Filtered email differentiation

• US 7,610,341 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2003
• Issued: 10/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Daniell, W. Todd
• Primary Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US10/686,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20050097174A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,205 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/207, 709/246, 709/224, 715/523, 715/526
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for removing an undesired email message. Some embodiments comprise providing detection mechanisms for detecting undesired email messages from an email service of a user. Accordingly, a user interface may be provided to display an identification of an undesired email message in a particular visual manner that is associated with a particular detection mechanism. Other systems and methods are also provided.

Claims

1. An email system for providing email service to a user, comprising:

a computer device of the user configured with a plurality of detection mechanisms that detect undesired email messages that have been received by the user from an email server,

the computer device configured to tag a received email message with a marker indicating that that the email message is addressed to a child user,

the computer device further configured to tag a received email message with a marker indicating that an email message was detected by a particular detection mechanism as being undesired;

a user interface installed on the computer device and configured to visually represent a plurality of mail folders associated with a plurality of users that access email messages using the user interface, the plurality of users comprising at least the child user and the user designated to regulate the child user'"'"'s access to his or her undesired email messages, the plurality of mail folders comprising at least an inbox folder for the child user and an inbox folder and an undesired mail folder for the user, wherein undesired email messages for the child user are represented as being located in the user'"'"'s undesired mail folder; and

a display device coupled to the computer device, the user interface configured to visually represent that a particular undesired email message was detected using a particular detection mechanism, wherein each of the detection mechanisms is represented using a different visual representation on the display device and the user interface upon detecting a drag and drop operation to move an email message from an inbox folder of the user to a designated folder where the undesired email messages are stored prompts for the moved email message to be marked as a type of undesired email message that is associated with one of the detection mechanisms,

the user interface further configured to visually represent in the undesired mail folder of the user an undesired email message intended for the child user having both a child marker and a distinct marker of a particular detection mechanism in a different manner than undesired email messages intended for the user having only the distinct marker for the particular detection mechanism.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes a mechanism that refuses to detect an email message if the sender of the email message is on a list of senders authorized by the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes a mechanism that detects an email message if the sender of the email message is on a list of unauthorized senders.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes a mechanism that detects an email message if the email message contains a textual content string that is on a list of unauthorized textual content strings.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms include a mechanism that is configured to:

analyze the overall content of previous email messages that have been detected; and

detect an email message if the content of the message is similar to the overall content of the previous messages.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms include:

a first detection mechanism that detects an email message if the sender of the email message is not on a list of senders authorized by the user;

a second detection mechanism that detects an email message if the sender of the email message is on a list of unauthorized senders;

a third detection mechanism that detects an email message if the email message contains a textual content string that is on a list of unauthorized textual content string; and

a fourth detection mechanism that is configured to;

analyze the overall content of previous email messages that have been detected;

compare the content of an email message to the overall content and assign a score reflective of a level of similarity for the email message; and

detect the email message if the score is higher than a designated score.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular undesired email message is, within an email identification list, visually represented using a particular color that is associated with the particular detection mechanism, wherein the particular color is different from another color that is associated with another detection mechanism.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular undesired email message is, within an email identification list, visually represented using a particular lettering style that is associated with the particular detection mechanism, wherein the particular lettering style is different from another lettering style that is associated with another detection mechanism.

9. A system for providing email service, comprising:

means for providing a plurality of detection mechanisms that detect undesired email messages at a user'"'"'s computing device that receives the email messages from an email server;

means for designating an email message as being undesirable according to a particular detection scheme;

means for marking the email message at the user'"'"'s computing device with a particular identifier of the particular detection scheme, the means for marking the email message further configured to mark a received email message intended for a child user with a marker indicating that that the email message is addressed to the child user; and

means for displaying a plurality of mail folders associated with a plurality of users that access email messages, the plurality of users comprising at least the child user and the user designated to regulate the child user'"'"'s access to his or her undesired email messages, the plurality of mail folders comprising at least an inbox folder for the child user and an inbox folder and an undesired mail folder for the user, wherein undesired email messages for the child user are represented as being located in the user'"'"'s undesired mail folder; and

a display device coupled to the user'"'"'s computing device, the means for displaying further configured to display the email message at the display device of the user'"'"'s computing device with the particular identifier in a particular visual manner that is associated with the particular identifier, wherein each of the detection mechanisms is represented using a different visual representation and the user'"'"'s computing device upon detecting a drag and drop operation to move an email message from the inbox folder of the user to a designated folder of the user where the undesired email messages are stored prompts for the moved email message to be marked as a type of undesired email message that is associated with one of the detection mechanisms, wherein the means for displaying is further configured to detect an embedded child marker and visually represent undesired email messages of the child user in the undesired mail folder of the user in a different manner than undesired email messages of the user in the undesired mail folder of the user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes a means for detecting of an email message from a sender that is not on a list of senders authorized by the user.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes a means for detecting an email message from a sender that is on a list of unauthorized senders.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes a means for detecting an email message that contains a textual content string that is on a list of unauthorized textual content strings.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes a means for detecting an email message that has content that matches a designated level of overall content of previous messages that were determined to be undesirable.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of detection mechanisms includes:

means for detecting an email message from a sender that is not on a list of senders authorized by the user;

a means for detecting an email message from a sender that is on a list of unauthorized senders;

a means for detecting an email message that contains a textual content string that is on a list of unauthorized textual content strings; and

means for detecting an email message that has content that matches a designated level of overall content of previous messages that were determined to be undesirable.

15. A method for providing email service, comprising:

displaying a plurality of mail folders associated with a plurality of users that access email messages at a user'"'"'s computing device, the plurality of users comprising at least a child user and the user designated to regulate the child user'"'"'s access to his or her undesired email messages, the plurality of mail folders comprising at least an inbox folder for the child user and an inbox folder and undesired mail folder for the user, wherein undesired email messages for the child user are represented as being located in the user'"'"'s in box folder;

providing a plurality of detection approaches for detecting undesired email messages at the user'"'"'s computing device that receives the email messages from an email server;

designating an email message as being undesirable according to a particular detection scheme;

marking the undesirable email message at the user'"'"'s computing device with a particular identifier of the particular detection scheme;

marking a received email message intended for a child user with a marker indicating that that the email message is addressed to the child user;

displaying the undesirable email message at a display device coupled to the user'"'"'s computing device with the particular identifier in a particular visual manner that is associated with the particular identifier, wherein each of the detection mechanisms is represented using a different visual representation;

displaying the child email message at the user'"'"'s undesired mail folder on the display device coupled to the computing device in a different visual manner than undesired email messages addressed to the user;

detecting a drag and drop operation to move an email message from the inbox folder of the user to a designated folder where the undesired email messages are stored for the user; and

in response to detecting the drag and drop operation, prompting for the moved email message to be marked as a type of undesired email message that is associated with one of the detection mechanisms.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of detection approaches include an approach that detects an email message if the sender of the email message is not on a list of senders authorized by the user.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of detection approaches includes an approach that detects an email message if the sender of the email message is on a list of unauthorized senders.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of detection approaches include an approach that detects an email message if the email message contains a textual content string that is on a list of unauthorized textual content strings.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of detection approaches include an approach that analyzes the overall content of previous email messages that have been detected and detects an email message if the content of the message is similar to the overall content of previous messages.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of detection approaches includes:

an approach that detects an email message if the sender of the email message is not on a list of senders authorized by the user;

an approach that detects an email message if the sender of the email message is on a list of unauthorized senders;

an approach that detects an email message if the email message contains a textual content string that is on a list of unauthorized textual content strings; and

an approach that analyzes the overall content of previous email messages that have been detected and detects an email message if the content of the message is similar to the overall content of the previous messages according to a designated content score.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the particular visual manner is a particular color that is associated with a first detection approach, wherein the particular color is different from another color that is associated with a second detection approach.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the particular visual manner is a particular lettering style that is associated with a first detection approach, wherein the particular lettering style is different from another lettering style that is associated with a second detection approach.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

recognizing which particular detection approach designated the email message as being undesirable upon the visual representation of the email message.