Determining geographic location of internet users
First Claim
1. A method for determining the geographic location of a user of Internet services comprising the steps of:
- receiving at an Internet service provider a request from a user'"'"'s terminal for Internet services over a dial-up telephone connection;
transmitting a message from the Internet service provider to the user'"'"'s terminal to cause a cookie to be generated and stored on the terminal, the cookie containing the telephone number dialed by the user in seeking Internet services and the Internet protocol address of the user;
accessing information stored in the cookie by an authorized server, whereby the user can receive services based the location of the user as derived from information contained in the cookie.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The geographic location of an Internet user is determined and correlated with the Internet protocol address of the user during an active Internet session. This information is stored preferably by the user'"'"'s Internet service provider so that Internet services can be provided to the user based on the user'"'"'s location. The user'"'"'s location can supplement a request for services made by the user so that the responding web site or application will have additional information on which to base a reply. Alternatively, a web site or application may initially seek to send messages and/or information to users within a predetermined geographical location.
129 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for determining the geographic location of a user of Internet services comprising the steps of:
-
receiving at an Internet service provider a request from a user'"'"'s terminal for Internet services over a dial-up telephone connection;
transmitting a message from the Internet service provider to the user'"'"'s terminal to cause a cookie to be generated and stored on the terminal, the cookie containing the telephone number dialed by the user in seeking Internet services and the Internet protocol address of the user;
accessing information stored in the cookie by an authorized server, whereby the user can receive services based the location of the user as derived from information contained in the cookie. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A method for determining the geographic location of a user of Internet services comprising the steps of:
-
terminating at a call terminating apparatus a telephone call by the user seeking Internet services by a dial-up connection;
receiving, at the call terminating apparatus, automatic number identification (ANI) information associated with said telephone call, the ANI information containing the telephone number from which the user placed said telephone call;
assigning an Internet protocol address to the user;
storing at least part of the received ANI information and said assigned Internet protocol address to form a record from which the geographic location of the user can be derived. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method for determining the geographic location of a user of Internet services in which a radio frequency communication link is traversed in providing the Internet services comprising the steps of:
-
terminating at a call terminating apparatus a telephone call by the user seeking Internet services;
determining an Internet protocol address of the user;
receiving, at the call terminating apparatus, geographic location information about said user based on information determined by infrastructure supporting the radio frequency communication link;
storing the geographic location information and the user'"'"'s Internet protocol address to form a record from which the geographic location of the user can be retrieved. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
Specification