Bot identification and control

• US 7,752,554 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2006
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gunn, Campbell D., Biggs, Todd S., Smith, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Kieu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hope; Darrin
• Application Number:
  US11/538,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20080086522A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 715/752, 715/751, 715705-706
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload

Abstract

Various embodiments employ methods and techniques to enable users, and others, to manage or otherwise become more informed about applications or bots with which they interact. The methods and techniques, in at least some embodiments, can provide various types of indications, visual or otherwise, that pertain to various types of ratings that can be assigned to applications or bots and which can enable a user and others to assess the propriety, level and nature of their interaction with an application or bot.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media embodying computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method comprising:

detecting non-human traffic patterns of a contact identifier in a presence based environment, wherein detecting non-human traffic patterns includes detecting at least one member of a group comprising;

a high number of contact lists associated with the contact identifier, a high rate of conversations per minute for the contact identifier, and

continuous traffic patterns of the contact identifier;

based on the detecting, associating the contact identifier with a bot;

ascertaining that a user is or is about to converse with the bot;

presenting, in a user interface, a first indicia that the user is or is about to converse with the bot as compared to a human user; and

presenting in a user interface, a second indicia that the bot is approved or verified, wherein the second indicia is presented proximate to an icon which represents the bot in a user contact list and the second indicia includes textual indicia which represents that the bot is approved or verified.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the first indicia comprises iconic indicia.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the first indicia comprises textual indicia.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the first indicia comprises non-visual indicia.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein said user interface comprises part of an instant messaging or VoIP application user interface.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein said user interface comprises part of an interface that enables the user to have real-time conversations.

7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the textual indicia which represents that the bot is approved or verified is presented in a user dialog box.

8. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein presenting indicia includes providing indicia that indicates that a content of the bot is approved.

9. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein presenting indicia includes providing indicia that indicates content ratings associated with the bot.

10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein presenting indicia includes providing indicia that indicates a privacy rating associated with the bot.

11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein presenting indicia includes providing indicia that indicates a reputation associated with the bot, wherein said reputation is a function of the cumulative time users spend with the bot.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 wherein presenting indicia includes providing indicia that indicates popularity of the bot, wherein the popularity of the bot is based on a popularity metric, wherein the popularity metric includes one or more members of a group comprising:

a user base of the bot, breadth of use of the bot, length of time of the bot on a network, and an average time users spend conversing with the bot, wherein the indicia indicating popularity is configured to show relative changes in the popularity of the bot over time.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media embodying computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method comprising:

detecting non-human traffic patterns of a contact identifier in a presence based environment, wherein detecting non-human traffic patterns includes detecting at least one member of a group comprising;

a high number of contact lists associated with the contact identifier, a high rate of conversations per minute for the contact identifier, and continuous traffic patterns of the contact identifier;

based on the detecting, associating the contact identifier with a bot indicator;

ascertaining that a user is or is about to converse with the contact identifier in a presence-based environment;

receiving rating information associated with the contact identifier from a rating store;

providing a first indicia to the user associated with the contact identifier, the first indicia including the bot indicator and a rating indicia that can be presented in a user interface to indicate a rating of the rating information associated with the contact identifier; and

providing a second indicia that the bot is approved or verified, wherein the second indicia is presented proximate to an icon which represents the bot in a user contact list and the second indicia includes textual indicia which represents that the bot is approved or verified.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises expressing said rating indicia programmatically so that other applications can take actions based on the rating information.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the contact identifier is associated with a managed identifier, wherein the managed ID is distributed by an issuing authority to the bot as an authorized bot, wherein the issuing authority creates and controls the managed ID, wherein the managed ID is used as an index to a database to retrieve and display rating information associated with the bot.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the first indicia comprises textual indicia.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the first indicia comprises textual indicia that is presented with iconic indicia that indicates that the bot is a bot component.