Managing a limited-use electronic mail account

• US 9,449,307 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2005
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Jung, Edward K. Y., Levien, Royce A., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, Jr., John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Keehn, Richard G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US11/107,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20060167709A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,176 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

In one aspect, a method related to a limited-use electronic mail account. In addition to the foregoing, other method and system and program product aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present application.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, including at least;

displaying at least one image of the received item of electronic mail only (i) while a touch-screen of a user device associated with receiving the received item of electronic mail is engaged in association with the command to view the at least the portion of the received item of electronic mail and (ii) while a duration associated with the at least one specified period of time has not expired, wherein the duration is timed via the timer;

detecting an invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail; and

transmitting a signal related to the viewing of the item of electronic mail.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

receiving at least (i) a message addressed to a phone number associated with the system receiving the message and (ii) a period of time specified by the sender of the message, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the message after which encrypting the message will occur.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a time related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

marking the received item of electronic mail as inaccessible in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

5. A computer program product, comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including at least;

one or more instructions for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur;

one or more instructions for detecting an invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

one or more instructions for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

one or more instructions for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail; and

one or more instructions for transmitting a signal related to the viewing of the item of electronic mail.

6. A system, comprising:

a user device; and

one or more instructions that, when executed on the user device, cause the user device to at least;

receive at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur;

detect an invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

start a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

encrypt the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail expiring; and

transmit a signal related to the viewing of the item of electronic mail.

7. A system, comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur;

circuitry configured for detecting an invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

circuitry configured for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail; and

circuitry configured for transmitting a signal related to the viewing of the item of electronic mail.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving a signal related to a receipt of an item of electronic mail, the received item of electronic mail associated with a period of time specified by a sender of the received item of electronic mail, the period of time including at least a duration (i) for which viewing the item of electronic mail by the recipient will be allowed responsive to the recipient commanding the user device via a touch screen user interface to display at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail, and (ii) after which the user device will disable access to the received item of electronic mail via at least encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to an expiration of the duration.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving an item of electronic mail, the received item of electronic mail including at least an image.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by the sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) a message addressed to a phone number associated with the system receiving the message and (ii) a period of time specified by the sender of the message, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the message after which encrypting the message will occur.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for at least one of disabling or prohibiting access to the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for permitting one or more views of the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail previous to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time, the timer started following invocation of a first command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for permitting viewing of at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail until the timer reaches a value related to the specified period of time.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for transmitting a signal related to the viewing of the item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for transmitting a signal related to the viewing of the received item of electronic mail, the signal associated with notifying the sender of the received item of electronic mail that at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail was displayed in response to an accepted user input via a user interface of the system.

15. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving a signal related to detecting at least one prohibited operation by the recipient during a display by the system of the received item of electronic mail; and

circuitry configured for transmitting a signal associated with notifying the sender of the received item of electronic mail related to the detecting at least one prohibited operation by the recipient during a display by the system of the received item of electronic mail.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein circuitry configured for receiving a signal related to detecting at least one prohibited operation by the recipient during a display by the system of the received item of electronic mail and circuitry configured for transmitting a signal associated with notifying the sender of the received item of electronic mail related to the detecting at least one prohibited operation by the recipient during a display by the system of the received item of electronic mail comprise:

circuitry configured for receiving a signal related to detecting at least one attempted prohibited saving by the recipient during a display by the system of the received item of electronic mail and circuitry configured for transmitting a signal associated with notifying the sender of the received item of electronic mail that at least one prohibited saving was attempted by the recipient during a display by the system of the received item of electronic mail.

17. The system of claim 7, wherein the system comprises:

at least one of a smartphone, a mobile phone, or a cellular phone.

18. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view the item of electronic mail on the system during which at least a portion of the item of electronic mail will be viewable.

19. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting an invocation of a command to view the electronic mail on the system; and

circuitry for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command, the timer configured for determining an end of a duration related to the specified period of time during which the electronic mail may be viewed.

20. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a time related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

21. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail, wherein subsequent invocations of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail are (i) operable to display the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail until the timer reaches a value related to the specified period of time and (ii) have no effect after the timer reaches the value related to the specified period of time.

22. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for disabling invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching the value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

23. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for displaying at least one image of the received item of electronic mail only (i) while a touch-screen of a user device associated with receiving the received item of electronic mail is engaged in association with the command to view the at least the portion of the received item of electronic mail and (ii) while a duration associated with the at least one specified period of time has not expired, wherein the duration is timed via the timer.

24. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for marking the received item of electronic mail as inaccessible in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

25. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry configured for incrementing a counter related to a number of times received items of electronic mail have been viewed.

26. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry configured for deleting the received item of electronic mail subsequent to transmitting a signal related to the viewing of the item of electronic mail.

27. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for displaying at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

28. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time during which at least a portion of the item of electronic mail may be viewable.

29. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time during which at least a portion of the item of electronic mail may be displayed by the system in response to invocation of a command to view the at least a portion of the item of electronic mail.

30. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for detecting an invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting an invocation of a command to display at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein circuitry configured for detecting an invocation of a command to display at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting an invocation of a command to display at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail via a touch screen interface of the system.

32. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail comprises:

circuitry configured for allowing one or more viewings of at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail in response to input accepted via a user interface of the system until the timer reaches a value related to the specified period of time.

33. The system of claim 7, wherein circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur, comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time during which at least a portion of the item of electronic mail may be displayed one or more times and after which the item of electronic mail may no longer be displayed.

34. A system, comprising:

at least one array of time-sequenced logic gates configured for receiving at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the received item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur;

at least one array of time-sequenced logic gates configured for detecting an invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

at least one array of time-sequenced logic gates configured for starting a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

at least one array of time-sequenced logic gates configured for encrypting the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail; and

at least one array of time-sequenced logic gates configured for transmitting a signal related to the viewing of the item of electronic mail.

35. A mobile phone, comprising:

a touch screen;

a processing device; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing one or more instructions which, when executed on the processing device, cause the mobile phone to at least;

receive at least (i) an item of electronic mail and (ii) a period of time specified by a sender of the item of electronic mail, the period of time designating a period of time following invocation of a command to view at least a portion of the item of electronic mail after which encrypting the item of electronic mail will occur;

detect an invocation of a command received via the touch screen to view at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

start a timer in response to detecting the invocation of the command received via the touch screen to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail;

display the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail and at least one value associated with the timer on the touch screen; and

encrypt the received item of electronic mail in response to the timer reaching a value related to the specified period of time following invocation of the command to view the at least a portion of the received item of electronic mail.