People are increasingly accessing web media contents over the Internet in real time via various electronic devices. Here, the types of the web media contents include but are not limited to, web pages, multimedia contents (e.g., audio, image and/or video contents), programs and documents accessible over the Internet. The electronic devices used for accessing the web media contents over the Internet range from mobile phones, tablets to various forms of personal computers (e.g., desktops and laptops), even smart TVs and set-top-boxes. These electronic devices can often be in the hands of minors or individuals who have limited privileges to access the web media contents governed by either parental control or organizational policies/restrictions.
Sometimes, however, exceptions to the content restrictions need to be made to enable the minors and/or the restricted individuals to access certain pieces of web media contents. Today, these exceptions will require either pre-defined whitelist, bypass codes/secrets or manual intervention by the system administrator on the electronic device or a network that is being used to accessing the certain pieces of web media contents. Such pre-defined exceptions, however, often lack flexibility for real time interactive moderation. For a non-limiting example, a parent or an organization may not allow a minor or its employees to access certain website (e.g., YouTube) without discretion but would authorize access to certain contents on the website (a child-friendly movie or a work-related video) on a per-content item basis. As people are increasingly connected via various communication mediums including but not limited to email, social media and text messaging, a more convenient and efficient way to provide content moderation and authorization is desired.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.
Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It is noted that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.
The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of the subject matter. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed. The approach is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.
A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support real time interactive moderation of network traffic, where authorization to access certain web media content is approved or denied on a per-content item basis in real time. When a content requester (e.g., a minor or a company employee) initiates a request for a piece of web media content from a content provider over the Internet, the request is intercepted and either allowed, denied, or marked as requiring further approval based on content access policies and restrictions specific to the content requester. If the content request is marked as requiring further approval, it will be forwarded to a traffic moderator, which will make a decision on the request based on policies related to the content requester and the requested web media content in real time. For a non-limiting example, the policy could be on the profile of the content requester and the nature of the piece of the web media content requested. The content requester is then either allowed or denied access to the piece of web media content based on the moderation decision by the traffic moderator.
Under the proposed approach, the approval process to grant the content requester access to a certain piece of web media content is accomplished interactively in real-time without requiring a predefined lists of allowed or blocked web sites/contents for the content requester. In addition, authorization of access to the piece of web media content does not require the traffic moderator to be at the same physical/geographical location or in the same communication data path as the content requester. By intercepting the request for the piece of web media content and moderating the authorization process via various communication channels, the proposed approach reduces delays and enables real time web content request moderation for the content requester.
As referred to hereinafter, a content requester (CR) is a person who initiates the request to access a piece of web media content over the Internet via an associated electronic device. In some embodiments, the person is a minor whose access to the requested piece of web media content is subject to parental control or a company employee whose access to the requested piece of web media content is subject organizational policies or approval. As referred to hereinafter, a content provider (CR) is one or more server(s) hosting the piece of web media content requested by the content requester.
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In some embodiments, the traffic interceptor 106 is optionally configured to make a decision (approve or deny) on the requested piece of web media content by itself without forwarding the request to the traffic moderator 108. Under such scenario, a policy database 110 is optionally included, wherein the policy database 110 includes policies and constraints/restrictions on which pieces of web media contents are accessible by which of the content requesters, wherein the policies and constraints are either specific to each of the content requesters or applicable to all content requesters in general. These policies and constraints are either pre-specified by the traffic moderator 108 or dynamically collected and updated by the traffic interceptor 106 based on content accessing history of the content requester, e.g., which certain pieces of web media content or categories of such content were previously approved or denied for access by the traffic moderator 108. In some embodiments, the policies and constraints are applicable at the website level (e.g., all contents on YouTube are accessible or not by certain content requester), at the category level (e.g., URL's including certain keywords or phrases are allowed or denied for access), or at per-content level, where only a piece of web media content matching a pattern on a whitelist or blacklist are allowed or denied access by the content requester, wherein the pattern can be but is not limited to a name, a URL, or any form of key that can be used for the matching process.
In some embodiments, upon intercepting the request for the piece of web media content from the content provider, the traffic interceptor 106 is optionally configured to exact relevant information from the request and compare the information to the policies and/or constraints maintained in the policy database 110. If a match is found, the traffic interceptor 106 is configured to allow or block/deny the request and notify the content requester accordingly (e.g., via an approved or blocked webpage on the electronic device 102) without forwarding the request to the traffic moderator 108. If not match in found, the traffic interceptor 106 is configured to proceed to transmit the request to the traffic moderator 108 for moderation as discussed above.
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In some embodiments, the traffic moderator 108 is configured to approve the request for the specific piece of web media content only for a specified period of time. For non-limiting examples, a minor is only allowed to access the piece of web media content during certain time of the day (e.g., before bedtime), and an employee is only allowed to access a work-related piece of web media content during the time period he/she works on a related task.
Once a decision on the request is made by the traffic moderator 108, a notification is provided to the content requester, for a non-limiting example, in the form a webpage on the electronic device 102 associated with the content requester. The awaiting content requester may then act accordingly, e.g., access the piece of web media content if the request is approved. In some embodiments, if the traffic moderator 108 denies the request to access the piece of web media content requested, the traffic moderator 108 is configured to provide reasoning and interactively collaborate with the content requester on the condition and/or manner the piece of web media content requested can be accessed. Here, the interactive communication between the traffic moderator 108 and the content requester can be done in the form of electronic message exchanges and links embedded in the webpages. In some embodiments, the traffic moderator 108 is configured to enable a person (e.g., system administrator or content moderator) to get involved to make a final decision, override a decision by the traffic moderator 108, or to comment and provide feedbacks during the interactive collaboration process and/or to update the profile of the content requester in the profile database 112 for future decision making by the traffic moderator 108.
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One embodiment may be implemented using a conventional general purpose or a specialized digital computer or microprocessor(s) programmed according to the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the computer art. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the software art. The invention may also be implemented by the preparation of integrated circuits or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
The methods and system described herein may be at least partially embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatus for practicing those processes. The disclosed methods may also be at least partially embodied in the form of tangible, non-transitory machine readable storage media encoded with computer program code. The media may include, for example, RAMs, ROMs, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, BD-ROMs, hard disk drives, flash memories, or any other non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the method. The methods may also be at least partially embodied in the form of a computer into which computer program code is loaded and/or executed, such that, the computer becomes a special purpose computer for practicing the methods. When implemented on a general-purpose processor, the computer program code segments configure the processor to create specific logic circuits. The methods may alternatively be at least partially embodied in a digital signal processor formed of application specific integrated circuits for performing the methods.
The foregoing description of various embodiments of the claimed subject matter has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the claimed subject matter to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art. Embodiments were chosen and described in order to best describe the principles of the invention and its practical application, thereby enabling others skilled in the relevant art to understand the claimed subject matter, the various embodiments and with various modifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/072,787, filed Oct. 30, 2014, and entitled “Method and Apparatus for Real Time Interactive Moderation of Network Traffic,” which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62072787 | Oct 2014 | US |