Method and system for blocking unwanted communications
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for authorizing communications, the method comprising:
- receiving a communication sent from a sender to a recipient;
sending an authorization communication to the sender, the authorization communication requesting authorization information from the sender to determine whether the sender should be authorized to send communications to the recipient;
in response to sending the authorization communication to the sender, receiving from the sender authorization information; and
if the received authorization information indicates that the sender is authorized;
providing the received communication to the recipient;
designating the sender as authorized to send communications to the recipient; and
if another recipient requests to revoke the authorization of the sender, revoking the authorization of the sender to send communications to the recipient.
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Abstract
A method and system for authorizing communications sent from a sender to a recipient. The authorization system receives a communication sent from a sender to a recipient. The authorization system determines whether that sender is authorized to send communications to that recipient. If the authorization system determines that the sender is not authorized, then the authorization system sends an authorization communication to the sender. The authorization communication requests authorization information from the sender. When the authorization system receives the authorization information, it determines whether the information is correct. If correct, then the authorization system indicates that the sender is authorized and forwards the communication to the recipient. When a subsequent communication sent from the sender to the recipient is received, the authorization system may automatically determine that the sender is authorized and forward the communication to the recipient without re-contacting the sender.
5 Citations
92 Claims
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1. A method for authorizing communications, the method comprising:
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receiving a communication sent from a sender to a recipient;
sending an authorization communication to the sender, the authorization communication requesting authorization information from the sender to determine whether the sender should be authorized to send communications to the recipient;
in response to sending the authorization communication to the sender, receiving from the sender authorization information; and
if the received authorization information indicates that the sender is authorized;
providing the received communication to the recipient;
designating the sender as authorized to send communications to the recipient; and
if another recipient requests to revoke the authorization of the sender, revoking the authorization of the sender to send communications to the recipient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87)
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27. An authorization system for authorizing senders to send communications to recipients, the system comprising:
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a component that receives a communication sent from a sender to a recipient;
a component that determines whether the sender of the received communication is authorized to send communications to the recipient;
a component that attempts to authorize the sender when it is determined that the sender is not authorized by requesting authorization information from the sender, by receiving authorization information from the sender, and by determining whether the authorization information indicates that the sender should be authorized;
a component that provides the communication to the recipient when it is determined that the sender is authorized to send the communication to the recipient; and
a component for determining whether the sender is authorized based on other recipients for whom the sender is authorized to send communications. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. An authorization system for authorizing senders to send communications to recipients, the system comprising:
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means for receiving a communication sent from a sender to a recipient;
means for determining whether the sender of the received communication is authorized to send communications to the recipient by requesting authorization information from the sender, by receiving authorization information from the sender, and by determining whether the authorization information indicates that the sender should be authorized;
means for providing the communication to the recipient when it is determined that the sender is authorized to send the communication to the recipient; and
means for revoking the authorization of the sender to send communications to the recipient if it is determined that another recipient has revoked a similar authorization. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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88. A method in a computer system for sending a communication from a sender to a recipient, the method comprising:
- sending a communication to the recipient;
receiving a request for authorization information from an authorization system; and
providing the requested authorization information to the authorization system so that the authorization system can verify the authorization information, can provide the communication to the recipient when the authorization information is verified, can not provide the communication to the recipient when the authorization information is not verified, and can revoke the authorization of the sender if another recipient requests to revoke the authorization of the sender. - View Dependent Claims (89, 90, 91, 92)
- sending a communication to the recipient;
Specification