Abstract:
Consistent with the present invention, an electronic message identification method and system is provided that avoids the problems associated with current systems and methods for identifying and managing electronic messages.  
     In one aspect, a method consistent with the present invention for sending an electronic file to a customer comprises receiving an approval from the customer indicating acceptable content for electronic files that are sent to the customer; receiving the electronic file from a sender, the electronic file including file content and a message content identifier corresponding to the file content; comparing the message content identifier to the approval from the customer; and delivering the file content to an electronic mailbox of the customer, if the message content identifier is consistent with the approval from the customer indicating acceptable content.  
     Both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    Under provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), the Applicant claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application serial No. 60/212,670, filed Jun. 20, 2000, which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0002]    The present invention relates to electronic message transmission. More particularly, the present invention, in various specific embodiments, involves methods and systems directed to identifying electronic messages based on a message content identifier or participant code.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0003]    The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent government agency that provides mail delivery and other services to the public. The USPS is widely recognized as a safe and reliable means for sending and receiving physical mail and other items. The USPS also provides electronic mail service. With the advent and steady growth of electronic mail (e-mail) and electronic commerce, e-mail recipients may be constantly bombarded with increasing numbers of electronic messages.  
           [0004]    Once an e-mail recipient&#39;s address is disclosed, it is possible for the recipient to receive large number of unwanted electronic messages, such as solicitations for all types of e-commerce products. The e-mail recipient&#39;s e-mail address may be disclosed by an Internet service provider or by any third party to which the e-mail recipient has sent an electronic message. to decide whether to delete or save the electronic messages once they are received. This tedious process leads to cluttered electronic mailboxes and a resulting loss of time for the e-mail recipient, as the recipient attempts to manage the e-mails within the electronic mailbox. Other existing methods are similarly undesirable.  
           [0005]    Thus, there remains a need for efficiently identifying e-mail messages before they are delivered to an e-mail recipient&#39;s electronic mailbox, thereby eliminating the clutter of unwanted e-mail messages and the lost of time managing the e-mail messages within the electronic mailbox.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    Consistent with the present invention, an electronic message identification method and system is provided that avoids the problems associated with current systems and methods for identifying and managing electronic messages.  
           [0007]    In one aspect, a method consistent with the present invention for sending an electronic file to a customer comprises receiving an approval from the customer indicating acceptable content for electronic files that are sent to the customer; receiving the electronic file from a sender, the electronic file including file content and a message content identifier corresponding to the file content; comparing the message content identifier to the approval from the customer; and delivering the file content to an electronic mailbox of the customer, if the message content identifier is consistent with the approval from the customer indicating acceptable content.  
           [0008]    Both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The accompanying drawings provide a further understanding of the invention and, together with the detailed description, explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a layout of a system for providing electronic message identification consistent with the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a layout of an alternative embodiment for providing electronic message identification consistent with the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the internal processes of an e-address processor consistent with the present invention; and  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the MCIS participant sender or mailer process to encode the electronic message content consistent with present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the process for filtering and delivering the electronic message to an appropriate folder consistent with the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for applying the participant code, identifying the electronic message content, and delivering the electronic messages consistent with the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0016]    Reference will now be made to various embodiments according to this invention, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings and will be obvious from the description of the invention. In the drawings, the same reference numbers represent the same or similar elements in the different drawings whenever possible.  
         [0017]    System Operation  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment of a message content identifier system (MCIS system)  100  for a mail service. FIG. 1 illustrates a system layout where a mailer sends electronic messages directly to an e-mail system, in which system filtering takes place as a front end function of the e-mail system.  
         [0019]    In FIG. 1, an MCIS participating sender or mailer (MPSM)  101  enters MCIS system  100  by registering with MCIS system  100 . During the registration process, MPSM  101  is assigned a participant code or standardized content identifier for identification within MCIS system  100 . The MCIS participant code, in addition to specifically identifying the industry segment of MPSM  101  and their company, identifies multiple permutations of product type codes or offering codes that are associated with the specific company, so that electronic messages sent by MPSM  101  to MCIS system  100  can be accordingly identified. Once the registration process is complete, these product codes are provided to MPSM  101 , with the product type permutations, via some electronic communication, such as an e-mail. The registration process and the MCIS participant code structure and coding process will be described in greater detail below.  
         [0020]    Before transmitting the electronic message, MPSM  101  embeds the MCIS participant code into the electronic messages that are generated and transmits the electronic messages through network  102  to MCIS Mailer Interface  104 . Network  102  may be the internet or any type of analog or digital communications network. MCIS Mailer Interface  104  communicates with a core application  120  of MCIS system  100 . Core application  120  interfaces e-mail system  114  and ICRS system  112  and allows the setup of MPSM  101  on e-mail system  114 , using master content ID database  122 . Master content ID database  122  contains the codes that core application  120  interrogates and stores for allocating the participant code to each MPSM  101 , during the registration process.  
         [0021]    To access the e-mail message transmitted by MPSM  101 , a customer  106  must register with an e-mail system  114  of MCIS system  100 . Using laptop  108 , customer  106 , through network  110 , logs into an Internet customer registration system (ICRS system)  112 . Network  110  may be the internet or any type of digital or analog communications network. With ICRS system  112 , customer  106  registers and sets up the e-mail account by making selections for message filtering options. For additional information on ICRS system  112 , please refer to U.S. application Ser. No. 09/809,328 filed on Mar. 16, 2001.  
         [0022]    In this embodiment of the present invention, the filtering selection could occur when a customer registers or it could be an adjunct feature once the actual mailbox is established. When implemented as an adjunct feature, the filters may be set up within the mailbox itself rather than during the process of obtaining the mailbox.  
         [0023]    Once MPSM  101  is registered as a participating mailer and customer  106  has signed up with MCIS system  100 , then when MPSM  101  sends e-mail directly to the front end of e-mail system  114  via network  102  and MCIS filter  116 , MCIS filter  116  checks the MCIS participant code against the preferences that the specific customer has indicated and executes appropriate routing.  
         [0024]    At this point, MCIS filter  116  may either route the electronic message and deliver it to the customer&#39;s mailbox within e-mail system  114  or reject the electronic message and notify MPSM  101  that the message has been rejected. As a third option, MCIS filter  116  may deliver the electronic message into a generic pool instead of an identified specific MCIS filtered mail folder within the customer&#39;s mailbox. Customer  106  would then know that this electronic message did not meet the filtering criteria to be delivered to the mailbox, but it was sorted as it entered the box and was rejected. In any event, feedback is provided to MPMS  101  as notification of the outcome of the attempt, either successful or unsuccessful. Customer  106  then may enter his e-mail box  118  within e-mail system  114 , using laptop  108  and network  110 , and view the MCIS filtered electronic messages, non-filtered electronic messages, or another functional segments of the E-mail box  118 .  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 1 as previously described, focuses on the system layout and flow where the mailer is sending electronic messages directly or attempting to send electronic messages directly to customer  106 . FIG. 2 is an alternative embodiment where MPMS  101  may submit electronic files containing physical addresses, and possibly electronic addresses, and message content that contains MCIS participant coding. The service provided by this alternative embodiment may be implemented as a separate intermediate service.  
         [0026]    In this alternative embodiment, a physical address mailing list file  202  is uploaded, using a program, from MPMS  101  to an e-address processor  206 . E-address processor  206  will be described in greater detail below. E-address processor  206  queries an ICRS customer database  208 . As a result, ICRS customer database  208  outputs the customer&#39;s e-address and filtering preferences. ICRS customer database  208  contains the data supplied when customer  106  registered and set up the virtual e-addressing account with the mail service and initially recorded the filtering preferences.  
         [0027]    The query executed by E-address processor  206  may be implemented by several different means. For example, the query may be based on the physical address, codes that are associated with the physical address, the customer&#39;s name, or account numbers associated with the customer. The query uses one or more of the above mentioned components to translate the physical address mailing list file  202  to an electronic address.  
         [0028]    Furthermore, in this alternative embodiment, message content with MCIS coding  204  is also uploaded, using a program, to e-addressing processor  206 , where the e-addressing information, message content and the MCIS coding are combined and the electronic message is created. The electronic message with the embedded coding is then sent to the MCIS filter  116  of FIG. 2, where the customer preferences are identified. The electronic message is subsequently sent into an e-mail message routing system  210  for delivery into electronic mailbox repository  212 . Then, return statistics are sent to MPSM  101  via an e-address status reporting module  214 .  
         [0029]    Before describing, in FIG. 3, the internal details of e-addressing processor  206 , it is important to emphasize that the filtering executed by MCIS filter  116  may be implemented as part of the ICRS database query. Because the customer preferences may be stored on ICRS customer database  208 , the filtering may take place as part of the querying process. The filtering process may also be implemented within e-address processor  206 . The filtering process may be implemented in either fashion, that is, as part of the query of ICRS customer database  208 , or by referencing back to the mail merge processor within e-address processor  206 . The mail merge processor provides the function of creating the electronic message and will be discussed in the description of the internals of e-addressing processor  206 .  
         [0030]    In the case where the message filtering is performed during the querying of ICRS customer database  208 , the e-mail message does not have to run through the entire system before the filtering may take place. Processing may occur at the ICRS customer database  208  to identify those customers that in fact will accept the message content. Using this approach, message routing/handling decisions may be made upstream versus downstream in the process, and the message may be delivered directly to the e-mail message routing system  210  for delivery into electronic mailbox repository  212 .  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the internal processes within the e-addressing processor  206 . The numbers used in FIG. 3 correspond to the numbering system that is used in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 illustrates that physical address mailing list file  202  may be uploaded to an address matching system  302 . In address matching system  302 , the physical addresses are parsed and match codes are constructed for interrogating a match directory, within the address matching system, to obtain a match directory address associated with the input physical address. If a match is obtained, then the zip plus 4 code and all the other associated information contained within the address matching system for the associated physical address is fed into a key generation and e-addressing query function  304 , which in turn feeds a query to ICRS customer database  208 .  
         [0032]    As a result of the database query, an output is provide from the ICRS customer database  208  to e-addressing processor  206 . The output is an electronic address mailing list file  306 , which is fed into a mail merge processor  308 . Mail merge processor  308  receives message content with MCIS coding  204  and creates the electronic message. The resulting electronic message is then transferred to MCIS filter  116 , where the customer preferences are identified. The electronic message is subsequently sent into e-mail message routing system  210  for delivery into electronic mailbox repository  212 .  
         [0033]    The intelligence from within mail merge processor  308  may be returned to the ICRS customer database  208  and messages may be tagged with appropriate routing information for historical information tracking.  
         [0034]    MCIS Participating Sender or Mailer (MPSM) Processing  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 4 illustrates the process for applying the participant coding or standard content identifier to the message content. MPSM  101  inputs a message content  402  to a content coding program  404 , where message content  402  is coded with a participant coding or standard content identifier  406 . The participant code or standard content identifier may be inserted into the header section of an electronic message. Then, the electronic message is sent to E-mail system  114  via MCIS filter  116 .  
         [0036]    Next, FIG. 5 illustrates that the electronic message, including content  402 , participant or standardized content identifier  406 , and a recipient address  502 , is received and submitted to filters  504 . The recipient address  502  may be the customer&#39;s electronic mail box address. Filters  504 , in turn, identify the customer&#39;s preferences, which were setup during the registration process, and apply the preferences to participant or standardized content identifier  406 . Then, according to the identified preferences that are consistent with the participant or standardized content identifier  406 , the electronic messages are delivered to the appropriate folders. For example, bills are delivered to a folder  510 , secure mail may be delivered to a folder  512 , advertisements may be delivered to a folder  514 , and e-mail may be delivered to a folder  516 . For additional security, security features  506  and  508  are applied before bills and secured mail are delivered to their appropriate folders. The security features ( 506  and  508 ) may be a type of electronic security message, protocol, or handshake used to distinguish between authorized and unauthorized system users. For example, the security features ( 506  and  508 ) may be a fire wall.  
         [0037]    Participant Code or Standard Content Identifier  
         [0038]    MCIS system  100  provides a standardized method for electronic messages and their content to be identified and subsequently filtered (accepted or rejected), based upon on the MCIS participant code or standardized content identifier  406 . As described above, MCIS participating sender or mailer (MPSM)  101  is provided with content coding program  404  (FIG. 4) to provide associated product type identifiers that may be incorporated into MCIS system  100 .  
         [0039]    Once established as an MCIS system  100  participant, MPSM  101  provides this participant code or standardized content identifier  406  as part of all submitted messages for potential electronic delivery by the mail service or by other private commercial electronic message services licensed by the mail service to provide MCIS system messages to their customers.  
         [0040]    The participant code or standardized content identifier may be implemented with the following MCIS code format:  
         NNNNNNMAAAANNNNNNC 
         [0041]    N=Numeric (0-9)  
         [0042]    A=Alpha (A-Z)  
         [0043]    C=Modulus 10 check digit  
         [0044]    The MCIS code format is 18 characters in length plus a check digit and is divided into three segments:  
         [0045]    I. The first six characters (NNNNNN) identify the industry segment and is based upon the North America Industry Classification System (NAICS);  
         [0046]    II. The next six characters of the code (AAAAAA) specifically identify a company within the industry segment and is based on the Address Change Service (ACS) participant code, which is describe in the publication of Appendix A (United States Postal Service, Address Change Service, Publication 8 (July 1998));  
         [0047]    III. The last six characters (NNNNNN) are used to identify a specific product type or offering by a company;  
         [0048]    IV. The last digit (C) is used to ensure the integrity or accuracy of the preceding 18 characters;  
         [0049]    For example, the MCIS participant code or standardized content identifier may be 721191BRXJKT5011521. The component parts are:  
         [0050]    I. 721191—the NAICS code that identifies the industry segment for Bed-and-Breakfast Inns;  
         [0051]    II. BRXJKT—identifies a specific Bed-and-Breakfast Inn (e.g., XYZ Bed-and-Breakfast in Anytown, USA);  
         [0052]    III. 501152—identifies the contents of the messages as being an advertisement for discount offers for rooms booked 60 days in-advance for stays during the month of July;  
         [0053]    IV. 1—identifies the check digit that ensures the integrity or accuracy of the preceding 18 characters.  
         [0054]    Method of Operation  
         [0055]    [0055]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method  600  used by MPSM  101  to send electronic messages to a recipient&#39;s mailbox. To initiate the transfer of information, method  600  starts, the sender applies a standard coding to the message content to be delivered to the recipient, and the recipient specifies the type of content to be received and/or identifies the approved senders. (Stage  602 - 606 ).  
         [0056]    Once the mail service receives the content with the standard coding from MPSM  101 , the mail service reads the standard coding and compares the standard code to the recipient&#39;s preferences (Stage  608 ). The recipient&#39;s preferences specify the content that the recipient wishes to receive and/or identifies the approved senders. (Stage  610 ). If the standard code from MPSM  101  is inconsistent with the recipient&#39;s preferences, the mail service does not route the message content to the recipient&#39;s mailbox, and may notify MPSM  101  of non-delivery. (Stage  614 ). Then, the method ends. (Stage  620 ).  
         [0057]    If the standard code from MPSM  101  is consistent with the recipients specification, the mail service routes the content to the appropriate folder in the recipient&#39;s mailbox, and may notify the sender of the delivery. (Stage  616  and  618 ). Then, the method ends. (Stage  620 ).  
         [0058]    In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the present invention provides a system and method directed to identifying electronic messages based on a message content identifier or participant code. Still, it should be understood that the foregoing relates only to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and that numerous changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.