System and method for content access control

• US 8,763,087 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2008
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Athsani, Athellina, Churchill, Elizabeth F., O'Sullivan, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THU HA T
• Application Number:
  US12/248,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20100095353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,084 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246, 709/247, 709/218, 709/219, 709/231, 726/4, 726/7, 726 1- 6, 707/5, 707/732, 707/733, 707/734, 707/737, 707/738, 725/54, 725/92
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]

Abstract

A system and method for managing access to content is provided. One example embodiment provides for a method including acts of identifying a filter of content based at least in part on the preferences a user and a subject presented in the content and presenting the content using the filter to the user. Another example embodiment provides for a system that includes a controller configured to identify a filter of content based on preferences of a user, to present content using the identified filter and to update the preferences of the user based on feedback from the user and the subjects presented in the content.

Claims

1. A method for filtering content from a file, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first user, at a content control system, a file;

determining, by the content control system and based on the first user, a filter;

applying the filter to the file to filter out content from the file, wherein applying comprises generating a filtered file that is a subset of the file;

receiving, from a second user that is different than the first user, at the content control system, a request for the file;

in response to receiving the request, the content control system causing the filtered file, which is filtered based on the first user, to be presented to the second user;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the filter includes determining the filter based at least in part on the filter being configured to include at least one subject in the filtered file.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the filter includes determining the filter based at least in part on the filter being configured to exclude at least one subject in the filtered file.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the filter includes determining a filter that is configured to allow any of a plurality of users that include the second user and that are associated with indicated geo-based data to receive the file.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the filter is based on one or more preferences of the first user, wherein first user belongs to a particular user group and the one or more preferences of the first user are one or more preferences of the particular user group.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the file is an image file and causing the filtered file to be presented includes causing only a region of the image file to be presented.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the file is a video file and causing the filtered file to be presented includes causing a strict subset of frames included in the video file to be presented.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the file is an audio file and causing the filtered file to be presented includes causing a frequency range in audio data of the audio file to be presented.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the first user, one or more preferences of the first user, wherein determining the filter is based on the one or more preferences.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising automatically identifying, by a preference engine, one or more preferences of the first user based on other information regarding the first user, wherein determining the filter is based on the one or more preferences.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

automatically identifying one or more parameters that are to be used to create the filter;

automatically creating the filter based on the one or more parameters.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining, by a preference engine, that the filter matches at least one preference of the first user.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving, from a producer of the file, data that indicates that the second user is allowed to receive the file using the filter and wherein determining the filter includes determining the filter based at least in part on the second user being authorized to use the filter.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first user produced the file.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the filter is a first filter;

the method further comprising;

identifying one or more filter criteria;

generating, based on the one or more filter criteria, a second filter that is different than the first filter;

applying the first filter to the file comprises applying the first filter and the second filter to the file to generate the filtered file.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the second user, an indication of a preference of the second user to the filtered file; and

updating one or more preferences of the second user based at least in part on the indication.

17. A method comprising:

analyzing preferences of one or more users;

based on analyzing the preferences, automatically generating a filter;

receiving, from a first user, a file that is to be presented to a second user;

after receiving the file;

identifying the filter based on one or more preferences of the first user or one or more preferences of the second user,

applying the filter to the file to filter out content from the file, wherein applying comprises generating a filtered file, and

causing the filtered file to be presented to the second user;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the filter is a first filter;

the method further comprising;

associating the first filter with one of the first user or the second user;

identifying a second filter that is different than first filter and that is associated with the other of the first user or the second user;

applying the first filter to the file comprises applying the first filter and the second filter to the file to generate the filtered file.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions for filtering content from a file, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause:

receiving, from a first user, at a content control system, a file;

determining, by the content control system and based on the first user, a filter;

applying the filter to the file to filter out content from the file, wherein applying comprises generating a filtered file that is a subset of the file;

receiving, from a second user that is different than the first user, at the content control system, a request for the file;

in response to receiving the request, the content control system causing the filtered file, which is filtered based on the first user, to be presented to the second user.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause:

analyzing preferences of one or more users;

based on analyzing the preferences, automatically generating a filter;

receiving, from a first user, a file that is to be presented to a second user;

after receiving the file;

identifying the filter based on one or more preferences of the first user or one or more preferences of the second user,

applying the filter to the file to filter out content from the file, wherein applying comprises generating a filtered file, and

causing the filtered file to be presented to the second user.