SpIM blocking and user approval techniques for real-time messaging networks

• US 7,899,867 B1
• Filed: 01/07/2005
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Actiance, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Facetime Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Sherstinsky, Alex, Petviashvili, Joseph, Young, Eric, Christensen, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Divecha; Kamal B
• Application Number:
  US11/031,123
• Time in Patent Office: 2,244 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/204
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

Techniques for processing instant messages (IM) received from entities destined for IM clients are provided. An IM module is used to receive the instant messages and process them. In one embodiment, the IM module may be used to determine if a message is spam (or spim) or not. The IM module receives an instant message for the IM client and determines if a challenge message should be sent to the sender of the IM. The challenge IM is an IM that is sent to the sender of the IM that necessitates a challenge. If a response to the IM challenge is received at the IM module, it is determined if the response satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM. If the response satisfies the answer, the IM received may be forwarded to the intended recipient IM client. Additionally, a method for processing buddy list events using an IM module is provided.

Claims

1. A method for processing instant messages (IMs) within a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer system coupled to the communications network, a plurality of policies for each instant messaging (IM) network in a plurality of different IM networks supported by the computer system, wherein each of the plurality of different IM networks includes a different IM network protocol;

storing the plurality of policies for each IM network in the plurality of different IM networks supported by the computer system in a policy database associated with the computer system, at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a first type of policy for taking actions on the IMs destined for the plurality of IM clients and at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a second type of policy for issuing challenge IMs to senders of IMs communicated via the communications network, each of the first type of policies stored in the policy database including information defining;

a set of characteristics pertaining to at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of one or more IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols, and

an action to be performed when one or more characteristics of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols satisfy the set of characteristics defined in the policy;

wherein each of the second type of policies for issuing challenge IMs determines if a challenge IM should be sent in response to a received IM;

receiving, at the computer system, a first IM from a first IM network in the plurality of IM networks using a first IM network protocol in the plurality of different IM network protocols supported by the computer system corresponding to the first IM network, the first IM destined for an IM client associated with the communications network that communicates with at least the first IM network using the first IM network protocol;

filtering, by one of a plurality of different filters associated with the computer system and corresponding to a specific IM network of the plurality of different IM networks, the first IM into a predetermined format specific internally to the computer system and different from the first IM network protocol of the first IM to generate a filtered IM, wherein each of said plurality of different filters are distinct and are used for filtering IMs received from their respective one of the plurality of different IM network, wherein filtering is by filtering the first network protocol of the received IM and converting the received IM into the predetermined format, wherein the predetermined format is a generic format;

determining, with the processor associated with the computer system, whether a challenge IM should be sent via one or more of the plurality of different IM networks to a sender of the first IM in response to retrieving from the policy database at least one policy for issuing challenge IMs based on one or more characteristics pertaining to the first IM network protocol of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM or to content of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM;

if a challenge IM should be sent, sending the challenge IM to the sender of the first IM via one of the plurality of different IM networks using one of the plurality of different IM network protocols, the challenge IM requiring based on the at least one policy a response IM from the sender;

if a response IM to the challenge IM is received at the computer system via the one of the plurality of different IM networks, filtering using the processor associated with the computer system the response IM into the predetermined format specific internally to the computer system to generate a filtered response IM;

determining, with the processor associated with the computer system, whether the filtered response IM satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM; and

communicating, using the computer system, a second IM to the IM client if the filtered response IM satisfies the answer required by the challenge IM.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, using the processor associated with the computer system, at least one IM to the IM client indicating that the first IM was sent from an entity, the at least one IM prompting the IM client to accept or reject the first IM.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer system, a contact list for the IM client in response to a user logging on to the first IM network with the IM client;

determining, with the processor associated with the computer system, a contact identifier for an entity associated with the first IM;

determining, with the processor associated with the computer system, whether the first IM is an allowable IM in response to comparing the contact identifier with the contact list for the IM client; and

wherein determining whether a challenge IM should be sent to the sender of the first IM takes into account whether the first IM is an allowable IM.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining using the processor associated with the computer system whether the filtered response IM satisfies the answer required by the challenge IM comprises comparing, with the processor associated with the computer system, a response in the filtered response IM to the answer to determine whether the response matches the answer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if no response IM to the challenge IM is received, blocking the first IM using the computer system according to the policy, wherein the IM client does not receive the first IM.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the response IM to the challenge IM does not satisfy the answer required, blocking the first IM using the computer system according to the at least one policy, wherein the IM client does not receive the first IM.

7. A method for managing instant messages (IMs) within a communications network from entities, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer system coupled to the communications network, a plurality of policies for each instant messaging (IM) network in a plurality of different IM networks supported by the computer system, wherein each of the plurality of different IM networks includes a different IM network protocol;

storing the plurality of policies for each IM network in the plurality of different IM networks supported by the computer system in a policy database associated with the computer system, at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a first type of policy for taking actions on the IMs destined for the one or more IM clients and at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a second type of policy for issuing challenge IMs to senders of IMs communicated via the communications network, each of the first type of policies stored in the policy database including information defining;

a set of characteristics pertaining to at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of one or more IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols, and

an action to be performed when one or more characteristics of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols satisfy the set of characteristics defined in the policy;

wherein each of the second type of policies for issuing challenge IMs determines if a challenge IM should be sent in response to a received IM;

receiving, at the computer system, a contact list for each of the one or more IM clients, the contact list including a list of contact identifiers;

receiving, at the computer system, a first IM from a first IM network in the plurality of IM networks using a first IM network protocol in the plurality of different IM network protocols supported by the computer system, the first IM destined for an IM client corresponding to the first IM network that communicates with the first IM network using the first IM network protocol;

filtering, by one of a plurality of different filters associated with the computer system and corresponding to a specific IM network of the plurality of different IM networks, the first IM into a predetermined format specific internally to the computer system and different from the first IM protocol of the first IM to generate a filtered IM, wherein each of said plurality of different filters are distinct and are used for filtering IMs received from their respective one of the plurality of different IM network, wherein filtering is by filtering the first network protocol of the received IM and converting the received IM into the predetermined format, wherein the predetermined format is a generic format;

determining, with a processor associated with the computer system, a contact identifier for the filtered IM;

determining, with a processor associated with the computer system, a contact list for the first IM client from the contacts lists received for each of the one or more IM clients;

determining, with the processor associated with the computer system, whether the determined contact identifier for the filtered IM matches a contact identifier in the determined contact list for the IM client;

if the determined contact identifier for the filtered IM does not match a contact identifier in the determined contact list for the IM client, determining whether a challenge IM should be sent via one of the plurality of different IM networks to an entity that sent the first IM in response to retrieving from the policy database at least one policy for issuing challenge IMs based on one or more characteristics pertaining to the first IM network protocol of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM or to content of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM;

if a challenge IM should be sent, sending using the computer system the challenge IM to an entity that sent the first IM via one of the plurality of different IM networks using one of the plurality of different IM network protocols, the challenge IM requiring based on the at least one policy a response IM from the entity; and

if the determined contact identifier for the filtered IM does match a contact identifier in the determined contact list for the IM client, communicating using the computer system a second IM to the IM client if a filtered response IM generated based on at least one response IM from the client satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer system, a response IM for the challenge IM;

filtering, with the processor associated with the computer system, the response IM into the predetermined format specific internally to the computer system to generate a filtered response IM; and

determining, with the processor associated with the computer system, whether the filtered response IM satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending, using the processor associated with the computer system, at least one IM to the IM client indicating that the first IM was sent from the entity, the at least one IM prompting the IM client to accept or reject the first IM.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining, with the processor associated with the computer system, whether the filtered response IM satisfies the answer required by the challenge IM comprises comparing, with the processor associated with the computer system, a response in the filtered response IM to the answer to determine whether the response matches the answer.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

if no response IM to the challenge IM is received, blocking the first IM using the computer system, wherein the IM client does not receive the first IM.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

if the response IM to the challenge IM does not satisfy the answer required, blocking the first IM using the computer system, wherein the IM client does not receive the first IM.

13. An apparatus for managing instant messages (IMs) within a communications network from entities, the apparatus comprising:

a policy database configured to store a plurality of policies for each instant messaging (IM) network in a plurality of different IM networks, wherein each of the plurality of different IM networks includes a different IM network protocol, at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a first type of policy for taking actions on the IMs destined for the one or more of IM clients and at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a second type of policy for issuing challenge IMs to senders of IMs communicated via the communications network, each stored policy including information defining;

a set of characteristics pertaining to at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of one or more IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols, and

an action to be performed when one or more characteristics of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols satisfy the set of characteristics defined in the policy;

wherein each of the second type of policies for issuing challenge IMs determines if a challenge IM should be sent in response to a received IM;

a communications interface coupled to the communications network and configured to receive IMs associated with the plurality of different IM;

a memory configured to store a set of code modules; and

a processor configured to execute the set of code modules, the set of code modules including;

a plurality of IM network modules configured to provide substantially real-time IM communications to the one or more IM clients and the plurality of different IM networks;

a filter module configured to;

filter, by one of a plurality of different filters corresponding to a specific IM network of the plurality of different IM networks, IMs obtained from each of the plurality of different IM network modules into a predetermined internal format that is different from formats of the plurality of IM networks to generated filtered IMs, wherein each of said plurality of different filters are distinct and are used for filtering IMs received from their respective one of the plurality of different IM network, wherein filtering is by filtering the network protocol of any received IM and converting the received IM into the predetermined format, wherein the predetermined format is a generic format

a challenge module configured to;

determine whether a challenge IM should be sent via one or more of the plurality of different IM networks to a sender of a first IM received from a first IM network in the plurality of IM networks using a first IM network protocol in response to retrieving from the policy database at least one policy for issuing challenge IMs based on one or more characteristics pertaining to the first IM network protocol of the first IM as represented by a filtered IM generated by the filter module or to content of the first IM as represented by a filtered IM generated by the filter module, the first IM destined for a first destination client configured to communicate with the first IM network using the first IM network protocol, and

if a challenge IM should be sent, send a challenge IM to the sender of the first IM via one of the plurality of different IM networks using one of the plurality of different IM network protocols, the challenge IM generated by the filter module requiring based on the at least one policy a response IM from the sender;

a challenge response module configured to determine whether a response IM to the challenge IM satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM based on a filtered response IM generated by the filter module from the response IM; and

a message forwarder module configured to forward at least one IM generated by the filter module according to the first IM network protocol based on a determination made by the challenge response module.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a contact list detector module configured to detect one or more contact lists for one or more IM destination clients in response to users logging on to IM networks with the one or more IM destination client;

wherein the challenge module is configured to determine if a challenge IM should be sent based on whether or not an identifier for a sender of the first IM is on the one or more contact lists.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the challenge module is configured to not issue a challenge IM if the identifier is on one or more contact lists.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

the message forwarder module configured to forward the at least one IM if the response IM satisfies the answer required.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the message forwarder is configured to, if the response IM satisfies the answer, send another IM generated by the filter module according to the first IM network protocol in response to filtering one or more portions of a filtered IM into the another IM indicating that the first IM was sent from the entity, the another IM prompting the first destination client to accept or reject the first IM.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a database configured to store the first IM, wherein if the response IM satisfies the answer required, the first IM is retrieved from the database for forwarding to the first destination client.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the communications interface is configured to receive all IMs destined for one or more IM destination clients in response to events generated by another computer system.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions configured to direct an information processing device for processing instant messages (IMs) within a communications network from entities, the computer-readable storage medium comprising:

instructions for receiving a plurality of policies for each instant messaging (IM) network in a plurality of different IM networks, wherein each of the plurality of different IM networks includes a different IM network protocol;

instructions for storing the plurality of policies for each IM network in the plurality of IM networks in a policy database, at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a first type of policy for taking actions on the IMs destined for the one or more of the plurality of IM clients and at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a second type of policy for issuing challenge IMs to senders of IMs communicated via the communications network, each stored policy including information defining;

a set of characteristics pertaining to at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of one or more IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols, and

an action to be performed when one or more characteristics of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols satisfy the set of characteristics defined in the policy;

wherein each of the second type of policies for issuing challenge IMs determines if a challenge IM should be sent in response to a received IM;

instructions for receiving a first IM from a first IM network in the plurality of IM networks using a first IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols corresponding to the first IM network, the first IM destined for an IM client that communicates with the first IM network using the first IM network protocol;

instructions for filtering, by one of a plurality of different filters corresponding to a specific IM network of the plurality of different IM networks, the first IM into a predetermined internal format different from the first IM protocol of the first IM to generate a filtered IM, wherein each of said plurality of different filters are distinct and are used for filtering IMs received from their respective one of the plurality of different IM network, wherein filtering is by filtering the first network protocol of the received IM and converting the received IM into the predetermined format, wherein the predetermined format is a generic format;

instructions for determining whether a challenge IM should be sent to a sender of the first IM in response to retrieving from the policy database at least one policy for issuing challenge IMs based on one or more characteristics pertaining to the first IM network protocol of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM or to content of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM;

instructions for, if a challenge IM should be sent, sending the challenge IM to the sender of the first IM via one of the plurality of different IM networks using one of the plurality of different IM network protocols, the challenge IM requiring based on the at least one policy a response from the sender;

instructions for, if a response IM to the challenge IM is received via the one of the plurality of different IM networks, filtering the response IM into the predetermined format specific internally to the computer system to generate a filtered response IM;

instructions for determining whether the filtered response IM satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM; and

instructions for communicating a second IM to the IM client if the filtered response IM satisfies the answer required by the challenge IM.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, further comprising:

instructions for sending at least one IM to the IM client indicating that the first IM was sent from an entity, the at least one IM prompting the IM client to accept or reject the first IM.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, further comprising:

instructions for detecting a contact list for the IM client in response to a user logging on to the first IM network with the IM client;

instructions for determining a contact identifier for an entity associated with the first IM;

instructions for determining whether the first IM is an allowable IM in response to comparing the contact identifier with the contact list for the IM client; and

wherein the instructions for determining whether a challenge IM should be sent to the sender of the first IM takes into account whether the first IM is an allowable IM.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions for determining whether the filtered response IM satisfies the answer comprises instructions for comparing a response to the answer to determine if the response matches the answer.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, further comprising:

instructions for, if no response IM to the challenge IM is received, blocking the first IM, wherein the IM client does not receive the first IM.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, further comprising:

instructions for, if the response IM to the challenge IM does not satisfy the answer required, blocking the first IM, wherein the IM client does not receive the first IM.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions configured to direct an information processing device for managing instant messages (IMs) within a communications network from entities, the computer-readable storage medium comprising:

instructions for receiving a plurality of policies for each instant messaging (IM) network protocol in a plurality of different IM network, wherein each of the plurality of different IM networks includes a different IM network protocol;

instructions for storing the plurality of policies for each IM network in the plurality of IM networks in a policy database, at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a first type of policy for taking actions on the IMs destined for the one or more IM clients and at least one stored policy in the policy database corresponding to a second type of policy for issuing challenge IMs to senders of IMs communicated via the communications network, each stored policy including information defining;

a set of characteristics pertaining to at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of one or more IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols, and

an action to be performed when one or more characteristics of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols or content of IMs in the at least one IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols satisfy the set of characteristics defined in the policy;

wherein each of the second type of policies for issuing challenge IMs determines if a challenge IM should be sent in response to a received IM;

instructions for receiving a contact list for the one or more IM clients, the contact list including a list of contact identifiers;

instructions for receiving a first IM from a first IM network in the plurality of IM networks using a first IM network protocol in the plurality of IM network protocols, the first IM destined for an IM client corresponding to the first IM network configured to communicate with the first IM networks using the first IM network protocol;

instructions for filtering, by one of a plurality of different filters corresponding to a specific IM network of the plurality of different IM networks, the first IM into a predetermined internal format that is different from the first IM protocol of the first IM to generate a filtered IM, wherein each of said plurality of different filters are distinct and are used for filtering IMs received from their respective one of the plurality of different IM network, wherein filtering is by filtering the first network protocol of the received IM and converting the received IM into the predetermined format, wherein the predetermined format is a generic format;

instructions for determining a contact identifier for the filtered IM;

instructions for determining a contact list for the IM client, the contact list including one or more contact identifiers that may be associated with IMs;

instructions for determining whether the determined contact identifier for the filtered IM matches a contact identifier in the determined contact list for the IM client;

instructions for, if the determined contact identifier for the filtered IM does not match a contact identifier in the determined contact list for the IM client, determining whether a challenge IM should be sent via one of the plurality of IM networks to an entity that sent the first IM in response to retrieving from the policy database at least one policy for issuing challenge IMs based on one or more characteristics pertaining to the first IM network protocol of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM or to content of the first IM as represented by the filtered IM;

instructions for, if a challenge IM should be sent, sending the challenge IM to an entity that sent the first IM via one of the plurality of IM networks using one of the plurality of different IM network protocols, the challenge IM requiring based on the at least one policy a response from the entity; and

instructions for, if the determined contact identifier for the filtered IM does match contact identifier in the determined contact list for the IM client, communicating a second IM to the IM client if a filtered response IM generated based on at least one response IM from the client satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising:

instructions for receiving a response IM for the challenge IM;

instructions for filtering the response IM into the predetermined format to generate a filtered response IM; and

instructions for determining whether the filtered response IM satisfies an answer required by the challenge IM.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, further comprising:

instructions for, if the filtered response IM satisfies the answer, sending at least one IM to the IM client indicating that the first IM was sent from the entity, the at least one IM prompting the IM client to accept or reject the first IM.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether the filtered response IM satisfies the answer required by the challenge IM comprises instructions for comparing a response in the filtered response IM to the answer to determine whether the response matches the answer.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising:

instructions for, if no response IM to the challenge IM is received, blocking the first IM, wherein the client does not receive the first IM.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising:

instructions for, if the filtered response IM to the challenge IM does not satisfy the answer required, blocking the first IM, wherein the IM client does not receive the first IM.