US 7,580,984 B2
System and method for sorting e-mail
Dale W. Malik, Dunwoody, Ga. (US)
Assigned to AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P., Reno, Nev. (US)
Filed on Oct. 30, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/554,459.
Application 11/554459 is a continuation of application No. 09/888718, filed on Jun. 25, 2001, granted, now 7,133,898.
Prior Publication US 2008/0120379 A1, May 22, 2008
Int. Cl. G06F 15/16 (2006.01); G06F 15/173 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 709—206  [709/224; 709/225; 709/232; 709/239] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of sorting e-mail, comprising:
receiving an e-mail from an e-mail source;
identifying whether the e-mail has a vendor registration code for identifying a vendor from whom the e-mail was forwarded;
determining a source category of the e-mail by matching the e-mail source to an associated source category from a plurality of source categories, wherein each source category identifies related e-mail sources, the e-mail sources belonging to the same source category related to each other by a shared characteristic other than unwanted e-mail being delivered from the e-mail sources;
downloading from a database server the plurality of source categories associated with the e-mail sources;
when the e-mail has a vendor registration code that was previously assigned by a recipient to the e-mail source, presenting the e-mail with other e-mails received from sources having vendor registration codes; and
when the e-mail does not have a valid vendor registration code, presenting the e-mail grouped together with other e-mails determined to be in the same source category, adding information about vendor registration codes to the e-mail and returning the e-mail to the e-mail source;
wherein the information about the vendor registration codes includes instructions on how to register to obtain a vendor registration code.