Tracking electronic component
DC CAFCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of tracking electronic content, the method comprising the steps of:
- producing a file that includes electronic content, and executable instructions that collect notification information and attempt to transmit notification information to an address when triggered by an event, the executable instructions denying access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted; and
transmitting notification information when the electronic content is accessed by a successive recipient to the address, wherein the address is an address other than that of an immediate sender of the electronic content.
10 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of tracking electronic content includes producing a file of electronic content and executable instructions that collect notification information and attempt to transmit the notification information to an address when triggered by an event. The executable instructions deny access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted successfully.
-
Citations
78 Claims
-
1. A method of tracking electronic content, the method comprising the steps of:
-
producing a file that includes electronic content, and executable instructions that collect notification information and attempt to transmit notification information to an address when triggered by an event, the executable instructions denying access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted; and
transmitting notification information when the electronic content is accessed by a successive recipient to the address, wherein the address is an address other than that of an immediate sender of the electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method of tracking access to electronic content, the method comprising the steps of:
-
encrypting electronic content;
determining an address for receipt of notification information; and
producing a file that includes the encrypted electronic content, and executable instructions that collect notification information, and attempt to transmit the notification information to the determined address in response to an attempt to access the electronic content on a computer that has not previously accessed the electronic content, the notification instructions decrypting the encrypted electronic content after transmitting notification information successfully, and transmitting notification information when the electronic content is accessed by a successive recipient to an address other than that of an immediate sender of the electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (26)
-
-
27. A method for tracking access to electronic content, the method comprising:
-
receiving notification information from a recipient of a file including electronic content, the notification information being collected by executable instructions and being transmitted in response to an attempt to access the electronic content, the notification information including an identifier that identifies a user or computer system transmitting the notification information when the electronic content is accessed by a successive recipient to an address other than that of the immediate sender of the electronic content;
determining an address for receipt of the notification information; and
transmitting the notification information to the determined address, the executable instructions denying access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
verifying that the identifier that identifies a user or computer system included in the notification information corresponds to an authorized user of the software for producing the file. -
30. The method of claim 27, further comprising
updating information corresponding to the identifier that identifies a user or computer system included in the notification information. -
31. The method of claim 30, wherein updating comprises computing a usage charge.
-
-
32. A computer-implemented method of regulating access to electronic content, the method comprising:
-
collecting notification information from a recipient and successive recipients of the electronic content in response to an attempt to access the electronic content;
attempting to transmit the collected notification information to an address other than that of the immediate sender of the electronic content when triggered by an event; and
selectively granting access to the electronic content based on a result of the attempted transmission of the notification information, wherein executable instructions collect the notification information and selectively deny access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
-
-
45. A method of tracking access to electronic content, the method comprising:
-
creating a file that includes electronic content and causes access to the electronic content to be denied until notification information collected by executable instructions has been successfully transmitted;
transmitting the file to at least one address; and
receiving notification information from a successive recipient other than that of the immediate sender of the electronic content. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
receiving identification of the electronic contents for inclusion in the file;
compressing the electronic contents;
encrypting the electronic contents according to the received password; and
determining an address that receives the notification information.
-
-
57. A computer-implemented method of regulating access to e-mail, the method comprising:
-
detecting an attempt by a message recipient to access received e-mail; and
attempting to collect notification information from the recipient and any successive recipient other than that of the immediate sender of electronic content, wherein executable instructions collect the notification information and attempts to transmit notification information to an address when triggered by an event, the executable instructions denying access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61)
attempting to transmit the collected notification information; and
selectively granting access to the e-mail based on a result of the transmission attempt.
-
-
61. The method of claim 57 further comprising notifying an originator of the e-mail that access to the e-mail has been granted to the message recipient.
-
62. A computer program, disposed on a computer readable medium, for tracking electronic content, the computer program including computer program instructions for causing a computer to:
produce a file that includes electronic content, and executable instructions that collect notification information from successive recipients, and attempt to transmit the notification information to an address other than that of the immediate sender of the electronic content when triggered by an event, the executable instructions denying access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted successfully. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65)
-
66. A computer program, disposed on a computer readable medium, for regulating access to electronic content, the computer program including instructions for causing a processor to:
-
collect notification information from a recipient and successive recipients in response to an attempt to access the electronic content;
attempt to transmit the collected notification information when triggered by an event to an address other than that of the immediate sender of the electronic content; and
selectively grant access to the electronic content based on a result of the attempted transmission of the notification information, wherein executable instructions collect the notification information and selectively deny access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73)
-
-
74. A method of tracking electronic content, the method comprising the steps of:
-
producing an envelope that includes electronic content and executable instructions;
sending the envelope by a sender to a first recipient;
transmitting the envelope from the first recipient to one or more successive recipients; and
transmitting notification information to another address other than an address from which the envelope was transmitted to the one or more successive recipients, wherein the executable instructions collects notification information from a computer of each successive recipient and attempts to transmit the collected notification information to the another address when triggered by an event, and wherein the executable instructions denies access to the electronic content at each successive recipient until one of an access granting message is received and the notification message is successfully transmitted. - View Dependent Claims (75, 76, 77, 78)
-
Specification