Registering and using multilingual domain names

• US 7,774,432 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2007
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Inventors: Frakes, Jothan, Cartmell, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart; Benjamin R
• Application Number:
  US11/654,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20070118620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 707 1- 10, 704 1- 10
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/32 containing non-Latin characters, e.g. Chinese domain names
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/302 Administrative registration, e.g. for domain names at internet corporation for assigned names and numbers [ICANN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3025 Domain name generation or assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium are described for registering and using multilingual domain names that include characters outside the ASCII character subset supported by the DNS system. Such multilingual domain names can in some situations be registered by first being converted into appropriate ASCII-Compatible Encodings (ACEs) that represent the corresponding multilingual domain names and that use only characters within the ASCII character subset. In addition, a variety of binary variants may be generated at registration for each multilingual domain name and then used as equivalents for the multilingual domain name, such as by storing the variants in the registry as alternative domain names or by otherwise reserving the binary variants. When requests to resolve such a registered multilingual domain name into a corresponding IP address or URL are received, the stored binary variants and/or ACE information can then be used to respond in an appropriate manner.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for registering multilingual domain names that include non-ASCII characters, the method comprising:

providing a Web page including a field in which a user can specify a second-level domain name portion including non-ASCII characters using a non-ASCII character set, the non-ASCII character set being specified by an encoding selected by the user from among a plurality of encodings presented by the Web page;

receiving a request to register a multilingual domain name in a top-level domain (TLD), the multilingual domain name having the specified second-level domain name portion including non-ASCII characters, each character in the specified character set having an associated numeric value, the second-level domain name portion indicated in the received request by a sequence of the numeric values that are derived from the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion;

generating an ASCII-Compatible Encoding (ACE) for the specified second-level domain name portion based on the specified character set and the indicated numeric sequence for the second-level domain name portion;

constructing an ASCII domain name whose second-level domain name portion is the generated ACE and whose top-level domain name portion is the TLD;

determining whether the constructed ASCII domain name is available to be registered in the TLD and whether the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved for another multilingual domain name registered in the TLD, wherein determining whether the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved includes;

searching for the indicated numeric sequence throughout at least one database that includes multilingual domain names for a plurality of non-ASCII character sets; and

determining that the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved when the indicated numeric sequence appears as a reserved multilingual domain name anywhere in the database; and

when it is determined that the constructed ASCII domain name is available to be registered and that the indicated numeric sequence has not been reserved, registering the multilingual domain name in the TLD, the registering including;

generating multiple distinct numeric sequence variants as equivalents for the specified second-level domain name portion of the multilingual domain name, each generated numeric sequence variant consisting of a sequence of numeric values;

reserving the generated numeric sequence variants for the multilingual domain name;

presenting a plurality of the variants to the user;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of variants presented to the user; and

registering a domain name in the TLD corresponding to each of the one or more variants selected by the user.

2. The method of claim 1 including preventing registration of the multilingual domain name in the TLD when it is determined that the ASCII domain name is not available to be registered in the TLD and/or that the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating of the numeric sequence variants is performed before the registering of the multilingual domain name, and wherein the registering of the multilingual domain name is performed only if it is further determined that none of the generated numeric sequence variants has already been reserved.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the generated numeric sequence variants include the indicated numeric sequence.

5. The method of claim 1 including, after the multilingual domain name is registered in the TLD:

receiving a request to register in the TLD a second multilingual domain name that is distinct from the multilingual domain name, the second multilingual domain name having a second-level domain name portion that is indicated in the received request by a second sequence of numeric values associated with characters of the second-level domain name portion;

determining that the indicated second sequence of numeric values is one of the

generated numeric sequence variants for the multilingual domain name; and

indicating that the second multilingual domain name is not available to be registered based on the determining.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the registering of the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes registering the ASC11 domain name in the TLD.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the registering of the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes associating an IP address and/or a URL with the ASC11 domain name and/or with the reserved numeric sequence variants.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the registering of the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes associating the multilingual domain name with a server computer system able to receive requests that specify the multilingual domain name and to respond in an appropriate manner.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each of multiple distinct character sets are associated with one or more encoding systems that each assign a numeric value that is unique within that encoding system to each character in that associated set, and wherein the numeric values that are associated with the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion of the multilingual domain name are the unique numeric values assigned to those characters by an encoding system associated with the specified character set.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein registering the multilingual domain name in the TLD further includes:

adding a prefix and/or a suffix to the generated ACE to create a new second-level domain name for the ASCII domain corresponding to the multilingual domain name.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a prefix is added and the prefix is a sequence of characters followed by two dashes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the prefix is “

ra—

”

.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating of the numeric sequence variants includes determining a mistake made in selecting some or all of the values that are included in the indicated numeric sequence to reflect an association with the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion, and including generating one or more numeric sequences that vary from the indicated numeric sequence in such a manner as to correct the determined mistake.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-ASCII characters with which the user can specify the second-level domain name portion correspond to characters in the encoding selected by the user.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes an indication of the encoding selected by the user.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with a plurality of instructions for controlling a processor to perform an operation for registering multilingual domain names that include non-ASCII characters, the instructions comprising:

providing a Web page including a field in which a user can specify a second-level domain name portion including non-ASCII characters using a non-ASCII character set, the non-ASCII character set being specified by an encoding selected by the user from among a plurality of encodings presented by the Web page;

receiving a request to register a multilingual domain name in a top-level domain (TLD), the multilingual domain name having the specified second-level domain name portion including non-ASCII characters, each character in the specified character set having an associated numeric value, the second-level domain name portion indicated in the received request by a sequence of the numeric values that are derived from the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion;

generating an ASCII-Compatible Encoding (ACE) for the specified second-level domain name portion based on the specified character set and the indicated numeric sequence for the second-level domain name portion;

constructing an ASCII domain name whose second-level domain name portion is the generated ACE and whose top-level domain name portion is the TLD;

determining whether the constructed ASCII domain name is available to be registered in the TLD and whether the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved for another multilingual domain name registered in the TLD, wherein determining whether the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved includes;

searching for the indicated numeric sequence throughout at least one database that includes multilingual domain names for a plurality of non-ASCII character sets; and

determining that the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved when the indicated numeric sequence appears as a reserved multilingual domain name anywhere in the database; and

when it is determined that the constructed ASCII domain name is available to be registered and that the indicated numeric sequence has not been reserved, registering the multilingual domain name in the TLD, the registering including;

generating multiple distinct numeric sequence variants as equivalents for the specified second-level domain name portion of the multilingual domain name, each generated numeric sequence variant consisting of a sequence of numeric values;

reserving the generated numeric sequence variants for the multilingual domain name;

presenting a plurality of the variants to the user;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of variants presented to the user; and

registering a domain name in the TLD corresponding to each of the one or more variants selected by the user.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise preventing registration of the multilingual domain name in the TLD when it is determined that the ASCII domain name is not available to be registered in the TLD and/or that the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the generating of the numeric sequence variants is performed before the registering of the multilingual domain name, and wherein the registering of the multilingual domain name is performed only if it is further determined that none of the generated numeric sequence variants has already been reserved.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the generated numeric sequence variants include the indicated numeric sequence.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise, after the multilingual domain name is registered in the TLD:

receiving a request to register in the TLD a second multilingual domain name that is distinct from the multilingual domain name, the second multilingual domain name having a second-level domain name portion that is indicated in the received request by a second sequence of numeric values associated with characters of the second-level domain name portion;

determining that the indicated second sequence of numeric values is one of the

generated numeric sequence variants for the multilingual domain name; and

indicating that the second multilingual domain name is not available to be registered based on the determining.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the registering of the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes associating the multilingual domain name with a server computer system able to receive requests that specify the multilingual domain name and to respond in an appropriate manner.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein each of multiple distinct character sets are associated with one or more encoding systems that each assign a numeric value that is unique within that encoding system to each character in that associated set, and wherein the numeric values that are associated with the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion of the multilingual domain name are the unique numeric values assigned to those characters by an encoding system associated with the specified character set.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein registering the multilingual domain name in the TLD further includes:

adding a prefix and/or a suffix to the generated ACE to create a new second-level domain name for the ASCII domain corresponding to the multilingual domain name.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the generating of the numeric sequence variants includes determining a mistake made in selecting some or all of the values that are included in the indicated numeric sequence to reflect an association with the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion, and including generating one or more numeric sequences that vary from the indicated numeric sequence in such a manner as to correct the determined mistake.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the non-ASCII characters with which the user can specify the second-level domain name portion correspond to characters in the encoding selected by the user.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the request includes an indication of the encoding selected by the user.

27. A system comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions that cause the processor to;

provide a Web page including a field in which a user can specify a second-level domain name portion including non-ASCII characters using a non-ASCII character set, the non-ASCII character set being specified by an encoding selected by the user from among a plurality of encodings presented by the Web page;

receive a request to register a multilingual domain name in a top-level domain (TLD), the multilingual domain name having a the specified second-level domain name portion including non-ASCII characters, each character in the specified character set having an associated numeric value, the second-level domain name portion indicated in the received request by a sequence of the numeric values that are derived from the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion;

generate an ASCII-Compatible Encoding (ACE) for the specified second-level domain name portion based on the specified character set and the indicated numeric sequence for the second-level domain name portion;

construct an ASCII domain name whose second-level domain name portion is the generated ACE and whose top-level domain name portion is the TLD;

determine whether the constructed ASCII domain name is available to be registered in the TLD and whether the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved for another multilingual domain name registered in the TLD, wherein determining whether the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved includes;

searching for the indicated numeric sequence throughout at least one database that includes multilingual domain names for a plurality of non-ASCII character sets; and

determining that the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved when the indicated numeric sequence appears as a reserved multilingual domain name anywhere in the database; and

when it is determined that the constructed ASCII domain name is available to be registered and that the indicated numeric sequence has not been reserved, register the multilingual domain name in the TLD, the registering including;

generating multiple distinct numeric sequence variants as equivalents for the specified second-level domain name portion of the multilingual domain name, each generated numeric sequence variant consisting of a sequence of numeric values;

reserving the generated numeric sequence variants for the multilingual domain name;

presenting a plurality of the variants to the user;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of variants presented to the user; and

registering a domain name in the TLD corresponding to each of the one or more variants selected by the user.

28. The system of claim 27, the processor further configured to prevent registration of the multilingual domain name in the TLD when it is determined that the ASCII domain name is not available to be registered in the TLD and/or that the indicated numeric sequence has already been reserved.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the processor is configured to generate the numeric sequence variants before registering the multilingual domain name, and further configured to register the multilingual domain name only if it is further determined that none of the generated numeric sequence variants has already been reserved.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the generated numeric sequence variants include the indicated numeric sequence.

31. The system of claim 27 including, the processor further configured to, after the multilingual domain name is registered in the TLD:

receive a request to register in the TLD a second multilingual domain name that is distinct from the multilingual domain name, the second multilingual domain name having a second-level domain name portion that is indicated in the received request by a second sequence of numeric values associated with characters of the second-level domain name portion;

determine that the indicated second sequence of numeric values is one of the

generate numeric sequence variants for the multilingual domain name; and

indicate that the second multilingual domain name is not available to be registered based on the determining.

32. The system of claim 27 wherein registering of the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes registering the ASCII domain name in the TLD.

33. The system of claim 27 wherein registering the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes associating an IP address and/or a URL with the ASCII domain name and/or with the reserved numeric sequence variants.

34. The system of claim 27 wherein registering the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes associating the multilingual domain name with a server computer system able to receive requests that specify the multilingual domain name and to respond in an appropriate manner.

35. The system of claim 27 wherein each of multiple distinct character sets are associated with one or more encoding systems that each assign a numeric value that is unique within that encoding system to each character in that associated set, and wherein the numeric values that are associated with the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion of the multilingual domain name are the unique numeric values assigned to those characters by an encoding system associated with the specified character set.

36. The system of claim 27, wherein registering the multilingual domain name in the TLD includes:

adding a prefix and/or a suffix to the generated ACE to create a new second-level domain name for the ASCII domain corresponding to the multilingual domain name.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein a prefix is added and the prefix is a sequence of characters followed by two dashes.

38. The system of claim 36, wherein the prefix is “

ra—

”

.

39. The system of claim 27 wherein generating the numeric sequence variants includes determining a mistake made in selecting some or all of the values that are included in the indicated numeric sequence to reflect an association with the non-ASCII characters of the second-level domain name portion, and including generating one or more numeric sequences that vary from the indicated numeric sequence in such a manner as to correct the determined mistake.

40. The system of claim 27, wherein the non-ASCII characters with which the user can specify the second-level domain name portion correspond to characters in the encoding selected by the user.

41. The system of claim 27, wherein the request includes an indication of the encoding selected by the user.