System and method for verifying delivery and integrity of electronic messages
DC CAFC
First Claim
1. A method of transmitting a message from a sender to a recipient through a server displaced from the recipient, the steps at the server comprising:
- receiving the message at the server from the sender;
transmitting the message to the recipient;
receiving at the server at least a portion of a mail transport protocol dialog generated during transmission of the message from the server to the recipient; and
receiving at the server from the recipient an indication of the receipt of the message by the recipient;
forming at the server a first information from the at least a portion of the mail transport protocol dialog and the indication of the receipt of the message by the recipient; and
transmitting, before any authentication of the message, a copy of the message and the first information to the sender from the server.
1 Assignment
Litigations
1 Petition
Accused Products
Abstract
In order to provide third party verification of the content and delivery of an electronic message such as an e-snail, a server receives the e-mail intended to be sent or forwarded to a specified addressee, and “tags” the message to indicate that it is “registered” with the provider of the service. The server then establishes a direct telnet connection with the addressee'"'"'s Mail User Agent (MUA), and transmits the tagged email to the addressee'"'"'s MUA, as well as to the MUA'"'"'s of any other addressees. After receiving responses from the receiving MUA'"'"'s that the message was successfully received, the server then creates and forwards to the message originator an electronic receipt. The receipt includes one or more, and preferably all of, the following: the original message including any original attachments; a delivery success/failure table listing which addressee'"'"'s MUA'"'"'s successfully received the message and at what time, and for which MUA'"'"'s there was a delivery failure; and a digital signature corresponding to the message and attachments. By receiving the receipt at a later date and verifying that the digital signature matches the message and related information, the operators of the system can provide independent third party verification that the receipt is a genuine product of their system and that the information pertaining to content and delivery of the message is accurate, without the need to archive either the original message or the receipt.
38 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of transmitting a message from a sender to a recipient through a server displaced from the recipient, the steps at the server comprising:
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receiving the message at the server from the sender; transmitting the message to the recipient; receiving at the server at least a portion of a mail transport protocol dialog generated during transmission of the message from the server to the recipient; and receiving at the server from the recipient an indication of the receipt of the message by the recipient; forming at the server a first information from the at least a portion of the mail transport protocol dialog and the indication of the receipt of the message by the recipient; and transmitting, before any authentication of the message, a copy of the message and the first information to the sender from the server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for transmitting a message through an electronic mail system from an originating processor to a recipient processor and providing proof of receipt of the message by the recipient process, comprising:
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a server displaced from the originating processor, the server capable of being configured by software commands to; receive a message from the originating processor and to transmit the message to the recipient processor, receive an indication of receipt of the message from the recipient processor and a mail transport protocol dialog generated by the electronic mail system during transmission of the message from the server to the recipient processor, generate a first information including the indication of receipt of the message from the recipient processor and at least a portion of the mail transport protocol dialog generated by the electronic mail system during transmission of the message from the server to the recipient processor. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of transmitting a message from a sender to a recipient through a server displaced from the recipient, the steps at the server comprising:
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receiving the message at the server from the sender; transmitting the message to the recipient; receiving at the server from the recipient a first information including an indication of the receipt of the message by the recipient and at least a portion of a mail transport protocol dialog generated during transmission of the first information from the server to the recipient; and storing a representation of the message and the first information received by the server from the recipient in a memory, before any authentication of the message. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification
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- Resources
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Current AssigneeRPost Communications Limited (RPost International Limited)
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Original AssigneeRPost Communications Limited (RPost International Limited)
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InventorsTomkow, Terrance A.
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Primary Examiner(s)Tran, Philip B
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Application NumberUS12/981,371Publication NumberTime in Patent Office545 DaysField of Search709/206, 709/203, 709/229, 713/155, 713/168, 713/170, 713/176, 726/5, 726/3US Class Current709/206CPC Class CodesH04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in p...H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codesH04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. ac...H04L 51/234 for tracking messagesH04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and rec...H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g...H04L 63/126 the source of the received ...
