Systems and methods for determining collecting and using geographic locations of internet users

• US 6,757,740 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2000
• Issued: 06/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Digital Envoy, Inc. (Landmark Media Enterprises LLC)
• Original Assignee: Digital Envoy, Inc. (Landmark Media Enterprises LLC)
• Inventors: Parekh, Sanjay M., Friedman, Robert B., Lutch, Benjamin, Tibrewala, Neal K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Burgess, Glenton B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barqadle, Yasin M
• Application Number:
  US09/541,451
• Time in Patent Office: 1,551 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709/229, 709/224, 709/245, 709/238, 709/218
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/30 Types of network names
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A method of determining a geographic location of an Internet user involves determining if the host is on-line, determining ownership of the host name, and then determining the route taken in delivering packets to the user. Based on the detected route, the method proceeds with determining the geographic route based on the host locations and then assigning a confidence level to the assigned location. A system collects the geographic information and allows web sites or other entities to request the geographic location of their visitors. The database of geographic locations may be stored in a central location or, alternatively, may be at least partially located at the web site. With this information, web sites can target content, advertising, or route traffic depending upon the geographic locations of their visitors. Through web site requests for geographic information, a central database tracks an Internet user'"'"'s traffic on the Internet whereby a profile can be generated. In addition to this profile, the central database can store visitor'"'"'s preferences as to what content should be delivered to an IP address, the available interface, and the network speed associated with that IP address.

Claims

1. An automated computer-implemented method of determining a geographic location of an Internet user, comprising:

receiving one of an IP address, host name or domain name associated with the Internet user;

determining a geographic address of an entity that owns the IP address, host name or domain name;

obtaining a route through the Internet to a target host for the IP address, the route containing any intermediate hosts;

determining a geographic naming convention for all hosts contained in the route through the Internet to the target host;

deriving a geographic location of any intermediate hosts contained in the route by automatically matching intermediate hosts to geographic locations through use of a database correlating geographic naming conventions to geographic locations;

if any intermediate hosts within the route do not have associated known geographic naming conventions, deriving the geographic locations of any unknown intermediate host in the route by determining the geographic location of an entity that owns the unknown intermediate host;

automatically determining the geographic location of the Internet user by analysis of the route and the geographic locations of the intermediate hosts; and

storing the geographic location of the Internet user in a database along with the geographic locations of a plurality of other Internet users.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the receiving one of the IP address, host name or the domain name comprises receiving both the IP address and the domain name and the method further comprises verifying that the IP address corresponds to the host name or the domain name.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the verifying comprises performing an nslookup on one of the IP address, host name or domain name.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein determining the geographic location of the Internet user comprises performing a whois for the IP address.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising checking whether the target host is on-line prior to determining the geographic address.

6. The method as set forth in claim 5, wherein the checking comprises performing a ping.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the route through the Internet comprises performing a traceroute.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising assigning a confidence level to the geographic location of the Internet user.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the determining of the geographic location includes analyzing the domain name for the geographic location.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising confirming the geographic location of the Internet user.

11. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein automatically determining the geographic location of the Internet user comprises automatically determining a city where the Internet user is located.

12. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein automatically determining the geographic location of the Internet user comprises automatically determining a region within a country where the Internet user is located.

13. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein receiving comprises receiving a plurality of IP addresses, host names or domain names associated with a plurality of Internet users and automatically determining comprises automatically determining geographic locations of the plurality of Internet users.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein storing comprises compiling a database containing the geographic locations of the Internet users.

15. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising receiving queries for the geographic location of the Internet user and returning the geographic location.