The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 08, 2012
Filed:
Aug. 26, 2004
John Fred Davis, Durham, NC (US);
Kevin David Himberger, Durham, NC (US);
Clark Debs Jeffries, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Garreth Joseph Jeremiah, North York, CA;
John Fred Davis, Durham, NC (US);
Kevin David Himberger, Durham, NC (US);
Clark Debs Jeffries, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Garreth Joseph Jeremiah, North York, CA;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A system, method and program product for managing e-mails from a source suspected of sending spam. The e-mails are received at a firewall or router en route to a mail server. A determination is made whether a source has sent an e-mail which exhibits characteristics of spam. In response, subsequent e-mails from the source destined for the mail server are rate-limiting at the firewall or router such that the firewall or router limits a rate at which the subsequent e-mails are forwarded from the firewall or router to the mail server. The rate is predetermined and less than a maximum rate at which the firewall or router can physically forward e-mails to the mail server absent the rate limit. A determination is made whether another source has sent another e-mail which exhibits more characteristics of spam than the first said e-mail. In response, subsequent e-mails from this other source are blocked at the firewall or router. The rate limit can be a limit on a number of e-mails per unit of time from the source that will be forwarded from the firewall or router to the mail server.