31. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to add the unique identifier to the email by embedding the unique identifier into multiple emails.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to:

send the email, including the unique identifier, from the computing device to multiple recipient devices.

33. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory device further to:

generate a waybill that includes a listing of multiple emails to be delivered to a recipient device;

transmit, to the recipient device, the waybill before transmitting the email from the computing device to the recipient device.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instruction which cause a computing device to perform operations, comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, an email that was transmitted from an electronic device

creating a transaction record relevant to a specific class of service of the email based upon details of a transaction associated with the email;

receiving, by the computing device, an electronic postmark, the electronic postmark to authenticate the transaction record resulting in an authenticated transaction record;

adding, by the computing device, a unique identifier of the electronic postmark to the email; and

transmitting the email, including the unique identifier from the computing device; and

transmitting the authenticated transaction record from the computing device to the electronic device, the authenticated transaction record being transmitted to confirm the delivery of the email, including a confirmation of restricted delivery of the email to an addressee, the delivery of the email to the addressee configured to provide a notification of the email via a notice, the notice configured to receive a digital signature from the addressee resulting in a digitally signed notice;

receiving, by the computing device, the digitally signed notice via an electronic universal reference locator-type link in the notice; and

delivering, by the computing device, a key to the addressee, the key to facilitate opening of the email.

35. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the computing device, the authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier;

submitting the received authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier to a verifier device; and

receiving details of a verification of the authenticated transaction record or the unique identifier from the verifier device.

36. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the operations further comprise:

selectively accepting the email at a recipient device according to a presence of the unique identifier.

37. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein an identity associated with the electronic device is verified by one of a postal authority or an agent of the postal authority.

38. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the unique identifier is the electronic postmark.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the unique identifier is a serial number of the electronic postmark.

40. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the unique identifier is a graphical image in which the electronic postmark is embedded using stegonography.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the transaction record is a certificate of mailing attesting to delivery of the email to an email server unassociated with the electronic device.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the transaction record is a certificate of delivery attesting to delivery of the email to an email server associated with a recipient device.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the adding the unique identifier to the email includes:

embedding the authenticated transaction record into the email.

44. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting the email, including the unique identifier, from the computing device to multiple recipient devices.

45. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the operations further comprise:

electronically signing by the computing device the email using a digital certificate.

46. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the operations further comprise:

invoking a mail filter as a simple mail transport protocol (SMTP) mail server application.

47. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the adding the unique identifier to the email includes:

embedding the unique identifier into multiple emails.

48. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 47, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting the email, including the unique identifier, from the computing device to multiple recipient devices.

49. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating, by the computing device, a waybill that includes a listing of multiple emails to be delivered to a recipient device;

sending, from the computing device to the recipient device, the waybill before transmitting the email from the computing device to the recipient device.