IP Library Granted Patent US 11,240,193
Granted Patent B2
US 11,240,193 · App. 16/595,602 · Granted Feb 1, 2022

Managing electronic messages with a message transfer agent

Inventors: Michael O'Brien (Skerries, IE); Kevin Baker (Blackrock, IE); James Kebinger (Oak Park, IL); Michael Axiak (Somerville, MA)
Assignee: HubSpot, Inc.
H04L51/34G06N3/08G06N7/005G06N20/00G06Q10/107G06Q30/0248G06Q30/0277H04L51/08H04L51/12H04L51/18H04L51/22H04L51/28H04L61/2007
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,240,193
App. No.
16/595,602
Filed
Oct 8, 2019
Granted
Feb 1, 2022
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2459
USPC
709/206
Abstract

Provided herein is an electronic message management platform that enables management and execution of electronic message campaigns while appropriately managing challenges presented by spam filters, black lists, and domain blocking technologies, and that includes elements for managing an electronic message campaign based on dynamic conditions, quality measures, engagement factors, and other measures, factors and conditions.

Claims (27)

1. A method for routing at least one message from an originating provider to a recipient comprising:

processing the at least one message by adding at least one of header information or signing keys;

choosing a sub-space IP address block from a table of available sub-space IP address blocks for an originator of the at least one message by comparing identification for the originator with the table of available sub-space IP address blocks, wherein the table of available sub-space IP address blocks is indexed by originator identification information, and wherein the sub-space IP address block corresponds to a server of the originator;

forwarding the processed at least one message to an SMTP service executing at the server corresponding to the sub-space IP address block;

determining at least one message transfer agent for coordinating sending of the processed at least one message from the sub-space IP address block to the recipient via the at least one message transfer agent;

monitoring the server corresponding to the sub-space IP address block for a status of delivery of the at least one message to the recipient; and

executing a message send retry protocol that retries sending the at least one message to the recipient when the status indicates a delivery failure to the recipient.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the server comprises executing a throttling application and an email response monitoring application to effect control of a rate at which new messages are sent from the originator based on a response to the forwarding of the processed at least one message.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the message send retry protocol controls the rate at which new messages are sent based on a rate of message delivery to the recipient.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the rate of message delivery to the recipient is optimized for a target level of retries.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting a delay before message retry to the recipient based on a type of the delivery failure.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein a duration of the delay before message retry is selected based on whether the at least one message is indicated to have a DNS bounce, an IP reputation bounce, or a throttling bounce.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a duration of the delay before message retry is selected based on whether the message is indicated as bounced due to a reputation of the sub-space IP address block.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message send retry protocol comprises applying machine learning to determine a delay before message retry that optimizes a count of retries for the at least one message.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message send retry protocol comprises adding a connection between a message transfer agent and the sub-space IP address block of the originator and trying to send the at least one message over the added connection.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message send retry protocol comprises transferring the at least one message to a secondary message transfer agent when a retry threshold is exceeded.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the retry threshold is one of a count of retries and a duration of time since the at least one message was originally sent.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message send retry protocol prepares and delivers a request for removal from a blacklist when the status indicates a cause for the delivery failure is due to the at least one message being detected as being sent from a blacklisted server.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification of the originator includes a domain name server (DNS) record of the originator, and the choosing the sub-space IP address block from the table of available sub-space IP address blocks by comparing the identification for the originator includes comparing the DNS record for the originator with entries in the table.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the available sub-space IP address blocks includes a range of IP addresses within a respective sub-space.

15. A method of matching a throughput rate of a message management platform with a throttling rate of a recipient, comprising:

choosing a sub-space IP address block from a table of available sub-space IP address blocks for an originator of messages sent to a recipient domain by comparing identification for the originator with the table of available sub-space IP address blocks, wherein the table of available sub-space IP address blocks is indexed by originator identification information;

determining the throttling rate, wherein the throttling rate is a rate at which the messages sent to the recipient domain receive a throttling limit rejection by the recipient domain; and

applying a proportional integral derivative algorithm to control a rate of message delivery to the recipient based on the determined throttling rate of the recipient domain, wherein the rate of change of the rate of message delivery decreases as the throttling rate and the rate of message delivery converge,

wherein the rate of message delivery is controlled by a rate limit on responding to messages received by a message transfer agent that are to be forwarded to a sender.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the identification of the originator includes a domain name server (DNS) record of the originator, and the choosing the sub-space IP address block from the table of available sub-space IP address blocks by comparing the identification for the originator includes comparing the DNS record for the originator with entries in the table.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein each of the available sub-space IP address blocks includes a range of IP addresses within a respective sub-space.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 12, 2026
From: HUBSPOT, INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.
Reel/Frame 074818/0036 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 9, 2020
From: O'BRIEN, MICHAEL; BAKER, KEVIN; KEBINGER, JAMES; AXIAK, MICHAEL
To: HUBSPOT, INC.
Reel/Frame 052058/0465 →
Continuity (3)
Division 15884264 · Jan 30, 2018
Provisional Application 62451974 · Jan 30, 2017
Related Publication 20200036673A1 · Jan 30, 2020
Cited By (3)
US 12,271,847 US 12,271,926 US 12,511,256