Territorial determination of remote computer location in a wide area network for conditional delivery of digitized products
First Claim
1. A method for delivering a requested digital product to a client computer, the method comprising:
- (a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer;
(b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories;
(c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by;
determining a network address of the client computer;
determining that a custom name is associated with the network address;
parsing classification information which represents a classification from the custom name;
determining that the classification is used primarily within a first of the geographical territories; and
determining that the client computer is located within the first geographical territory; and
(d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Digital products are delivered to a client computer through a wide area network such as the Internet only upon determination that the client computer is located in a geopolitical territory, such as a country or state, for which delivery of the digital product is authorized. A server computer estimates the geopolitical location of the client computer from the client computer'"'"'s network address through contact information in a network address allocation database. Alternatively, the server computer estimates the geopolitical location of the client computer from the client computer'"'"'s custom name, e.g., domain name. The domain name itself can specify a country within which the client computer is located. Such can be conventional or can be parse according to ad hoc patterns developed by large, international organizations identified by a root domain name. In addition, contact information for the domain name can be retrieved and geopolitical territory information parsed from the contact information. A super-classification of the domain name can indicate a geopolitical territory. Records associating geopolitical territories with network address ranges are stored in such a manner that maximizes resolution within a cache of such records, perhaps at the expense of reduce efficiency but so as to maximum currency and accuracy.
399 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for delivering a requested digital product to a client computer, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; parsing classification information which represents a classification from the custom name; determining that the classification is used primarily within a first of the geographical territories; and determining that the client computer is located within the first geographical territory; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method for delivering a requested digital product to a client computer, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; selecting a pattern according to a root of the custom name; determining whether the custom name matches the pattern; and parsing data specifying one of the geographical territories from the custom name according to the pattern; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories.
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5. A method for delivering a requested digital product to a client computer, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; retrieving owner information regarding an owner of the custom name; and parsing data specifying one of the geographical territories from the owner information; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories.
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6. A computer readable medium useful in association with a computer which includes a processor and a memory, the computer readable medium including computer instructions which are configured to cause the computer to deliver a requested digital product to a client computer by:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; parsing classification information which represents a classification from the custom name; determining that the classification is used primarily within a first of the geographical territories; and determining that the client computer is located within the first geographical territory; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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9. A computer readable medium useful in association with a computer which includes a processor and a memory, the computer readable medium including computer instructions which are configured to cause the computer to deliver a requested digital product to a client computer by:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; selecting a pattern according to a root of the custom name; determining whether the custom name matches the pattern; and parsing data specifying one of the geographical territories from the custom name according to the pattern; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories.
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10. A computer readable medium useful in association with a computer which includes a processor and a memory, the computer readable medium including computer instructions which are configured to cause the computer to deliver a requested digital product to a client computer by:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; retrieving owner information regarding an owner of the custom name; and parsing data specifying one of the geographical territories from the owner information; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories.
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11. A computer system which delivers a requested digital product to a client computer by:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; parsing classification information which represents a classification from the custom name; determining that the classification is used primarily within a first of the geographical territories; and determining that the client computer is located within the first geographical territory; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A computer system which delivers a requested digital product to a client computer by:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; selecting a pattern according to a root of the custom name; determining whether the custom name matches the pattern; and parsing data specifying one of the geographical territories from the custom name according to the pattern; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories.
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15. A computer system which delivers a requested digital product to a client computer by:
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(a) receiving a request to send the requested digital product to the client computer; (b) determining that a territorial restriction limits availability of the digital product to one or more allowed territories; (c) determining within which of one or more geographical territories the client computer is located by; determining a network address of the client computer; determining that a custom name is associated with the network address; retrieving owner information regarding an owner of the custom name; and parsing data specifying one of the geographical territories from the owner information; and (d) sending the requested digital product to the client computer upon a condition in which the one of the geographical territories in which the client computer is located is also one of the allowed territories.
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Specification