Method and apparatus for utilizing portable e-mail addresses

Abstract

A signal bearing medium tangibly embodies a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations comprising receiving an email message having an extended email address encoded virtual address, resolving said address to an actual email address, replacing the virtual address with the actual email address, and transmitting said email message.

1 . A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations comprising: 
 receiving an email message having an extended email address encoded virtual address;    resolving said virtual address to an actual email address;    replacing the virtual address with the actual email address; and    transmitting said email message.    
   
   
       2 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 1  wherein said extended email address encoded virtual address comprises a reserved top-level domain name.  
   
   
       3 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 1  wherein said extended email address encoded virtual address comprises a punctuation character.  
   
   
       4 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 1  wherein resolving comprises: 
 sending a request to resolve said virtual address to a resolution server; and    receiving from said resolution server an actual email address corresponding to said virtual address.    
   
   
       5 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 inserting a tuple comprising a sending virtual address and a sending actual email address; and    inserting a tuple comprising a receiving virtual address and a receiving actual email address.    
   
   
       6 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 1  wherein resolving comprises mapping the virtual address to the actual email address using a translation method retrieved from a memory.  
   
   
       7 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 1  wherein resolving comprises utilizing an address lookup table.  
   
   
       8 . A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations comprising: 
 receiving an email message having an actual email address;    resolving said actual email address to an extended email address encoded virtual address;    replacing the actual email address with the virtual email address; and    transmitting said email message.    
   
   
       9 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 8  wherein said extended email address encoded virtual address comprises a reserved top-level domain name.  
   
   
       10 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 8  wherein said extended email address encoded virtual address comprises a punctuation character.  
   
   
       11 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 8  wherein resolving comprises: 
 sending a request to resolve said actual email address to a resolution server; and    receiving from said resolution server a virtual address corresponding to said actual email address.    
   
   
       12 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 8  further comprising: 
 inserting a tuple comprising a sending virtual address and a sending actual email address; and    inserting a tuple comprising a receiving virtual address and a receiving actual email address.    
   
   
       13 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 8  wherein resolving comprises mapping the virtual address to the actual address using a translation method retrieved from a memory.  
   
   
       14 . The signal bearing medium of  claim 8  wherein resolving comprises utilizing an address lookup table.  
   
   
       15 . A server comprising: 
 means for receiving an email message having an extended email address encoded virtual address;    means for resolving said address to an actual email address;    means for replacing the virtual address with the actual email address; and    means for transmitting said email message.    
   
   
       16 . The server of  claim 15  wherein said means for resolving and replacing comprises a plug-in code.  
   
   
       17 . The server of  claim 16  further comprising a translation method stored in a memory accessible by said plug-in code.  
   
   
       18 . The server of  claim 16  further comprising a look-up table stored in a memory accessible by said plug-in code.  
   
   
       19 . The server of  claim 15  wherein said resolving means is coupled to a resolution server.  
   
   
       20 . A method comprising: 
 receiving an email message having an extended email address encoded virtual address;    resolving said virtual address to an actual email address;    replacing the virtual address with the actual email address; and    transmitting said email message.