Patent ID: 6549957
Filing Date: 2003-04-15
Classification: G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
A method of preventing maelstroms in computers and computer networks populated by entities capable of outputting messages automatically in response to incoming messages, comprising steps of:for each message processed by an entity that has the potential to trigger an occurrence of a maelstrom, extracting information from the message for permitting that message or a similar message to be recognized; storing the extracted information for that message such that it is accessible by the entity; for each further message processed by the entity, comparing a currently processed message against the stored information for a set of messages that have been previously processed by the entity; if the stored information for a previously processed message matches exactly to the information extracted from the currently processed message, preventing the currently processed message from triggering the generation of a new message; and if the stored information for a previously processed message similarly matches, but does not exactly match, the information extracted from the currently processed message, preventing the currently processed message from triggering the generation of a new message.