Method of and apparatus for controlling access to the internet in a computer system and computer readable medium storing a computer program

• US 20030028532A1
• Filed: 09/27/2002
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Arts Inc.
• Original Assignee: Digital Arts Inc.
• Inventors: Takahashi, Noriyuki, Dougu, Toshio
• Granted Patent: US 6,928,455 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of and apparatus for controlling internet browsing and computer readable medium storing a computer program carrying out the method of the present invention. The present invention provides a database storing worthwhile keywords. When a worthwhile keyword is included in contents or information from the Internet, a user is allowed to browse such contents or information even if a forbidden keyword is included.

Claims

1. A method for controlling access to outside sites through the Internet, comprising the steps of:

providing a first database including a list of accessible Internet sites,

providing a second database including a list of prohibited Internet sites,

providing a third database including forbidden keywords,

providing a forth database including worthwhile keywords,

when a user tries to have access to Internet sites in either the first or second database, allowing access to Internet sites included in the first database and prohibiting access to Internet sites included in the second database,

when a user tries to have access to an Internet site included in neither the first database nor the second database, examining information or contents retrieved from the Internet site neither included in the first nor second database so as to examine if there is a forbidden keyword included in the third database in the retrieved information or contents,

if there is no forbidden keyword in the third database is included, then allowing displaying the information or contents retrieved from the Internet site included in neither the first nor second database to the user,

if there is a forbidden keyword included in the third database in the retrieved information or contents, then examining the retrieved information or contents to examine if there is a worthwhile keyword included in the forth database, and

allowing displaying the information or contents retrieved from the Internet site included in neither the first nor second database to the user only if there is a worthwhile keyword included in the forth database in the information or contents with the forbidden keyword included in the third database.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of:

according to clock and/or calendar, allocating days and/or hours into restricted day(s) and/or hour(s) in which any Internet access is prohibited, non-restricted day(s) and/or hour(s) in which Internet access is free without any restriction, selected access day(s) and/or hour(s) in which Internet access to only Internet sites included in the first database is allowed, and regulated day(s) and/or hour(s) in which Internet access is controlled in accordance with the method set forth in claim 1.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of client computers,

dividing a plurality of the client computers into four groups,

allowing the firs group of the client computers to freely have access to the Internet,

allowing the second group of the client computers to have access to only Internet sites included in the first database,

prohibiting the third group of the client computers from having access to the Internet, and

allowing the fourth group of the client computers to have access to the Internet sites in accordance with the method set forth in claim 1.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

categorizing the accessible Internet sites in the first database, the prohibited Internet sites in the second database, the forbidden keywords in the third database, and the worthwhile keywords in the fourth database into several groups based upon the same or similar attributes respectively, and

activating or deactivating each of the groups in the first through fourth databases to select any of the groups.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

connecting any one of the first and through fourth database to the Internet or loading a computer readable medium storing updated accessible Internet sites, updated prohibited Internet sites, updated forbidden keywords, or updated worthwhile keywords, and

updating any one of the first through fourth databases through the Internet or by the computer readable medium.

6. The method as recited in claim 1. further comprising the steps of:

connecting any one of the first and through fourth database to the Internet or loading a computer recording medium, and

sending the contents of any one of the first through fourth databases through the Internet or writing into the computer readable medium.

7. The method as recited in any one of claims 1 through 6 further comprising the steps of:

counting the appearances of keywords included in information or contents retrieved through the Internet, and

storing the number of times that a particular keyword appears in information or contents retrieved through the Internet.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 further comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of client computers,

detecting a representative keyword included in information or contents retrieved through the Internet by each of the client computers, and

storing the number of times that the representative keyword appears in the information or contents retrieved through the Internet by each of the client computers.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

categorizing Internet access into prohibited type and permitted type,

identifying the type of Internet access request, and

prohibiting Internet access request if the type of the Internet access is prohibited.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the prohibited type is writing information into a WWW server through the Internet.

11. A computer readable medium storing a computer program to control access to outside sits through the Internet in a computer system, comprising:

means for providing a first database including a list of accessible Internet sites,

means for providing a second database including a list of prohibited Internet sites,

means for providing a third database including forbidden keywords,

means for providing a forth database including worthwhile keywords,

means for, when a user tries to have access to Internet sites in either the first or second database, allowing access to Internet sites included in the first database and for prohibiting access to Internet sites included in the second database,

means for, when a user tries to have access to an Internet site included in neither the first database nor the second database, examining information or contents retrieved from the Internet site neither included in the first nor second database so as to examine if there is a forbidden keyword included in the third database in the retrieved information or contents,

means for, if there is no forbidden keyword in the third database is included, allowing displaying the information or contents retrieved from the Internet site included in neither the first nor second database to the user,

means for, if there is a forbidden keyword included in the third database in the retrieved information or contents, examining the retrieved information or contents to examine if there is a worthwhile keyword included in the forth database, and

means for allowing displaying the information or contents retrieved from the Internet site included in neither the first nor second database to the user only if there is a worthwhile keyword included in the forth database in the information or contents with the forbidden keyword included in the third database.

12. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 11 further comprising:

means for categorizing the accessible Internet sites in the first database, the prohibited Internet sites in the second database, the forbidden keywords in the third database, and the worthwhile keywords in the fourth database into several groups based upon the same or similar attributes respectively, and

means for activating or deactivating each of the groups in the first through fourth databases to select any of the groups.

13. An apparatus for controlling access to outside sits through the Internet in a computer system, comprising:

means for providing a first database including a list of accessible Internet sites,

means for providing a second database including a list of prohibited Internet sites, means for providing a third database including forbidden keywords,

means for providing a forth database including worthwhile keywords,

means for, when a user tries to have access to Internet sites in either the first or second database, allowing access to Internet sites included in the first database and for prohibiting access to Internet sites included in the second database,

means for, when a user tries to have access to an Internet site included in neither the first database nor the second database, examining information or contents retrieved film the Internet site neither included in the first nor second database so as to examine if there is a forbidden keyword included in the third database in the retrieved information or contents,

means for, if there is no forbidden keyword in the third database is included, allowing displaying the information or contents retrieved from the Internet site included in neither the first nor second database to the user,

means for, if there is a forbidden keyword included in the third database in the retrieved information or contents, examining the retrieved information or contents to examine if there is a worthwhile keyword included in the forth database, and means for allowing displaying the information or contents retrieved from the Internet site included in neither the first nor second database to the user only if there is a worthwhile keyword included in the forth database in the information or contents with the forbidden keyword included in the third database.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 13 further comprising:

means for categorizing the accessible Internet sites in the first database, the prohibited Internet sites in the second database, the forbidden keywords in the third database, and the worthwhile keywords in the fourth database into several groups based upon the same or similar attributes respectively, and

means for activating or deactivating each of the groups in the first through fourth databases to select any of the groups.