Self-removing email verified or designated as such by a message distributor for the convenience of a recipient
First Claim
1. A method for use by a distributor to verify that self-removing messages are being used to shift the burden of message removal from a message recipient, the method comprising the steps by or for the distributor of:
- receiving at an intermediate node a message, from an originator other than the distributor, which is intended for a recipient;
determining that the message meets at least one check triggering criterion and should therefore contain a self-removing message indicator; and
checking the message to determine whether the message contains a self-removing message indicator.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for providing email message originators and distributors with default control over message removal at a message recipient'"'"'s location, regardless of whether the message has been opened. For instance, a self-removing message is designated as such by the message'"'"'s originator, and a self-removal enhancement is added to conventional message content before the message is transmitted over a computer network toward one or more recipients. At the recipient'"'"'s location, the message is automatically deleted without additional effort by the recipient, before or after being displayed, according to the originator'"'"'s instructions unless they are overridden by the recipient. ISPs and other message distributors may identify messages that should be self-removing, and make them self-removing if they are not. Thus, the burden of removing unsolicited email messages is transferred from recipients to the system and the message'"'"'s originators and/or to ISPs and other email distributors. Security of messages may also be enhanced.
422 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for use by a distributor to verify that self-removing messages are being used to shift the burden of message removal from a message recipient, the method comprising the steps by or for the distributor of:
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receiving at an intermediate node a message, from an originator other than the distributor, which is intended for a recipient;
determining that the message meets at least one check triggering criterion and should therefore contain a self-removing message indicator; and
checking the message to determine whether the message contains a self-removing message indicator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for removing email messages from a recipient'"'"'s location in response to an instruction from an ISP which is not the originator of the email messages, the method comprising the steps of:
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checking an email message at the recipient'"'"'s location to determine whether it contains a self-removing message indicator inserted by the ISP at an intermediate node indicating that the message is to be deleted automatically; and
automatically removing the email message in response to the indicator if the message contains the indicator. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer network intermediate node, comprising:
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tools for sending and receiving messages through the network, and code configuring the intermediate node for allowing a message distributor to identify at the intermediate node messages that should contain a self-removal enhancement for automatic removal of a copy of the message'"'"'s content, wherein the intermediate node helps shift the burden of removing a message from a message recipient or message originator to the message distributor who is not the message originator. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification