Spam filtering and person profiles

• US 9,866,509 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2015
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo Holdings, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Adam Michael, Jacobson, Joshua Robert Russell, Kobashikawa, Brian Tadao, Thatcher, Gregory Garland
• Primary Examiner(s): Dailey, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US14/876,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20160028674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Systems and methods to reduce false positives in spam filtering. In one aspect, a method includes automatically generating profiles for persons identified in messages, such as incoming and outgoing e-mails. Messages flagged as spam can be checked against the profile to identify false positives.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

ranking a plurality of persons to determine a respective relevancy score for each of the persons, each of the persons having previously sent a message to a user, wherein the respective relevancy score for each person is increased when the user has moved at least one message from the person to a folder;

determining, by at least one processor, at least one false positive spam message from a first set of messages classified as spam, the determining the at least one false positive spam message comprising determining whether a body of a first message to the user includes an address for a first person of the plurality of persons, wherein the first person is not a sender of the first message, the first message comprises the body and an address field for the sender, and the relevancy score of the first person is higher than a threshold;

automatically adjusting the threshold based on a number of the at least one false positive spam message; and

causing identification of the at least one false positive spam message for the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scanning a second set of messages to generate a plurality of profiles for the plurality of persons, each of the persons associated with at least one of the second set of messages, and the profiles including a first profile comprising a first address and an alternate address;

wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises determining that;

a message was previously received from the first address, and the user previously sent a message to the alternate address.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining a relevancy score for each of the first set of messages, and wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises using the relevancy score of a message in the first set of messages.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first set of messages is a subset of the second set of messages.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining the relevancy score for each of the first set of messages comprises increasing a relevancy score for a message from a first sender when the user has moved a prior message from the first sender.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises determining if a relevancy score of a sender is higher than a threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises determining if a message was sent to a person other than the user, the person having a relevancy score higher than a threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a set of addresses, and wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises comparing sender addresses of the first set of messages with the set of addresses to select the at least one false positive spam message.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a set of addresses, and wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises comparing recipient addresses of the first set of messages with the set of addresses to select the at least one false positive spam message when at least one recipient address is in the set of addresses.

10. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to;

rank a plurality of persons to determine a respective relevancy score for each of the persons, each of the persons having previously sent a message to a user;

determine a relevancy score for each of a first set of messages classified as spam, wherein a relevancy score of a first message from a sender is increased when the user has moved at least one prior message from the sender to a folder;

determine at least one false positive spam message from the first set of messages, the determining the at least one false positive spam message comprising determining whether a body of a message includes an address for a first person of the plurality of persons, wherein the relevancy score of the first person is higher than a threshold, and the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises using the relevancy score of the first message; and

cause identification of the at least one false positive spam message for the user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to:

scan messages to generate a plurality of profiles for persons, the persons including the first person, the profiles including a first profile comprising a first address and an alternate address;

wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises determining that;

a message was previously received from the first address, and the user previously sent a message to the alternate address.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to automatically adjust the threshold based on a number of the at least one false positive spam message.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a computing system to:

rank a plurality of persons to determine a respective relevancy score for each of the persons, each of the persons having previously sent a message to a user, wherein the respective relevancy score for each person is increased when the user has moved at least one message from the person to a folder;

determine, by at least one processor, at least one false positive spam message from a first set of messages classified as spam, the determining the at least one false positive spam message comprising determining whether a body of a message includes an address for a first person of the plurality of persons, wherein the relevancy score of the first person is higher than a threshold; and

cause identification of the at least one false positive spam message for the user.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing system to store a set of addresses, and wherein the determining the at least one false positive spam message further comprises comparing recipient addresses of the first set of messages with the set of addresses to select the at least one false positive spam message when at least one recipient address is in the set of addresses.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing system to automatically adjust the threshold based on a number of the at least one false positive spam message.