Trusted Sender Filtering for Controlled Email Inbox Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current email systems deliver unwanted spam emails from advertisers and cyber criminals to user inboxes, despite spam filters, necessitating a user-centric solution to control which emails are received.
Innovation Solution
A method and non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a list of trusted identifiers, allowing users to add or remove senders, and filters incoming messages based on this list to provide only trusted emails to the inbox while sending untrusted emails to a trash folder or flagging them for review.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If spam filters are used to automatically identify and separate unwanted emails, then the system can handle large volumes of incoming mail, but the inbox still receives unwanted spam emails from advertisers and cyber criminals
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by proactively blocking emails from senders not on the trusted list before they reach the user's inbox. Instead of relying on reactive spam filtering, the patent establishes a pre-approved whitelist of trusted senders, and all other emails are automatically rejected at the gateway level, preventing spam from entering the inbox in the first place.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary component - the trusted sender list - that acts as a mediator between incoming emails and the user's inbox. This intermediary layer filters and approves senders before their emails reach the user, providing an additional security layer beyond traditional spam filters.
2Loss of information
If all incoming emails are delivered to the user's inbox, then the user receives complete information from all senders, but the inbox becomes filled with unwanted spam emails
Solution Approach 1:
The system establishes a pre-approved list of trusted senders before emails arrive. This preliminary action ensures that only emails from verified sources are delivered to the inbox, while automatically blocking potential spam before it can contaminate the user's mailbox.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by treating different senders differently based on their trust status. Emails from trusted senders on the whitelist receive full delivery to the inbox, while emails from untrusted senders are automatically blocked. This selective quality control ensures important emails are delivered while filtering out spam.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a trusted sender list is implemented to filter emails, then spam protection is improved, but the user loses control over receiving emails from unknown senders
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamics by allowing the trusted sender list to be dynamically updated based on user actions. When a user marks an email as trusted, that sender is automatically added to the whitelist, and future emails from that sender are automatically approved. This dynamic adaptation maintains security while providing user control and flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where user responses to blocked emails (marking them as trusted) are fed back into the system to update the trusted sender list. This feedback loop allows the system to learn from user behavior and automatically adjust its filtering rules, balancing security with user convenience.
Data Source
AI summary
A non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided. The non-transitory computer-readable medium includes instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, are configured to store a list of trusted identifiers, add an identifier to the list of trusted identifiers, receive an incoming message, determine whether the identifier of the incoming message is included in the list of trusted identifiers, and provide the incoming message to a user in response to determining that the identifier of the incoming message is included in the list of trusted identifiers.