US 9,756,000 B1Granted

Obfuscation of email addresses

AssigneeGroupon, Inc.

InventorsKarthik Paulramachandran, Rajeev Kumar, Ganesh Angappan, Ramya J

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed for facilitating two-way email communication in manner that obfuscates sender and recipient email addresses. The method includes receiving a correspondence request indication; assigning a first transaction address to a sender and a second transaction address to a recipient; receiving a message from the sender; associating the message from the sender with the first transaction address; and causing a transmission of the message from the sender to the recipient using the first transaction address. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method for facilitating electronic correspondence associated with a transaction between a sender and a recipient, the transaction beginning with a correspondence request indication and ending with a transaction complete indication, the method comprising:

receiving the correspondence request indication;
assigning a transaction identifier to the correspondence request indication, wherein the transaction identifier is associated with the transaction and valid for a transaction period;
assigning a sender identifier to the sender and a recipient identifier to the recipient, wherein the sender identifier and the recipient identifier are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
generating a first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address comprises a first local part and a first domain part, wherein generating the first transaction address includes generating the first local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the sender identifier;
generating a second transaction address, wherein the second transaction address comprises a second local part and a second domain part, wherein generating the second transaction address includes generating the second local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the recipient identifier;
assigning the first transaction address to the sender and the second transaction address to the recipient;
receiving a message from the sender;
associating the message from the sender with the first transaction address;
causing a transmission of the message to the recipient using the first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address and the second transaction address are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
and
receiving the transaction complete indication, wherein the transaction period is terminated a predetermined time period following receipt of the transaction complete indication.

8 more elements

An apparatus for facilitating electronic correspondence associated with a transaction between a sender and a recipient, the transaction beginning with a correspondence request indication and ending with a transaction complete indication, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

receive the correspondence request indication;
assign a transaction identifier to the correspondence request indication, wherein the transaction identifier is associated with the transaction and valid for a transaction period;
assign a sender identifier to the sender and a recipient identifier to the recipient, wherein the sender identifier and the recipient identifier are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
generate a first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address comprises a first local part and a first domain part, wherein generating the first transaction address includes generating the first local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the sender identifier;
generate a second transaction address, wherein the second transaction address comprises a second local part and a second domain part, wherein generating the second transaction address includes generating the second local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the recipient identifier;
assign the first transaction address to the sender and the second transaction address to the recipient;
receive a message from the sender;
associate the message from the sender with the first transaction address;
cause a transmission of the message to the recipient using the first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address and the second transaction address are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
and
receiving the transaction complete indication, wherein the transaction period is terminated a predetermined time period following receipt of the transaction complete indication.

8 more elements

A computer program product for facilitating electronic correspondence associated with a transaction between a sender and a recipient, the transaction beginning with a correspondence request indication and ending with a transaction complete indication, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable code portions stored therein, the computer-executable program code portions comprising program code instructions configured to:

receive the correspondence request indication;
assign a transaction identifier to the correspondence request indication, wherein the transaction identifier is associated with the transaction and valid for a transaction period;
assign a sender identifier to the sender and a recipient identifier to the recipient, wherein the sender identifier and the recipient identifier are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
generate a first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address comprises a first local part and a first domain part, wherein generating the first transaction address includes generating the first local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the sender identifier;
generate a second transaction address, wherein the second transaction address comprises a second local part and a second domain part, wherein generating the second transaction address includes generating the second local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the recipient identifier;
assign the first transaction address to the sender and the second transaction address to the recipient;
receive a message from the sender;
associate the message from the sender with the first transaction address;
cause a transmission of the message to the recipient using the first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address and the second transaction address are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
and
receiving the transaction complete indication, wherein the transaction period is terminated a predetermined time period following receipt of the transaction complete indication.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

receiving the correspondence request indication;
assigning a transaction identifier to the correspondence request indication, wherein the transaction identifier is associated with the transaction and valid for a transaction period;
assigning a sender identifier to the sender and a recipient identifier to the recipient, wherein the sender identifier and the recipient identifier are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
generating a first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address comprises a first local part and a first domain part, wherein generating the first transaction address includes generating the first local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the sender identifier;
generating a second transaction address, wherein the second transaction address comprises a second local part and a second domain part, wherein generating the second transaction address includes generating the second local part by multiplying the transaction identifier by the recipient identifier;
assigning the first transaction address to the sender and the second transaction address to the recipient;
receiving a message from the sender;
associating the message from the sender with the first transaction address;
causing a transmission of the message to the recipient using the first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address and the second transaction address are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period;
and
receiving the transaction complete indication, wherein the transaction period is terminated a predetermined time period following receipt of the transaction complete indication.

8 more elements