Email analysis using fuzzy matching of text

• US 20050262210A1
• Filed: 03/09/2005
• Published: 11/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gozoom.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Mailshell, Inc.
• Inventors: Yu, Tony
• Granted Patent: US 7,644,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

Translation of text or messages provides a message that is more reliably or efficiently analyzed for purposes as, for example, to detect spam in email messages. One translation process takes into account statistics of erroneous and intentional misspellings. Another process identifies and removes characters or character codes that do not generate visible symbols in a message displayed to a user. Another process detects symbols such as periods, commas, dashes, etc., interspersed in text such that the symbols do not unduly interfere with, or prevent, a user from perceiving a spam message. Another process can detect use of foreign language symbols and terms. Still other processes and techniques are presented to counter obfuscating spammer tactics and to provide for efficient and accurate analysis of message content. Groups of similar content items (e.g., words, phrases, images, ASCII text, etc.) are correlated and analysis can proceed after substitution of items in the group with other items in the group so that a more accurate detection of “sameness” of content can be achieved. Dictionaries are used for spam or ham words or phrases. Other features are described.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing character codes in text, the method comprising:

parsing the character codes;

determining that a character code would create an undesirable message image when the character codes are displayed; and

processing the character code to produce translated text.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing the translated text to determine if a message is spam.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the character code includes:

deleting the character code.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

deleting a whitespace character code.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the whitespace character code includes a character code for a space.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the character code includes a character code for a period.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein a character code is determined not to produce a character substantially visible to a human viewer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the character code produces a character of substantially the same color as a background color upon which the character will be displayed.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the character code produces a character of substantially the same shape as a character represented by a different character code.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the character code includes substituting the character code.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

substituting a character code that produces a symbol similar to an English letter for a character code the produces the similar English letter.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

substituting multiple character codes.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

replacing character codes for ASCII art with a character code for a letter.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reading a dictionary of words for translation; and

using the dictionary to determine a process to perform on the character code.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reading a dictionary of valid words; and

using the dictionary to determine a process to perform on the character code.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accepting a signal from a user input device;

using the signal to determine a process to perform on the character code.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

using the signal to determine a degree of matching a word containing the character code to a reference word.

18. An apparatus for analyzing character codes in text, the apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a machine-readable medium including instructions executable by the processor for parsing the character codes;

determining that a character code would create an undesirable message image when the character codes are displayed; and

processing the character code to produce translated text.

19. A computer-readable medium including instructions executable by a processor for analyzing character codes in text, the computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions for parsing the character codes;

one or more instructions for determining that a character code would create an undesirable message image when the character codes are displayed; and

one or more instructions for processing the character code to produce translated text.

20. An apparatus for analyzing character codes in text, the apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a machine-readable medium including instructions executable by the processor for parsing the character codes;

determining that a character code would create an undesirable message image when the character codes are displayed; and

processing the character code to produce translated text.