Apparatus and method for monitoring and analyzing instant messaging account transcripts

• US 7,194,536 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2001
• Issued: 03/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trend Micro Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fellenstein, Craig William, Gusler, Carl Phillip, Hamilton, II, Rick Allen, Schatz, Harry
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): NEURAUTER, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US10/004,925
• Publication Number:
  US 20030105815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,931 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/207, 709/223, 709/224, 379/7, 379/35
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

An apparatus and method for monitoring instant messaging user accounts are provided. The apparatus and method provide a mechanism by which transcripts of instant messages may be generated and analyzed to determine if inappropriate contact with unapproved users is occurring. A user is registered with an instant messaging service provider such that an indication as to whether or not transcripts of the user'"'"'s instant messages should be stored. In addition, a listing of destination user identifications that are approved, and thus do not require transcripts, may be provided to the instant messaging service provider. Thereafter, when an instant message is received, a look-up of the source user identification of the instant message, and optionally, the destination user identification, may be used to determine if transcripts are to be stored. The transcript may be reported to an authorized recipient of the transcript. An analysis tool is provided for analyzing the content of the instant messaging transcripts to provide additional information regarding contacts in the transcript. Also, a mechanism for maintaining the integrity of the transcripts is also provided such that tampering will be identified and the instant messaging user account may be suspended.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring use of an instant messaging source user account, comprising:

receiving an instant message from a destination user;

searching a registry that identifies a set of approved destination users to determine if a transcript of the received instant message is desired, wherein the transcript is not desired if the destination user is identified in the registry as being an approved destination user, and wherein the transcript is desired if the destination user is not identified in the registry as being an approved destination user;

storing the transcript of the received instant message in a storage device in response to determining that the transcript is desired;

analyzing the transcript for occurrences of questionable content to thereby identify at least one portion of the transcript having questionable content; and

providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor of the instant messaging source user account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in an instant messaging service provider of a distributed data processing system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a network service provider of a distributed data processing system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a client device of a distributed data processing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor includes transmitting the at least one portion of the transcript as an attachment to an electronic mail message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the electronic mail message is transmitted in response to a request from the designated monitor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor includes generating a web page through which the at least one portion of the transcript is provided to the designated monitor.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying at least one transcript characteristic of the transcript;

updating at least one instant messaging account characteristic based on the at least one transcript characteristic; and

providing the at least one instant messaging account characteristic to the designated monitor of the instant messaging source user account.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one instant messaging account characteristic includes at least one of a ranked list of user identifications for most frequent incoming instant messages, a ranked list of user identifications for most frequent outbound target user identifications, a ranked list of most frequent recent incoming or outbound user identifications, a date/time distribution of instant messages, that provides contact patterns for a particular user identification, and tracking of the contact patterns for the particular user identification.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the transcript includes filtering for text including at least one of proper names, addresses and phone numbers.

11. An apparatus for monitoring use of an instant messaging source user account, comprising:

means for receiving an instant message from a destination user;

means for searching a registry that identifies a set of approved destination users to determine if a transcript of the received instant message is desired, wherein the transcript is not desired if the destination user is identified in the registry as being an approved destination user, and wherein the transcript is desired if the destination user is not identified in the registry as being an approved destination user;

means for storing the transcript of the received instant message in a storage device in response to determining that the transcript is desired;

means for analyzing the transcript for occurrences of questionable content to thereby identify at least one portion of the transcript having questionable content; and

means for providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor of the instant messaging source user account.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is part of an instant messaging service provider of a distributed data processing system.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is part of a network service provider of a distributed data processing system.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is part of a client device of a distributed data processing system.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor includes means for transmitting the at least one portion of the transcript as an attachment to an electronic mail message.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the electronic mail message is transmitted in response to a request from the designated monitor.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor includes means for generating a web page through which the at least one portion of the transcript is provided to the designated monitor.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for identifying at least one transcript characteristic of the transcript;

means for updating at least one instant messaging account characteristic based on the at least one transcript characteristic; and

means for providing the at least one instant messaging account characteristic to the designated monitor of the instant messaging source user account.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one instant messaging account characteristic includes at least one of a ranked list of user identifications for most frequent incoming instant messages, a ranked list of user identifications for most frequent outbound target user identifications, a ranked list of most frequent recent incoming or outbound user identifications, a date/time distribution of instant messages that provides contact patterns for a particular user identification, and tracking of the contact patterns for the particular user identification.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for analyzing the transcript includes means for filtering for text including at least one of proper names, addresses and phone numbers.

21. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for monitoring use of an instant messaging source user account, comprising:

first instructions for receiving an instant message from a destination user;

second instructions for searching a registry that identifies a set of approved destination users to determine if a transcript of the received instant message is desired, wherein the transcript is not desired if the destination user is identified in the registry as being an approved destination user, and wherein the transcript is desired if the destination user is not identified in the registry as being an approved destination user;

third instructions for storing the transcript of the received instant message in a storage device in response to determining that the transcript is desired;

fourth instructions for analyzing the transcript for occurrences of questionable content to thereby identify at least one portion of the transcript having questionable content; and

fifth instructions for providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor of the instant messaging source user account.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the computer program product is implemented in association with instructions of an instant messaging service provider of a distributed data processing system.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the computer program product is implemented in association with instructions of a network service provider of a distributed data processing system.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the computer program product is implemented in association with instructions of a client device of a distributed data processing system.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the fourth instructions for providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor include instructions for transmitting the at least one portion of the transcript as an attachment to an electronic mail message.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the electronic mail message is transmitted in response to a request from the designated monitor.

27. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the fourth instructions for providing the at least one portion of the transcript to a designated monitor include instructions for generating a web page through which the at least one portion of the transcript is provided to the designated monitor.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

sixth instructions for identifying at least one transcript characteristic of the transcript;

seventh instructions for updating at least one instant messaging account characteristic based on the at least one transcript characteristic; and

eighth instructions for providing the at least one instant messaging account characteristic to the designated monitor of the instant messaging source user account.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the at least one instant messaging account characteristic includes at least one of a ranked list of user identifications for most frequent incoming instant messages, a ranked list of user identifications for most frequent outbound target user identifications, a ranked list of most frequent recent incoming or outbound user identifications, a date/time distribution of instant messages that provides contact patterns for a particular user identification, and tracking of the contact patterns for the particular user identification.

30. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the third instructions for analyzing the transcript include instructions for filtering for text including at least one of proper names, addresses and phone numbers.