Method and system for filtering text messages

• US 8,909,713 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2007
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vibes Media LLC
• Original Assignee: Vibes Media LLC
• Inventors: Paritosh, Praveen K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eskandarnia, Arvin
• Application Number:
  US11/709,332
• Publication Number:
  US 20080201411A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,848 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload

Abstract

A system and method is provided for filtering text messages to determine which of the messages, if any, contains undesirable or unsuitable content. The method includes receiving a message containing at least one text character. The text is manipulated to generate a plurality of tokens that are compared with data contained in a plurality of databases. As a result, a plurality of probabilities are generated related to the suitability of the message. The probabilities are weighted to generate an overall probability related to the suitability of the message. The overall probability is then compared to a threshold value to rate the suitability of the message. Further, the rating associated with the message is displayed on a computer display screen or the like.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving a text message comprising content entered by a user, the content having abbreviations or misspellings within a sentence or sentence fragment, the abbreviations or misspellings comprising text having at least one character;

generating a plurality of tokens through manipulation of the text, wherein each of the plurality of tokens is related to the content of the message;

comparing the plurality of tokens with data contained in at least one database to generate a plurality of probabilities related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message, the data comprising at least one trademark and statistics derived, at least in part, from historical message data comprising text abbreviations or misspellings;

weighing the probabilities to generate an overall probability related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message;

comparing the overall probability to a threshold value to derive a rating of the suitability of publicly displaying the message; and

displaying the rating associated with the message.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of a fragment of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of comparing said historical data based on a selected tokenization strategy to generate a plurality of weights used in the step of weighing the probabilities.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of automatically updating the weights.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of selecting unacceptable text within another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of executing the method on a personal handheld mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of executing the method on a carrier network.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the message is received from a short message service.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of tokens comprise at least one from a group comprising:

words, phrases, n-grams, numbers and characters.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of displaying the message if the overall probability is within a defined range.

12. A method comprising the steps of:

manipulating a text message comprising content entered by a user, the content having abbreviations or misspellings within a sentence or sentence fragment, the text message having less than 161 characters;

generating a plurality of tokens, each of the plurality of tokens being related to the content of the message;

generating at least two probabilities related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message based, at least in part, on a comparison between the plurality of tokens and data contained in at least one database, the data comprising at least one trademark and statistics derived, at least in part, from historical message data comprising text abbreviations and misspellings;

generating an overall probability related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message based, at least in part, on a weighing of the at least two probabilities; and

displaying the message if the overall probability is within a defined range.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of a fragment of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of comparing said historical data based on a selected tokenization strategy to generate a plurality of weights for weighing the at least two probabilities.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of automatically updating the weights.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of selecting unacceptable text within another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of executing the method on a personal handheld mobile device.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of executing the method on a carrier network.

20. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of receiving the message from a short message service.

21. The method of claim 12 wherein the plurality of tokens comprise at least one from a group comprising:

words, phrases, n-grams, numbers and characters.

22. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of displaying the overall probability related to the suitability of the message.

23. A method comprising the steps of:

manipulating text within a text message comprising content entered by a user, the content having abbreviations or misspellings within a sentence or sentence fragment, the text message having 160 characters or less;

generating a plurality of tokens, each of the plurality of tokens being related to the content of the message;

comparing the plurality of tokens with data contained in at least one database to generate a plurality of probabilities related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message, the data comprising at least one trademark and statistics derived, at least in part, from historical message data comprising text abbreviations or misspellings;

comparing historical data based on a selected tokenization strategy to generate a plurality of weights;

generating with the plurality of probabilities and the plurality of weights an overall probability related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message; and

comparing the overall probability to a threshold to rate the suitability of publicly displaying the message.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of a fragment of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

25. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

26. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of automatically updating the weights.

27. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of selecting unacceptable text within another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

28. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of executing the method on a personal handheld mobile device.

29. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of executing the method on a carrier network.

30. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of receiving the message from a short message service.

31. The method of claim 23 wherein the plurality of tokens comprise at least one from a group comprising:

words, phrases, n-grams, numbers and characters.

32. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of displaying the message if the message is found suitable.

33. A method comprising the steps of:

selecting a tokenization strategy from a plurality of generated tokens comprising words, phrases, n-grams, numbers and characters;

manipulating text within a text message comprising content entered by a user, the content having abbreviations or misspellings within a sentence or sentence fragment, to generate data for each of the plurality of tokens selected wherein the data is related to the content of the message;

comparing the token data with data contained in at least one database to generate a plurality of probabilities related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message, the data comprising at least one trademark and statistics derived, at least in part, from historical message data comprising text abbreviations or misspellings;

weighing the probabilities to generate an overall probability related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message;

comparing the overall probability to a threshold to rate the suitability of publicly displaying the message; and

displaying the rating associated with the message.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of a fragment of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

35. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

36. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of comparing said historical data based on a selected tokenization strategy to generate a plurality of weights for the step of weighing the probabilities.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising the step of automatically updating the weights.

38. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of selecting unacceptable text within another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

39. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of executing the method on a personal handheld mobile device.

40. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of executing the method on a carrier network.

41. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of receiving the text message from a short message service.

42. The method of claim 33 wherein the plurality of tokens comprise at least one from a group comprising:

words, phrases, n-grams, numbers and characters.

43. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of displaying the message if the rating is within a defined range.

44. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving a text message comprising content entered by a user, the content having abbreviations or misspellings within a sentence or sentence fragment, the abbreviations or misspellings comprising text having at least one character;

generating a plurality of tokens, each of the plurality of tokens being related to the content of the message;

comparing the plurality of tokens with data contained in at least one database to generate a plurality of probabilities related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message, the data comprising at least one trademark and statistics derived, at least in part, from historical message data comprising text abbreviations or misspellings;

weighing the probabilities to generate an overall probability related to the suitability of publicly displaying the message;

comparing the overall probability to a threshold to rate the suitability of the message; and

displaying the rating associated with the message.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of a fragment of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

46. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of rating the suitability of another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

47. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of comparing said historical data based on a selected tokenization strategy to generate a plurality of weights for the step of weighing the probabilities.

48. The method of claim 47 further comprising the step of automatically updating the weights.

49. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of selecting unacceptable text within another message to generate at least a portion of the data contained in the at least one database.

50. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of executing the method on a personal handheld mobile device.

51. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of executing the method on a carrier network.

52. The method of claim 44 wherein the message is received from a short message service.

53. The method of claim 44 wherein the plurality of tokens comprise at least one from a group comprising:

words, phrases, n-grams, numbers and characters.

54. The method of claim 44 further comprising the step of displaying the message if the rating is within a defined range.