Junk electronic mail detector and eliminator
First Claim
1. A method for determining the status of an electronic mail message as SPAM or as a valid message comprising the steps of:
- receiving an incoming electronic mail message, said incoming electronic mail message including sender origination information;
creating a verification request to be sent to a purported sender of the incoming electronic mail message based at least in part on the sender origination information;
sending the verification request to the purported sender;
receiving a verification response including information relating to the deliverability of the verification request; and
determining the status of said incoming electronic mail message as SPAM or as a valid message based at least in part on said information relating to the deliverability of the verification request, wherein said email message header further comprises a “
Reply-To”
field, and wherein said method further comprises the steps of;
parsing said e-mail message header to identify a user id and a host name in the “
Reply-To”
field of said e-mail message header;
creating a “
Reply-To”
verification request to be sent to said user id in the “
Reply-To”
field at said host name in the “
Reply-To”
field to determine whether the user id and the host name in the “
Reply-To”
field are valid;
sending the “
Reply-To”
verification request to said user id in the “
Reply-To”
field at said host name in the “
Reply-To”
field;
receiving a verification response including information relating to the deliverability of the “
Reply-To”
field verification request; and
determining the status of said incoming electronic mail message as SPAM or as a valid message based at least in part on said information relating to the deliverability of the “
Reply-To”
verification request.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for parsing and analyzing incoming electronic mail messages to determine a confidence factor indicative of whether or not the messages are junk e-mail. The method and system utilize message services which attempt to contact the purported sender in order to verify that the identified host computer actually exists and accepts outgoing mail services for the specified user. The routing history is also examined to ensure that identified intermediate sites are also valid. Likewise, seed addresses can alert an e-mail provider to potential mass mailings by reporting when mail is received for ghost or non-existent accounts.
20 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A method for determining the status of an electronic mail message as SPAM or as a valid message comprising the steps of:
-
receiving an incoming electronic mail message, said incoming electronic mail message including sender origination information; creating a verification request to be sent to a purported sender of the incoming electronic mail message based at least in part on the sender origination information; sending the verification request to the purported sender; receiving a verification response including information relating to the deliverability of the verification request; and determining the status of said incoming electronic mail message as SPAM or as a valid message based at least in part on said information relating to the deliverability of the verification request, wherein said email message header further comprises a “
Reply-To”
field, and wherein said method further comprises the steps of;parsing said e-mail message header to identify a user id and a host name in the “
Reply-To”
field of said e-mail message header;creating a “
Reply-To”
verification request to be sent to said user id in the “
Reply-To”
field at said host name in the “
Reply-To”
field to determine whether the user id and the host name in the “
Reply-To”
field are valid;sending the “
Reply-To”
verification request to said user id in the “
Reply-To”
field at said host name in the “
Reply-To”
field;receiving a verification response including information relating to the deliverability of the “
Reply-To”
field verification request; anddetermining the status of said incoming electronic mail message as SPAM or as a valid message based at least in part on said information relating to the deliverability of the “
Reply-To”
verification request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification