Customizable instant messaging private tags

• US 20040078596A1
• Filed: 02/18/2003
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Daniell, W. Todd, Davis, Joel A., Daigle, Brian K., Kent, Larry G. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,464,268 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0457 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply dynamic encryption, e.g. stream encryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for stream encryption H04L9/065
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

Systems for customizing the privatizing of instant messages preferably comprise a processing device configured to detect a marking of select portions of an instant message as sensitive data. The instant message is parsed for marked sensitive data. An encryption engine encrypts the sensitive data. A modified unencoder is also preferably included for converting the encrypted sensitive data into a data stream that complies with an XML format. Other systems and methods are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for customizing the privatizing of instant messages, comprising:

detecting a marking of selected information in the instant message as sensitive data;

encrypting the sensitive data; and

converting the encrypted sensitive data into XML compliant privately tagged data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the privately tagged data over a communications network to at least one recipient'"'"'s processing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

parsing received data streams for the privately tagged data;

determining whether the at least one recipient'"'"'s processing device has accepted a decryption key; and

if accepted, decrypting the privately tagged data into a text message utilizing the decryption key.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying the text message on a display device of the at least one recipient'"'"'s processing device for recipients that have accepted the decryption key.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining whether the at least one recipient'"'"'s processing device has accepted a decryption key further comprises accessing a certificate authority for a list of keys associated with a selected recipient.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, upon finding the selected recipient among the list, determining whether the key has been accepted the selected recipient.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising utilizing an accepted key to decrypt the encrypted privately tagged data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising offering a decryption key to a selected recipient for decrypting the privately tagged data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

accepting the decryption key by the selected recipient;

notifying a certificate authority of acceptance of the decryption key; and

storing information on the decryption key and recipient.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing information on decryption keys in a certificate authority.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising notifying the owner of the decryption key of the refusal of the decryption key by any of the selected recipients.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the storing information on decryption keys further comprises updating records in the certificate authority when a change occurs in at least one of decryption keys, owners of decryption keys, or recipients of decryption keys.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving the privately tagged data by selected recipient'"'"'s processing device and communicating to selected recipients a decryption key for decrypting the privately tagged data.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising decrypting the privately tagged data into a text message and displaying the text message on a display device coupled to the selected recipient'"'"'s processing device.

15. A method for generating keys for decrypting a customized private instant message, comprising:

selecting a code for decrypting a particular section of the instant message; and

offering the code to select recipients.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the offering the code to select recipients further comprises:

sending the code to a certificate authority;

requesting an indication of whether select recipients accepts or rejects an offer of the code;

detecting the receipt of a response from the select recipients; and

storing the response in the certificate authority.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising notifying the owner of the code of the response received from select recipients.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the offering the code to select recipients further comprises upon receiving an indication of acceptance of the offer of the code, communicating the code to the select recipients.

19. A system for customizing privatization of an instant message, comprising:

a processing device configured to detect a marking of select portions of an instant message as sensitive data;

a first parser for parsing the instant message for marked sensitive data;

an encryption engine for encrypting the sensitive data; and

an uuencoder for converting the encrypted sensitive data into a data stream complying with an XML format.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a decryption engine for receiving and decrypting the data stream, the decryption engine configured to determine whether a key at a certificate authority has been accepted by recipient, and an uudecoder for converting the data stream into the XML compliant format message.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising a communications network for sending and receiving data streams between processing devices.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a second parser for parsing the data stream received at a recipient'"'"'s processing device for encrypted sensitive data.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising a display device coupled to the processing devices for displaying the decrypted message when the processing device has accepted a key that decrypts the encrypted sensitive data.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the encryption engine is configured to generate encrypted privately tagged data that represents the sensitive data.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the second parser is configured to parse the data stream for the privately tagged data.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the privately tagged data further comprises a name/value pair.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the encryption engine is configured to encrypt the sensitive data utilizing an encryption method comprising at least one of Blowfish, or Hash, among other algorithms.

28. A system for providing instant messaging private tags, comprising:

a text parser for parsing a message for a notification to process data as private data;

an encrypter for encrypting the private data;

an uuencoder for converting the encrypted private data into an XML compliant format data stream; and

a formatter for converting the data stream into privately tagged data that surrounds the data stream.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising a communications network for sending the privately tagged data to a processing device configured to receive the privately tagged data.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the encrypter further comprises an encryption engine.

31. The system of claim 28, further comprising a processing device configured to perform at least one of generating a message, sending a message, receiving a message, displaying a message or indicating that a message is private.

32. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

a private tag parser for parsing the privately tagged data for a private tag marker;

an uudecoder for converting the privately tagged data having the private tag marker into an XML compliant data stream; and

a decrypter for decrypting the data stream into a text message utilizing a key generated by an owner.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the decrypter further comprises a decryption engine configured to utilize a valid key to decrypt the data stream.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the key resides in a certificate authority accessible by the decrypter.