Generation of a human readable output message in a format that is unreadable by a computer-based device

• US 8,839,448 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2012
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: White, Gareth D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong, Thanhnga B
• Assistant Examiner(s): LANE, GREGORY A
• Application Number:
  US13/477,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20130097713A1
• Time in Patent Office: 847 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26, 705/51
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/56 Computer malware detection or handling, e.g. anti-virus arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/84 output devices, e.g. displays or monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2133 Verifying human interaction, e.g., Captcha
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/365 Application layer names, e.g. buddy names, unstructured names chosen by a user or home appliance name
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3005 Mechanisms for avoiding name conflicts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3015 Name registration, generation or assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a system and related operating methods for generating a message intended for display at a computer-implemented client device. The method receives, from the client device, a request to perform an operation. In response to receiving the request, the operation is executed at a computer-implemented server device to obtain a result. An alphanumeric message associated with the result is obtained, and an image is generated. The image contains a visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message, wherein the visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message is human readable and resistant to computer-based reading techniques. The method continues by providing the image for rendering at a display element of the client device.

Claims

1. A method of generating a message intended for display at a computer-implemented client device, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer-implemented server device from the client device, a request to perform an account registration procedure, wherein the request includes a proposed identifier for a potential account holder;

in response to receiving the request, executing the account registration procedure at the computer-implemented server device to obtain a result that confirms whether the proposed identifier is available for use with a new account;

obtaining, at the computer-implemented server device, an alphanumeric message associated with the result, wherein the alphanumeric message represents a failure message when the proposed identifier is not available for use with the new account, and wherein the alphanumeric message represents a success message when the proposed identifier is available for use with the new account;

generating, at the computer-implemented server device, an image that contains a visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message, wherein the visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message is human readable and resistant to computer-based reading techniques, wherein the visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message represents the failure message when the proposed identifier is not available for use with the new account, and wherein the visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message represents the success message when the proposed identifier is available for use with the new account; and

communicating, to the client device from the computer-implemented server device, a response to the request, wherein the response comprises the image; and

rendering the image at a display element of the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step provides the image for rendering with a web page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step provides the image in an email.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step provides the image in a text message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating step generates the image such that the visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message exhibits inconsistent typographical characteristics.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the typographical characteristics comprise font type, font size, color, kerning, font style, or capitalization.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating step generates the image such that the visually obfuscated representation of the alphanumeric message is rendered with inconsistent presentation characteristics.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the presentation characteristics comprise position of the alphanumeric message within the image, orientation of the alphanumeric message within the image, background effects, foreground effects, strikeout effects, or animation effects.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating step generates encoded image data that contains information for a plurality of different alphanumeric messages, wherein a selected one of the plurality of different alphanumeric messages is intended for rendering at the client device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the proposed identifier is a proposed email address for the potential account holder.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the proposed identifier is a proposed username for the potential account holder.

12. A method of generating a message intended for display at a computer-implemented client device, the method comprising:

initiating an account registration procedure;

receiving a proposed username at a computer-implemented server device from the client device during the account registration procedure;

confirming, at the computer-implemented server device, whether or not the proposed username is available for use with a new user account;

when the proposed username is unavailable, obtaining, at the computer-implemented server device, a first image that contains a visually obfuscated representation of a human readable failure message that indicates that the proposed username is not available for use with the new user account, and providing the first image from the computer-implemented server device to the client device for rendering at a display element of the client device, wherein the visually obfuscated representation of the human readable failure message is resistant to computer-based reading techniques; and

when the proposed username is available, obtaining, at the computer-implemented server device, a second image that contains a visually obfuscated representation of a human readable success message that indicates that the proposed username is available for use with the new user account, and providing the second image from the computer-implemented server device to the client device for rendering at the display element of the client device, wherein the visually obfuscated representation of the human readable success message is resistant to computer-based reading techniques.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first image and the second image are dynamically generated with variable and inconsistent typographical characteristics.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the typographical characteristics comprise font type, font size, color, kerning, font style, or capitalization.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the first image and the second image are dynamically generated with variable and inconsistent presentation characteristics.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the presentation characteristics comprise position of the alphanumeric message within the image, orientation of the alphanumeric message within the image, background effects, foreground effects, strikeout effects, or animation effects.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein:

obtaining the first image comprises accessing a library of stored images, and selecting the first image from the library; and

obtaining the second image comprises accessing the library, and selecting the second image from the library.

18. A computer-implemented system comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computer-implemented system to:

receive, from a computer-implemented client device, a request to create an account for a user, the request including a proposed identifier for the user;

determine that the proposed identifier is unavailable or is available for use with the account;

obtain an alphanumeric message to notify the user that the proposed identifier is unavailable or is available;

generate an image that conveys the alphanumeric message in a visually obfuscated manner such that the alphanumeric message is human readable and resistant to computer-based reading techniques, and wherein the image that conveys the alphanumeric message represents a failure message that indicates that the proposed identifier is unavailable for use with the account when the proposed identifier is not available for use with the account, and wherein the image that conveys the alphanumeric message represents a success message that indicates that the proposed identifier is available for use with the account when the proposed identifier is available for use with the account; and

provide the image for rendering at a display element of the client device.

19. The computer-implemented system of claim 18, wherein the proposed identifier comprises an email address or a username.

20. The computer-implemented system of claim 18, wherein the image is provided with a hypertext markup language document.