Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-16
2001-01-30
Alam, Hosain T. (Department: 2771)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C709S217000, C713S002000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182081
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to computer program intended to be run on a personal computer. More particularly, the present invention enables a technically unsophisticated user to conduct a sophisticated and substantially undetectable review of all files residing on a computer to determine if a user of the computer has been exposed to or sought offensive materials from the Internet and other sources.
2. Description of Prior Art
The current number of worldwide Internet users is estimated to be in excess of 50 million, with many of those users being children. As of January 1998 more than 45 million households owned a personal computer. While the Internet is an unprecedented avenue for the sharing of ideas and information, there is also a great concern for its inherent threat to corporate and personal security.
The Internet is becoming one more avenue where children are exposed to violence and sex. Today there are many children who use computers and who posses the technical sophistication to use the Internet and connect to the many resources available. Many parents of these children are unable to use a computer and, because of this, are not aware of what, or who, their children may have been exposed to. The Internet is a wonderful place for children as long as they receive guidance and supervision. However, the Internet makes also available many web sites that focus on and graphically depict the depraved side of human nature. The line separating the desired innocent use of the Internet from depravity is very thin. With an inadvertent misspelling of a site name an underage Internet user may be exposed to sites containing:
pornography;
extreme and tasteless sexual images;
violent words and images of violence;
images of drug use and drug promotion;
instructions of criminal skills, such as bomb making;
Internet gambling;
e-mail containing objectionable words/phrases; and more.
First Amendment Violations
Products currently available for Internet user protection, such as X-STOP, Cybersitter, Surf Watch, Cyber Patrol, Net Nanny and Cyber Snoop, block and filter objectionable sites. These products deny a computer user, such as a child or an employee, access to known offensive web sites, but are unable to adjust to the contextual use of a word. Searches for legitimate information are hampered by this drawback. Some of these programs also monitor or log the computer users attempts to access these web sites.
Installation
Yet another inconvenience with known prior art programs is that they must be installed on the hard drive of the computer. A typical installation of new software in a PC environment requires the user to either go to the task bar and then to the control panel and double click on the “Install New Software Icon” or follow the instructions as the CD-ROM starts its own install via the CD Autorun.
The install process, typically, requires:
1. choosing where, i.e., in what directory on the computer, the software is to be installed;
2. whether the user wants to change the name of the program under the program directory;
3. whether the user wants a short-cut icon placed on windows desktop; and
4. after the install process is completed, the user must setup or customize the program.
To install sophisticated programs as these referenced above, a user must be familiar with terms such as IRCs, FTPs, newsgroup, username, directory, and shortcuts. Additionally, the user must decide whether to have complete access, to have access just to a specified list of sites or to use a pre-defined filter list. In each case the user must navigate a series of windows. “Cyber Patrol” for example has eight setup windows, each having dozens of buttons to activate before the program can operate. Typically, the user must update this filter list via the Internet or an update diskette, which must be installed.
There is a need for a method to investigate computer usage on the Internet without blocking or filtering access to Internet locations in order not to violate the First Amendment rights of legitimate intended users. There is also a need for such a program method, in which no computer knowledge is required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A parents' concern for children, who may constitute one of the largest groups of Internet users, prompted the development of the present invention, the preferred embodiment of which is a software program designed to let parents investigate their computer.
The present invention is designed for novice computer users, it does not require:
a working knowledge of computers;
the installation of software;
watching a tutorial introduction to the workings of the software;
setting specific controls to conform the software to the hardware requirements; and
testing which requires logging to adult Internet sites.
The effectiveness of present invention is not dependent on the proper installation and configuration. It does not require traditional set-up and runs automatically with little user interaction. No installation of the present invention is necessary, it may run directly off a peripheral device connected to the PC, such as a CD-drive. Additionally, the present invention leaves no easily detectable traces that the program was run on the computer.
Modern corporations are propelled into using the Internet. Some of the legitimate uses of the Internet to achieve corporate goals include:
doing business, such as offering products and information for sale and presenting corporate information;
communicating through the use of e-mail; and
performing research.
It is a legitimate concern of the management that the employees do not use the corporate computer equipment for purposes unrelated to their jobs. However, limiting the scope of employees' access to the Internet by using blocking software may lower employees' productivity by blocking legitimate sites and preventing legitimate and necessary sites and documents from being located.
It is inefficient in a large business or a corporation utilizing multiple computers to install and configure blocking software on every computer. This is extremely expensive, time consuming and will not alert the management in event an employee has found a way to circumvent the installed software, or has simply deinstalled it.
In the preferred operating system environment, as soon as the user drops the CD-ROM disc into the computer, the inventive method sets up itself and instantly starts scanning the computer for images and text that match a pre-defined criteria. The present invention searches for images, text, i.e., words, and web files. The text and web search compare to a predetermined list of flagged words and phrases.
Each image found on the computer is displayed in a viewing window. As each image is displayed, the user can click a mouse button or depress a keyboard key to delete the image.
The same viewing window displays text that is objectionable or obscene. The text can be deleted with a click of a mouse button, or by depressing a keyboard key.
Once the user finishes viewing these images and text files, the invention ejects the CD-ROM disk for removal from the computer.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5619648 (1997-04-01), Canale et al.
patent: 5706507 (1998-01-01), Schloss
patent: 5737734 (1998-04-01), Schultz
patent: 5835722 (1998-11-01), Bradshaw et al.
Balan Sajay
Dietl Bo
Rybalko Oleg
Warman Edward
Alam Hosain T.
Flelirantin Jean Bolte
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
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