WikiPatents - Community Patent Review
Create Free Account  |  License or Sell Your Patent  |  WikiPatents Marketplace  |  WikiPatents Blog
Username:  Password:  
    
Advanced Search
Tracking electronic component    

Get related patents on CD
United States Patent6751670   
Link to this pagehttp://www.wikipatents.com/6751670.html
Inventor(s)Patterson; Patrick E. (Arlington, VA)
AbstractA method of tracking electronic content includes producing a file of electronic content and executable instructions that collect notification information and attempt to transmit the notification information to an address when triggered by an event. The executable instructions deny access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted successfully.
   














 Title Information Submit all comments and votes
 
Patent Text Patent PDF Print Page Summary File History
Plain text PDF images Print Summary File History Custom Search
Inventor     Patterson; Patrick E. (Arlington, VA)
Owner/Assignee     DRM Technologies, L.L.C. (Tucson, AZ)
Patent assignment
All assignments
Company News
Publication Date     June 15, 2004
Application Number     09/199,150
PAIR File History     Application Data   Transaction History
Image File Wrapper   Patent Term   Fees
Litigation
Filing Date     November 24, 1998
US Classification     709/229 705/51 709/206 713/168
Int'l Classification     G06F 015/16
Examiner     Etienne; Ario
Assistant Examiner     Salad; Abdullahi E.
Attorney/Law Firm     McGuireWoods LLP
Address
Parent Case    
Priority Data    
USPTO Field of Search     709/219 709/206 709/217 709/245 709/229 709/223 709/224 709/202 709/225 713/200 713/201 713/179 713/202 713/165 713/168 714/38 380/3 380/28 705/51
Patent Tags     tracking electronic component
   
Enter a comma (,) or semicolon (;) between multiple tag words/phrases.
Describe this patent:
 Amusing   
 Clever   
 Complex   
 Efficient   
 Historic   
 Important   
 Innovative   
 Interesting   
 Practical   
 Simple   
[no votes]
Patent WIKI

Share information and news about this patent, including information and news about the technology, inventors, company, ligation and licensing.

 References Submit all comments and votes
 
*references marked with an asterisk below are user-added references
 U.S. References
 
Add a new US reference:  
ReferenceRelevancyCommentsReferenceRelevancyComments
6684248
Janacek
709/225
Jan,2004

[0 after 0 votes]
6389541
Patterson

May,2002

[0 after 0 votes]
6332156
Cho

Dec,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6314454
Wang
709/206
Nov,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6304897
Venkatraman
709/206
Oct,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6289461
Dixon

Sep,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6266692
Greenstein
709/206
Jul,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6256672
Redpath
709/232
Jul,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6192396
Kohler
709/206
Feb,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6178442
Yamazaki

Jan,2001

[0 after 0 votes]
6075862
Yoshida

Jun,2000

[0 after 0 votes]
6073256
Sesma
714/38
Jun,2000

[0 after 0 votes]
6035329
Mages

Mar,2000

[0 after 0 votes]
6021491
Renaud
713/179
Feb,2000

[0 after 0 votes]
6014688
Venkatraman
709/206
Jan,2000

[0 after 0 votes]
5958051
Renaud

Sep,1999

[0 after 0 votes]
5958005
Thorne

Sep,1999

[0 after 0 votes]
5889943
Ji

Mar,1999

[0 after 0 votes]
5796952
Davis

Aug,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5794207
Walker

Aug,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5790790
Smith
709/206
Aug,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5784460
Blumenthal

Jul,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5778173
Apte
726/2
Jul,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5724424
Gifford
705/79
Mar,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5715314
Payne
705/78
Feb,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5708780
Levergood
709/229
Jan,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5708709
Rose
705/59
Jan,1998

[0 after 0 votes]
5677953
Dolphin

Oct,1997

[0 after 0 votes]
5671279
Elgamal

Sep,1997

[0 after 0 votes]
5671276
Eyer

Sep,1997

[0 after 0 votes]
5615264
Kazmierczak
705/52
Mar,1997

[0 after 0 votes]
5337357
Chou
705/56
Aug,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5057935
Williams
358/402
Oct,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5033084
Beecher
705/56
Jul,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
4999806
Chernow
717/177
Mar,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
4796220
Wolfe
705/56
Jan,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4683553
Mollier
705/55
Jul,1987

[0 after 0 votes]
4658093
Hellman
705/52
Apr,1987

[0 after 0 votes]
4558176
Arnold
713/190
Dec,1985

[0 after 0 votes]
4528643
Freeny, Jr.
705/52
Jul,1985

[0 after 0 votes]
4471163
Donald
705/55
Sep,1984

[0 after 0 votes]
5191611
Lang
705/53
Dec,1969

[0 after 0 votes]
 Foreign References
 Other References
 Market Review Submit all comments and votes
   
Market Size
Estimate the gross annual revenues of the relevant market sector:
> $10B
$5B - $10B
$2B - $5B
$500M - $2B
$100M - $500M
$10M - $100M
$1M - $10M
$500K - $1M
$100K - $500K
< $100K
[No votes]
$0
 
$0   $2.5B   $5B   $7.5B   $10B

[0 market size comments]
Market Share
Estimate the percentage of the relevant market sector this invention will capture:
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%

[0 market share comments]
Reasonable Royalty
What percentage of gross sales should the inventor or assignee be paid?
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%

[0 reasonable royalty comments]
Public's "Guesstimation" of Royalty Value
Market SizeN/A[No votes]
xMarket ShareN/A[No votes]
xReasonable RoyaltyN/A[No votes]

N/A

[0 Guesstimation of Royalty Value Comments]
License Availablity
If you are NOT the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
[0 license availability comments]
License Availablity
If you ARE the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
[0 owner/assignee comments]
Competitive Advantage
Does this invention have a significant competitive advantage over similar technologies?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful competitive advantage comment
[No comments]

[0 competitive advantage comments]
Commercial Alternatives
Are there viable commercial alternatives for this invention?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful commercial alternative comment
[No comments]

[0 commercial alternatives comments]
 Technical Review Submit all comments and votes
 Claims Submit all comments and votes
 


What is claimed is:

1. A method of tracking electronic content, the method comprising the steps of:

producing a file that includes electronic content, and executable instructions that collect notification information and attempt to transmit notification information to an address when triggered by an event, the executable instructions denying access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted; and

transmitting notification information when the electronic content is accessed by a successive recipient to the address,

wherein the address is an address other than that of an immediate sender of the electronic content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions further deny access until an access granting message is received in response to the successful transmission of notification information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event comprises an attempt to access the electronic content.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein an attempt to access the electronic content comprises an attempt to view, use, or list the electronic content.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the trigger event comprises an attempt to access the electronic content on a computer that has not previously been used to access the electronic content.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the trigger event comprises an attempt to access the electronic content by a user who has not previously accessed the electronic content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions that collect notification information comprise instructions for querying a computer for notification information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions that collect notification information comprise instructions for interactively collecting information from a user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification information comprises demographic information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein demographic information comprises at least one of the following: a name, an e-mail address, and an organization identifier.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification information comprises system information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein system information comprises a network address.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic content comprises compressed electronic content.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the executable instructions comprise instructions that cause the electronic content to be decompressed after successfully transmitting the notification information.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic content comprises encrypted electronic content.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the executable instructions comprise instructions that cause the received electronic content to be decrypted after successfully transmitting the notification information.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic content comprises information included in at least one file of data, text, graphics, audio, video, or an executable program.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising, transmitting the file via e-mail.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein transmitting the file via e-mail comprises transmitting the file as an e-mail attachment.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising, determining the address.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein determining the address comprises interactively receiving an address from a user.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein determining the address comprises automatically identifying the address as the address of the user creating the file.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the instructions that transmit notification information comprise instructions that dynamically determine how to transmit the notification information via an intermediate device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein an intermediate device comprises at least one of the following: a proxy server and a firewall.

25. A method of tracking access to electronic content, the method comprising the steps of:

encrypting electronic content;

determining an address for receipt of notification information; and

producing a file that includes the encrypted electronic content, and executable instructions that collect notification information, and attempt to transmit the notification information to the determined address in response to an attempt to access the electronic content on a computer that has not previously accessed the electronic content, the notification instructions decrypting the encrypted electronic content after transmitting notification information successfully, and transmitting notification information when the electronic content is accessed by a successive recipient to an address other than that of an immediate sender of the electronic content.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein decrypting the encrypted electronic content after transmitting notification information successfully comprises decrypting the electronic content after receiving an access granting message.

27. A method for tracking access to electronic content, the method comprising:

receiving notification information from a recipient of a file including electronic content, the notification information being collected by executable instructions and being transmitted in response to an attempt to access the electronic content, the notification information including an identifier that identifies a user or computer system

transmitting the notification information when the electronic content is accessed by a successive recipient to an address other than that of the immediate sender of the electronic content;

determining an address for receipt of the notification information; and

transmitting the notification information to the determined address, the executable instructions denying access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising transmitting access granting messages.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising

verifying that the identifier that identifies a user or computer system included in the notification information corresponds to an authorized user of the software for producing the file.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising

updating information corresponding to the identifier that identifies a user or computer system included in the notification information.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein updating comprises computing a usage charge.

32. A computer-implemented method of regulating access to electronic content, the method comprising:

collecting notification information from a recipient and successive recipients of the electronic content in response to an attempt to access the electronic content;

attempting to transmit the collected notification information to an address other than that of the immediate sender of the electronic content when triggered by an event; and

selectively granting access to the electronic content based on a result of the attempted transmission of the notification information,

wherein executable instructions collect the notification information and selectively deny access to the electronic content until the notification information is transmitted.

33. The method of claim 32 in which access to the electronic content is granted if the attempted transmission is successful and access to the electronic content is denied if the attempted transmission is unsuccessful.

34. The method of claim 32 in which access to the electronic is granted if the attempted transmission results in receipt of an access granting message and access to the electronic content is denied if the attempted transmission does not result in receipt of an access granting message.

35. The method of claim 32 in which access to the electronic content is denied if no notification information is collected.

36. The method of claim 32 in which the electronic content is included in an attachment to an e-mail message.

37. The method of claim 36, in which the attempt to transmit the collected notification information comprises sending the notification information to an address associated with an originator of the e-mail message.

38. The method of claim 36 in which the attempt to transmit the collected notification information comprises sending the notification information to an address other than an address associated with an originator of the e-mail message.

39. The method of claim 38 in which the other address is designated by the originator of the e-mail message.

40. The method of claim 32 further comprising, prior to the collection of notification information, detecting that a user of a computer system is attempting to access electronic content embedded in an e-mail attachment.

41. The method