Method and system for URL based filtering of electronic communications and web pages

• US 7,421,498 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2003
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Packer, Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Quang N.
• Application Number:
  US10/647,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20050050222A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,835 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 709/229, 709/203, 709/225, 709/232, 713/201
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A system and method for handling an electronic communication such as an email, an instant message or a chat room statement. Instructions receive and parse the electronic communication. URLs within the parsed electronic communication are identified and categorized as appropriate or inappropriate. The electronic communication is routed as a function of the categorized URLs—appropriate electronic communications are routed to the addressee; inappropriate electronic communications have controlled access. Also included is a system and method for controlling access by third parties to web pages including instructions for parsing a web page, identifying URLs within the parsed web page, categorizing the identified URLs, and permitting third parties to access the web page as a function of the categorized URLs.

Claims

1. A system for handling an electronic communication, said system including a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, when executed by a computer processor, to perform a method:

receiving the electronic communication;

parsing the received electronic communication to identify URLs within the received electronic communication;

for each identified URL, sending a request to a categorizing server system to identify the category assigned to each identified URL, said categorizing server system employing a URL database to cross reference the identified URL and to maintain URL categories;

rating each identified URL as appropriate or inappropriate as a function of the identified category corresponding to each identified URL; and

routing the electronic communication as a function of the rating of each identified URL,

wherein the electronic communication is not routed to an addressee if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is greater than a threshold amount,

wherein the electronic communication is routed to the addressee if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is less than or equal to the threshold amount, and

wherein the routing includes a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the electronic communication to the addressee when the policy indicates that the electronic communication passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determines to inhibit routing the electronic communication to the addressee when the policy indicates that the electronic communication fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the received electronic communication comprises one or more electronic emails selected from the group comprising:

an email, an instant message or a chat room statement.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the threshold amount is a dynamic or weighted amount based on various factors.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the threshold amount is at least approximately 50%.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the threshold amount is at least substantially 10%.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the threshold amount is greater than zero.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the sending comprises connecting to an on-line look up service to determine the category of each identified URL.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the identifying includes using an on-line look-up tool kit.

9. A system for controlling access by third parties to web pages of a website, said system including a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, when executed by a computer processor, to perform a method:

parsing pages within a website;

identifying URLs within the parsed web pages;

categorizing the identified URLs by looking up the category of each identified URL via a categorizing server system;

rating each identified URL as appropriate or inappropriate as a function of identified category corresponding to each identified URL; and

permitting a third party to access the web pages as a function of the rating of each identified URL,

wherein the third party is blocked from accessing the web page if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the web pare relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the web page and identified appropriate URLs of the web page is greater than a threshold amount,

wherein the third party is permitted to access the web page if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the web pare relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the web page and identified appropriate URLs of the web page is less than or equal to the threshold amount, and

wherein the permitting includes a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the web page to the third party when the policy indicates that the web page passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determines to inhibit routing the web page to the third party when the policy indicates that the web page fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the parsed page comprises one or more pages selected from the group comprising:

one or more web pages of a group website, and one or more home pages.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the threshold amount is a dynamic or weighted amount based on various factors.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the threshold amount is at least approximately 50%.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the threshold amount is at least substantially 10%.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the threshold amount is greater than zero.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein looking up comprises connecting to an on-line look up service to determine the category of each identified URL.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the connecting comprises accessing a category name service server employing a URL database to cross reference the URL and maintain URL categories.

17. The system of claim 9 wherein the identifying includes using an on-line look-up tool kit.

18. A system for handling an email, said system including a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, when executed by a computer processor, to perform a method:

receiving the email for presentation to a client;

parsing the received email to identify URLs within the parsed email;

looking up a rating for each of the identified URLs via a categorizing server system;

designating each identified URL as inappropriate or appropriate based on the rating of each identified URL;

permitting the client to access the email when the percentage of designated inappropriate URLs of the email relative to the total of designated inappropriate URLs of the email and designated appropriate URLs of the email is below a threshold; and

inhibiting the client to access the email when the percentage of designated inappropriate URLs of the email relative to the total of designated inappropriate URLs of the email and designated appropriate URLs of the email is at or above the threshold,

wherein the permitting includes a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the email to the client when the policy indicates that the email passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determines to inhibit routing the email to the client when the policy indicates that the email fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein a client is permitted to access the email if the email does not contain any URLs.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the looking up includes using an on-line look-up tool kit.

21. A client side hardware system comprising:

a client computer having a memory and having capability for receiving electronic communications from a source for presentation to a client;

instructions for receiving an electronic communication from the source and storing the received electronic communication in the memory while initially inhibiting client access to the electronic communication;

instructions for categorizing the stored electronic communication based on the URLs therein by looking up the category of each identified URL via a categorizing server system, said categorizing server system employing a URL database to cross reference the URL and to maintain URL categories;

instructions for rating each identified URL as appropriate or inappropriate as a function of the identified category corresponding to each identified URL; and

instructions for routing the electronic communication as a function of the rating of each identified URL,

wherein the client is not permitted access to the electronic communication if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is greater than a threshold amount,

wherein the client is permitted access to the electronic communication if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is less than or equal to the threshold amount, and

wherein the instructions for permitting includes a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the electronic communication to the client when the policy indicates that the electronic communication passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determines to inhibit routing the electronic communication to the client when the policy indicates that the email fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the received electronic communication comprises one or more electronic emails selected from the group comprising:

an email, an instant message or a chat room statement.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the instructions for categorizing include using an on-line look-up tool kit.

24. A server side hardware system comprising:

a server computer having a memory and having capability for receiving electronic communications from a source for presentation to a client, said electronic communication comprises one or more of the following;

an email, an instant message or a chat room statement, said server being configured with executable instructions for;

defining a threshold value;

receiving an electronic communication from a source and storing the received electronic communication in the memory;

parsing the received electronic communication to identify URLs within the parsed electronic communication;

for each identified URL, sending a request to a categorizing server system to identify the category assigned to each identified URL, said categorizing server system employing a URL database to cross reference the URL and to maintain URL categories;

rating the stored electronic communication as appropriate or inappropriate based on the assigned category of each identified URL; and

selectively sending the electronic communication to the client as a function of the rating of the electronic communication,

wherein the electronic communication is not routed to the client if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is greater than the threshold value,

wherein the electronic communication is routed to the client if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is less than or equal to the threshold value, and

wherein the instructions for routing include a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the electronic communication to the client when the policy indicates that the electronic communication passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determine to inhibit routing the electronic communication to the client when the policy indicates that the electronic communication fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the instructions for categorizing include using an on-line look-up tool kit.

26. A server side hardware system comprising:

a server computer presenting a plurality of websites having web pages on a network and having the capability of controlling a client'"'"'s access to the web pages of the websites;

instructions for periodically rating a web page based on categories of the URLs therein, said categories of the URLs identified by a categorizing server system employing a URL database to cross reference the URL and maintain URL categories;

instructions for rating each identified URL as appropriate or inappropriate as a function of identified category corresponding to each identified URL; and

instructions for routing the web page to the client as a function of the rating of each identified URL,

wherein the client is not permitted access to the web page if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the web pare relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the web page and identified appropriate URLs of the web page is greater than a threshold amount,

wherein the client is permitted access to the web page if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the web pare relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the web page and identified appropriate URLs of the web page is less than or equal to the threshold amount, and

wherein the instructions for permitting include a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the web page to the client when the policy indicates that the web page passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determine to inhibit routing the web page to the client when the policy indicates that the web page fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the parsed page comprises one or more pages selected from the group comprising:

one or more web pages of a group website, and one or more home pages.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the instructions for categorizing include using an on-line look-up tool kit.

29. A computer readable storage medium for handling an electronic communication, said medium including instructions stored thereon, when executed by a computer processor, to perform a method of:

receiving the electronic communication for presentation to a client;

parsing the received electronic communication to identify URLs within the parsed electronic communication;

for each identified URL, sending a request to a categorizing server system to identify the category assigned to each of the identified URLs by looking up the category of each identified URL via a categorizing server system, said categorizing server system employing a URL database to cross reference the URL and maintain URL categories;

designating each identified URL as inappropriate or appropriate based on its category;

permitting the client to access the electronic communication when the percentage of inappropriate URLs of the electronic commutation relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic commutation and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic commutation is below a threshold; and

inhibiting the client to access the electronic communication when the percentage of inappropriate URLs of the electronic commutation relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic commutation and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic commutation is at or above the threshold, and

wherein the permitting includes a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the electronic communication to the client when the policy indicates that the electronic communication passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determine to inhibit routing the electronic communication to the client when the policy indicates that the electronic communication fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

30. A computer readable storage medium for controlling access by third parties to web pages of a website, said medium including instructions stored thereon, when executed by a computer processor, to perform a method of:

parsing web pages within a website to identify URLs within the parsed web pages;

for each identified URL, sending a request to a categorizing server system to identify the category of the identified URLs, said categorizing server system employing a URL database to cross reference the URL and maintain URL categories;

rating each identified URL as appropriate or inappropriate as a function of identified category corresponding to each identified URL; and

permitting a third party to access the web pages as a function of the rating of the URLs,

wherein the third party is blocked from accessing the web page if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the web pare relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the web page and identified appropriate URLs of the web page is greater than a threshold amount,

wherein the third party is permitted to access the web page if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the web pare relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the web page and identified appropriate URLs of the web page is less than or equal to the threshold amount, and

wherein the permitting includes a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the web page to the third party when the policy indicates that the web page passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determines to inhibit routing the web page to the third party when the policy indicates that the web page fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.

31. A computer readable storage medium for handling an email, said medium including instructions stored thereon, when executed by a computer processor, to perform a method of:

receiving the email;

parsing the received email;

identifying URLs within the parsed email;

for each identified URL, sending a request to a categorizing server system to identify the category assigned to each identified URL, said categorizing server system employing a URL database to cross reference the URL and maintain URL categories;

rating each identified URL as appropriate or inappropriate based on the identified categories of the identified URLs; and

routing the email as a function of the rating of each identified URL,

wherein the electronic communication is not routed to an addressee if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is greater than a threshold amount,

wherein the electronic communication is routed to the addressee if the percentage of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication relative to the total of identified inappropriate URLs of the electronic communication and identified appropriate URLs of the electronic communication is less than or equal to the threshold amount, and

wherein the routing includes a policy including an allow/block logic which determines to route the electronic communication to the addressee when the policy indicates that the electronic communication passes the allow logic and fails the block logic and which determines to inhibit routing the electronic communication to the addressee when the policy indicates that the electronic communication fails the allow logic and passes the block logic.