Separating Private Email Content for Privacy and Bandwidth
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for securely transferring private, recipient-specific content in emails require excessive client-server communications, leading to bandwidth consumption and resource usage issues, as well as potential privacy breaches when private content is inadvertently shared with unintended recipients.
Innovation Solution
A method for generating, transferring, and utilizing emails with a common portion and a private portion, where the private content is stored separately from the common content and only accessible to intended recipients, using a transfer program that manages storage and retrieval of these portions to prevent unintended access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If private content is embedded in email and encrypted with separate key distribution, then privacy protection is improved, but client-server communication overhead and bandwidth consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts private content from the email body and stores it separately in a secure location. The email contains only a reference or placeholder to the private content, not the actual content itself. This separation eliminates the need to transmit and store encrypted private content within the email infrastructure, reducing bandwidth consumption and server resource usage while maintaining privacy protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a secure content storage system as an intermediary between the email system and the private content. This intermediary stores the actual private content securely and provides controlled access to authorized recipients without requiring the email system to handle the sensitive data directly. This mediator approach reduces the communication overhead in the email system while preserving privacy.
2Reliability
If encryption keys are distributed in separate communications, then security is improved, but the number of client-server communications increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by establishing secure access mechanisms before the email transmission. The private content is pre-stored in a secure location with access controls configured in advance. When the email is sent, the recipient can access the private content directly through the pre-configured secure system without requiring separate key distribution communications, thus improving both security and communication efficiency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If private content is embedded in email, then recipient-specific communication is enabled, but unintended access by other recipients becomes possible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the email into two distinct parts: public email content accessible to all recipients, and private content stored separately and accessible only to authorized recipients. This segmentation is enforced through separate storage and access control mechanisms. The email system handles the public content while the private content is managed by a separate secure system that identifies and authenticates authorized recipients, preventing unintended access while enabling recipient-specific communication.
Data Source
AI summary
An email is received. The email consists of a common content, at least one recipient for the common content, a private content, and at least one recipient for the private content. Each of the at least one recipients for the private content is a recipient of the common content. The common content is stored in a first storage location, and the private content is stored in a second storage location.