SMS SPAM CONTROL

• US 20090082042A1
• Filed: 09/21/2007
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhu, Tong, Ho, Kenneth Tsz, Harendra, Rohini, Gavrylyako, Olga Volodymyrivna
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,248 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

A system, apparatus, and method are directed towards managing abuse of text messages through controls on messages sent by an application to a mobile device (e.g., MT text messages). MT text messages sent from a defined application are intercepted by a Text Message SPAM Control Service (TMSCS). Various controls are determined for the sending application based on the application, level of user control on contents of the message, the user requesting the message to be sent (if any), and/or a destination address for the message. These controls may then be used in various combinations and/or various levels of constraint to determine whether to block transmission of the message to a destination mobile device. By monitoring messages from the application, abuse of the application may be minimized.

Claims

1. A server device for use in managing a communication to a mobile device over a network, comprising:

a memory for use in storing data and machine instructions;

a processor in communication with the memory and is configured to receive data and machine instructions that enable the processor to perform actions, including;

intercepting a text message from a defined application destined to a destination mobile device as a mobile terminated (MT) message;

determining MT message controls for the MT message;

employing the MT message controls to determine whether to block the text message from being delivered to the destination mobile device; and

if the MT message controls indicate that the text message is to be sent, sending the text message towards the destination mobile device.

2. The server device of claim 1, wherein the MT message controls are arranged to establish at least one limit on a number of MT messages allowed to be sent based on at least one of the following:

the defined application, a level of control of content of the MT message by a requesting user, a number of MT messages being requested to be sent from the application by the requesting user, or a number of MT messages to be received by the destination mobile device.

3. The server device of claim 1, wherein the MT message controls limit a number of MT messages sent from the application with a defined time period.

4. The server device of claim 1, wherein determining the MT message controls further comprises:

receiving from the application information indicating if the MT message is being sent on behalf of a requesting user, and if so, obtaining a device identifier of the requesting user; and

employing the device identifier to determine, in part, a defined number of allowable messages to be sent by the application on behalf of the device identifier.

5. The server device of claim 1, wherein determining the MT message controls further comprises:

determining a level of control on content of the MT message by a user; and

setting a defined number of messages allowed based, in part, whether the user has full control, partial control or no control of the content.

6. The server device of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the MT message controls for the application based on feedback from the application.

7. A system for use in managing a communication to a computing device over a network, comprising:

a plurality of applications, each application within the plurality being configured to send and to receive text messages with the computing device; and

a server device that is coupled to the plurality of applications and is configured to perform actions, including;

intercepting a text message from one of the applications destined to the computing device;

determining message controls based on a combination of at least one of an application control, a message delivery control, a requester control, or a destination control, wherein the message controls limit a number of messages to be sent;

if the number of messages exceed at least one of the determined message controls for a defined time period, blocking the message from being sent; and

if the number of messages is less than or equal to each of the determined message controls for the defined time period, enabling the intercepted message to be sent to the mobile device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the application control defines a maximum number of text messages that can be sent for the application within the defined time period.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the message delivery control defines a maximum number of text messages that can be sent within the defined time period based on a level of control of a user requesting that the text message be sent has on content of the message.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the requester control defines a maximum number of text messages that can be sent based on a request from a requesting device identifier within the defined time period, and wherein the destination control defines a maximum number of messages that can be sent to the destination computing device within the defined time period.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the server device is configured to perform actions, further comprising:

updating metrics associated with a number of allowed messages to be sent based on the message controls;

updating metrics associated with a number of blocked messages based on the message controls; and

modifying the message controls based, in part, on the metrics of blocked and allowed text messages.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

if the requester of the message to be sent is charged for the sending of the text message, allowing the text message to be sent and the requester to be charged.

12. A method for use in managing a communication to a destination client device over a network, comprising:

intercepting a text message from one of the applications destined to the destination client device;

determining message controls based on at least one of an application control, a message delivery control, a requester control, or a destination control, wherein the message controls provide limits a number of messages to be sent;

if the number of messages exceed the one of the determined message controls for a defined time period, blocking the message from being sent; and

if the number of messages is less than or equal to each of the determined message controls for the defined time period, enabling the intercepted message to be sent to the destination client device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the application control defines a maximum number of text messages that can be sent for the application within the defined time period.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the message delivery control defines a maximum number of text messages that can be sent within the defined time period based on a level of control of a user requesting that the text message be sent has on content of the message.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

modifying at least one message control based on feedback from at least one of the application, the destination client device, or a requester that requested that the application send the text message.

17. A server comprising:

a memory for storing logical instructions;

a processor for executing the logical instructions stored in the memory, the execution of the logical instructions causing actions to be performed, including;

performing at least a portion of the method of claim 12;

collecting metrics indicating a number of messages blocked for the application and a number of messages sent for the application; and

modifying at least one of the message controls based on the collected metrics, wherein the modified message controls are employed for another intercepted message.

18. An application service server device for use in managing a communication to a destination device over a network, comprising:

a transceiver that is configured to send and to receive messages over a network; and

a processor, coupled to the transceiver, that is arranged to perform actions, including;

receiving a request for a text message to be sent to the device, wherein the request is received from a requesting device;

sending the text message to towards the destination device, wherein the text message is intercepted by another server device that is configured to perform actions, including;

determining message controls based on at least one of an application control, a message delivery control, a requester control, or a destination control, wherein the message controls limit a number of messages to be sent;

if the number of messages exceed at least one of the determined message controls for a defined time period, blocking the text message from being sent to the destination device; and

if the number of messages is less than or equal to each of the determined message controls for the defined time period, enabling the intercepted text message to be sent to the destination device; and

receiving information indicating whether the message is blocked or sent; and

based on the received information, determining whether to request that the message controls be modified for the application service.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the application control defines a maximum number of text messages that can be sent for an application managed by the application service within the defined time period.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the message controls limit is determined for each of at least one of an application control, a message delivery control, a requester control, or a destination control.