Patent ID: 6052709
Filing Date: 2000-04-18
Classification: G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
A system for controlling delivery of unsolicited electronic mail, comprising:a communications network;a plurality of user terminals coupled to said communications network, each of said plurality of user terminals having a unique e-mail address, wherein each of said plurality of user terminals comprises a filtering application for receiving incoming electronic mail messages addressed to said unique e-mail address of said user terminal and filtering said incoming electronic mail messages based upon stored filtering data; anda control center, comprisinga distributor for generating a probe address and transmitting said probe address to at least one site on said communications network, wherein said probe address is different from each of said unique email addresses of each of said plurality of user terminals,a processor for receiving electronic mail messages addressed to said probe address, and for extracting source data from said received electronic mail messages, anda database update signal generator coupled to said processor for generating and transmitting a database update signal incorporating said extracted source data;wherein each of said plurality of user terminals receives said database update signal from said control center, updates said stored filtering data in response to said database update signal, and filters electronic mail messages received by said user terminal in accordance with said updated filtering data.