Spam control for sharing content on mobile devices

• US 8,208,910 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Wireless Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Agrawal, Anuraag, Sullivan, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Huy D
• Application Number:
  US12/833,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20100304727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/414.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Sharing content among users of mobile devices is facilitated and controlled by a system and method that employs a content sharing application to receive and process requests to share content among users of devices such as mobile devices and personal computers. Recipients receive share content messages from the content sharing application indicating that they have been selected to access shared content. Such messages may provide direct or indirect access to the shared content via the recipient mobile device. Recipients can specify privacy management schemes to limit or control the receipt of such messages. The content sharing application may also provide various spam filtering techniques that prevent users from abusing the system, including restricting the number or type of requests to share content that may be effectuated over time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request to share content from a first wireless device at a share content application executing on a server computer, the server computer being coupled to a database;

responsive to receiving the request to share content, processing the request to share content at the share content application by;

providing an input page for display to the first wireless device, wherein the input page includes a request for a designation of one or more recipients;

receiving recipient data from the first wireless device via the input page, wherein the recipient data identifies the one or more recipients;

determining that the recipient data identifies a number of recipients;

determining that the number of recipients exceeds a threshold; and

determining whether to generate a share content message to send to the one or more recipients based, at least in part, on the determining that the number of recipients exceeds the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing in a data table at least one of a submission number associated with the request to share content, a recipient identifier, a content title, a content uniform resource locator, or a timestamp associated with the request to share content.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising purging the data table periodically.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining a spam score for the first wireless device based on data within the data table.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether to generate the share content message is further based, at least in part, on a time of day during which the request to share content was received.

6. A computer-readable medium that is not a transient signal, the computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for:

receiving a request to share content from a first wireless device;

responsive to receiving the request to share content, processing the request to share content by;

providing an input page for display to the first wireless device, wherein the input page includes a request for a designation of one or more recipients;

receiving recipient data from the first wireless device via the input page, wherein the recipient data identifies the one or more recipients;

determining that the recipient data identifies a number of recipients;

determining that the number of recipients exceeds a threshold; and

determining whether to generate a share content message to send to the one or more recipients based, at least in part, on the determining that the number of recipients exceeds the threshold.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the input page comprises at least one recent recipient identifier, wherein the at least one recent recipient identifier is associated with a wireless device that has previously received content shared by the first wireless device.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions for determining not to generate the share content message based, at least in part, on the determining that the number of recipients exceeds the threshold.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions for determining the threshold based on a time of day.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions for providing an error message to the first wireless device comprising a notification that the number of recipients exceeds the threshold.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions for providing an edit page to the first wireless device, the edit page comprising an option for the first wireless device to edit the recipient data.

12. A system comprising:

a server computer;

a database coupled to the server computer; and

a share content application running on the server computer and having access to the database, wherein the share content application receives and processes requests to share content among wireless device users, and wherein the processing of requests to share content among the wireless device users includes;

in response to a share content request initiated by a first one of the wireless device users, providing an input page for display to the first one of the wireless device users, wherein the input page includes a request for the first one of the wireless device users to designate one or more recipients with whom to share content;

receiving, over a network link associated with the network, user input information submitted by the first one of the wireless device users via the provided input page, wherein the user input information identifies the one or more recipients;

determining that the received user input information identifies a number of recipients;

determining that the number of recipients exceeds a threshold; and

determining whether to generate a share content message to send to the one or more recipients based, at least in part, on the determining that the number of recipients exceeds the threshold.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing of requests to share content further includes tracking a history of the requests to share content, and wherein the determining of whether to generate a share content message to send to the one or more recipients is further based on the history of requests to share content.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein tracking the history of the requests to share content includes recording a submission number associated with a request to share content.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein tracking the history of the requests to share content includes recording a user identifier associated with a device of the user.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing of requests to share content further includes blocking the requests to share content if the number of recipients exceeds the threshold.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the server computer is configured for IP filtering to restrict access by users other than users of wireless devices registered with the telecommunications service provider.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing of requests to share content further includes evaluating a session variable associated with the request to share content, and wherein the session variable includes a time stamp.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the provided input page depicts a code, and wherein the user input information submitted by the first one of the wireless device users includes a reiteration of the depicted code, as inputted by the first one of the wireless device users.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the input page includes a listing of a predetermined number of recipients with whom the user recently shared content.