Method and an apparatus to store information regarding web pages

• US 8,150,875 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2004
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SonicWALL, Inc. (SonicWall Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Dubrovsky, Alex M., Popov, Nikolay V., Shor, Alexander, Yanovsky, Roman, Zhu, Shunhui, Yanovsky, Boris
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Tim T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mobin, Hasanul
• Application Number:
  US10/942,292
• Time in Patent Office: 2,757 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A method and an apparatus to store information regarding web pages have been disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a predetermined type of information regarding a web page in a domain from a server, using a subset of the information to evaluate the web page based on one or more predetermined policies, and locally storing the subset of the information. Other embodiments have been claimed and described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving content ratings in a portion of a data structure regarding a web page in a domain from a server;

using a subset of the content ratings to evaluate the web page based on one or more content filtering policies, wherein the data structure includes a rating tree of the domain, a structure of the rating tree corresponding to a domain structure of the domain such that a root of the rating tree contains a content rating of a main page of the domain and one or more child nodes of the root of the rating tree contain one or more content ratings of one or more web pages that are one logical level below the main page; and

locally storing the subset of the information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the data structure includes the root, a first node corresponding to the web page, and any nodes coupling the first node to the root.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein using the subset of the content ratings to evaluate the web page comprises:

evaluating the content rating of the main page in the root to determine whether the web page is allowed under the content filtering policies; and

evaluating a content rating in a node on a next level of the rating tree if the evaluating the content rating in the root fails to determine whether the web page is allowed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content ratings in the portion of the data structure includes a trusted rating.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content ratings in the portion of the data structure includes an untrusted rating.

6. A method comprising:

receiving a portion of a rating structure from a server, wherein the rating structure includes a rating tree of the domain, a structure of the rating tree corresponding to a domain structure of the domain such that a root of the rating tree contains a content rating of a main page of the domain and one or more child nodes of the root of the rating tree contain one or more content ratings of one or more web pages that are one logical level below the main page, and the one or more web pages including a first web page requested by a user; and

using a subset of the content ratings to determine whether the first web page has content in a category based a content filtering policy.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

locally storing the subset of the content ratings;

in response to a subsequent request for a second web page in the domain, checking the locally stored content ratings to determine whether the second web page has content in the category; and

requesting additional content ratings for the second web page if checking the locally stored content ratings fails to determine whether the second web page has content in the category.

8. A method comprising:

retrieving a rating structure of a domain from a database in response to a content rating request on a web page in the domain from a content filtering client, wherein the rating structure includes a rating tree of the domain, a structure of the rating tree corresponding to a domain structure of the domain such that a root of the rating tree contains a content rating of a main page of the domain and one or more child nodes of the root of the rating tree contain one or more content ratings of one or more web pages that are one logical level below the main page, wherein the one or more web pages include the web page;

identifying a portion of the rating structure relevant to the web page; and

sending the portion in a response to the content filtering client.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising sending the portion in a response to the content filtering client.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising encrypting the response.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, will cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining whether a web page and a plurality of sub-directories of the web page are in a first category;

assigning a first rating of a first type to the web page if contents of the web page and the plurality of sub-directories are in the first category; and

storing the first rating in a rating tree, wherein a structure of the rating tree corresponding to a domain structure of a domain such that a root of the rating tree contains a content rating of a main page of the domain and one or more child nodes of the root of the rating tree contain one or more content ratings of one or more web pages that are one logical level below the main page.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise assigning a second rating of a second type to the web page if contents of at least one of the web page and the plurality of sub-directories are in the first category but not all of the web page and the plurality of sub-directories are in the first category.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise performing a bitwise union operation on a plurality of content ratings to generate the second rating, the web page and the plurality of sub-directories contain contents in each of a plurality of categories corresponding to the plurality of category content ratings.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, will cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

sending a content rating request on a first web page;

receiving a branch of a rating tree of a domain associated with the first web page, the first web page being in the domain, the branch including content ratings of the first web page, a main page of the domain, and any sub-directories between the first web page and the main page, wherein a structure of the rating tree corresponding to a domain structure of the domain such that a root of the rating tree contains a content rating of the main page of the domain and child nodes of the root of the rating tree contain content ratings of one or more web pages that are one logical level below the main page; and

using a subset of the content ratings received to determine whether access to the first web page is allowed based on one or more predetermined content filtering policies.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising locally storing the subset of the content ratings.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising:

checking the locally stored content ratings in response to a subsequent request to access a second web page in the domain to determine whether access to the second web page is allowed based on the one or more predetermined content filtering policies.

17. A system comprising:

a content filtering client to determine whether web pages requested by users are allowed under one or more content filtering policies; and

a server, communicably coupled to the content filtering client, to send a portion of a rating structure associated with the requested web pages to the content filtering client if the content filtering client requests content ratings of the web pages, wherein the content filtering client is operable to use a subset of one or more content ratings in the portion of the rating structure to determine whether the web pages are allowed under the one or more content filtering policies, wherein the rating structure includes a rating tree of a domain containing the web pages, a structure of the rating tree corresponding to a domain structure of the domain such that a root of the rating tree contains a content rating of a main page of the domain and one or more child nodes of the root of the rating tree contain one or more content ratings of one or more web pages that are one logical level below the main page.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the content filtering client includes a local storage device to store the subset of one or more content ratings.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the content filtering client is within a network access device.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising a database coupled to the server.