Electronic transmissions with intermittent network connections

• US 10,075,358 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2018
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pearson Education Incorporated (Pearson plc)
• Original Assignee: Pearson Education Incorporated (Pearson plc)
• Inventors: Kealey, Brendan, Arens, Paul, Krapfl, Adam, Grudnitski, Paul, Nielsen, Rob, Setaro, James, Sobanski, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Jacobs, Lashonda T
• Application Number:
  US15/882,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20180212850A1
• Time in Patent Office: 225 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2343 Locking methods, e.g. distributed locking or locking implementation details
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2453 Query optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for electronically conditioning transmission of communications based on results of a connection assessment. An electronic file is executed at an electronic device, which causes a first query and a second query to be presented. A first query response and a second query response are identified. The first query response is stored in a locked configuration that inhibits the ability to modify the first query response to the first query. The second query response is stored but is not stored in the locked configuration. Query response data is generated that includes an identifier of the second query, an identifier of the second query response and an identifier of the electronic device. A connection variable is determined by assessing one or more network connections available to the electronic device. When a transmission condition is satisfied, the query response data is transmitted to another device.

Claims

1. A system for conditioning transmission of a query response with an unsecured communication protocol, the system comprising:

a remote content management server that;

identifies a plurality of query files, the plurality of query files comprising a first query file and a second query file; and

encrypts the plurality of query files, the encryption of the plurality of query files being decrypted by a same key corresponding to the plurality of query files;

a relay device that;

receives and stores the plurality of query files from the remote content management server in a local memory associated with the relay device and a first user device, wherein the plurality of query files are being stored in a locked configuration; and

transmits the plurality of query files via the unsecured communication protocol, the plurality of query files not being decrypted by the relay device, the first query file being transmitted to the first user device, and the second query file being transmitted to a second user device; and

the first user device that;

receives the same key and the first query file corresponding to the plurality of query files;

decrypts the first query file using the same key;

generates the query response to the first query file;

determines a connection variable by assessing one or more network connections available to the first user device;

determines whether a transmission condition is satisfied based on the connection variable, the determination including comparing the connection variable to a threshold, a result of the determination indicating that the transmission condition is satisfied when the connection variable exceeds the threshold;

when the connection variable exceeds the threshold, transmits the query response via the unsecured communication protocol without storing the query response at a memory associated with the first user device; and

when the connection variable fails to exceed the threshold, encrypts the query response and storing the encrypted query response at the memory associated with the first user device.

2. The system for conditioning transmission of a query response with an unsecured communication protocol of claim 1, wherein the first user device encrypts the query response to the first query file prior to transmitting the query response via the unsecured communication protocol.

3. The system for conditioning transmission of a query response with an unsecured communication protocol of claim 1, wherein the query response is transmitted to the relay device from the first user device, which transmits the query response to the remote content management server.

4. The system for conditioning transmission of a query response with an unsecured communication protocol of claim 1, wherein a warning notification is presented at the first user device when the connection variable fails to exceed the threshold.

5. A computer-implemented method for conditioning transmission of a query response with an unsecured communication protocol, the method comprising:

identifying, by a remote content management server of a content distribution network, a plurality of query files, the plurality of query files comprising a first query file and a second query file;

encrypting the plurality of query files, the encryption of the plurality of query files being decrypted by a same key corresponding to the plurality of query files;

receiving and storing, by a relay device of the content distribution network, the plurality of query files from the remote content management server in a local memory associated with the relay device and a first user device, wherein the plurality of query files are being stored in a locked configuration;

transmitting, by the relay device, the plurality of query files via the unsecured communication protocol, the plurality of query files not being decrypted by the relay device, the first query file being transmitted to the first user device, and the second query file being transmitted to a second user device;

receiving, by the first user device of the content distribution network, the same key and the first query file corresponding to the plurality of query files;

decrypting the first query file using the same key;

generating the query response to the first query file;

determining a connection variable by assessing one or more network connections available to the first user device;

determining whether a transmission condition is satisfied based on the connection variable, the determination including comparing the connection variable to a threshold, a result of the determination indicating that the transmission condition is satisfied when the connection variable exceeds the threshold;

when the connection variable exceeds the threshold, transmitting, by the first user device, the query response via the unsecured communication protocol without storing the query response at a memory associated with the first user device; and

when the connection variable fails to exceed the threshold, encrypting, by the first user device, the query response and storing the encrypted query response at the memory associated with the first user device.

6. The method for conditioning transmission of a query response with the unsecured communication protocol of claim 5, wherein the first user device encrypts the query response to the first query file prior to transmitting the query response via the unsecured communication protocol.

7. The method for conditioning transmission of a query response with the unsecured communication protocol of claim 5, wherein the query response is transmitted to the relay device from the first user device, which transmits the query response to the remote content management server.

8. The method for conditioning transmission of a query response with the unsecured communication protocol of claim 5, wherein a warning notification is presented at the first user device when the connection variable fails to exceed the threshold.

9. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium for conditioning transmission of a query response with an unsecured communication protocol, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to perform actions including:

identifying a plurality of query files, the plurality of query files comprising a first query file and a second query file; and

encrypting the plurality of query files, the encryption of the plurality of query files being decrypted by a same key corresponding to the plurality of query files;

receiving and storing the plurality of query files, wherein the plurality of query files are being stored in a locked configuration;

transmitting the plurality of query files via the unsecured communication protocol, the plurality of query files not being decrypted, the first query file being transmitted to a first user device, and the second query file being transmitted to a second user device;

receiving the same key and the first query file corresponding to the plurality of query files;

decrypting the first query file using the same key;

generating the query response to the first query file;

determining a connection variable by assessing one or more network connections available to the first user device;

determining whether a transmission condition is satisfied based on the connection variable, the determination including comparing the connection variable to a threshold, a result of the determination indicating that the transmission condition is satisfied when the connection variable exceeds the threshold;

when the connection variable exceeds the threshold, transmitting the query response via the unsecured communication protocol without storing the query response at a memory associated with the first user device; and

when the connection variable fails to exceed the threshold, encrypting the query response and storing the encrypted query response at the memory associated with the first user device.

10. The computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first user device encrypts the query response to the first query file prior to transmitting the query response via the unsecured communication protocol.

11. The computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the query response is transmitted to a relay device from the first user device, which transmits the query response to a remote content management server.

12. The computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein a warning notification is presented at the first user device when the connection variable fails to exceed the threshold.