FEDERATED CHALLENGE CREDIT SYSTEM

• US 20100138444A1
• Filed: 12/08/2009
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Landsman, Richard M., Goldman, Phillip Y., Goldman, Susan Rayl, Sullivan, Timothy T., Logue, Jay D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,371 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods for reducing the number of challenge messages that are sent in response to an incoming message in situations where the incoming message is likely not unsolicited. The systems and methods include evaluating the behavior of a sender with regard to one or more federated messaging services and determining if the sender is approved or unapproved. If the sender is approved, the incoming message is deliver to a recipient'"'"'s inbox without issuing a challenge message. Unapproved senders are required to respond to a challenge message.

Claims

1-15. -15. (canceled)

16. In a network including two or more electronic message systems capable of receiving electronic messages, a system comprising:

a server associated with a first electronic message system, the server comprising a behavioral evaluation module configured to perform at least one of;

storing behavioral information about one or more senders that transmit incoming messages to the first electronic message system on a database associated with the server,

sharing behavioral information on one or more senders with a second electronic message system,

comparing the behavior of a particular sender against behavior that is considered indicative of an unsolicited sender, wherein a sender that is considered unsolicited is an unapproved sender and a sender that is not considered unsolicited is an approved sender,

communicating with a challenge/response module associated with a recipient'"'"'s inbox to prevent a challenge message from being sent to an approved sender and allowing delivery of an incoming message from an approved sender to the recipient'"'"'s inbox, and

communicating with a challenge/response module associated with a recipient'"'"'s inbox to initiate a challenge message in response to an incoming message from an unapproved sender.

17. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein sharing behavioral information on one or more senders with a second electronic message system comprises sending behavioral information stored on the database associated with the server to the second electronic message system.

18. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein sharing behavioral information on one or more senders with a second electronic message system comprises sending behavioral information stored on the database associated with a server with which both the first and second electronic message system can access information.

19. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein comparing the behavior of a particular sender against behavior that is considered indicative of an unsolicited sender comprises determining a number of incoming messages that a sender transmits to all of the one or more electronic messaging services.

20. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein comparing the behavior of a particular sender against behavior that is considered indicative of an unsolicited sender comprises comparing a flag generated by each electronic messaging service for that particular sender to indicate whether the sender is provisionally approved or unapproved.

21-27. -27. (canceled)

28. In a network including two or more electronic message systems capable of receiving electronic messages, a system comprising:

a first server associated with a first electronic message system identified by a first domain name, the first server comprising a behavioral evaluation module configured to;

store behavioral information about one or more senders that transmit incoming messages to the first electronic message system on a database associated with the first server,

share behavioral information on one or more senders with a second server associated with a second electronic message system identified by a second domain name that is different than the first domain name,

issue a request for behavioral information about a particular sender to the second server, the request including a federated token that allows the second server to respond to the request for the behavioral information about the particular sender without initiating a filter mechanism,

compare behavior of the particular sender against behavior that is considered indicative of an unsolicited sender, wherein a sender that is considered unsolicited is an unapproved sender and a sender that is not considered unsolicited is an approved sender,

communicate with a filter mechanism associated with a recipient'"'"'s inbox to prevent the filter mechanism from being initiated and allowing delivery of an incoming message from an approved sender to the recipient'"'"'s inbox, and

communicate with the filter mechanism associated with a recipient'"'"'s inbox to initiate the filter mechanism in response to an incoming message from an unapproved sender.

29. The system as recited in claim 28, further comprising the second server associated with the second electronic message system.

30. The system as recited in claim 29, wherein:

the second server is only associated with the second electronic message system;

or

the second server serves as a central repository for behavioral information from servers associated with two or more electronic message systems, including the second electronic message system.

31. The system as recited in claim 28, wherein, prior to comparing behavior of the particular sender against behavior that is considered indicative of an unsolicited sender, the behavioral evaluation module is further configured to receive a response containing behavioral information for at least the particular sender.

32. A method comprising:

storing behavioral information about one or more senders that transmit incoming messages to a first electronic message system on a database associated with a first server, the first server being associated with the first electronic message system and the first electronic message system being identified by a first domain name;

sharing behavioral information on one or more senders with a second server associated with a second electronic message system identified by a second domain name that is different than the first domain name;

comparing behavior of a particular sender against behavior that is considered indicative of an unsolicited sender, wherein a sender that is considered unsolicited is an unapproved sender and a sender that is not considered unsolicited is an approved sender;

communicating with a filter mechanism associated with a recipient'"'"'s inbox to prevent the filter mechanism from being initiated and allowing delivery of an incoming message from an approved sender to the recipient'"'"'s inbox; and

communicating with the filter mechanism associated with a recipient'"'"'s inbox to initiate the filter mechanism in response to an incoming message from an unapproved sender.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising receiving behavioral information for at least the particular sender from the second server.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein comparing behavior of a particular sender against behavior that is considered indicative of an unsolicited sender comprises at least one of:

comparing a number of messages that the particular sender has transmitted to at least the first electronic messaging system and the second electronic messaging system against a predetermined threshold number;

comparing a change in the number of messages that the particular sender has transmitted to at least the first electronic messaging system and the second electronic messaging system from a previous state to a present state against a predetermined threshold change number;

evaluating a binary indicator from each of the first electronic message system and the second electronic message system, each binary indicator representing whether the particular sender is provisionally approved or unapproved at a corresponding one of the first electronic message system or the second electronic message system;

or

evaluating a score from each of the first electronic message system and the second electronic message system, each score representing a confidence level of the first electronic message system or the second electronic message system regarding the particular sender.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein receiving behavioral information for at least the particular sender from the second server comprises at least one of:

receiving behavioral information for only the particular sender;

or

receiving behavioral information for any sender who has sent electronic messages to the second electronic messaging system has changed since the most recent transmission of behavioral information from the second server to the first server.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising storing the behavioral information received from the second server for the particular sender on the database associated with the first server.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the behavioral information for at least the particular sender received from the second server is embedded in an incoming message from the particular sender.

38. The method of claim 32, further comprising, issuing a request for behavioral information about the particular sender to the second server, the request including a federated token that allows the second server to respond to the request for the behavioral information about the particular sender without initiating a filter mechanism.

39. A method comprising:

receiving, from a first sender, an incoming message at a first server associated with a first electronic messaging system identified by a first domain name;

issuing a request for behavioral information about the first sender to a second server associated with at least a second electronic messaging system, the second electronic messaging system being identified by a second domain name that is different than the first domain name of the first electronic messaging system, wherein the request includes a federated token that allows the second server to respond to the request for the behavioral information without issuing a challenge to the first server;

receiving a response containing behavioral information for at least the first sender from the second server;

applying predetermined criteria to pre-existing behavioral information for the first sender and the behavioral information received in the response to determine if the first sender is approved or unapproved;

sending the incoming message directly to a recipient'"'"'s inbox if the first sender is determined to be approved; and

initiating a filter mechanism if the first sender is determined to be unapproved.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the behavioral information for at least the particular sender received from the second server is embedded in an incoming message from the particular sender.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein initiating a filter mechanism if the first sender is determined to be unapproved includes initiating a challenge message to the first sender if the first sender is determined to be unapproved.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein applying predetermined criteria to pre-existing behavioral information for the first sender and the behavioral information received in the response to determine if the first sender is approved or unapproved includes at least one of:

determining a number of electronic messages the first sender sends in a given time period;

determining an amount of time required to generate each electronic message;

determining a time of day that each electronic message is sent;

determining a variation in content from one electronic message to the next;

or

identifying characteristics that suggest the incoming message was generated by a person.