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    Message TRACKING SYSTEM AND METHOD for collecting and compiling information regarding the transfer and handling of messages, e.g., electronic mail messages is provided. Information may be used to analyze the reliability of the transport and handling method used for transferring a particular electronic message. Message tracking system includes a message tracking monitor for monitoring tracking information. The tracking information is collected and transmitted to a decision support subsystem and / or applications.

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    Message TRACKING SYSTEM AND METHOD for collecting and compiling information regarding the transfer and handling of messages, e.g., electronic mail messages is provided. Information may be used to analyze the reliability of the transport and handling method used for transferring a particular electronic message. Message tracking system includes a message tracking monitor for monitoring tracking information. The tracking information is collected and transmitted to a decision support subsystem and / or applications.

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    29 views10 pages

    US20020138605

    Uploaded by

    vijay9mca
    Message TRACKING SYSTEM AND METHOD for collecting and compiling information regarding the transfer and handling of messages, e.g., electronic mail messages is provided. Information may be used to analyze the reliability of the transport and handling method used for transferring a particular electronic message. Message tracking system includes a message tracking monitor for monitoring tracking information. The tracking information is collected and transmitted to a decision support subsystem and / or applications.

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    cs) United States US 20020138605A1 «2 Patent Application Publication (io) pub. No.: US 2002/0138605 Al Hole (43) Pub. Date: Sep. 26, 2002 (54) MESSAGE TRACKING METHOD. (76) Inventor: Steve Hole, Edmonton (CA) Correspondence Address: BAKER & MCKENZIE, 805 THIRD AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10022 (US) Appl. No 09/768,927 Filed Jan, 19, 2001 Publication Classification (51) Int. C1? 62) GO6R 15/173 700/224 a= ? us 100 67) ABSTRACT ‘A message tracking system and method for collecting. and compiling information regarding the transfer and handling of messages, e.g, electronic mail messages, into a decision support subsystem or application is provided. The informa tion may be used to analyze the reliability of the transport ‘and handling method used for transferring « particular electronic message. The message tracking system includes & ‘message tracking monitor for monitoring tracking iaforma- tion, The tracking information is collected and transmitted to ‘decision support subsystem andior applications, The deci- sion support subsystem and/or application may include a message tracking decision support database for storing the tacking information, A message tracking interface may be used to manage and access the message tracking monitor and the message tracking decision support subsystem /appli- cations. The message tracking system and! method of the present invention accepts and/or requests tracking informa tion from a number of diverse sources, processes the infor- ‘mation and provides the information to applications desiring such information. Sse we i ut ot 08 Ho Patent Application Publication Sep. 26, 2002 Sheet 1 of 4 US 2002/0138605 A1 > ESHTP jen DSK acendon) seoneah Message Trang Quay Petes > patbese uptote vit ue 08 10 ost Ey ie ee ES. ub a= tes Figure 4 100 Patent Application Publication Sep. 26, 2002 Sheet 2 of 4 US 2002/0138605 A1 Sep. 26, 2002 Sheet 3 of 4 US 2002/0138605 AL Patent Application Publication € >mb 4 ares Larqprnyp 2B 0ssahy i Loy erg Gurpray 2805534 ay | torre Asoyaadany | wal padding, (verso a — ole < v0 383 3WIW/s “naw “Nsd + a poe 40e Patent Application Publication Sep. 26, 2002 Sheet 4 of 4 US 2002/0138605 A1 § Ad 3 a a “ a > ws ort terface mS 7h aes S33 zag yi oo BAS | s $ a Ke 3 2{| ¢ EP ti] 4 goat 2U % fie yar wd ~ yib US 2002/0138605 AL MESSAGE TRACKING SYSTEM AND METHOD, ‘TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates generally to messag- ing systems, and more particularly, to message tracking ssystem and method. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Preseotly, numerous business entities use the Inter- net-wide messaging infrastructure, eg, electronic mail, 10 ‘conduet business transactions globally over the Internet. To these businesses desiring to use the Internet messaging as a reliable data transport service, it becomes important to be able assess and understand the reliability of such messaging infrastructure [0003] One of the key requirements for establishing rei ability in Internet messaging is message tracking, Message tracking refers to the ability to trace the path that a particular message has taken through a messaging system and the ‘current routing status of that message. Message tracking provides forthe ability to quickly locate where a message is and to determine whether or not the message has been ‘delivered to its final destination, Message tracking can also provide te information needed for an application to respond to delivery failures and delays in a way suitable 10 the policies of the application [0004] |The Internet Engineering Task Force (*IETE") is ‘currently proposing message tracking models and protocols to provide message tracking solutions that can be used with the Internet-wide message infrastructure. For example, an extension fo Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP") is defined to provide a message iracking service. An extended SMTP server may implement this service extension by propagating message tracking information when relaying mail 1o other SMTP-based message transfer agents (“MTA”) and by making a “best effort” to record when messages are passed into other environments, Message tracking models are described in www.ietforg. The work deseribed by this ‘organization is an example of one source of tracking elec- twonic transmission of data [0005] With such message tracking sources available, it is desirable to have a system and method for collecting and processing the tracking information, e.g. into a decision Support database. A decision support system is a computer program application that analyzes business data and presents it so that users can make business decisions more easly. With the message tracking service available, it is desirable to have a message tracking decision support system for analyzing and assessing reliability of Internet messaging for the businesses that desire o use Internet messaging as.a data twansport service. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0006] ‘The preseot invention is directed! to a message tracking system and method for compiling information regarding the transfer and handling of messages, for ‘example, electronic mail (e-mail) messages, message trans- actions on the Intemet andor proprietary systems, into a ‘decision support subsystem. The information may be used to analyze the reliability of the transport and handling method used for transferring a particular electronic message, ‘The Sep. 26, 2002 ‘method and system of the present invention may also be used fo build exception handling, reporting, and business logic applications. [0007] The message tracking system of the preset inven tion accepts andor requests tracking information from & number of diverse tacking sources. The tracking informa tion may be further processed to meet the specification of an application desiring fo use that information. The message tracking system ofthe present invention includes message tracking monitor for monitoring tracking information. The tracking information is collected and transmitted to a mes- sage ttacking decision support subsystem which may include a message tracking decison support databssc. The message tracking decision support subsystem receives the tracking information and processes the information. For example, depending on the content of the tracking iforma- tion, the message tracking decision support subsystem may generate an alert signal, generate a report, or notify another System, eg, a system administrator A message tacking imterface may be used to manage and access the message tracking monitor and the messege tracking decision support subsystem or database [0008] Further features and advantages of the present invention as well as the structure and operation of various ‘embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or func- tionally similar elemeats BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0009] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: [0010] | FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system architecture in one embodliment of the present invention; [0011] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a distributed ‘message tracking monitor architecture in one embodiment of the present invention; [0012] FIG. 3 isan architectural diagram illustrating com- ponents of the message tracking system in one embodiment Of the present invention; and [0013] FIG. 4 isan architectural diagram illustrating plug gable message tracking interface in one embodiment of the present invention, DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION, [0014] Definition of Terms [0015] Mail User Agent (“MUA")—MUA is a program that allows @ user to compose and read electronic mail ‘messages. MUA typically runs on the user's desktop. [0016] | Message ‘Transtar Agent (“MTA")—MTA is a pro- gram responsible for delivering electronic mail (“e-mail”) ‘messages. MTA receives a message from a MUA or another MTA and transfers towards its destination. The destination ‘may be local in which case the message is delivered, or the destination may be reached by routing the message to US 2002/0138605 AL another MIA. MTA may store the message temporarily in its Jocal storage before transferring the message further [0017] Intermediate message transfer agent—an interme diate MTA is an MTA that accepts a message for transfer to another location. [0018] Final Message transfer agent—a final MTA is an MTA that accepts a message for local delivery. It isthe final place that a message is accepted. The final MTA may send any delivery status notifications (“DSNs"). [0019] Delivery status notification (“DSN")—A delivery status notification is produced by an MTA when a message is unsuccessfully delivered, either to its next hop or the final message store, or when itis unsucvessfully delivered [0020] Message disposition notification (*MDN")—A message disposition notification is used to report the ispo- of a message afler it has been successfully delivered to a recipient [0021] Message tracking query protocol (-MTOP")— MTOP is a protocol that can be used to query the status of messages that have been transmitted on the Internet via ‘SMTP. [0022] Sccure Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME")—S/MIME is a secure method of sending elec- tronic mail that uses the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) ‘encryption system. S/MIME is included in the comme: available Web browsers. [0023] Extended Security Service (“ESS"}—ESS js lay- «red on top of S/MIME and includes functions for providing secure read receipts of messages [0024] Message Tracking Decision Support System [0025] ‘The present invention is directed to collecting information about the Internet electronic mail (e-mail) mes- sages, eg. their transfer path, delivery results, and user access history. The information collection may be performed 38 result of accepting requests from an application desiring to have the information. In the present invention, tracking information is collected from a number of sources that may contain all or some of the tracking information. For ‘example, these tracking information may include reporting MTA, arrival date, origina recipient address, final recipient {after forward or gateway) address, delivery action per- formed, accessing user, and aecess action performed. Col- lected data is processed by, e.8 parsing into an internal record schema (structure), and transmitted to a decision ‘support subsystem which may handle the messages specific to each subsystem requirements. These requirements may include, e.., depending on the content of the information, Sep. 26, 2002 performing exception handling, generating a notification to 4 system administrator, and/or generating a report, ete. The information may also be deposited into a decision support database. The decision support database may be accessible to applications, e-g., which perform exception handling processes, reports, statistics, and operational management. [0026] In one embestiment, the present invention includes 4 message tracking monitor (“mirkmon”) 102 which, e-8. example, may be a module ora software application, but not limited to such, that monitors, e., well known tracking information ports where tracking notifications and/or infor- ration are sent, posted, or otherwise signaled. The moni- toring of these’ porls may be performed periodically ot continuously. Examples of tracking notifications include Delivery Status Notifications (DSN), Message Disposition Notifiations (MDN), Internet Message Tracking Query Protocol (MTOP) responses and other common but non- standard delivery and non-delivery notifications. Examples of well known tracking information ports include: Internet mail addresses and corresponding mailboxes; Message ‘Tracking Servers associated with Intemet Message Transfer Agents (MTA); and access stats logs for HTTP document queries. Message Tracking Servers provide direct, interac- tive tracking information to tracking agents using the Mes- sage Tracking Query Protocol (MQTP). Access status logs for HTTP document queries generally deseribe the accessing user, date of access, and access action, similar 10 the information provided by Message Disposition Notifications (MDN). The collecting of tracking information may be performed, eg, by reading or accessing notification mes- sages in a mailbox, by posting a read statement ona log file, by executing a query against a message tracking server or & query interface that communicates with a proprietary mes- sage system, or by listening in on any other data sources hhaving the tfacking information, [0027] In one embodiment of the present invention, noti- fications that ate seat tothe tracking ports are collected and processed into a standard data form that is suitable for passing to the decision support subsystem. Further, in one embodiment, processed data may be stored in a message tacking decision support database (“mirkdb") 104, For example, the message tracking decision support database 104 may be a fixed schema database that includes a set of records that deseribe the complete history of transport and handling of a message submitted to the Internet electronic ‘mail system, An example of this history may inelude the transfer and access state of the message, including date and time of movement from one state to another. An example of 4 typical state transition for an internet mail message that is successfully delivered and accessed by the final recipient ‘might Took Hi Sa Hos _Nome Delivered polskesynce User_Nane ‘Tine Stamp ‘Siheited mbildeaamengingdieacom peamesayiapliccicom Thu Mar? suvtsi28 2000, reonesysca ‘Thu Mar? 132631 2000 revagesyscs Fr Mars ‘Accesed clientenysce US 2002/0138605 AL [0028] |The information includes the submission, delivery, and access time of the message, the users submitting and accessing the message, and the host systems that sent and received the message. [0029] A message tracking interface 106,¢.2,,may include ‘one oF more sofiware modules to provide an application programming interface 10 the message tracking decision support system. In one embodiment, it acts as an interme~

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