US007136932B1 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7,136,932 B1 Schneider (45) Date of Patent: Nov. 14, 2006 (54) FICTITIOUS DOMAIN NAME METHOD, 6,314.469 B1 * 1 1/2001 Tan et al. ................... 709/245 PRODUCT, AND APPARATUS 6,338,082 B1* 1/2002 Schneider .. ... TO9,203 6,430,623 B1* 8/2002 Alkhaitb .... ... TO9.245 (76) Inventor: Eric Schneider, 13944 Cedar Rd. ii.258, 6,678,717 B1 * 1/2004 Schneider .. ... TO9,203 6,836,805 B1* 12/2004 Cook ..... ... TO9.245 University Heights, OH (US) 44118 2002fOO73233 A1 6/2002 Gross ......................... 709/245 (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS patent is extended or adjusted under 35 WO WOO9922488 A2 5, 1999 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. WO WOO993.9275 A1 8, 1999 (21) Appl. No.: 09/532,500 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Statement of the policy oversight committee, The Economic Struc (22) Filed: Mar. 21, 2000 ture of Internet Generic Top-Level Domain Name Registries Analy sis and Recommendation, Jul. 23, 1998. Related U.S. Application Data Berners-Lee T., "RFC 1630: Universal Resource Identifiers in (60) Provisional application No. 60/175.825, filed on Jan. WWW A Unifying Syntax for the Expression of Names and 13, 2000, provisional application No. 60/160,125, Addresses of Objects on the Network as used in the World-Wide filed on Oct. 18, 1999, provisional application No. Web”, IETF, Jun. 1994, <http://www.facs.org/rfcs/rfc1630.html>. 60/157,075, filed on Oct. 1, 1999, provisional appli (Continued) cation No. 60/143,859, filed on Jul. 15, 1999, provi sional application No. 60/135,751, filed on May 25, Primary Examiner Jason Cardone 1999, provisional application No. 60/130,136, filed Assistant Examiner—Adnan Mirza on Apr. 20, 1999, provisional application No. 60/125, 531, filed on Mar. 22, 1999. (57) ABSTRACT When a network resource request having a domain name is (51) Int. C. received, it can be determined whether the domain name is G06F 5/16 (2006.01) a fictitious domain name (FDN). For instance, the highest (52) U.S. Cl. ...................... 709/245; 709/223; 709/222; level domain (HLD) of a domain name that is determined 709/217 not resolvable is called a top level domain alias (TLDA) and (58) Field of Classification Search ................ 709/245, such a domain name is a FDN having a TLDA. Rather than 709/220, 223, 222, 217 displaying an error message upon determining that a domain See application file for complete search history. name is (fictitious) a FDN, instead a URL having a resolv able domain name can be generated. Content if any, may (56) References Cited then be located, presented, displayed, notified, and/or U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS accessed accordingly. For example, the autoSearch feature of a web browser can be enabled to provide further resolution 3. A ck 3. E. Ele- - - - - - - - -r 395/200.5 processing by generating and/or resolving a resolvable 5 si3.776 A 9, 1998 sign et al. domain name upon detecting a FDN from a received domain 6,009,459 A 12/1999 Belfiore et al. aC. 6,151,624 A * 1 1/2000 Teare et al. ................. 709/217 6,182,148 B1 1/2001 Tout ........................... 709/245 56 Claims, 31 Drawing Sheets 50 y 120 120 -W - ONS Server U22 Server 124 116 ) 130 Networkinterret 110 - S Client Client 112 14 US 7,136,932 B1 Page 2 OTHER PUBLICATIONS NTIA-DOC, "RFC on the enhancement of the us Domain Space'. Aug. 4, 1998, from <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domain Mockapetris P. "RFC 1035: Domain Names—Implementation and namefusrfc/dotusrfc.htm>. Specification', IETF, Nov. 1987. <http://www.facs.org/rfcs/ Wired News Report, “The Postal Proposal”, Wired News, May 8, rfc1035.html>. 1999, from <http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,131 Harrenstien K., Stahl M., and Feinler E., “RFC 954: Nicname? 30,00.html>. Whois”, IETF, Oct. 1985, <http://www.facs.org/rfcs/rfe954.html>. Wired News Report, “Deep Space Web?”, Wired News, Jul. 22, Crowe, Robert “The Telephone Exchange Name Project'. Web 1999, from <http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,139 Site(1998), from <http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject. 09,00.html>. html>. Oakes, Chris, “Internet Keywords Patent Spat”. Wired News, Jul. NTIA-DOC, “Improvement of Technical Management of Internet 22, 1999, from <http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282.- Names and Addresses”. Federal Register V63 N34, Feb. 20, 1998, 13892,00.html>. from <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/022098fed reg.htm>. * cited by examiner U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 1 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 150 120 120' Server 122 124 116 130 Network/Internet V S-100 114 U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 2 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 162 Bookmark <<>> Reload Home Print 154 Location Field 150 Web page content -/ 158 Fig. Ib U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 3 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 110/120 N. 170 Information records 174 178 182 Authorization Name translation database database 18O 184 186 Postal Code Name tracking TLD database Database database 188 190 192 Name reservation database 194 Database of potential registrants including profile data 166 Processor Fig. Ic U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 6 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 From 226 Domain name valid? - No To 218 310 Process as Compare HLD Search request to TLDS Browser error message: 322 HLID Domain name is not resolvable? valid. Select link to learn more about proper domain name Syntax. Process fictitious domain name having a TLDA To 242 URI resolvable? Fig. 3 U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 7 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 uqeuiopQueu ºu?AB?VOITILe U.S. Patent US 7,136,932 B1 op‘81I U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 9 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 979 JoSqualuooz 0SI 09I 09I0IIZI |×|web||× U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 10 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 8 VOITLSS900I&I epoodizese VOITIL [e]sode ?,9p00 VOITILSS30OJA apoope?sodese (81)9 SS93OJA sequod &,GITAL Kuenbesequod SS33OJA 1-IOCI U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 11 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 CONFIGURATION SETTINGS 724 Calculate ALL Port Aliasing Calculate TLD O On O Prompt User O Off Process Postal Code Choose TLD Redirect UR O Convert to O Enter Default O Replace TLDA ccTLD COM O) Ignore TLDA O Search Request O Select from O Rotate TLDA list O Make path from TLDA Fig. 7 U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 12 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 91319CI quod ‘SAO‘THOI‘NTRIQsequodSS300.J? 9(81H. ]IOCHSS300ICH quodssepold CITILSe #7I9UUOJH -¿p!IBA1IOA ON U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 14 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 qoleºseseepood?Z SS93OJAI ghsanbÐI epoodizeseVOITILSs3OOJA ^ ON 899 8[0] ZZOI U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 15 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 Fig. 10b U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 16 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 From 646 Retrieve corresponding TLDA a subdomains based on postal code? - ccTLD from postal Yes code database Generate all possible URIs from input and subdomain retrieval Filter for all unavailable URIs TO 222 Only Notify/Access/ O Display results if resolvable any URI2 Generate and display web page of hyperlinks for all available URIs Process TLDA as a postal code 650 Fig. 10c U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 18 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 VOITIL Kueqoqeu &,SCITIJL 06II 9ZIIULIOJH U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 19 Of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 Location Field 1 example.com http://www.example.com:80/index.html www.example.com http://www.example.com example.company http://example.com http://company.example.com http://example.company.com http://example.com/company/index.html http://example.com/example.company/ http://example.com/example/company/ http://example.com/pany/index.html 3 free.love:to http://free.to http://love.free.to http://free.love.to http://free.to/love 800.555.1212 http://www.1212.800.555.com 5 http://example.44106 http://example.cleveland.oh.us http://example.44106:us 6 foo(a)bar.company mailto.foo(a)bar.com Fig. 13 U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 20 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 426 Retrieve resolvable TLD from registry to generate valid URI 141 From 420 4. O 182 Generate Retrieve from Registry a valid URI from resolvable TLD for matching registry?s - Yes record of registered name Generate a valid URI from input and retrieved TLD V To 242 URI resolvable? Fig. 14a U.S. Patent US 7,136,932 B1 U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 22 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 q?I'81-I U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 23 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 426 Retrieve component data to generate valid URI 1610 From 420 Retrieve from database N Generate resolution method, TLD, and t E. valid URI from component data for matching aSall registry? - Yes record of registeredg name database Generate a URI having a resolvable TLD from input based on resolution method, TLD, and component data TO 242 URI resolvable? Fig. 16 U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 24 of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 ULIJOJ ZIºffi, U.S. Patent Nov. 14, 2006 Sheet 25 Of 31 US 7,136,932 B1 From 212 Update input history 1815 Redirect 1820 An refix Sufi.