SEGMENTING ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC MESSAGE BOARDS

• US 20130110957A1
• Filed: 09/15/2012
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hilliard Bruce Siegel, Pratik S. Dave
• Original Assignee: Hilliard Bruce Siegel, Pratik S. Dave
• Inventors: Siegel, Hilliard Bruce, Dave, Pratik S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,499,053 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for fine level access control over message content in an electronic messaging system. Access criteria associated with the message content define requirements that a user must satisfy in order to perform specified actions on message content. The user'"'"'s complete profile is examined at run time and compared to access criteria to make a real time decision about the level of access that a user should have to message content. Depending on the access criteria associated with content, stronger authentication or weaker authentication of the user profile information may be performed on the user profile to determine the level of access that should be granted to the user.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request from a user of a computing device to perform an action with respect to a selected thread of a plurality of threads on an electronic message board;

retrieving access criteria associated with the action to be performed on the selected thread, each of the plurality of threads on the electronic message board having access criteria for each of a plurality of actions capable of being performed with respect to each thread, the access criteria for the selected thread specifying at least a strong level of authentication and a weak level of authentication;

determining a required level of authentication specified by the access criteria for the selected thread and the action to be performed with respect to the selected thread, the required level being determined to be at least one of the strong level of authentication or the weak level of authentication;

accessing user profile information associated with the user using a user profile module configured to obtain the user profile information from at least one data store;

determining whether the user is authorized to perform the action by validating the user profile information against the required level of authentication, the user profile information capable of being validated using a transactional account associated with the user for the strong level of authentication and capable of being validated using at least one of a gender, an age, a birthdate, a location, an identification, or an organization membership associated with the user for the weak level of authentication; and

performing the action with respect to the selected thread when the user is determined to be authorized.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the action includes at least one of posting a new message to the selected thread, modifying a posted message in the selected thread, removing a posted message from the selected thread, or obtaining access to view one or more posted messages in the selected thread.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the action includes at least one of accessing the selected threat, creating a new thread associated with the selected thread, modifying the selected thread, or removing the selected thread.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the transactional account is associated with at least one of an ecommerce account of the user, a credit card account of the user, a bank account of the user, or a money deposit account of the user.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request from a mobile computing device associated with a user to perform an action with respect to a selected thread of a plurality of threads on a message board, each thread having access criteria for each of a plurality of actions capable of being performed with respect to each thread;

retrieving access criteria associated with the action to be performed with respect to the selected thread, the access criteria including at least a strong level of authentication and a weak level of authentication;

determining a required level of authentication specified by the access criteria;

accessing user profile information associated with the user, the user profile information stored in at least one data store;

sending a message over a telecommunications network to the mobile computing device associated with the user when the required level of authentication is the strong level of authentication, a contact information for the mobile computing device associated with the user being identified based on the user profile information, and the message including an authentication code for authorizing the action;

validating at least one of a gender, an age, a birthdate, a location, an identification, or an organization membership associated with the user for authorizing the action, the validating being based on the user profile information when the determined level of authentication is the weak level of authentication; and

performing the action when the action is authorized.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the action includes at least one of posting a new message to the selected thread, modifying a posted message in the selected thread, removing a posted message from the selected thread, or obtaining access to view one or more posted messages in the selected thread.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the action includes at least one of accessing the selected threat, creating a new thread associated with the selected thread, modifying the selected thread, or removing the selected thread.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, in response to the sending, a message over the telecommunications network from the mobile computing device associated with the user, the received message causing the authentication code to be entered into the authentication interface of the message board.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

accessing information about a transactional account associated with the user included in the user profile information when the required level of authentication is the strong level of authentication, the information about the transaction account being utilized to authorize the action.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the transactional account is associated with at least one of an ecommerce account of the user, a credit card account of the user, a bank account of the user, or a money deposit account of the user.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the required level of authentication is the weak level of authentication, further comprising:

identifying any waiting periods imposed on the user with respect to performing the action.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the sending the message includes sending a voice message, sending a short message service (SMS) message, or sending an electronic message accessible by an application on the mobile computing device.

14. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to;

receive a request from a mobile computing device associated with a user to perform an action with respect to a selected thread of a plurality of threads on a message board, each thread having access criteria for each of a plurality of actions capable of being performed with respect to each thread;

retrieve access criteria associated with the action to be performed with respect to the selected thread, the access criteria including at least a strong level of authentication and a weak level of authentication;

determine a required level of authentication specified by the access criteria;

access user profile information associated with the user, the user profile information stored in at least one data store;

send a message over a telecommunications network to the mobile computing device associated with the user when the required level of authentication is the strong level of authentication, a contact information for the mobile computing device associated with the user being identified based on the user profile information, and the message including an authentication code for authorizing the action;

validate at least one of a gender, an age, a birthdate, a location, an identification, or an organization membership associated with the user for authorizing the action, the validating being based on the user profile information when the determined level of authentication is the weak level of authentication; and

perform the action when the action is authorized.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the action includes at least one of posting a new message to the selected thread, modifying a posted message in the selected thread, removing a posted message from the selected thread, or obtaining access to view one or more posted messages in the selected thread.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the action includes at least one of accessing the selected threat, creating a new thread associated with the selected thread, modifying the selected thread, or removing the selected thread.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the instruction cause the system to further access information about a transactional account associated with the user included in the user profile information when the required level of authentication is the strong level of authentication, the information about the transaction account being utilized to authorize the action.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for identifying elements, the instructions when executed by a processor of a computing device causing the computing device to:

receive a request from a user of the computing device to perform an action with respect to a selected thread of a plurality of threads on an electronic message board being displayed on a display of the computing device;

retrieve access criteria associated with the action to be performed on the selected thread, each of the plurality of threads on the electronic message board having access criteria for each of a plurality of actions capable of being performed with respect to each thread, the access criteria for the selected thread specifying at least a strong level of authentication and a weak level of authentication;

determine a required level of authentication specified by the access criteria for the selected thread and the action to be performed with respect to the selected thread, the required level being determined to be at least one of the strong level of authentication or the weak level of authentication;

access user profile information associated with the user using a user profile module configured to obtain the user profile information from at least one data store;

determine whether the user is authorized to perform the action by validating the user profile information against the required level of authentication, the user profile information capable of being validated using a transactional account associated with the user for the strong level of authentication and capable of being validated using at least one of a gender, an age, a birthdate, a location, an identification, or an organization membership associated with the user for the weak level of authentication; and

perform the action with respect to the selected thread when the user is determined to be authorized.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the action includes at least one of posting a new message to the selected thread, modifying a posted message in the selected thread, removing a posted message from the selected thread, or obtaining access to view one or more posted messages in the selected thread.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the action includes at least one of accessing the selected threat, creating a new thread associated with the selected thread, modifying the selected thread, or removing the selected thread.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the transactional account is associated with at least one of an ecommerce account of the user, a credit card account of the user, a bank account of the user, or a money deposit account of the user.