System and method for knock notification to an unsolicited message

• US 20040254990A1
• Filed: 06/13/2003
• Published: 12/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Mittal, Ajay
• Application Number:
  US10/461,566
• Publication Number:
  US 20040254990A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A system and method is directed to providing a knock notification in response to a message from an unknown sender. The method includes maintaining a data store of message senders that an end-user has identified as an allowed sender. A received message is evaluated to determine whether its sender is an allowed sender. If the sender is an allowed sender, the received message is forwarded to the end-user. If it is determined that the sender is an unknown sender, a knock notification message is generated. In one embodiment, the knock notification message includes the information about the sender and a mechanism to enable the end-user to allow/disallow the sender. If the end-user disallows the sender, the received message is discarded. Information associated with the disallowed sender is included in a data store for disallowed senders. The end-user may review and revise the data stores of allowed and disallowed senders.

Claims

1. A method of managing delivery of a message, comprising:

receiving the message from a sender;

forwarding the received message to a destination when the sender is allowed;

discarding the received message when the sender is disallowed; and

forwarding a knock notification message to another destination when the sender is unknown.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a response to the knock notification message;

determining when the response indicates the unknown sender is allowed, and when unknown sender is allowed, forwarding the received message to the destination; and

determining when the response indicates the unknown sender is disallowed, and when the unknown sender is disallowed, discarding the received message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein discarding the received message further comprises, updating a disallowed senders'"'"' data store to include information associated with the unknown sender.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein forwarding the received message further comprises, updating an allowed senders'"'"' data store to include information associated with the unknown sender.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the received message to the destination further comprises, forwarding the received message to an email inbox.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the knock notification message to another destination further comprises, forwarding the knock notification message to an email knock folder.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the knock notification message further comprises at least one of information associated with the sender of the received message, and a mechanism to select at least one of an allow, and a disallow of the received message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is an electronic mail message.

9. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for managing delivery of a message, comprising:

a mail delivery component for receiving the message from a sender and sending the message to an end-user; and

a knock manager component coupled to the mail delivery component, that is arranged to perform actions, including;

forwarding the received message to a end-user when the sender is an allowed sender;

discarding the received message when the sender is a disallowed sender; and

forwarding a knock notification message to the end-user when the sender is an unknown sender.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a response to the knock notification message from the end-user;

determining when the response indicates the unknown sender is allowed, and when the unknown sender is allowed, forwarding the received message to the end-user; and

determining when the response indicates the unknown sender is disallowed, and when the unknown sender is disallowed, discarding the received message.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein discarding the received message further comprises, updating a disallowed senders'"'"' data store to include information associated with the sender.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein forwarding the received message further comprises, updating an allowed senders'"'"' data store to include information associated with the sender.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the mail delivery system includes at least one of a Post Office Protocol (POP) server, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) server, cc:

Mail, Microsoft Mail, Professional Office System (PROFS), and a Distributed Office Support System (DISOSS).

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein forwarding the received message to the end-user further comprises forwarding the received message to an email inbox associated with the end-user.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein forwarding the knock notification message to the end-user further comprises forwarding the knock notification message to an email knock folder associated with the end-user.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the knock notification message further comprises at least one of information associated with the sender of the received message, and a mechanism to select at least one of an allow, a disallow of the received message, and a view of at least a portion of the received message.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the knock notifier further comprises:

an allowed senders'"'"' data store configured to retain information associated with an allowed sender; and

a disallowed senders'"'"' data store configured to retain information associated with a disallowed sender.

18. A system for managing a delivery of a message, comprising:

a mail delivery component configured to receive the message from a sender and to send the message to an end-user; and

a knock manager component, coupled to the mail delivery component, that is configured to perform actions, including;

receiving the message from the mail delivery component;

forwarding the received message to an end-user when the sender is an allowed sender;

discarding the received message when the sender is a disallowed sender; and

forwarding a knock notification message to the end-user when the sender is an unknown sender.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein forwarding the received message to the end-user further comprises forwarding the received message to an email inbox associated with the end-user.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein forwarding the knock notification message to the end-user further comprises forwarding the knock notification message to an email knock folder associated with the end-user.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the knock notification message further comprises at least one of an identity associated with the sender, and a mechanism to select at least one of an allow, and a disallow of the received message.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein forwarding the knock notification message further comprises generating the knock notification message based in part on information associated with the sender.

23. An apparatus for managing a delivery of a message, comprising:

means for receiving the message;

means for transmitting the message to a destination;

means for forwarding the message to the destination based in part on whether the sender of the message is an allowed sender;

means for discarding the message based in part on whether the sender of the message is a disallowed sender;

means for generating a knock notification message based in part on whether the sender of the message is an unknown sender;

means for receiving a response to the knock notification message;

means for forwarding the received message when the response indicates the unknown sender is allowed; and

means for discarding the received message when the response indicates the unknown sender is disallowed.