Fictitious domain name method, product, and apparatus

• US 7,136,932 B1
• Filed: 03/21/2000
• Issued: 11/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: Eric Schneider
• Inventors: Schneider, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardone, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mirza, Adnan
• Application Number:
  US09/532,500
• Time in Patent Office: 2,429 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709/220, 709/223, 709/222, 709/217
• US Class Current: 709/245
• 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 61/301 Name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

When a network resource request having a domain name is received, it can be determined whether the domain name is a fictitious domain name (FDN). For instance, the highest level domain (HLD) of a domain name that is determined not resolvable is called a top level domain alias (TLDA) and such a domain name is a FDN having a TLDA. Rather than displaying an error message upon determining that a domain name is (fictitious) a FDN, instead a URL having a resolvable domain name can be generated. Content if any, may then be located, presented, displayed, notified, and/or accessed accordingly. For example, the autosearch feature of a web browser can be enabled to provide further resolution processing by generating and/or resolving a resolvable domain name upon detecting a FDN from a received domain name.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

requesting a network resource from a first identifier, the first identifier not directly corresponding to the network resource;

determining that the first identifier is or includes a domain name having valid syntax with respect to a domain name system (DNS) but cannot be resolved by the DNS when said requesting the network resource from the first identifier;

generating from the first identifier, a second identifier having a resolvable domain name with respect to the DNS, wherein said second identifier includes at least a portion of the first identifier and directly corresponds to the network resource; and

,

requesting the network resource from said second identifier.

2. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said determining that the first identifier is or includes said domain name having valid syntax with respect to the DNS but cannot be resolved by the DNS includes determining that the first identifier includes a domain name that is determined a fictitious domain name (FDN) with respect to root of the DNS.

3. The method, as set forth in claim 1, further including inputting the first identifier from a user interface element, said user interface element including one of a browser location field, text box, command line, speech to text interface, and optical recognition interface.

4. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes generating a plurality of second identifiers and selecting said second identifier from said plurality of second identifiers.

5. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the domain name includes a plurality of domain levels and further including determining that at least one domain level of said plurality of domain levels is not a resolvable domain level.

6. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the domain name includes a highest level domain (HLD) and said determining that the domain name is said FDN includes determining whether said HLD is resolvable.

7. The method, as set forth in claim 6, wherein said determining whether said HLD is resolvable includes comparing said HLD to a list of resolvable top level domains (TLDs).

8. The method, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the domain name is a RFC1035 compliant domain name and said list of resolvable TLDs is a list of ICANN approved TLDs that is one of a stored in and retrieved from at least one of a client, server, DNS server, user modifiable configuration settings, operating system registry, and template.

9. The method, as set forth in claim 7, wherein said comparing said HLD to said list of resolvable TLDs includes one of a comparing said HLD without processing a DNS query, comparing said HID before processing a DNS query, comparing said HLD while processing a DNS query, and comparing said HLD after processing a DNS query.

10. The method, as set forth in claim 7, wherein said HLD that is determined resolvable is a TLD and said HLD that is determined not resolvable is a top level domain alias (TLDA).

11. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said requesting the network resource from said second identifier includes resolving said second identifier.

12. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes updating a name tracking database with at least one of a first identifier and second identifier.

13. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second identifier includes a domain name having a resolvable TLD and said generating said second identifier includes determining which resolvable TLD of a list of resolvable TLDs is selected to construct said domain name from the first identifier.

14. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes determining whether said generating said second identifier is authorized.

15. The method, as set forth in claim 14, wherein said determining whether said generating said second identifier is authorized includes comparing at least one of a first identifier and domain name to at least template, GO LIST, authorization table, name translation table, and registry.

16. The method, as set forth in claim 14, further including determining whether to register for authorization in response to determining said generating said second identifier is not authorized.

17. The method, as set forth in claim 16, further including registering the domain name as a FDN for authorization when registration is chosen and determining whether to process a search request when registration is not chosen.

18. The method, as set forth in claim 17, further including pre-registering said FDN as a domain name that may at a later date become a domain name having a resolvable TLD in response to said registering the domain name as said FDN for authorization.

19. The method, as set forth in claim 17, further including determining whether to process a search request either before, during, or after processing the registration request.

20. The method, as set forth in claim 17, wherein said determining whether to process said search request includes determining if a search may be constructed from at least a portion of the first identifier.

21. The method, as set forth in claim 20, further including constructing a search from said at least a portion of the first identifier determined to allow a search, processing said search constructed from said at least a portion of the first identifier, and presenting the results of said search constructed from said at least a portion of the first identifier.

22. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes retrieving information from at least one of a user modifiable configuration settings, template, GO LIST, name translation table, and operating system registry.

23. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said second identifier is a valid domain name (VDN) having a resolvable TLD that includes the domain name.

24. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes accessing a template from an autosearch.

25. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second identifier is a locatable second identifier having a resolvable domain name further including accessing a network resource from said locatable second identifier.

26. The method, as set forth in claim 25, wherein said accessing said network resource from said locatable second identifier includes translating said resolvable domain name into a corresponding IP address.

27. The method, as set forth in claim 25, wherein said accessing said network resource includes receiving content from said network resource corresponding to at least one of a first identifier and second identifier, wherein said second identifier includes at least one of a predetermined VDN and at least a portion of the first identifier.

28. The method, as set forth in claim 27, wherein said content includes at least one of a redirect command to a third identifier and advertising corresponding to the first identifier.

29. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first identifier includes a FDN, said second identifier includes a VDN having a resolvable TLD and said generating said second identifier includes selecting from at least one of a resolvable TLD, resolution method, and component data.

30. The method, as set forth in claim 29, wherein said component data is at least one of a scheme, host, domain, TLD, port, path, query, fragment, and partial uniform resource identifier (PURI).

31. The method, as set forth in claim 29, wherein said selecting said resolvable TLD includes choosing which resolvable TLD of a list of resolvable TLDs is selected to construct said VDN.

32. The method, as set forth in claim 29, wherein said selecting said resolution method includes choosing which resolution method from a table of resolution methods.

33. The method, as set forth in claim 32, wherein said table of resolution methods includes one of a rotation method, truncation method, replace method, path method, delimit method, reverse method, append method, prepend method, substitute method, query method, custom method, and namespace provider method.

34. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second identifier includes at least one of a predetermined VDN having a resolvable TLD and at least a portion of the first identifier.

35. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second identifier includes at least a portion of the first identifier and at least one of a PURI prefix and PURI suffix.

36. The method, as set forth in claim 2, further including determining that the FDN is one of a numerical FDN and FDN having a numerical TLDA.

37. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes determining that the first identifier includes a port alias, determining whether said port alias includes a resolvable TLD, generating said second identifier having said resolvable TLD in response to determining that said port alias includes a resolvable TLD, and generating said second identifier including said port alias as a query in response to determining that said port alias does not include a resolvable TLD.

38. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes generating an identifier for each resolution method from a plurality of resolution methods.

39. The method, as set forth in claim 38, further including determining the resolvability of each said generated identifier, removing all identifiers from each said generated identifier that is determined not resolvable, generating a hyperlink for each remaining identifier, and presenting at least one said generated hyperlink.

40. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first identifier includes a TLDA having a postal code and said generating said second identifier includes determining whether to process said postal code as a TLDA or search request, generating said second identifier including said postal code as a query in response to determining that said postal code is to be processed as said search request, retrieving from a postal code database one of a resolvable country code top level domain (ccTLD) and at least one subdomain corresponding to said postal code in response to determining that said postal code is to be processed as said TLDA, and generating said second identifier by replacing said TLDA of the first identifier with any retrieved subdomains and said ccTLD.

41. The method, as set forth in claim 40, wherein the first identifier includes a TLDA having a zip code is of the form “

host.tlda” and

said generating said second identifier includes retrieving from a zip code database at least one city and state corresponding to said zip code and generating an identifier for each retrieved said city and said state by replacing said TLDA with said city, said state, and a “

.us”

ccTLD, wherein each said identifier is of the form “

host.city.state.us”

.

42. The method, as set forth in claim 40, wherein the first identifier includes a TLDA having a postal code and a port alias having a ccTLD and said generating said second identifier includes selecting said ccTLD from said port alias.

43. The method, as set forth in claim 2, further including determining that the first identifier includes at least one of a prefix delimiter, suffix delimiter, and domain name.

44. The method, as set forth in claim 43, further including requesting content from a directory service, said directory service content corresponding to the first identifier, wherein the first identifier is of one of the form “

.TLD”

, “

.TLDA”

, and “

SLD.”

.

45. The method, as set forth in claim 44, wherein said directory service is a vertical market portal and said content includes advertising, sponsoring, endorsements, and branding of products and services that correspond to at least one of a first identifier and vertical market.

46. The method, as set forth in claim 43, further including determining an operative function to perform corresponding to the first identifier.

47. The method, as set forth in claim 46, wherein said determining said operative function to perform includes selecting said operative function corresponding to said prefix delimiter from one of a instant message, e-mail, phone call, fax, payment, and WHOIS request.

48. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said determining that the domain name is said FDN includes determining that the domain name is a FDN without resolving the domain name.

49. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said determining that the domain name is said FDN includes performing an automatic search adapted to detect said FDN.

50. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said determining that the domain name is said FDN includes retrieving information from at least one of a client, server, DNS server, operating system registry, user modifiable configuration settings, template, GO LIST, and name translation table.

51. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said generating said second identifier includes performing an automatic search adapted to generate said second identifier.

52. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory including a program, said memory coupled to said processor, said program configured to request a network resource from a first identifier, the first identifier not directly corresponding to the network resource, determine that the first identifier is or includes a domain name having valid syntax with respect to a domain name system (DNS) but cannot be resolved by the DNS when said requesting the network resource from the first identifier, generate from at least a portion of the first identifier, a second identifier having a resolvable domain name, wherein said second identifier includes at least a portion of the first identifier and directly corresponds to the network resource, and request the network resource from said second identifier.

53. A method comprising:

determining that a fictitious domain name (FDN) having a top level domain alias (TLDA) is available for registration as part of a FDN registry wherein said FDN includes a domain name having valid syntax with respect to a domain name system (DNS) but cannot be resolved by the DNS and said FDN is fictitious with respect to root of said DNS;

registering the FDN with the FDN registry; and

,

providing the option of pre-registering the FDN to be automatically registered at a later date as a resolvable valid domain name that is not fictitious when it is determined that the TLDA has become approved as a domain name system (DNS) top level domain (TLD).

54. A method comprising:

attempting to send a message to a first email address having a first domain name;

determining that the first domain name is a fictitious domain name (FDN) with respect to a domain name system (DNS) root wherein the FDN is or includes a domain name having valid syntax with respect to a domain name system (DNS) but resolved by the DNS when said attempting to send said message to said first email address;

generating a second email address having a second domain name that is not fictitious, the second email address including at least a portion of the first email address; and

,

sending the message to said second email address.

55. The method, as set forth in claim 54, wherein said generating said second email address includes retrieving information from one of a client, server, DNS server, mail proxy server, operating system registry, user modifiable configuration settings, template, GO LIST, and name translation table.

56. A fictitious identifier generation and registration method comprising:

receiving from a user a domain name wherein said domain name is resolvable with respect to a domain name system (DNS);

generating at least one available fictitious domain name (FDN) including at least a portion of said domain name, wherein said FDN is fictitious with respect to root of the DNS and said FDN includes a domain name having valid syntax with respect to the DNS but cannot be resolved by the DNS; and

,

providing said user with an interface to register said at least one available FDN to at least one of a FDN registry, operating system registry, user modifiable configuration settings, template, and name translation table.