Method and system for filtering electronic messages
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for filtering electronic messages, the method comprising:
- receiving an electronic message from a sender, the message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address;
comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders;
sending a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method for filtering unsolicited electronic commercial messages. A system and method according to the present invention for screening out unsolicited commercial messages comprises the steps of receiving a message from a sender, sending a challenge back to the sender, receiving a response to the challenge, and determining if the response is a proper response.
72 Citations
64 Claims
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1. A method for filtering electronic messages, the method comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; sending a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for filtering electronic messages, the system comprising:
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means for receiving an electronic message from a sender; means for determining that a return address of the sender is an accepted sender'"'"'s address; means for sending a prompt back to the sender if the return address is not an accepted sender'"'"'s address, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender the message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; sending a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for filtering electronic messages, the method comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the message including a sender'"'"'s address field containing an address of the sender; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; sending a challenge back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not in the list of accepted senders, wherein the challenge is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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receiving a first electronic message from a sender, the first electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; sending a challenge including a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine; receiving, from the sender, a response to the challenge; determining that the received response to the challenge is valid; in response to determining the received response to the challenge is valid, adding the sender'"'"'s address to the list of accepted senders; receiving, via a user interface, manually-entered user input indicating that the sender'"'"'s address should be added to a list of blocked senders; and in response to receiving the manually-entered user input indicating that the sender'"'"'s address should be added to a list of blocked senders; adding the sender'"'"'s address to the list of blocked senders, wherein the addition of the sender'"'"'s address to the list of blocked senders takes precedence over the prior addition of the sender'"'"'s address to the list of accepted senders, such that incoming electronic messages from the sender'"'"'s address will be filtered out. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; determining whether the sender'"'"'s address has a format that is valid for delivery; and sending a challenge including a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders and the sender'"'"'s address has a format that is valid for delivery, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; generating a reference identifier; sending a challenge including a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine; wherein the challenge sent to the sender includes a body portion; wherein the generated reference identifier is disposed within the body portion of the challenge sent to the sender; and wherein the challenge sent to the sender is configured such that a response to the challenge includes the generated reference identifier; receiving, from the sender, a response to the challenge, the received response to the challenge including the generated reference identifier; and using the generated reference identifier of the received response to determine whether the received response is valid. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58)
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59. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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receiving an electronic message from a sender, the electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; generating a reference identifier; sending a challenge including a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine; wherein the challenge sent to the sender further includes; a less-than symbol (“
<
”
);a greater-than symbol (“
>
”
); andthe generated reference identifier disposed between the less-than symbol and the greater-than symbol; and wherein the challenge sent to the sender is configured such that a response to the challenge includes the generated reference identifier; receiving, from the sender, a response to the challenge, the received response to the challenge including the generated reference identifier; and using the generated reference identifier of the received response to determine whether the received response is valid. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing program instructions for filtering electronic messages, the program instructions comprising:
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receiving a first electronic message from a sender, the first electronic message including an address field containing a sender'"'"'s address; comparing the sender'"'"'s address to a list of accepted senders; sending a challenge including a prompt back to the sender if the sender'"'"'s address is not contained in the list of accepted senders, wherein the prompt is designed to be answered by a person and not a machine, wherein the challenge is configured to receive user input indicating an assent by the sender to be bound to a legal agreement; receiving, from the sender, a response to the challenge; determining, from the received response to the challenge, that the challenge received the user input indicating the sender'"'"'s assent to be bound to the legal agreement; determining the received response to the challenge is valid at least partially based on the determination that the challenge received the user input indicating the sender'"'"'s assent to be bound to the legal agreement; and in response to determining that the received response is valid, adding the sender'"'"'s address to the list of accepted senders.
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Specification