Method and system for filtering electronic messages
First Claim
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1. A method for filtering electronic messages, the method comprising:
- receiving an electronic message from a sender, the electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address;
comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders;
applying a heuristic to the sender'"'"'s address to determine if the sender'"'"'s address is formatted according to a message standard of a messaging medium of transmission through which the electronic message is received in order to make a determination of whether the sender'"'"'s address is valid or invalid;
analyzing the electronic message to determine whether the electronic message includes a first token that indicates that the electronic message is a reply to a first challenge message; and
sending a prompt second challenge message back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is valid and if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders and if the electronic message does not include the first token, wherein the second challenge message includes a prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine and wherein the second challenge message further includes a second token.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method for filtering unsolicited electronic commercial messages. A system and method according to the present invention for screening out unsolicited commercial messages comprises the steps of receiving a message from a sender, sending a challenge back to the sender, receiving a response to the challenge, and determining if the response is a proper response.
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Citations
65 Claims
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1. A method for filtering electronic messages, the method comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address;
comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders;
applying a heuristic to the sender'"'"'s address to determine if the sender'"'"'s address is formatted according to a message standard of a messaging medium of transmission through which the electronic message is received in order to make a determination of whether the sender'"'"'s address is valid or invalid;
analyzing the electronic message to determine whether the electronic message includes a first token that indicates that the electronic message is a reply to a first challenge message; and sending a prompt second challenge message back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is valid and if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders and if the electronic message does not include the first token, wherein the second challenge message includes a prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine and wherein the second challenge message further includes a second token. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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17. A system for filtering electronic messages, the system comprising:
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means for receiving an electronic message from a sender;
means for determining that a return address of the sender is an accepted sender'"'"'s address;
means for sending a prompt back to the sender if the return address is not an accepted sender'"'"'s address, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address;
comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders;
applying a heuristic to the sender'"'"'s address to determine if the sender'"'"'s address is formatted according to a message standard of a messaging medium of transmission through which the electronic message is received to make a determination of whether the sender'"'"'s address is valid or invalid;
analyzing the electronic message to determine whether the electronic message includes a first token that indicates that the electronic message is a reply to a first challenge message, sending a prompt second challenge message back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is valid and if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders and if the electronic message does not include the first token, wherein the second challenge message includes a prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine and wherein the second challenge message further includes a second token. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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30. A method for filtering electronic messages, the method comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the message including a sender'"'"'s address field containing an address of the sender;
comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders;
applying a heuristic to the sender'"'"'s address to determine if the sender'"'"'s address is formatted according to a message standard of a messaging medium of transmission through which the electronic message is received to make a determination of whether the sender'"'"'s address is valid or invalid; sending a challenge back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is valid and if the sender'"'"'s address is not in the list of accepted senders, wherein the challenge is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine, the challenge including a prompt and a legal notice designed to be answered by a person and not a machine. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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a) receiving a first electronic message from a sender, the first electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address;
b) comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders;
c) comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of blocked senders;
d) applying a heuristic to the sender'"'"'s address to determine if the sender'"'"'s address is formatted according to a message standard of a messaging medium of transmission through which the first electronic message is received in order to make a determination of whether the sender'"'"'s address is valid or invalid;
e) analyzing the first electronic message to determine whether the first electronic message is properly addressed to one or more recipients in at least one recipient designation;
f) analyzing the first electronic message to determine whether the first electronic message includes a first token that indicates that the first electronic message is a reply to a challenge message;
g) sending a challenge message back to the sender via the sender'"'"'s address if;
the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of blocked senders, the sender'"'"'s address is valid, the first electronic message is properly addressed to one or more recipients in at least one recipient designation, and the first electronic message does not include the first token, wherein the challenge message includes a prompt designed to be answered by a person and not a machine and wherein the challenge message further includes a second token;
h) receiving a second electronic message from the sender that includes the second token, the second electronic message including an answer to the prompt in the challenge message;
i) analyzing the answer to the prompt to determine whether the answer to the prompt is correct;
k) sending the second electronic message to a message folder accessible by a user to view the second electronic message; and
j) automatically adding the sender'"'"'s address to the list of accepted senders when the answer to the prompt in the challenge message is correct. - View Dependent Claims (65)
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Specification