System and method of managing publications

• US 9,426,052 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pearson, Larry B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph E
• Assistant Examiner(s): CONAWAY, JAMES E
• Application Number:
  US14/845,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20150381464A1
• Time in Patent Office: 354 Days
• Field of Search: 709/225
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles

Abstract

A system and method of managing publications is disclosed. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a Address Book System (ABS) having a controller element to adjust publication privileges of a publisher of a portion of an address book stored in the ABS responsive to detecting that a number of recipients of an invitation to subscribe to the portion of the address book have declined the invitation and the number of declined invitations exceeds a first threshold. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor of an address book system, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

storing a network address book of a sender;

receiving, from a sender device associated with the sender, a request to publish to a plurality of recipient devices a first portion of the network address book of the sender;

submitting to the plurality of recipient devices an invitation to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book;

transmitting the first portion of the network address book to a first portion of the plurality of recipient devices responsive to receiving accepted invitations to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book;

comparing a first threshold to a number of declined invitations to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book received from a second portion of the plurality of recipient devices;

determining whether the number of declined invitations exceeds the first threshold;

determining a number of publishing violations recorded for the sender;

determining a length of a suspension period according to the number of publishing violations recorded, the number of declined invitations, and a length of a request interval between a request for publication of the sender and a subsequent request for publication of the sender;

adjusting an ability of the sender to publish a second portion of the network address book responsive to a determination that the number of declined invitations exceeds the first threshold, wherein the adjusting of the ability to publish comprises suspending the ability of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book for the length of the suspension period and reinstating the ability of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book after the suspension period has expired;

detecting a time the request was submitted;

recording the number of publishing violations associated with the sender;

determining other accounts associated with the sender; and

suspending an ability of the sender to publish the network address book utilizing the other accounts for the suspension period.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for comparing a second threshold to a request interval between the time the request was submitted and a subsequent time a second request was submitted by the sender.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the adjusting of the ability of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book is responsive to a determination that the request interval is below the second threshold.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, comprising computer instructions for determining a severity level according to the number of declined invitations, the number of publishing violations recorded for the sender, and a length of the request interval, wherein the severity level is utilized for determining the suspension period.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, comprising computer instructions for determining the severity level from at least one among a first amount associated with a difference between the first threshold and the number of declined invitations, and a second amount associated with the difference between the second threshold and the request interval.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, comprising computer instructions for:

aggregating previous violations of the first and second thresholds with a violation associated with the adjusting the ability of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, comprising computer instructions for recording a tally of violations associated with the aggregating.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, comprising computer instructions for clearing the tally of violations responsive to a contiguous grace period in which publications originated by the sender do not violate at least one among the first and second thresholds, wherein the clearing of the tally of violations is according to monitoring of a desired behavioral profile for the sender.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the suspension period is indefinite when the number of publishing violations exceeds a third threshold.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the storage medium comprises computer instructions for submitting a notice that indicates an indefinite suspension has been applied to the sender.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise synchronizing the network address book with local address books stored at end user devices of the sender that include the sender device, wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed processing environment.

12. An address book system comprising:

a memory that stores instructions; and

a controller element which, responsive to executing the instructions, performs operations comprising;

receiving, from a sender device associated with a sender, a request to publish to a plurality of recipient devices a first portion of a network address book of the sender;

submitting, to the plurality of recipient devices, an invitation to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book;

transmitting the first portion of the network address book to a first portion of the plurality of recipient devices responsive to receiving accepted invitations to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book;

comparing a first threshold to a number of declined invitations to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book received from a second portion of the plurality of recipient devices;

determining whether the number of declined invitations exceeds the first threshold;

determining a number of publishing violations recorded for the sender;

determining a length of a suspension period according to the number of publishing violations recorded, the number of declined invitations, and a length of a request interval between a request for publication of the sender and a subsequent request for publication of the sender;

adjusting an ability of the sender to publish a second portion of the network address book responsive to a determination that the number of declined invitations exceeds the first threshold, wherein the adjusting of the ability to publish comprises suspending the ability of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book for the length of the suspension period and reinstating the ability of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book after the suspension period has expired;

determining other accounts associated with the sender;

suspending an ability of the sender to publish the network address book utilizing the other accounts for the suspension period; and

synchronizing the network address book with local address books stored at end user devices of the sender that include the sender device.

13. The address book system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise determining a severity level according to the number of declined invitations, a number of publishing violations recorded for the sender, and a length of a request interval between the request and a subsequent request of the sender, and wherein the controller element comprises a plurality of controller elements operating in a distributed processing environment.

14. The address book system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise comparing a second threshold to the request interval between the request and the subsequent request of the sender, wherein the adjusting of the ability of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book is responsive to a determination that the request interval is below the second threshold.

15. The address book system of claim 12, wherein the suspension period is indefinite when the number of publishing violations exceeds a third threshold.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, a request from a sender device associated with a sender to publish to a plurality of recipient devices a first portion of a network address book of the sender;

submitting, by the system, to the plurality of recipient devices, an invitation to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book;

transmitting, by the system, the first portion of the network address book to a first portion of the plurality of recipient devices responsive to receiving accepted invitations to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book;

comparing, by the system, a first threshold to a number of declined invitations to subscribe to the first portion of the network address book received from a second portion of the plurality of recipient devices;

determining, by the system, whether the number of declined invitations exceeds the first threshold;

determining, by the system, a number of publishing violations recorded for the sender;

modifying, by the system, publication privileges of the sender responsive to the number of declined invitations exceeding the first threshold, wherein the modifying of the publication privileges comprises temporarily suspending the publication privileges of the sender to publish the second portion of the network address book for a suspension period having a length determined according to the number of declined invitations, the number of publishing violations recorded for the sender, and a length of a request interval between a request for publication of the sender and a subsequent request for publication of the sender,

wherein a portion of content supplied by the sender comprises at least one among a first portion of an address book of the sender, and a second portion of calendar information of the sender; and

synchronizing, by the system, the content with local content at end user devices of the sender.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising:

determining other accounts associated with the sender;

suspending an ability of the sender to publish the content utilizing the other accounts for the suspension period; and

reinstating the publication privileges after the suspension period.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising:

generating one among a first ratio of the number of declined invitations received from the recipients to a total number of invitations submitted to the recipients, and a second ratio of the number of declined invitations to a unit of time;

comparing the threshold to one among the first and second ratios; and

adjusting the publication privileges of the sender responsive to one among the first and second ratios exceeding the threshold.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the sender is subscribed to a plurality of content management accounts, and wherein the method further comprises:

aggregating declined invitations detected in at least a portion of the plurality of content management accounts;

comparing the threshold to an aggregated number of declined invitations detected; and

adjusting the publication privileges of the sender in the plurality of content management accounts responsive to the aggregated number of declined invitations detected exceeding a second threshold,

wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed processing environment.