Universal recallable, erasable, secure and timed delivery email

• US 7,640,307 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2004
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Bigstring Corporation
• Inventors: Daniels, David Lee, Handshy, Jr., Charles Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdullahi, Salad
• Assistant Examiner(s): SALL, EL HADJI MALICK
• Application Number:
  US10/827,199
• Publication Number:
  US 20050267937A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,080 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/202, 709/224, 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A process for secure, recallable and erasable delivery of email employing a modified sender'"'"'s MTA that preprocesses email prior to sending a substituted modified email to the recipient'"'"'s MTA. The sender'"'"'s MTA preprocesses the email by first stripping the body from the email and creating an image file of the body and a separate image file for each attachment, then creating an entry into a data base containing the body of the email, time saved, destroy time, a field for logging time first displayed, and optionally a counter for total number of times displayable, and finally creating a link to the stored image and substituting the link for the body in the email. The recipient views the email or attachments when the link is executed. The sender can edit or delete any active email and attachments he has sent by logging onto the website of sender'"'"'s HTTP S server.

Claims

1. A process for secure and timed delivery of recallable and erasable email comprising:

a sender'"'"'s mail user agent creating and sending an email having a body to a sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent, said sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent preprocessing said email to create a modified email that has a link to a stored image of the body from the email substituted for the body of the email, sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent sending the modified email to a recipient'"'"'s mail transport agent where the modified email is stored awaiting recipient'"'"'s request, recipient'"'"'s mail user agent requesting and receiving said modified email from recipient'"'"'s mail transport agent, executing the link contained in the modified email to request the image of the body of the email from sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server, sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server obtaining the image and sending the image to the recipient, and the displaying the image of the body of the email for the recipient, the step of said sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent preprocessing said email to create a modified email that has had a link to a stored image of the body from the email substituted for the body of the email further comprises;

sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent strips the body from the email and creates an image file of the body and stores the image file on a file system, sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent creates an entry for the email in a database, and sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent creates a link to the stored image and substitutes the link in the email for the body of the email thereby creating a modified email, wherein the entry created in the database by the sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent for the email further comprises;

the body of the email, a time the email was saved, a time the email is first displayed, a total number of times the email is displayable. and a removal time, and the mail transport agent removes the email based on total number and removal time.

2. A process for secure and timed delivery of recallable and erasable email according to claim 1 wherein sender'"'"'s mail user agent employs a secure transmission in sending the email to the sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent, and sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server employs a secure transmission in sending the image to the recipient.

3. A process for secure and timed delivery of recallable and erasable email according to claim 1 further comprising the following steps which occur after the step of executing the link contained in the modified email to request the image of the body of the email from sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server:

sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server receiving the request for the image from the recipient, and the database recording the time the email is first displayed and counts down one numeral on the counter for the total number of times the email image is displayable.

4. A process for secure and timed delivery of recallable and erasable email according to claim 3 further comprising the following steps which can occur at any time:

sender logging onto the website for sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server, sender viewing all active emails that he has sent and the status of each, sender editing his active emails and editing his preferences, the sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server overwriting the original image files and original content of the email and changing sender'"'"'s preferences, and sender logging off of the website.

5. A process for secure and timed delivery of recallable and erasable email according to claim 1 further comprising the following steps that can be performed at any time:

sender logging onto a website for sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server, sender viewing all active emails that he has sent and the status of each, sender editing his active emails, the sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server overwriting the original image files and original content of the email, and sender logging off of the website.

6. A process for secure and timed delivery of recallable and erasable email comprising:

a sender preselecting with sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server the sender'"'"'s preferences for the number of times his emails will be displayable and for the length of time his emails will remain active and available for viewing, a sender'"'"'s mail user agent creating and sending an email to a sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent, said sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent preprocessing said email by taking the body from the email and creating and storing an image of the body on a file system and then creating a link to the image that is inserted back into the email as a replacement for the body of the email to form a modified email, sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent creates an entry for the email in a database containing the body of the email and time saved along with the sender'"'"'s preselected preferences and a blank field for recording the time the email is first displayed, sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent sending the modified email to a recipient'"'"'s mail transport agent where the modified email is stored awaiting recipient'"'"'s request, recipient'"'"'s mail user agent requesting and receiving said modified email from recipient'"'"'s mail transport agent, recipient executing the link contained in the modified email to request the image of the body of the email from sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server, the database recording the time the email is first displayed and counting down on the counter for the total number of times the email is displayable, sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server obtaining the image and sending the image to the recipient, and the image displayed for the recipient, and wherein the entry created in the database by the sender'"'"'s modified mail transport agent for the email further comprises;

the body of the email, a time the email was saved, a time the email is first displayed, a total number of times the email is displayable, and a removal time, and the mail transport agent removes the email based on total number and removal time.

7. A process for secure and timed delivery of recallable and erasable email according to claim 6 further comprising the following steps that can be performed at any time:

sender logging onto a website for sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server, sender viewing all active emails that he has sent and the status of each, sender editing his active emails, the sender'"'"'s hypertext transport protocol server overwriting the original image files and original content of the email, and sender logging off of the website.