Instant messaging private tags

• US 7,546,465 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2003
• Issued: 06/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kent, Jr., Larry G., Davis, Joel A., Daniell, W. Todd, Daigle, Brian K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Parthasarathy, Pramila
• Application Number:
  US10/368,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20040078595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,303 Days
• Field of Search: 713/193, 713/176, 713/186, 713/160, 713/150, 713/166, 713/182, 713/171, 713/170, 726 27- 28, 726 1- 2, 726/4, 380/259, 380/261, 380/274
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/10 Usage protection of distributed data files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0457 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply dynamic encryption, e.g. stream encryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for stream encryption H04L9/065
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Systems for instant messaging private tags preferably comprise a parser for parsing an instant message for sensitive data and an encryption engine for encrypting the sensitive data. A modified uuencoder is also preferably included for converting the encrypted sensitive data into a data stream that complies with an XML format. Other systems and methods are also provided.

Claims

1. A system for privatizing an instant message, comprising:

a first parser for parsing the instant message as entered in a chat window for identification of sensitive financial data, including bank account,

credit card information, or social security information;

an encryption engine for encrypting the sensitive financial data;

a decryption engine configured to receive the data stream, the decryption engine including a uudecoder configured to convert the data stream into an XML compliant format message, and configured to determine if a valid key exists to decode the data stream and to decode the data stream utilizing the valid key;

a communications network for sending and receiving data streams between processing devices;

wherein the encryption engine further comprises a uuencoder for converting the encrypted sensitive data into a data stream complying with an XML format and is configured to generate a private tag that surrounds the sensitive data, the sensitive data configured as a space-letter sequence comprising at least one of numbers, hyphens, @symbol, or other specialized characters, and to encrypt the private tag utilizing an encryption method comprising at least one of RSA or Blowfish, among other algorithms;

a second parser for parsing the data stream received at a recipient processing device for encrypted data, the second parser configured to parse the data stream for the private tag comprising a name/value pair which informs the encryption engine of an encryption method to utilize to encrypt the private tag;

a display device coupled to processing devices for displaying the decrypted message; and

selectable authorization keys assignable to particular contacts for decryption of the sensitive financial data;

wherein in-line uuencoding occurs before writing the encrypted and encoded data to memory in a processing device.

2. A system for providing instant messaging private tags, comprising:

a text parser for parsing a message as entered in a chat window for identification of sensitive financial data, including bank account, credit card information or social security number information;

an encrypter for encrypting the sensitive financial data;

an uuencoder for converting the encrypted sensitive financial data into an XML compliant format data stream;

a formatter for converting the data stream into a stream surrounded by private tags;

and

a private tag parser for parsing the private tag for a private tag marker.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a communications network for sending the privately tagged data to a processing device configured to receive the privately tagged data.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the parser further comprises a set of rules for determining whether the message includes strings that contain at least one of numbers, hyphens, or @symbol.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the encrypter further comprises an encryption engine.

6. The system of claim 2, further comprising a processing device configured to perform at least one of generating, sending, receiving or displaying the message.

7. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a uudecoder for converting the private tag having the private tag marker into an XML compliant data stream;

a decrypter for decrypting the data stream into a text message.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the decrypter further comprises an decryption engine configured to utilize a valid key to decode the data stream.

9. A method for privatizing sensitive financial data in a message, comprising:

parsing the message as entered in a chat window for the identification of sensitive financial data, including bank account, credit card information, or social security number information;

encrypting the sensitive financial data into a data stream; and

converting the data stream into tagged data that complies with an XML format.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sensitive data further comprises at least one of numbers, hyphens, or @symbol.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising sending the tagged data to a recipient processing device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the tagged data;

decrypting the tagged data; and

converting the tagged data into a text message that complies with the XML format.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying the text message on a display device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the decrypting the tagged data is performed utilizing a valid key for a recipient of the tagged data.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the sending the tagged data to a recipient processing device is performed utilizing a communications network configured to send and receive tagged data.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the sending the tagged data to a recipient processing device is performed utilizing an Instant Messaging protocol.

17. A method for providing instant messaging private tags, comprising:

receiving a tag in an instant message as entered in a chat window;

parsing the tag for identification of sensitive financial data, including bank account, credit card information, or social security number information;

encrypting the sensitive financial data into encrypted data; and

converting a non-XML compliant portion of the encrypted data into an encrypted XML compliant data stream, wherein converting a non-XML compliant portion of the encrypted data into an encrypted XML compliant data stream generates a private tag.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving an encrypted data stream;

parsing the encrypted data stream for an encrypted non-XML compliant portion;

converting the non-XML complaint portion of the encrypted data stream into an XML compliant data stream; and

decoding the XML compliant data stream into a text message.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising passing the encrypted XML compliant data stream to an instant messaging transport protocol engine.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising sending the encrypted XML compliant data stream over a communications network.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the decoding the XML compliant data stream into a text message is performed utilizing a valid key.