SYSTEM FOR REGULATING ACCESS TO AND DISTRIBUTING CONTENT IN A NETWORK

• US 20120210341A1
• Filed: 02/08/2012
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Multimedia Content Management LLC (IPValuation Partners, LLC)
• Original Assignee: David Z. Carman, Robert M. Burke, II
• Inventors: Burke, Robert M. II, Carman, David Z.
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1085 Content sharing, e.g. peer-to-peer [P2P]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/30 for supporting lawful interception, monitoring or retaining of communications or communication related information circuit switched telephony call monitoring H04M3/2281

Abstract

There is provided a system for regulating access and managing distribution of content in a network, such as the Internet. The system includes communication gateways, installed at a subscriber site, internet control points, installed remotely, and various network elements installed throughout the network. The communication gateways and network elements operate in conjunction with the internet control points to restrict or allow access to specified Internet sites and to manage efficient distribution of content such as music, video, games, broadband data, real-time audio and voice applications, and software to subscribers.

Claims

1. A system for regulating access to a network, the system comprising:

a controller node coupled to the network, the controller node comprising;

a first processor for generating controller instructions, and

a first network interface for transmitting the controller instructions over the network; and

a plurality of gateway units, the gateway units comprising;

a user interface receiving user-entered network access requests;

a second network interface coupled to the network and receiving the controller instructions from the network; and

a second processor, the second processor selectively transmitting at least some of the network access requests over the service provider network in accordance with the controller instructions, and transferring received content data responsive to the transmitted network access requests over the service provider network via the second network interface.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the gateway units further comprise a storage device for storing instructions;

the gateway units further comprise an identifier uniquely associating the gateway units with a user; and

the storage device is operable to store user-specific information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the gateway units comprise a user interface receiving requests to transmit data; and

the gateway units comprise a second processor inspecting the data to selectively transfer the data in accordance with the controller instructions.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the gateway units comprise a user interface receiving requests to receive data; and

the gateway units comprise a second processor inspecting the data to selectively transfer the data in accordance with the controller instructions.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processor generates the controller instructions automatically.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processor generates the controller instructions in response to an operator-entered request.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller nodes comprise a first processor generating the controller instructions by operator-controlled network crawling.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller nodes comprise a first processor generating the controller instructions to deny user access to a first group of network servers.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the gateway units comprise a second processor to generate a notification to a controller node if a network access request designates a network server of the first group of network servers.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the gateway units comprise a second processor configured to:

detect a network access request designating a network server a first group of network servers; and

re-direct the access request to a second group of network servers in accordance with the controller instructions.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the controller nodes comprise a first processor generating the controller instructions, the controller instructions including a file identifier; and

the system comprises a plurality of gateway units associated with a user file system, the gateway units comprising a second processor to detect a file in a user file system corresponding to the file identifier.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the gateway units are operable between an active state and an inactive state.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second processors notify a controller node if the associated gateway unit enters an inactive state.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the second processors delete the detected files from a user file system in accordance with the controller instructions.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the second processors delete the detected files from a user file system during the inactive state.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the gateway units notify a controller node if a file corresponding to the file identifier is detected.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units comprise:

a housing; and

a detector for detecting an attempt to open the housing.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the gateway unit notifies the controller node of a detected attempt to open the housing after a user-initiated event.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the gateway units comprise a storage device and the second processor prevents access to the storage device when the detector detects an attempt to open the housing.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units comprise a second processor that enters a user-controlled operational mode after receiving permission from the controller node.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller node comprises a copyright registry for tracking copyright status of content data files distributed to gateway units in the system.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the user interface receives registrations of the content data files for transmission to the copyright registry.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the second processor causes the gateway unit to access a predetermined network site upon initiation of network browser software, in accordance with the controller instructions.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the second processor selects the predetermined network site from a list of predetermined network sites received via the controller instructions.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the second processor selects the predetermined network site according to a weighting function such that at least a portion of the predetermined network sites are selected more often than others.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units:

receive registration information from a user via the user interface; and

receive initial operating parameters via the second network interface.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units:

receive registration information from a user via the user interface; and

receive software updates via the second network interface.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the gateway units transmit advertising via the user interface to a user display, the advertising being customized in accordance with information received via at least one of the second network interface and the user interface.

29. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units:

transmit pay-per-view advertising via the user interface for selective display by a user; and

generate payment credits for the user upon display of the advertising by the user.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the gateway units generate one of a plurality of viewing modes for viewing the pay-per-view advertising in response to a user selection.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units receive software via the second network interface for execution on the second processor, the software enabling at least one of a fee-based network service, network video calling, and network gaming.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein the second processor detects a denial-of-service attack.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the second processor detects a denial-of-service attack initiated by a virus.

34. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units selectively transmit to law enforcement terminals information describing at least one of incoming data and outgoing data to the gateway units.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units:

detect a user attempt to at least one of transmit and receive voice traffic; and

selectively block the detected attempt in accordance with the controller instructions.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the gateway units transmit, via the user interface, an advertisement offering voice transmission services.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units:

detect a user attempt to at least one of transmit and receive at least one of audio and video traffic; and

selectively block the detected attempt in accordance with the controller instructions.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the gateway units transmit, via the user interface, an advertisement offering at least one of audio and video traffic services.

39. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units:

detect at least one of audio and video traffic flowing through the second network interface; and

selectively reduce the quality of service of the at least one of audio and video traffic in accordance with the controller instructions, wherein reduction of quality of service comprises at least one of;

reducing a duty cycle, inserting TCP/IP messages in the at least one of audio and video traffic, inserting Nak/Ack pairs in the at least one of audio and video traffic, and inserting X-On/X-Off pairs in the at least one of audio and video traffic.

40. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of access nodes, wherein the controller node comprises a first processor for generating authorization instructions and transmitting the authorization instructions over the network to the access nodes, and the access nodes:

receive the authorization instructions from the controller node; and

selectively permit the gateway units to access the network in accordance with the authorization instructions.

41. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway units comprise data storage units partitioned into a network portion and a user portion, and at least one of a first group of gateway units selectively shares data stored in the network partition with at least one of a second group of gateway units, via the second network interface, in accordance with the controller instructions.

42. The system of claim 1, wherein the second processor in at least a first one of the gateway units selectively forwards content data received from at least a second one of the gateway units to at least a third one of the gateway units in accordance with the controller instructions.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the second processor in at least a first one of the gateway units:

receives portions of a content data file from a group of gateway units in accordance with the controller instructions; and

assembles a data file based on the received portions for transmission to the user via the user interface.

44. The system of claim 1, further comprising an intervention node, the intervention node comprising:

an operator interface for receiving operator-entered spoofing attack instructions; and

a third network interface for transmitting at least one substitute file pointer to addresses in the network in accordance with the spoofing attack instructions.

45-115. -115. (canceled)