Controlling client access to networked data based on content subject ...

USO0RE41168E

(19) United States (12) Reissued Patent

(10) Patent Number: US RE41,168 E (45) Date of Reissued Patent: Mar. 23, 2010

Shannon (54)

CONTROLLING CLIENT ACCESS TO

5,983,176 A

NETWORKED DATA BASED ON CONTENT SUBJECT MATTER CATEGORIZATION

5,991,810 A 6,078,924 A 6,088,717 A

11/1999 11/1999 6/2000 7/2000

6,154,775 A

11/2000 Coss et a1.

(75) Inventor:

Steven Shannon, Chelmsford, MA (US)

Faircloth, L., “Faircloth: No computer games on government timel”, Lauch Faircloth News Release, Jun. 4, 1997. Faircloth, L., “Senate and Faircloth Pull The Plug On Com puter Games,” Lauch Faircloth News Release, Jul. 17, 1997.

(Us) (21) Appl.No.: 10/965,710 Oct. 14, 2004

“Administering decency,” Infoworld, The Voice ofEnterprise Computing, 19:58460, 62, 64, 66, 68 (Aug. 25, 1997).

Related US. Patent Documents

(Continued)

Reissue of:

(64) Patent No.: Issued: Appl. No.:

6,233,618 May 15, 2001 09/052,236

Filed:

Mar. 31, 1998

(51)

Shapiro et al. Ainsbury et a1. Reed et a1.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

(73) Assignee: Content Advisor, Inc., Chelmsford, MA

(22) Filed:

Hoffert et a1.

Primary ExamineriRobert B Harrell (74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiHamilton Brook Smith &

Reynolds, RC. (57)

Int. Cl. G06F 15/16

(2006.01)

ABSTRACT

(52)

US. Cl. ...................... .. 709/229; 709/225; 709/229;

An access control technique to limit access to information content such as available on the Internet. The technique is implemented within a network device such as a proxy server,

707/10

router, switch, ?rewall, bridge or other network gateway.

(58)

Field of Classi?cation Search .................. .. 707/10;

The access control process analyzes data in each request from the clients and determines if the request should be for warded for processing by a server to which it is destined.

709/225, 229 See application ?le for complete search history.

Access control may be determined by comparing client (56)

References Cited

source information against a database of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), IP addresses, or other resource identi?ca

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,678,041 A 5,696,898 A 5,706,507 A

10/1997 Baker et a1. 12/1997 Baker et a1. 1/1998 Schloss

5,708,780 5,710,883 5,835,712 5,889,958 5,933,600 5,933,827

1/1998 1/1998 11/1998 3/1999 8/1999 8/1999

A A A A A A

5,941,947 A 5,950,195 A 5,953,732 A

tion data specifying the data requested by the client. The invention therefore provides access control not based only

upon content, but rather, based primarily upon the identity of the computers or users making the requests. The technique

Levergood et al. Hong et a1. DuFresne Willens Shieh et a1. Cole et a1.

further avoids the problems of the prior art which categories or ?lters the content of only web pages based solely upon objectionable words. This is because a category database is used by the network device to control access and is created via a process involving human editors who assist in the cre ation and maintenance of the category database.

8/1999 Brown et al. 9/1999 Stockwellet al. 9/1999 Meske, Jr. et al.

34 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets

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212

CONTENT FILTER DATA PACKETS

US RE41,168 E Page 2

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Salamonsen, W. B., et al., “PICSiAware Proxy System Ver

“Cyber Patrol,” Infoworld, The Voice ofEnZerprise Compul ing, 19:100 (Sep. 22, 1997).

DOWS\TEMP\PICE*Aware%20Proxy%20System%20Ver

“The Whistle InterJet,” Whistle CommunicationsiThe

Resnick, P. And Miller, 1., “PICS: Internet Access Controls Without Censorship,” mhtml:?le://C:\WINDOWS\

sus

Proxy

Server

Filters,”

mhtml:?le://C:\WIN

sus%20Pr... (Dec. 23, 2002).

InlerJeZ, http://www.whistle.com/products/prodindexb.html (Feb 20, 1998 8:58AM). “SurfiWatch,” Surfwalch Home Page, http://wwwl.surf watch.com/home/(Feb. 20, 1998 9:01AM).

Resnick, P., “Filtering Information on the Internet,” Scien

NetPartners, “Advanced Internet Screening System: A Func

ti?c American:62i64 (Mar. 1997).

TEMP\PICS%20Intemet%20Access%20Control%20

Witho...(Dec. 23, 2002).

tional Overview,” WebSense, www.netpartners.com (Nov.

Secure Computing, “SmartFilterTM Web Tool,” No date.

1997).

Peace?re, “Blocking Software FAQ,” http://www.peace?re. org/info/blockingisoftwareifaqhtml, (Oct. 7, 2003). Peace?re, “SmartFilter Examined,” http://www.peace?re. org.censorware/SmartFilter/, (Oct. 7, 2003).

Murphy, K., “U.S. Weighs Pulling Plug On Internet Gam bling,” Webweek, pp. 1*2 (no date). Surf Control, “Scout Family Getting Started Guide,” http:// www.surfcontrol.com/support/PDF document, No date. NZH2 The Leader in Internet FiltersTM, “N2H2 is committed to making the Internet a more accessible and valuable

resource or schools, businesses and families,” http://web.

archive.org/web/19961111191033://n2h2.com/, 1996. InterGateTM Internet Server, http://web.archive.org/web/ 19970327223 659/www.ipinc.com/intergate.intergate.html, No date.

Burt, D., “The Facts on Filters, A Comprehensive Review of 26 Independent Laboratory Tests of the Effectiveness of

Internet Filtering Software,” N2H2:1*19, No date.

Cragle, 1., “CYBERsitter97,” http://www.winnetmag.com/ Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=164, (Oct. 7, 2003). Nordbrock, B., “LIS415 Filtering Software Comparison,”

http://216.239.39.104/search?q= cache:v3 QTDHH6vaJ :alexia.lis .uiuc.edu/ course/ fall 1 9 . . .

NetPartners, “Block Undesirable Websites with Web

(Oct. 7, 2003). Field, T., “Webcops,” CIO Magazine, http://www.cio.com/

SENSE,” http://www.netpart.com/websense, No date.

archive/111597/cops.html, (Jul. 1, 2003).

Baker, BS. and Grosse, E. “Local Control Over Filtered WWW Access,” World Wide Web Journal; 423*432, No date.

Mallery, J. C., et al., “A ConstraintiGuided Web Walker for

Specialized Activities,” http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/ doc/clihttp/w4/w4html. (Jul. 8, 2003).

US. Patent

Mar. 23, 2010

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