Identifying spurious requests for information
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of identifying illegitimate requests for information, comprising:
- identifying a first telecommunications carrier that delivers an electronic promotional item and associating the first telecommunications carrier with the electronic promotional item;
receiving, at a computer system, an electronic request that relates to the electronic promotional item from a submitter of the request;
identifying a second telecommunications carrier that carried the request and that corresponds to and is different than the submitter of the request;
determining with the computer system whether the first telecommunications carrier is different than the second telecommunications carrier;
identifying the request as illegitimate based on a determination that the first telecommunications carrier is different than the second telecommunications carrier; and
in response to identifying the request as illegitimate, storing, with the computer system, data indicating an occurrence of the illegitimate request,wherein the first and second telecommunications carriers are each organizations that operate telecommunications networks and provide telecommunication services to subscribers or relay services that originate on networks operated by other organizations.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented method of identifying illegitimate requests for information may include associating a first carrier with an electronic promotional item, receiving a request relating to the electronic promotional item from a second carrier, and identifying the request as illegitimate if the first carrier is different than the second carrier. The computer-implemented method may further include transmitting the electronic promotional item to the first carrier. The request may be a response to the electronic promotional item. In some embodiments, the electronic promotional item may be a link to more information about the electronic promotional item. The computer-implemented method may further include logging the request in a database and charging an ad sponsor for the request in the second database. In some embodiments, a charge may be canceled for the request if the request is identified as illegitimate.
69 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of identifying illegitimate requests for information, comprising:
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identifying a first telecommunications carrier that delivers an electronic promotional item and associating the first telecommunications carrier with the electronic promotional item; receiving, at a computer system, an electronic request that relates to the electronic promotional item from a submitter of the request; identifying a second telecommunications carrier that carried the request and that corresponds to and is different than the submitter of the request; determining with the computer system whether the first telecommunications carrier is different than the second telecommunications carrier; identifying the request as illegitimate based on a determination that the first telecommunications carrier is different than the second telecommunications carrier; and in response to identifying the request as illegitimate, storing, with the computer system, data indicating an occurrence of the illegitimate request, wherein the first and second telecommunications carriers are each organizations that operate telecommunications networks and provide telecommunication services to subscribers or relay services that originate on networks operated by other organizations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for identifying spurious requests for information, comprising:
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an interface that receives digital responses to promotional items from users, the digital responses including identifying information for carriers that transmit the responses to the interface; and a response filter that determines whether a particular digital response is spurious by comparing identifying information for a carrier to which a particular promotional item was sent to the identifying information for a carrier from which the response was received, wherein a response is determined to be spurious based on identifying that information for the carrier to which the particular promotional item was sent does not match the identifying information for the carrier from which the response was received, wherein the carriers are organizations that operate telecommunications networks and provide telecommunication services to subscribers or relay services that originate on networks operated by other organizations. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for identifying illegitimate requests for information, comprising:
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an interface that receives digital responses to promotional items from users, the digital responses including identifying information for carriers that carry the responses; and means for determining responses to be illegitimate based on a determination that the carrier-identifying information associated with the responses does not match carrier-identifying information associated with the promotional items, wherein the carriers are organizations that operate telecommunications networks and provide telecommunication services to subscribers or relay services that originate on networks operated by other organizations. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification