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Description  |
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to computer systems and more particularly to
digital messages accessed by computer systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The Internet is a worldwide system of computer networks--a network of
networks in which a user at one computer can obtain information from any
other computer (and communicate with users of the other computers). The
Internet was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of
the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANet. The
original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research
computer at one university to be able to communicate with research
computers at other universities. To assure that the network could continue
to function even if parts of it were destroyed, such as by a military
attack or natural disaster, a key design requirement of ARPANet was a
facility for bi-directional message routing in a communication link.
The Internet has evolved into a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining
facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The most
widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (often abbreviated
"WWW" or called "the Web"). One important feature of the Web is its use of
hypertext documents, a method of instant cross-referencing. On many Web
sites, certain words or phrases appear in text of a different color than
the rest; often this text is also underlined. When one of these words or
phrases is selected, it functions as a hyperlink, transferring the user to
the site or page that is linked to this word or phrase. Sometimes there
are buttons, images, or portions of images that are "clickable."
Using the Web provides access to millions of pages of information. Web
surfing is done with a Web browser; the most popular of which are Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The appearance of a particular
Web site may vary slightly depending on the particular browser used.
Recent versions of browsers have plug-ins, which provide animation,
virtual reality, sound, music, and display of text in controlled form.
Because the Internet evolved from the ARPAnet, a research experiment that
supported the exchange of data between government contractors and academic
researchers, an on-line culture developed that is sometimes alien to the
corporate business world. Although the Internet was not designed to make
commercialization easy, commercial Internet publishing and e-commerce have
rapidly evolved. In part it is the very ease with which anyone can publish
a document that is accessible by a large number of people that makes
electronic publishing attractive. Setting up an e-commerce site can
typically be accomplished with low overhead while providing access to a
worldwide market 24 hours a day. The growth and popularity of the Internet
is providing new opportunities for commercialization including but not
limited to Web sites driven by electronic commerce, ad revenue, branding,
database transactions, and intranet/extranet applications.
Domain names direct where e-mail is routed, files are found, and computer
resources are located. They are used when accessing information on the Web
or connecting to other computers through Telnet. Internet users enter the
domain name, which is automatically converted to the Internet Protocol
address by the Domain Name System (DNS).
For many Internet users, electronic mail (e-mail) has substantially
replaced the Postal Service for written transactions. E-mail is the most
widely used application on the Internet. Live "conversations" can be
carried on with other computer users, using Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
More recently, Internet telephony hardware and software allows real-time
voice conversations.
E-mail was one of the first services developed on the Internet. Today,
e-mail is an important service on any computer network, not just the
Internet. E-mail involves sending a message from one computer account to
another computer account. E-mail is used to send textual information as
well as files, including graphic files, executable files, word processing
and other files. E-mail is becoming a popular way to conduct business over
long distances. Using e-mail to contact a business associate can be more
effective than using a voice telephone, because the recipient can read it
at a convenient time, and the sender can include as much information as
needed to explain the situation.
On-line commerce, or "e-commerce", uses the Internet, of which the Web is a
part, to transfer large amounts of information about numerous goods and
services in exchange for payment or customer data needed to facilitate
payment. Potential customers can supply a company with shipping and
invoicing information without having to tie up sales staff. The
convenience offered to the customer is primarily that of avoiding a trip
to one or more traditional "bricks and mortar" establishment in search of
a desired product.
The expanding use of e-mail, FTP and other forms of digital message
communication is widely displacing traditional paper communications. The
Internet is an essential communications tool for individuals, professional
users, companies, and government and military agencies. Global
interconnectivity and rapid data transfer are among the benefits enjoyed
its millions of users. While the Internet provides an undeniably useful
environment for data exchange, security is not integrated into its design.
In fact, the very concept behind the Internet is a robust open packet
communication system.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a system for controlled message
distribution.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method is disclosed for secure transmission of a message via a network
wherein a recipient of the message need not be a party to the network or
maintain an active address in the network. Instead, new accounts are
created dynamically by the system of the invention in response to a
message addressed to an unknown user by sender who is a party to the
network. In the operation of the method of the invention, messages from a
network-party sender addressed to such an unknown user are deposited into
a unique account created for the addressed recipient. That addressed
recipient is notified via a non-network communication path that a message
is stored and available to it, and is provided instructions for accessing
a network address to retrieve its message.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
FIG. 1 depicts a system embodiment for carrying out the method of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS
Vendors, universities and government agencies have attempted to provide a
system for controlled message distribution in various ways, with the
creation of such security standards as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and
S/MIME. Both of these standards depend on digital certificates, which are
at the core of Public/Private Key (PKI) encryption. SSL is often used to
securely exchange data between a web browser and an Internet web server.
It is a widespread standard since it fills a very clear security hole, and
just as importantly, is very easy to implement and use. S/MIME is also a
widespread standard, used mainly to secure email messages. But its
dependence on unique digital certificates for both the sender and
recipient has severely limited its acceptance by email users. With S/MIME,
email senders and email recipients must obtain digital certificates and
install them in their email client software. Then, the email sender must
obtain copies of the Public keys of all of its message recipients, and
digitally sign messages with the sender's Private key and each recipient's
Public key. While this process produces a secure message exchange between
the sender and its recipients, the burden on the sender and recipient has
made it too complex for widespread acceptance.
To gain widespread acceptance, secure message delivery over the Internet
must be made as technically unchallenging as possible, while still
providing uncompromising data protection. Additional value can be added if
the sender is notified when its recipients have opened their messages.
Further value can be added if the receipt notification works in all cases,
regardless of the recipient's email software (e.g. email client, web-based
email, personal digital assistant). According to the method of the
invention, such a "certified" message delivery system is provided which
enables a message recipient to access its account, open its secure
electronic mailbox, and quickly access one or more received messages. Upon
the recipient opening a message, the system notifies the sender of that
event.
In traditional e-mail systems, a user must initiate the account creation
process, usually by requesting an account or joining an organization. This
is often accomplished by the user visiting a website to fill out a
registration form, or by an administrator creating an email address for
one or more known users on a system managed by that administrator.
Registered users are then assigned a unique email address on the system.
In such systems, the user can then send and receive email messages using
the assigned e-mail address.
In contrast to this well-established process, with the method of the
invention, creation of a messaging account does not require user request,
or action by an administrator in respect to a user joining an
organization. Instead, new accounts are dynamically created by the system
as a result of existing users of the system sending messages to unknown
users of the system. Through this unique process, users that may have
never had contact with the organization will receive unique
password-protected accounts in the system.
Unlike traditional e-mail systems, where messages are delivered into the
recipient's messaging system, messages transmitted according to the method
of the invention are deposited into a unique account created for the
recipient. The messages associated with the account are located on the
same system where the message sender established its account. As a result,
when the recipient accesses its account to retrieve a message, the system
will always know that the message was opened, allowing it to provide the
sender with confirmation of that event. In addition, since the message
recipient accesses its private account on the system, all other messages
sent to the recipient are available to the recipient in an Inbox. This is
in contrast to existing message delivery systems. Typical messaging
systems can only provide one message to the recipient since the system is
based on a unique document ID, and not a unique recipient account. Having
unique recipient accounts capable of displaying all received messages
significantly increases the usability of the system. It allows the system
to achieve the conveniences of conventional email systems, with the
security and tracking capability of secure message delivery systems. The
dynamic account creation process provided by this invention enables the
messaging system to incorporate the benefits and conveniences of email and
secure delivery systems. As a result, a messaging system built with this
invention provides a unique, superior way to securely deliver and manage
documents over the Internet.
The invention utilizes existing e-mail systems for notification of a
secured certified message, but actual access is provided to the secured
certified message from a database system located at the secured site. The
access can be provided through a variety of mechanisms, including a local
client, through the use of a web browser, and through the equivalent of
plug-in features to existing e-mail systems. By using plug-in features to
an existing e-mail system, the creation and access of a secured certified
message can be seamless to an e-mail user.
The invention builds upon the fundamental Internet tools such as web
browsers, email clients, the manner in which electronic mail is handled on
the Internet, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), XML and the manner in
which Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) work. A significant amount of
material describing these features of the Internet is available both
through various sites on the Internet and through published resources.
Such resources and their applicability to the invention are discussed in
the following description of the method and operation of the invention.
Dynamic account and mail store creation capabilities of an electronic
document delivery system are among the Internet features utilized by the
invention. In this arrangement, recipient accounts are dynamically created
as a result of an electronic message being sent by the message sender,
whether the sender is a registered user or an application that generates
messages (e.g. eBilling, monthly statements). The electronic certified
message takes on a familiar email format, and contains one or more
individual or Group email addresses in To, CC and BCC fields, a Subject,
Body and optionally, one or more file attachments. Recipient email
addresses in the To, CC and BCC fields are checked in a case insensitive
search against the email addresses of all registered and receive-only
users in the system. If an addressed recipient's email address does not
already exist, a new account is created for that address. The account is
comprised of a unique system-generated user ID (NuID), a username
consisting of the recipient's email address, an account password that is
randomly generated, and a user type indicating that the addressed
recipient is an unregistered receive-only user. The unique user ID (NuID)
is used to individually link an account with user data in various database
tables and the file system. A message store is also created for the
recipient, and is based on the NuID for the recipient. The first certified
message to the recipient (which triggers a receive-only account creation
for the recipient), and all subsequent certified messages will then be
deposited in the recipient's unique message store.
When a certified message is placed in the recipient's message store, a
separate process generates a "mail waiting" email, and sends it via email
to the recipient's email address. The "mail waiting" message contains a
hypertext web link (hyperlink) pointing to the web server where the
recipient's message delivery account can be accessed.
If the certified message is sent to a dynamically created "receive only"
user, the "mail waiting" hyperlink will also contain the recipient's
username and password as parameters. When the hyperlink is selected, the
recipient's web browser will start and access the message system web site.
The recipient's username and password are passed as parameters from the
hyperlink to the login screen, which authenticates them against the user
database and allows entry for the recipient into its account. Once granted
entry into the account, the system allows the recipient to access its
private message Inbox and retrieve one or more of its certified messages.
If the certified message is sent to the email address of a member that has
already registered with the system (e.g. not a dynamically created
member), then the "mail waiting" hyperlink will contain the recipient's
username but not the password for the recipient. When the user selects the
hyperlink, the user's web browser will be started and the message delivery
login screen will be displayed. The recipient will then have to provide
its login password (as supplied during the user registration) to access
its account. Once granted entry into the account, the system allows the
recipient to access its private Inbox and retrieve one or more of its
certified messages. In addition, since the recipient is already registered
with the system, additional features are available, including creating and
sending new certified messages.
Method Steps for a Preferred Embodiment
Sequence Flow for Dynamic account creation initiated by a registered member
using a web browser:
1. Registered member (member) starts its web browser and accesses the
certified message web site (system).
2. Member selects the login web link and login to the system with member's
username and password.
3. Member selects the "Create New Message" link.
4. System displays a form with email message fields including recipient
fields (To, CC, BCC), Subject, Body and Attachments.
5. Member creates a certified message by filling out the various message
fields. In the recipient fields, member provides one or more Internet
email addresses in the form username@domain.com. In addition, member can
access its address book and select email addresses and pre-defined Groups
of email addresses that it has already created.
6. When ready, the member selects the "Send" button to send the certified
message to the recipient(s).
7. The system performs a syntax check of all of the recipient email
addresses, ensuring that they are formed as per Internet SMTP email
standards. If one or more invalid email addresses are detected, the Send
operation is canceled; the system displays an error message and redisplays
the message for the member to correct the problem.
8. Upon successfully providing all valid email addresses, and filling out
any other required fields such as Subject and Body, when the "Send" button
is selected, the system will begin to process the certified message.
9. The system displays a screen that the certified message has been
received, and the recipients will be notified that they have a certified
message waiting. Unlike conventional email systems, where the recipients
receive the sender's message via email, the member's certified message is
saved to a database and its attachments, if any, are stored in the file
system.
10. Member can then continue using the system and any of its features.
11. Please refer to "Polling Process" for the remaining steps.
Account Creation Polling Process
A process polls the message database at a set interval, searching for
certified messages that have not yet been processed. Unprocessed messages
have their MsgStatus field set to 1. When one or more of these messages
are found, the following steps are taken:
1) The user database is opened, containing email addresses and registration
information.
2) The certified message is opened from the message database, and the
various recipient email address fields (To, CC, BCC) are accessed.
3) Each email address is checked for correct syntax. Improperly formed
email addresses are discarded.
4) One by one, a search is performed, individually looking for each
addressed recipient's email address in the email address table of the user
database. Since Internet email addresses are case insensitive, the search
is case insensitive.
5) If the email address is found in the database, the email address is
skipped. The process then repeats step 4 until no more email addresses are
found in the recipient fields of the message.
6) If a match is not found, a new "receive only" account must be created
for the recipient.
Following are the Steps the System Performs to Dynamically Create this New
Account
a) The account initialization process is started. It is comprised of the
following steps:
i) The email address is assigned to a string variable named EMAILADDRESS.
Any upper and lowercase characters are left as is, since subsequent
searches on the email address will disregard the case of the characters.
ii) A random password is generated for the account, consisting of 8
alphanumeric characters. It is then assigned to a string variable named
PASSWORD. Alphanumeric characters consist of the letters A to Z, and 0 to
9. To ensure that new passwords do not fall into a pattern, the RANDOMIZE
function is used, initialized with a numeric value representing the
current date and time. Since the date and time are never the same,
generating a random value using this method ensures that the computer can
generate true random numbers. The computer's RND (random) function is then
used to generate the actual ran | | |
