Privacy enhanced methods and apparatuses for conducting electronic communications

• US 7,644,124 B1
• Filed: 02/15/2000
• Issued: 01/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: Hall Aluminum LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Porter, Swain W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shingles; Kristie D
• Application Number:
  US09/504,236
• Time in Patent Office: 3,612 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/206, 709/207, 709/220, 709/222, 709/219, 709/217, 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A computer (or device of the like), on behalf of a user, registers the user with a first web site. The computer provides a first email address for use to register the user with said first web site. The computer, on behalf of the user, registers the user with a second web site. The computer provides a second email address, separate and distinct from the first email address, for use to register said user with said second web site. In alternate embodiments, the computer, in like manner, facilitates designations of first and second email addresses for use to electronically communicate with first and second intended communication partners. Co-related, an email service provider receives emails for the first and second email addresses of the user, and organize the received emails by at least the email addresses, and by intended versus non-intended CP/GCP of the email addresses. The email service provider provides these received emails to the computer used the user, with the emails so characterized accordingly. The computer presents these emails for viewing by the user, including in one embodiment, facilitation of deletion of all emails addressed to an email address received from senders other than the intended CP/GCP, via a single press of a key/control button.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a user computer providing a first email address received from an email service provider for use to register a user of the user computer with a first web site; and

the user computer providing a second email address received from the email service provider, separate and distinct from the first email address, for use to register the user with a second web site,

wherein the first and second email addresses were provided together as a collection of email addresses to the user computer by the email service provider in advance of providing the first and second email addresses to the first and second web sites by the user computer,

wherein providing the first and second email addresses by the user computer comprises selecting by the user computer the first and second email addresses from the collection of email addresses obtained by the user computer from the email service provider in advance of the selection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first email address comprises a first user identifier, and the second email address comprises a second user identifier, separate and distinct from said first user identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first email address comprises an address of the email service provider, and the second email address comprises the address of the same email service provider.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first email address comprises a first user identifier and an address of the email service provider, and the second email address comprises a second user identifier, separate and distinct from said first user identifier, and the address of the same email service provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the user computer notifying the email service provider of the usage of the first and second email addresses, including addresses of the first and the second web site.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said notifications are performed integrally as said first and second email addresses are respectively provided to said user computer for use to respectively register the user with the first and second web sites.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said notifications are performed subsequently in batch after said first and second email addresses were provided to said user computer for use to register the user with the first and the second web sites.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving emails addressed to said first and second email addresses;

organizing said received emails based at least in part on whether the emails are addressed to the first or the second email address.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said organizing of said received emails is at least further based on whether said received emails addressed to said first or second email addresses were sent respectively by said first or second web site or not.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises deleting all received emails addressed to said first or second email addresses not sent respectively by said first or second web site, while preserving all undeleted emails addressed to said first or second email addresses sent respectively by said first or second web site.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the deleting of received emails not sent by said first or second web site and preserving all undeleted emails is performed in response to an instruction of said user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises providing the user with an end user interface feature to provide said deletion instruction with a single press of a key or control button.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the web site is a content provider, a service provider or an access provider.

14. A method comprising:

an electronic device requesting and receiving for a user, a first email address from an email service provider at a first point in time subsequent to the user subscribing for email service with the email service provider;

the electronic device employing the received first email address to facilitate communication between the user and a first communication partner or group of communication partners;

the electronic device, prior to the first communication partner or group of communication partners initiating a communication with the user, notifying the email service provider of said employment of the first email address to facilitate communication with the first communication partner or group of communication partners;

the electronic device requesting and receiving for the user, a second email address, separate and distinct from said first email address, from the email service provider at a second point in time subsequent to the user subscribing for email service with the email service provider, the second point in time being a later point in time than the first point in time;

the electronic device employing the received second email address to facilitate communication between the user and a second communication partner or group of communication partners; and

the electronic device, prior to the second communication partner or group of communication partners initiating a communication with the user, notifying the email service provider of said employment of the second email address to facilitate communication with the second communication partner or group of communication partners.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said notifications are made integrally when the electronic device makes respective requests for said first and second email address from said email service provider.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said notifications are made respectively after the electronic device have been respectively provided with said first and second email address from said email service provider.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

an email service provider registering a user of an electronic device, as a service subscriber of the email service provider; and

the email service provider providing together a collection of email addresses, said collection of email addresses having at least a first and a second email address, said first and second email addresses being separate and distinct and being provided by the email service provider to the electronic device for subsequent selection and use by the electronic device to facilitate communication between the user and respectively, a first and a second intended communication partner or group of communication partners;

wherein the first and second email addresses are provided together as a collection of email addresses to the user of the electronic device by the email service provider prior to the first and second intended communication partner or group of communication partners initiating communication with the user of the electronic device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said providing together a collection of email address comprises the email service provider providing a plurality of other distinct email addresses to the electronic device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises the email service provider receiving notification of usage of said first email address with said first communication partner or group of communication partners, from the electronic device used by the user, and prior to the first communication partner or group of communication partners initiating a communication with the user.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises the email service provider receiving notification of usage of said second email addresses with said second communication partner or group of communication partners, from the electronic device used by the user, and prior to the second communication partner or group of communication partners initiating a communication with the user.

21. A computer implemented method comprising:

an email service Provider receiving notification of use of a first and a second email address with first and second intended communication partners, the notifications received by the email service provider prior to the first and second communication partners initiating communication with a user;

the email service provider receiving emails addressed to the first and the second email address of the user, the first and second email addresses being separate and distinct from each other and having been provided by the email service provider to an electronic device of the user for the electronic device to facilitate communication between the user and a first intended communication partner using the first email address and to facilitate communication between the user and a second intended communication partner using the second email address; and

the email service provider organizing said received emails based at least in part on said first and second email addresses of the user, and respective intended versus unintended communication partners of said first email address of the user and respective intended versus unintended communication partners of said second email address of the user.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises providing said emails to the user, with the emails characterized by at least said first and second email addresses, and intended versus unintended communication partners of said first and second email addresses.

23. A method comprising:

providing notification or facilitating the provision of notification, from an electronic device of a user to an email service provider, of use of email addresses with intended communication partners, the notifications provided prior to the intended communication partners initiating communication with the user;

receiving emails by the electronic device of the user, from the email service provider, wherein the emails are characterized based at least in part on separate and distinct email addresses of the user, and intended versus unintended communication partners of each of said email addresses of the user, and the email addresses of the user are provided to the electronic device for the user by the email service provider; and

presenting by the electronic device said emails for viewing by the user, organized by at least said email addresses of the user and said intended versus unintended communication partners of said email addresses.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises the electronic device deleting all received emails addressed to the first or second email address not sent respectively by the intended communication partner of the first/second email address.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said deletion is performed in response to user instruction.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises the electronic device providing the user with an end user interface feature to provide said user instruction with a single press of a key or control button.

27. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to enable the apparatus, if the programming instructions are executed, to obtain respectively a first and a second separate and distinct email address from an email service provider in real time for a user, at the first and second distinct email addresses'"'"' respective initial selection for usage, after subscription of email server with the email service provider by the user, correspondingly earmarking said first and second distinct email addresses to facilitate respective communication between the user and a first and a second intended communication partner or group of communication partners, and organizing received emails based at least in part on intended versus unintended communication partners of said first and second distinct email addresses; and

a processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the plurality of programming instructions.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the apparatus to notify of said employment of the first and second distinct email addresses to facilitate respective communication between the user and the first and second intended communication partner or group of communication partners.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, enable the apparatus to make said notifications integrally and respectively, when requesting for the first and second distinct email addresses from said email service provider.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, enable the apparatus to make each of said notifications after having been provided with the respective first and second distinct email addresses from said email service provider.

31. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions design to enable the apparatus, if the programming instructions are executed, to register a user as a service subscriber of the apparatus, and to provide together a collection of email addresses having at least a first and a second email address, said first and second email addresses being separate and distinct and being provided to an electronic device of the user for use by the electronic device to facilitate communication between the user and a first and a second communication partner or group of communication partners, the provision being made in advance of the first and second email addresses'"'"' initial selection for usage; and

a processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, enable the apparatus to provide a plurality of distinct email addresses to the electronic device used by the user in advance of the first and second email addresses'"'"' initial selection for usage, for the electronic device to select said first and second separate and distinct email addresses.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the apparatus to receive notification of usage of said first email address with said first communication partner or group of communication partners, from the electronic device used by the user.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, enable the apparatus to receive notification of usage of said second email address with said second communication partner or group of communication partners from the electronic device used by the user.

35. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to enable the apparatus, if the programming instructions are executed, to receive notification of use of a first and a second separate and distinct email address with first and second intended communication partners, the notifications received prior to the first and second communication partners initiating communication with a user, to receive emails addressed to the first and the second separate and distinct email address of the user, and to organize said received emails based at least in part on said first and second email addresses, and intended versus unintended communication partners of said first and second email addresses, wherein the first and second email addresses having been provided respectively by an email service provider to an electronic device of the user for the electronic device to facilitate respective communication between the user and a first and a second intended communication partner; and

a processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the plurality of programming instructions.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the apparatus to provide said emails to the user, with the emails characterized by at least said first and second email addresses, and intended versus unintended communication partners of said first and second email addresses.

37. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to enable the apparatus, if the programming instructions are executed, to provide notification or facilitate the provision of notification, to an email service provider, of use of email addresses with intended communication partners, the notifications provided prior to the intended communication partners initiating communication with a user, to receive emails of the user from the email service provider, the emails being characterized based at least in part on separate and distinct email addresses of the user, and intended versus unintended communication partners of each of said email addresses, and to present said emails for viewing by the user, organized by at least said email addresses of the user and said intended versus unintended communication partners of said email addresses, the email addresses of the user having been provided by the email service provider; and

a processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the plurality of programming instructions.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the apparatus to delete all received emails addressed to the first or second email address not sent respectively by the intended communication partner(s) of the first or second email address.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the apparatus to perform said deletion in response to user instruction.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the apparatus to provide the user with an end user interface feature to provide said user instruction with a single press of a key or control button.

41. A system comprising:

a networking interface;

a storage medium coupled to the networking interface, and having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to enable the system, if the programming instructions are executed, to register a user as a service subscriber of an email service, and to provide together a collection of email addresses having at least a first and a second email address, said first and second email addresses being separate and distinct and being provided to an electronic device of the user for use by the electronic device to facilitate respective communication between the user and a first communication partner or a first group of communication partners, and between the user and a second communication partner or group of communication partners, the provision being made in advance of the first and second email addresses'"'"' initial selection for usage; and

a processor coupled to the storage medium and the networking interface to execute the programming instructions.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, enable the system to provide a plurality of distinct email addresses to the electronic device used by the user for the electronic device to select said first and second separate and distinct email addresses for used by the user for said respective communications, the provision being made in advance of the first and second email addresses'"'"' selection for initial selection for usage.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the system to receive notification of usage of said first and second email addresses with said respective first or second communication partner or group of communication partners, from the electronic device used by the user.

44. A computer readable medium comprising:

a storage medium; and

a plurality of programming instructions stored in the storage medium, the programming instructions designed to program a system, to enable the system, if the programming instructions are executed, to register a user as a service subscriber of an email service, and to provide at least a first and a second email address, that are separate and distinct, to an electronic device of the user for use by the electronic device to facilitate respective communication between the user and the first intended communication partner or a first intended group of communication partners, and between the user and a second intended communication partner or a second intended group of communication partners, the provision being made in real time respectively at the first and second email addresses'"'"' respective initial selection for usage after enrollment of the user as a service subscriber of the email service provider the first and second email addresses enabling differentiation of email received from intended versus unintended communication partners.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 44, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, enable the system to provide in real time respectively said first and second email addresses to the electronic device for use by the user, the provision being made in response respectively to a first and a second request, and the first and second requests being made at the first and second email addresses respective initial selection for usage.

46. The computer readable medium of claim 44, wherein the programming instructions, if executed, further enable the system to receive notification of respective usage of said first and second email addresses with said first and second communication partners or groups of communication partners, from the electronic device used by the user.

47. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving by a computing device, from an email service provider, a plurality of separate and distinct email addresses as a set of email addresses;

detecting by the computing device, a need for an email address to be employed for communication with a first intended communication partner or partners;

automatically selecting by the computing device, a first email address from among the plurality of separate and distinct email addresses and storing information relating the first email address to the first intended communication partner or partners;

detecting by the computing device, a need for an email address to be employed for communications with a second intended communication partner or partners; and

automatically selecting by the computing device, a second email address from among the plurality of separate and distinct email addresses and storing information relating the second email address to the second intended communication partner or partners;

wherein the first and second email addresses are received together as a collection of email addresses prior to the first and second intended communication partner or partners initiating communication with the computing device.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

sending information, by the computing device, to the email service provider relating the first email address to the first intended communication partner or partners and the second email address to the second intended communication partner or partners.

49. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

receiving by the computing device, email that is addressed to the first and second email addresses, the email including email sent from the first and second intended communication partner or partners and email sent from other sources; and

providing by the computing device, a user interface that segregates the received email into email sent from the intended communication partner or partners and email sent from other sources.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising:

segregating by the computing device, the received email via the user interface into different inboxes corresponding to each of the first and second email addresses, and, for each inbox, different folders corresponding to email respectively sent from an intended communication partner or partners associated with the corresponding email address and email sent from other sources to the corresponding email address associated with that inbox.

51. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

generating and sending by the computing device a request to the email service provider to return a set of email addresses including a plurality of distinct email addresses.

52. A computer readable medium, comprising:

a storage medium; and

a plurality of programming instructions stored in the storage medium that, if executed, enable a system to receive, from an email service provider, a plurality of separate and distinct email addresses as a set of email addresses;

to detect a need for an email address to be employed for communication with a first intended communication partner or partners;

to automatically select a first email address from among the plurality of separate and distinct email addresses and to store information relating the first email address to the first intended communication partner or partners;

to detect a need for an email address to be employed for communications with a second intended communication partner or partners; and

to automatically select a second email address from among the plurality of separate and distinct email addresses and to store information relating the second email address to the second intended communication partner or partners;

wherein the first and second email addresses are received together as a collection of email addresses prior to the first and second intended communication partner or partners initiating communication with the system.

53. The computer readable medium of claim 52, further comprising:

programming instructions that, if executed, enable the system to send information to the email service provider relating the first email address to the first intended communication partner or partners and the second email address to the second intended communication partner or partners.

54. The computer readable medium of claim 52, further comprising:

programming instructions that, if executed, enable the system to receive email that is addressed to the first and second email addresses, the email including email sent from the first and second intended communication partner or partners and email sent from other sources; and

to provide a user interface that segregates the received email into email sent from the intended communication partner or partners and email sent from other sources.

55. The computer readable medium of claim 54, further comprising:

programming instructions that, if executed, enable the system to segregate the received email via the user interface into different inboxes corresponding to each of the first and second email addresses, and, for each inbox, different folders corresponding to email respectively sent from an intended communication partner or partners associated with the corresponding email address and email sent from other sources to the corresponding email address associated with that inbox.

56. The computer readable medium of claim 52, further comprising:

programming instructions that, if executed, enable the system to generate and send a request to the email service provider to return a set of email addresses including a plurality of distinct email addresses.

57. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving from an email service provider a first email address and a second email address, separate and distinct from the first email address;

means for providing the first received email address for use to register a user with a first intended web site; and

means for providing the second received email address for use to register the user with a second intended web site,

wherein the first and second email addresses are received together as a collection of email addresses in advance of providing the first and second email addresses to the first and second intended web sites,

wherein the means for providing the first and second email addresses comprises means for selecting the first and second email addresses from the collection of email addresses to facilitate communication with intended versus unintended communication partners.

58. The apparatus of claim 57, further comprising means for notifying the email service provider of usage of the first and second email addresses, including addresses of the first and the second web site.

59. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving notification of use of a first and a second email address with first and second intended communication partners, the notifications received prior to the first and second communication partners initiating communication with a user;

means for receiving emails addressed to the first and the second email address of the user, the first and second email addresses being separate and distinct from each other and having been provided to facilitate communication between a user and a first intended communication partner using the first email address and to facilitate communication between the user and a second intended communication partner using the second email address; and

means for organizing said received emails based at least in part on said first and second email addresses of the user, and respective intended versus unintended communication partners of said first email address of the user and respective intended versus unintended communication partners of said second email address of the user.

60. The apparatus of claim 59, further comprising means for providing said emails to the user, with the emails characterized by at least said first and second email addresses, and intended versus unintended communication partners of said first and second email addresses.