System for protecting information over the internet
First Claim
1. A system for protecting information received over a network comprising:
- at least one first computer system connected to said network;
a plurality of second computer systems capable of connecting to said first computer system through said network in which each of said second computers has a user interface to enable the user of the second computer to interact with the second computer system;
means for registering one or more of said second computer systems by uniquely identifying each of said second computer systems with the user of the second computer system;
means for selecting one or more of said registered second computer systems;
means for sending content information from the first computer system via said network to at least one of said selected registered second computer systems without associated information defining the use of said content information by said second computer systems; and
means for enabling display of the received content information at the registered second computer system which receives the content information and limiting the user interface of the second computer system to operate responsive to the user of the second computer system to prevent copying of the content information when said received content information is being displayed.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for protecting information over the Internet, or other public network, is provided at a web site addressable by one or more client computer systems. Each client computer system connects to the web site to receive a respondent identifier and viewer software. When the viewer software is installed at the client computer system, it generates a unique viewer identifier identifying the client computer system. The viewer identifier is sent to the web site for registering the viewer identifier with the respondent identifier. The web site has a database and one or more web servers coupled to the database. The database stores registration information including the viewer identifier and associated respondent identifiers for the client computer systems, encrypted content information files and keys to decrypt such files, survey invitation information for each of the surveys, and exposure limit information. The client computer system receives an E-mail invitation to participate in a survey. In response to receiving a survey in accordance with the E-mail invitation, the client computer system enables the content viewer to connect to the web site of the content protection system and download a file with the encrypted content information for that survey. The viewer software then sends a request to the content protection system for a key to decrypt the downloaded content information file. The content protection system determines based on the respondent, viewer and survey identifiers and associated exposure limit information whether to send a decryption key. If so, a decryption key is sent to the client computer system and the viewer uses the key to decrypt the encrypted content information file, and then opens a viewer window to show the decrypted content information on the display of the computer system. During viewing, the viewer ignores interrupts from the user interface of the computer which typically allow the user to access information and thereby enable copying. If the user selects another window other than the window of the viewer, the viewer stops showing the decrypted content and displays a protection image in its place.
122 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A system for protecting information received over a network comprising:
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at least one first computer system connected to said network;
a plurality of second computer systems capable of connecting to said first computer system through said network in which each of said second computers has a user interface to enable the user of the second computer to interact with the second computer system;
means for registering one or more of said second computer systems by uniquely identifying each of said second computer systems with the user of the second computer system;
means for selecting one or more of said registered second computer systems;
means for sending content information from the first computer system via said network to at least one of said selected registered second computer systems without associated information defining the use of said content information by said second computer systems; and
means for enabling display of the received content information at the registered second computer system which receives the content information and limiting the user interface of the second computer system to operate responsive to the user of the second computer system to prevent copying of the content information when said received content information is being displayed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 42, 43)
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17. A method for protecting information received over a network, such as the Internet, comprising the steps of:
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providing at least one first computer system;
providing a plurality of second computer systems capable of connecting to said first computer system through said network in which each of said second computers has a user interface to enable the user of the second computer to interact with the second computer system;
registering one or more of said second computer systems by uniquely identifying each of said second computer systems with the user of the second computer system;
selecting one or more of said registered second computer systems, sending content information from the first computer system to at least one of said selected registered second computer systems without associated information defining the use of said content information by said second computer systems; and
displaying of the received content information at the registered second computer system which receives the content information and limiting the user interface of the second computer system to operate responsive to the user of the second computer system to prevent copying of the content information when said received content information is being displayed. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 44)
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20-25. -25. (canceled)
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26. A system for protecting an information file received over a public network from a World Wide Web site by one or more computer systems capable of communicating via the network to the web site, said system comprising:
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a web site connected to the network which uniquely registers one or more of said computer systems identifying said computer system to said web site and stores in a database encrypted information files and their associated keys, in which said web site is capable of sending said encrypted information file to registered computer systems, and sending a key to decrypt an encrypted information file to one of said registered second computer system when said second computer system is authorized to receive the key;
each of said computer system being capable of connecting to said web site through the Internet and registered with said web site to send a request to said web site for a certain encrypted information file and to receive the encrypted information file, and then request a key from said web site to decrypt the file, and in response to receiving the key, decrypts the encrypted information file and plays the file through a window on the display of the computer system; and
each of said computer systems having a display and a user interface in which, when said file is played, signals from the user interface at the second computer system are ignored which enable access to the decrypted file, and when another window is selected than the window displaying the decrypted file, disables the playing of the decrypted file.
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27. An Internet web site for supporting concept surveys which are capable of connecting to one or more client computer systems comprising:
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one or more computer servers capable of connecting to the Internet in which said client computer system are registered with said web site; and
a database coupled to one or more of said servers which stores encrypted information files representing parts of one or more surveys and their associated keys, in which said web site is capable of sending said encrypted information file to registered client computer systems for carrying out a survey received by said client computer systems, and sending a key to decrypt an encrypted information file to one of said registered second computer system when said second computer system is authorized to receive the key to enable the client computer system to play the information file as part of the survey, in which said survey represents one or more questions answerable by the user of the client computer system. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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28. (canceled)
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30. A system for conducting a survey over a network comprising:
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at least one first computer system connected to said network;
a plurality of second computer systems capable of connecting to said first computer system through said network in which said second computer systems are registered at said first computer system;
means for sending a survey from said first computer system to at least one of said registered second computers;
means for downloading an encrypted file from said first computer system to said one of said registered second computer systems in which said encrypted file is stored at said one of said registered second computer systems for use in said survey;
means at said one of said registered second computer systems for requesting a key from said first computer system to decrypt said encrypted file when said one of said registered second computer systems is associated with a participant preselected to take said survey;
means for receiving a key at said one of said registered second computers from said first computer system; and
means at said one of said registered second computer systems for decrypting the encrypted file in accordance with said key and playing the decrypted file as part of the survey at said one of said registered second computer systems, in which said survey represents one or more questions answerable by the user of the client computer system. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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33. A system for conducting a survey at a computer connected to the Internet comprising a first computer system representing one or more computer servers, and at least one second computer system capable of connecting to said first computer system through the Internet, and said first computer system has memory storing at least one survey and one or more downloadable files, said first computer system having keys for decrypting each of said files when encrypted, in which said files are downloadable and the keys are available from at least one network address, wherein:
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said first computer system sends said survey to the second computer system via the Internet which references a network address to obtain a file for said survey; and
said second computer system has memory and downloads said file from said network address for storage in said memory of said second computer system in which said file is encrypted, said second computer system requests a key to decrypt said encrypted file from a network address where said key is available, receives a key when said second computer system is associated with a participant selected to take said survey, and decrypts the file in accordance with said key and plays the decrypted file as part of the survey. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A system for conducting surveys comprising:
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at least one first computer system connected to said network representing one or more computer servers;
a plurality of second computer systems each capable of connecting to said first computer system through said network;
a database registering uniquely said second computer systems and associating each of said registering second computer systems with data describing one or more characteristics of the user of the second computer system;
said first computer system enabling selection of one or more users from said database as participants to take a survey comprising one or more questions; and
said first computer system is capable of sending the survey and sending encrypted content information via the network to at least one of said registered second computer systems associated with a user selected to participate in the survey, in which said second computer system downloads the survey from a first network address associated with said first computer system, requests a key from a second network address associated with said first computer system for decrypting said content information, and when said key is received said second computer system utilizes said key to decrypt said content information and then outputs said decrypted content information as part of said survey in which one or more questions of said survey relates to said outputted content information. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41)
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Specification