Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

David Buckley

Wayne Merl Cranston

Donald Gordon Brown

This invention is directed to systems and methods for preserving delivery status notification information as a message transits from one type of network to another type of network. For incoming messages, the present invention takes a two-pronged approach whereby the delivery status notification information accompanying the incoming message is 1) mapped to the closest available options supported by the network and 2) preserved so that the original information may be fully recovered without loss at a later time. When messages are delivered within the network, the mapped delivery status notification information will generate the closest delivery status notifications supported by the network. For outgoing messages, the preserved delivery status notification information is extracted and used to set delivery status notification options. If the message is being transferred to the same type of network that originated the message, using the preserved delivery status notification information results in the original options being fully restored without loss of any kind. If the message is being sent to a different network than that generated the message, using the original delivery status notification information will result in the closest available options being selected. This two-pronged approach taken by the present invention minimizes the mapping losses under all circumstances.

System and method for preserving delivery status notification when

The SMTP protocol takes a message formatted according to a defined internet standard and wraps the message in an envelope. The message and envelope are sent to servers for transfer through the Internet to their intended destination. The SMTP protocol strictly defines the information that is transferred in the envelope and the format of the message. There is thus a real possibility that when messages are transferred from one network into an SMTP network that information will either be lost or not transferred correctly. The present invention provides systems and methods that take advantage of defined mechanisms to extend the SMTP protocol in order to create the novel extension that allows the transfer of virtually any information after the envelope is transferred but before the message is transferred. The invention allows information usually contained in the message portion to be transferred in the envelope portion. The invention also allows the preservation and transfer of information that would otherwise be lost.

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

David Buckley