Patent ID: 8239463
Filing Date: 2012-08-07
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications prior to transmission by an e-mail communications server, comprising: checking, at a client computer, if an e-mail address provided in a recipient list of an outgoing e-mail communication is included in a plurality of e-mail addresses from a memory in a personalized address directory of a user before sending the outgoing e-mail communication to the e-mail communications server; sending the outgoing e-mail communication from the client computer to the e-mail communications server after each e-mail address in the recipient list is checked and the each e-mail address is included in the plurality of e-mail addresses from the personalized address directory; extracting, at the e-mail communications server, domain names in senders' e-mail addresses from e-mail communications incoming to the e-mail communications server; storing, at the e-mail communications server, extracted domain names in a domain name database; receiving, at the e-mail communications server, the outgoing e-mail communication from the client computer; searching, at the e-mail communications server, the domain name database for domain names spelled similarly to the domain names in e-mail addresses provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communication by checking each alphanumeric character comprised in a domain name of an e-mail address provided in the recipient list with the alpha-numeric characters comprised in the domain names in the domain name database, and detecting when there is at least one but no more than two discrepancies between a domain name in the domain name database and the domain name of the e-mail address; and generating, at the e-mail communications server, an error prompt upon detecting that the domain name of the e-mail address provided in the recipient list of the outgoing e-mail communication is misspelled.