Instant messaging private tags

• US 8,006,093 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2009
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• 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, Larry G Jr., Daniell, W. Todd, Davis, Joel A., Daigle, Brian K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Parthasarathy; Pramila
• Application Number:
  US12/434,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20090208001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 a message comprising:

a first parser for parsing the message for sensitive data; and

an encryption engine configured to encrypt the sensitive data, encode the encrypted data in a data stream having a particular format, and tag the encoded data stream within the message;

wherein tagging the encoded data stream includes generating private tags and inserting the private tags into the message to surround the encoded data stream, the private tags further comprising a name/value pair which identifies a decryption method to utilize in decrypting the sensitive data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the private tags include a start tag and an end tag.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first parser identifies sensitive data using user defined rules.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first parser identifies sensitive data using user entered identifiers in the message.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensitive data comprises one of numbers, hyphens, @ symbol, or other specialized character.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second parser for parsing a received data stream and identifying the private tags.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a decryption engine configured to decrypt encrypted data identified by the private tags.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the decryption engine is further configured to determine if a valid key exists to decode the sensitive data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the decryption engine is further configured to decode the sensitive data using the valid key.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensitive data is configured as a space-letter sequence.

11. A method for privatizing a message comprising:

parsing the message for sensitive data;

encrypting the sensitive data into a data stream having a particular format;

tagging the encoded data stream within the message including generating private tags and inserting the private tags into the message to surround the encoded data stream;

parsing a received data stream and identifying the private tags; and

determining a name/value pair in the private tag, the name/value pair identifying a decryption method to utilize in decrypting the sensitive data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the private tags include a start tag and an end tag.

13. The method claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting the message containing the encrypted sensitive data surrounded by the private tags to a recipient.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining if a valid key exists to decode the sensitive data.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein parsing the message for sensitive data comprises identifying sensitive data using user defined rules.