Message Holding Buffer for Online Service Verification

Solution Overview

Problem

Online services face a trade-off between providing functionality to users and maintaining computer system security, as verification processes often impede the immediate use of features like sending messages, leading to a sacrifice in functionality for security.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a system that allows users to select and store options for functions like sending user-to-user messages before verification is complete, delaying the actual transmission until verification confirmation is received, thereby providing partial functionality while ensuring security.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If verification process is implemented before allowing message transmission, then computer system security is improved, but functionality availability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecomputer system securityVSAvoidfunctionality availability

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by storing the user's message composition intent and recipient information before verification is complete. The message content is prepared and held in a pending state, so that once verification is confirmed, the message can be transmitted immediately without requiring the user to re-compose it. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining security (verification required) while preserving functionality (message ready to send).

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary mechanism - a pending message queue or holding buffer - that stores the message content between the user's composition action and the final transmission. This intermediary allows the system to verify user identity before allowing transmission while keeping the message data preserved and ready for immediate sending upon verification success, thus balancing security requirements with functional accessibility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If verification process is implemented before allowing message transmission, then computer system security is improved, but user productivity deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecomputer system securityVSAvoiduser productivity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by storing the user's message composition intent and recipient information before verification is complete. The message content is prepared and held in a pending state, so that once verification is confirmed, the message can be transmitted immediately without requiring the user to re-compose it. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining security (verification required) while preserving functionality (message ready to send).

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system maintains continuity of useful action by keeping the message composition state preserved during the verification period. Instead of requiring the user to restart the composition process after verification, the system holds the message content in a pending state, allowing the useful action (message composition) to continue seamlessly once verification is complete, thus maintaining user productivity while ensuring security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

3Reliability

If message transmission is delayed until verification is complete, then computer system security is improved, but time efficiency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecomputer system securityVSAvoidtime efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by storing the user's message composition intent and recipient information before verification is complete. The message content is prepared and held in a pending state, so that once verification is confirmed, the message can be transmitted immediately without requiring the user to re-compose it. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining security (verification required) while preserving functionality (message ready to send).

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies the skipping principle by rapidly processing and transmitting the message immediately upon verification confirmation. Once the verification hurdle is cleared, the pre-prepared message is rushed through the transmission channel without any additional delays for user intervention or system processing, thus minimizing time loss while maintaining security requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #21Skipping (Rushing through)

Data Source

PatentUS10447704B2Automatic holding of transmissions until verification complete

Publication Date: 2019.10.15 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

Techniques for ensuring verification before transmission of electronic messages are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method comprises: transmitting a confirmation request message to an e-mail address stored in a database of an online service in association with a digital representation of a first user of the online service; subsequent to transmitting the confirmation request message, causing a selectable option to send a user-to-user message to a second user via the online service to be displayed on the computing device of the first user; receiving, from the computing device of the first user, a selection of the option to send the user-to-user message to the second user; determining that the confirmation of the e-mail address has not been received; and preventing a transmission of the user-to-user message to the second user based on the determining that the confirmation of the e-mail address has not been received.