Systems and Methods for Adaptive Communication Control Using A Profile

Abstract

Computer program products, apparatus, and methods for processing digital messages to recipients at destination domains are provided. A plurality of profiles are established, each profile for handling digital to a specific domain or set of domains. A request to process a plurality of outbound digital messages is handled by, for each given digital message, processing the given digital message by (i) determining a destination domain for digital messages, (ii) reading a profile for the determined destination domain for the digital messages and (iii) based on at least one parameter set in the profile: (a) sending the given digital message to the determined destination domain in accordance with the profile when permitted by the at least one parameter set in the profile, or (b) not sending the digital message to the determined destination domain when required by the at least one parameter set in the profile.

1 . A method of processing a digital message, comprising:
 on a digital message system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors:
 receiving a request from a remote computer system to deliver an outbound digital message to at least one recipient at a particular destination domain; 
 determining the destination domain for the outbound digital message; 
 reading a profile associated with the destination domain of the outbound digital message, the profile comprising one or more parameters that correspond to the incoming digital message policy of the destination domain, wherein at least one parameter in the profile is a quota on a number of digital messages or a maximum amount of data that may be sent from the digital message system to the destination domain in a given period of time; 
 determining whether the quota is exceeded for the destination domain prior to sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain; and,
 (i) in accordance with a determination that the quota is not exceeded for the destination domain, sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain in accordance with the profile when permitted by the at least one parameter in the profile, or 
 (ii) in accordance with a determination that the quota is exceeded for the destination domain, holding the outbound digital message for a period of time without sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain, wherein the digital message is not sent to the destination domain by the digital message system during a time when the quota is exceeded, and, subsequent to the period of time and during a time when the quota is not exceeded, resuming sending the held outbound digital message to the destination domain. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a message notification from the destination domain in response to the sending of the outbound digital message to the destination domain by the digital message system; and   updating the profile for the destination domain in response to the message notification.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the message notification is a delivery failure notification indicating that the outbound digital message was not delivered to the destination domain and the updating step comprises:
 updating the profile associated with the destination domain to postpone delivery of any digital message from the digital message system to the destination domain for a period of time.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the profile associated with the destination domain further comprises:
 a connection time out period such that, when the digital message system attempts to establish contact with the destination domain in order to deliver a digital message and connection is not established within the connection time out period, the delivery of the digital message is deemed to have failed; and   a maximum number of attempts parameter that determines a number of times the digital message system will attempt to deliver a digital message to the destination domain before permanently aborting any attempt to deliver the digital message to the destination domain.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , the method further comprising:
 automatically obtaining an update, without user intervention, to the profile associated with the destination domain from an external system.   
     
     
         6 . A digital message system, for processing a digital message, comprising:
 one or more processors; and   memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;   the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
 receiving a request from a remote computer system to deliver an outbound digital message to at least one recipient at a particular destination domain; 
 determining the destination domain for the outbound digital message; 
 reading a profile associated with the destination domain of the outbound digital message, the profile comprising one or more parameters that correspond to the incoming digital message policy of the destination domain, wherein at least one parameter in the profile is a quota on a number of digital messages or a maximum amount of data that may be sent from the digital message system to the destination domain in a given period of time; 
 determining whether the quota is exceeded for the destination domain prior to sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain; and,
 (i) in accordance with a determination that the quota is not exceeded for the destination domain, sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain in accordance with the profile, or 
 (ii) in accordance with a determination that the quota is exceeded for the destination domain, holding the outbound digital message for a period of time without sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain, wherein the digital message is not sent to the destination domain by the digital message system during a time when the quota is exceeded, and, subsequent to the period of time and during a time when the quota is not exceeded, resuming sending the held outbound digital message to the destination domain. 
 
   
     
     
         7 . The digital message system of  claim 6 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
 receiving a message notification from the destination domain in response to the sending of the outbound digital message to the destination domain by the digital message system; and   updating the profile for the destination domain in response to the message notification.   
     
     
         8 . The digital message system of  claim 7 , wherein the message notification is a delivery failure notification indicating that the outbound digital message was not delivered to the destination domain and the updating step comprises:
 updating the profile associated with the destination domain to postpone delivery of any digital message from the digital message system to the destination domain for a period of time.   
     
     
         9 . The digital message system of  claim 6 , wherein the profile associated with the destination domain further comprises:
 a connection time out period such that, when the digital message system attempts to establish contact with the destination domain in order to deliver a digital message and connection is not established within the connection time out period, the delivery of the digital message is deemed to have failed; and   a maximum number of attempts parameter that determines a number of times the digital message system will attempt to deliver a digital message to the destination domain before permanently aborting any attempt to deliver the digital message to the destination domain.   
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
 receiving a request from a remote computer system to deliver an outbound digital message to at least one recipient at a particular destination domain;   determining the destination domain for the outbound digital message;   reading a profile associated with the destination domain of the outbound digital message, the profile comprising one or more parameters that correspond to the incoming digital message policy of the destination domain, wherein at least one parameter in the profile is a quota on a number of digital messages or a maximum amount of data that may be sent from the digital message system to the destination domain in a given period of time;   determining whether the quota is exceeded for the destination domain prior to sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain; and,
 (i) in accordance with a determination that the quota is not exceeded for the destination domain, sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain in accordance with the profile when permitted by the at least one parameter in the profile, or 
 (ii) in accordance with a determination that the quota is exceeded for the destination domain, holding the outbound digital message for a period of time without sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain, wherein the digital message is not sent to the destination domain by the digital message system during a time when the quota is exceeded, and, subsequent to the period of time and during a time when the quota is not exceeded, resuming sending the held outbound message to the destination domain. 
   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
 receiving a message notification from the destination domain in response to the sending of the outbound digital message to the destination domain by the digital message system; and   updating the profile for the destination domain in response to the message notification.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the message notification is a delivery failure notification indicating that the outbound digital message was not delivered to the destination domain and the updating step comprises:
 updating the profile associated with the destination domain to postpone delivery of any digital message from the digital message system to the destination domain for a period of time.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the profile associated with the destination domain further comprises:
 a connection time out period such that, when the digital message system attempts to establish contact with the destination domain in order to deliver a digital message and connection is not established within the connection time out period, the delivery of the digital message is deemed to have failed; and   a maximum number of attempts parameter that determines a number of times the digital message system will attempt to deliver a digital message to the destination domain before permanently aborting any attempt to deliver the digital message to the destination domain.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the outbound digital message is an E-mail. 
     
     
         15 . The digital message system of  claim 6 , wherein the outbound digital message is an E-mail. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the outbound digital message is an E-mail. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the outbound digital message is a text message distinct form E-mail. 
     
     
         18 . The digital message system of  claim 6 , wherein the outbound digital message is a text message. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the outbound digital message is a text message. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain in accordance with the profile when permitted by the at least one parameter in the profile is done in accordance with a SMTP based process. 
     
     
         21 . A method of processing a digital message, comprising:
 on a digital message system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors:
 receiving a request from a remote computer system to deliver an outbound digital message to at least one recipient at a particular destination domain; 
 determining the destination domain for the outbound digital message; 
 reading a profile associated with the destination domain of the outbound digital message, the profile comprising one or more parameters that correspond to an incoming digital message policy of the destination domain, wherein at least one parameter in the profile is a quota on a number of digital messages or a maximum amount of data that may be sent from the digital message system to the destination domain in a given period of time; and, 
 based on the at least one parameter in the profile: 
 (i) sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain in accordance with the profile when permitted by the at least one parameter in the profile, or 
 (ii) holding the outbound digital message without sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain when required by the at least one parameter in the profile, wherein the digital message is not sent to the destination domain by the digital message system during a time when the quota is exceeded. 
   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the incoming digital message policy is based on feedback sent from the destination domain. 
     
     
         23 . A method of processing a digital message, comprising:
 on a digital message system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors:
 receiving a request from a remote computer system to deliver an outbound digital message to at least one recipient at a particular destination domain; 
 determining the destination domain for the outbound digital message; 
 reading a profile associated with the destination domain of the outbound digital message, the profile comprising one or more parameters that correspond to an incoming digital message policy of the destination domain, wherein at least one parameter in the profile is a quota on a number of digital messages or a maximum amount of data that may be sent from the digital message system to the destination domain in a given period of time; and, 
 determining that the quota is exceeded for the destination domain prior to sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain; 
 in accordance with a determination that the quota is exceeded for the destination domain, holding the outbound digital message for a period of time without sending the outbound digital message to the destination domain, wherein the digital message is not sent to the destination domain by the digital message system during a time when the quota is exceeded; 
 subsequent to the period of time, determining that the quota is not exceeded for the destination domain; and, 
 in accordance with a determination that the quota is not exceeded for the destination domain, sending the held outbound digital message to the destination domain in accordance with the profile. 
   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , including:
 in accordance with the determination that the quota is exceeded for the destination domain, updating one or more parameters in the profile associated with the destination domain to indicate that transmission of the digital message to the destination domain should be deferred; and,   in accordance with the determination that the quota is not exceeded for the destination domain, updating the one or more parameters in the profile associated with the destination domain to indicate that transmission of the digital message to the destination domain may resume.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, in accordance with a determination that a predetermined evaluation integral has elapsed, evaluating whether a condition has been set, wherein the condition is set when:
 a number of time outs exceeds a maximum allowable number of time outs during the predetermined evaluation integral,   a number of spam block notifications exceeds a maximum allowable number of spam block notifications during the predetermined evaluation integral, or   a message delivery failure rate exceeds a maximum allowable message delivery failure rate during the predetermined evaluation integral, wherein,   when the condition is set, the outbound digital message is deferred irrespective of the quota determination.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising:
 updating the profile associated with the destination domain in accordance with the evaluation of the condition.   
     
     
         27 . The digital message system of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for, in accordance with a determination that a predetermined evaluation integral has elapsed, evaluating whether a condition has been set, wherein the condition is set when:
 a number of time outs exceeds a maximum allowable number of time outs during the predetermined evaluation integral,   a number of spam block notifications exceeds a maximum allowable number of spam block notifications during the predetermined evaluation integral, or   a message delivery failure rate exceeds a maximum allowable message delivery failure rate during the predetermined evaluation integral, wherein,   when the condition is set, the outbound digital message is deferred irrespective of the quota determination.   
     
     
         28 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for, in accordance with a determination that a predetermined evaluation integral has elapsed, evaluating whether a condition has been set, wherein the condition is set when:
 a number of time outs exceeds a maximum allowable number of time outs during the predetermined evaluation integral,   a number of spam block notifications exceeds a maximum allowable number of spam block notifications during the predetermined evaluation integral, or   a message delivery failure rate exceeds a maximum allowable message delivery failure rate during the predetermined evaluation integral, wherein,   when the condition is set, the outbound digital message is deferred irrespective of the quota determination.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising, in accordance with a determination that a predetermined evaluation integral has elapsed, evaluating whether a condition has been set, wherein the condition is set when:
 a number of time outs exceeds a maximum allowable number of time outs during the predetermined evaluation integral,   a number of spam block notifications exceeds a maximum allowable number of spam block notifications during the predetermined evaluation integral, or   a message delivery failure rate exceeds a maximum allowable message delivery failure rate during the predetermined evaluation integral, wherein,   when the condition is set, the outbound digital message is deferred irrespective of the quota determination.