Signature generation using message summaries

• US 20080021969A1
• Filed: 09/20/2007
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SonicWALL, Inc. (SonicWall Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Brian, Koblas, David, Oliver, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,112,486 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages

Abstract

Systems and methods for processing a message are provided. A message may be processed to generate a message summary by removing or replacing certain words, phrases, sentences, punctuation, and the like. Message signatures based upon the message summary may be generated and stored in a signature database, which may be used to identify and/or classify spam messages. Subsequently received messages may be classified by signature and processed based on classification.

Claims

1. A method for processing electronic-mail messages, the method comprising:

removing one or more non-useful words from a message, the message having previously been classified as an unsolicited message;

replacing one or more remaining words in the message with an associated canonical equivalent to generate a resulting summary;

generating a signature based on the resulting summary;

classifying a subsequently received message based on the signature; and

processing the subsequently received message based on the classification of the subsequently received message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-useful words comprise redundant words.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-useful words comprise groups of stop words.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-useful words comprise punctuation, tabs, and blank lines.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the associated canonical equivalent comprises an identifier identifying a list of one or more equivalent words.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising correcting any incorrectly spelled words in the message prior to removing the one or more non-useful words.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking words in the resulting summary, after the resulting summary is generated, based on at least a probability that the words occur in unsolicited messages.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking words in the resulting summary, after the resulting summary is generated, based on at least a probability the words occur in natural language.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the signature is generated using a transform function.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a plurality of signatures in a database.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of signatures are formatted using extensible markup language (XML).

12. A method for processing electronic-mail messages, the method comprising:

identifying one or more non-useful words in a message;

removing the one or more non-useful words from the message to generate a resulting summary;

classifying the message based on at least the resulting summary; and

processing the message based on at least the classification of the message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein classifying the message based on at least the resulting summary comprises:

generating one or more signatures based on at least the resulting summary; and

classifying the message based on the one or more signatures.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein classifying the message comprises determining whether the message is an unsolicited message.

15. A system for processing a message comprising:

a message gateway including a summarization and signature generation engine, the summarization and signature engine configured to generate a resulting summary from an unsolicited message and to generate one or more signatures based on at least the resulting summary;

a database configured to store information concerning the one or more signatures; and

a server configured to process subsequently received messages based on at least signature information generated by the message gateway and stored in the database.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the summarization and signature engine is further configured to identify useful words and non-useful words in the message.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the summarization and signature engine is further configured to remove the non-useful words from the message.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the message gateway is further configured to identify canonical equivalents for the useful words in the message.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the database is further configured to store information concerning a plurality of signatures, the plurality of signatures being generated based on a plurality of message summaries.

20. A message gateway, comprising:

a summarization and signature generation engine configured to;

identify useful words and non-useful words in the message,

remove the non-useful words from the message,

generate a resulting summary from the message, and

generate one or more signatures based on at least the resulting summary; and

a network interface configured to transmit a signature generated by the summarization and signature engine to a database for storing signatures for use by a mail server in processing subsequently received messages.

21. A message gateway, comprising:

a summarization and signature generation engine configured to;

identify useful words and non-useful words in the message,

remove the non-useful words from the message, and

generate a resulting summary from the message; and

a network interface configured to consult a database and classify the message based on at least the resulting summary and information from the database.

22. A computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for processing a message, comprising:

removing one or more non-useful words from a message, the message having previously been classified as an unsolicited message;

replacing one or more remaining words in the message with an associated canonical equivalent to generate a resulting summary;

generating a signature based on the resulting summary;

classifying a subsequently received message based on the signature; and

processing the subsequently received message based on the classification of the subsequently received message.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the program further comprises executable instructions for storing information concerning a plurality of signatures in a database, the plurality of signatures being generated based on a plurality of message summaries.