US 2008/0168147 A1 · Method and Apparatus for Automatically Checking E-mail Addresses in Outgoing E-mail Communications

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for detecting incorrect e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications. In a first embodiment, a domain name database creates a table of domain names by automatically storing the domain names of e-mail addresses from which incoming e-mails are received. When a user creates an outgoing e-mail communication, the system checks the domain names provided by the user with those domain names stored in the table. If the user-provided domain name does not match any of the domain names in the table, or closely resembles a domain name in the table, the user is prompted to confirm the provided e-mail address. In a second embodiment, e-mail addresses are extracted from incoming e-mail communications and stored in a memory in a client computer e-mail communications system. The system checks the memory for the presence of the e-mail addresses provided in outgoing e-mail communications, and generates a prompt when an e-mail address is not present in the memory.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of automatically checking for an incorrect e-mail address in an outgoing e-mail communication, comprising the steps of:

(a) storing a list of domain names in a memory;
(b) checking if a domain name of the e-mail address provided in the e-mail communication is included in the list of domain names in the memory;
and
(c) generating a prompt for a user to confirm an e-mail address if the domain name is not included in the list of domain names.

1 more element

A method of automatically checking for misspelled e-mail addresses in outgoing e-mail communications prior to transmission by an e-mail communications server, comprising the steps of:

(a) extracting domain names in senders' e-mail addresses from e-mail communications incoming to the email communications server;
(b) storing extracted domain names in a domain name database;
(c) receiving outgoing e-mail communications from client computers connected to the e-mail communications server through a local network;
(d) searching the domain name database for domain names spelled similarly to the domain names in e-mail addresses provided in the outgoing e-mail communications;
and
(e) generating an error prompt upon detecting that a domain name in an e-mail address provided in an outgoing e-mail communication is misspelled.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and Apparatus for Automatically Checking E-mail Addresses in Outgoing E-mail Communications

Life of this patent

Method and Apparatus for Automatically Checking E-mail Addresses in Outgoing E-mail Communications

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20