Mobile click fraud prevention

• US 8,799,069 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Arvind, Tiwari, Ashutosh, Venkatraman, Gopalakrishnan, Cheung, Dominic, Bennett, Stacy R., Koen, Douglas B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bramer, John Van
• Assistant Examiner(s): GATLING, STACIE D
• Application Number:
  US11/963,165
• Publication Number:
  US 20090164269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,419 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.45, 705/14.47
• US Class Current: 705/14.45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices

Abstract

A system is disclosed for detecting and handling click fraud in a mobile environment. The system may identify a source of a request. The request may be handled differently based on whether the source of the request originated from mobile traffic or web traffic. The source of the request may be used to determine whether a request is valid or invalid. The request may be flagged if the request is invalid.

Claims

1. A method for preventing click fraud in a mobile environment, the method comprising:

receiving a request including request source information, the request source information including an internet protocol (IP) address and hidden information comprising at least one of cookie data, a mobile identification parameter provided by a mobile carrier, or a service provider-generated identifier;

identifying a source of the request from the request source information as being either web traffic or mobile traffic;

handling the request as web traffic when the source of the request is not associated with a mobile carrier as determined in accordance with the identifying;

handling the request as mobile traffic when the source of the request is associated with a mobile carrier as determined in accordance with the identifying, wherein handling the request as mobile traffic comprises;

determining whether the IP address in the request source information is invalid, wherein the determining comprises comparing the IP address with IP addresses in a list; and

flagging the request when the IP address is invalid; and

sending a response to the request, wherein the sending comprises;

requesting a result responsive to the request and the hidden information;

receiving the result, wherein the result includes a uniform resource locator (URL); and

sending the result to the source of the request.

2. A method for preventing click fraud in a mobile environment, the method comprising:

receiving a request including request source information;

identifying a source of the request from the request source information;

handling the request as mobile traffic when the source of the request is associated with a mobile carrier, wherein the handling the request as mobile traffic comprises;

determining whether the source of the request is invalid; and

flagging the request when the source of the request is invalid; and

sending a response to the request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining whether the source of the request is invalid comprises comparing an internet protocol (IP) address associated with the request to a whitelist of IP addresses associated with valid mobile carriers.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining whether the source of the request is invalid comprises comparing an internet protocol (IP) address associated with the request to a blacklist of IP addresses associated with fraudulent request sources.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining whether the source of the request is invalid comprises comparing hidden variable information associated with the request to a whitelist of identification information associated with valid mobile carriers.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining whether the source of the request is invalid comprises comparing hidden variable information associated with the request to a blacklist of identification information associated with fraudulent request sources.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining whether the source of the request is invalid comprises:

referencing other requests received from the source of the request; and

determining whether the request is invalid based on the other requests.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining whether the source of the request is invalid comprises:

identifying mobile carrier information associated with the request;

identifying mobile device information associated with the request; and

determining whether the request is invalid based on the mobile carrier information and the mobile device information.

9. A system for preventing click fraud in a mobile environment, the system comprising:

a communication receiving module configured to receive a request including request source information, the communication receiving module further configured to receive the request source information which includes an internet protocol (IP) address and hidden information comprising at least one of cookie data, a mobile identification parameter provided by a mobile carrier, or a service provider-generated identifier;

a source identification module configured to identify a source of the request from the request source information as being either web traffic or mobile traffic;

a web traffic handling module configured to handle the request as web traffic when the source of the request is not associated with a mobile carrier as determined in accordance with the identifying;

a mobile traffic handling module configured to handle the request as mobile traffic when the source of the request is associated with a mobile carrier as determined in accordance with the identifying, the mobile traffic handling module comprising;

an invalidity determination module configured to determine whether the IP address in the request source information is invalid, the invalidity determination module further configured to compare the IP address with IP addresses in a list; and

a request flagging module configured to flag the request when the IP address is invalid; and

a communication sending module configured to send a response to the request, the communication sending module comprising;

a result requesting module configured to request a result responsive to the request and the hidden information;

a result receiving module configured to receive the result, wherein the result includes a uniform resource locator (URL); and

a result sending module configured to send the result to the source of the request.

10. A system for preventing click fraud in a mobile environment, the system comprising:

a communication receiving module configured to receive a request including request source information;

a source identification module configured to identify a source of the request from the request source information as being either web traffic or mobile traffic;

a web traffic handling module configured to handle the request as web traffic when the source of the request is not associated with a mobile carrier as determined in accordance with the identifying;

a mobile traffic handling module configured to handle the request as mobile traffic when the source of the request is associated with a mobile carrier as determined in accordance with the identifying, the mobile traffic handling module comprising;

an invalidity determination module configured to determine whether the source of the request is invalid; and

a request flagging module configured to flag the request when the source of the request is invalid; and

a communication sending module configured to send a response to the request.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the invalidity determination module comprises an address comparison module configured to compare an internet protocol (IP) address associated with the request to a whitelist of IP addresses associated with valid mobile carriers.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the invalidity determination module comprises an address comparison module configured to compare an internet protocol (IP) address associated with the request to a blacklist of IP addresses associated with fraudulent request sources.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the invalidity determination module comprises a variable information comparison module configured to compare hidden variable information associated with the request to a whitelist of identification information associated with valid mobile carriers.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the invalidity determination module comprises a variable information comparison module configured to compare hidden variable information associated with the request to a blacklist of identification information associated with fraudulent request sources.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the invalidity determination module comprises:

a request referencing module configured to reference other requests received from the source of the request; and

a request invalidity determination module configured to determine whether the request is invalid based on the other requests.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the invalidity determination module comprises:

a mobile carrier identification module configured to identify mobile carrier information associated with the request;

a mobile device identification module configured to identify mobile device information associated with the request; and

a request invalidity determination module configured to determine whether the request is invalid based on the mobile carrier information and the mobile device information.