Hosted Email Domain Blacklisting via Client-Side Sending
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hosted email systems face issues where malicious or spam emails sent from a hosted domain can lead to domain blacklisting, affecting legitimate users and imposing costly regulatory burdens due to high email volumes, causing legitimate emails to be misclassified as spam and resulting in network security measures limiting or blocking email traffic.
Innovation Solution
A method where a server generates an email object in XML format and instructs a local email client on the user's device to send the email from their own domain, using applications like Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, thereby avoiding the hosted domain's mail server for sending emails, ensuring that emails appear to originate from the user's domain and not the hosted solution's domain.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If e-mail messages are sent from the hosted domain's mail server, then the hosted application can provide e-mail functionality to users, but the domain may be blacklisted or associated with spam, causing legitimate emails to be blocked or misclassified
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the e-mail sending function from the hosted domain's mail server and relocates it to the client's local mail client. The server generates an e-mail object and provides it to the client, but the actual sending is performed by the client's local mail client using the client's own domain credentials, thereby separating the e-mail composition functionality from the sending mechanism to avoid domain blacklisting
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an e-mail object as an intermediary between the server and the client's mail client. The server generates this e-mail object containing the message content and recipient information, then the client's local mail client uses this object to construct and send the actual e-mail from the client's domain, serving as a mediator that enables e-mail functionality without directly sending from the hosted domain
2Productivity
If a large number of e-mails are sent from the hosted domain, then the hosted application can serve multiple users, but the provider may be deemed an Internet Service Provider requiring costly regulatory compliance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the e-mail sending operation from the hosted server and assigns it to the client's local mail client. By taking out the sending function from the server, the hosted provider avoids being classified as an ISP, thereby eliminating the need for costly regulatory compliance while still enabling high-volume e-mail communication through multiple users
3Extent of automation
If e-mail is sent from the hosted domain's mail server, then the hosted application can maintain centralized control, but network security systems may limit or block email traffic from the domain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the e-mail process into two distinct parts: the server's role in generating and providing the e-mail object, and the client's role in sending the actual e-mail from their own domain. This segmentation allows centralized control over e-mail composition and content while ensuring reliable delivery by sending from the client's trusted domain, avoiding security blocks
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving e-mail input data from a client at a server that is configured to serve a hosted application that includes an e-mail user interface to the client. The e-mail input data is used to generate an e-mail message from a user of the client, where the client is associated with a first domain and the server is associated with a second domain. An e-mail object corresponding to the e-mail message from the user of the client is generated at the server, and the e-mail object is forwarded from the server to the client along with instructions to convert the e-mail object into the e-mail message and to send the e-mail message from the first domain.