Digital Reg of Texas, LLC v. Adobe Systems Incorporated et al

Filing 1

COMPLAINT against AVG Technologies USA, Inc., Adobe Systems Incorporated, Electronic Arts, Inc., Symantec Corporation, UbiSoft Entertainment, Inc., Valve Corporation, Zynga Game Network Inc., Zynga, Inc. ( Filing fee $ 350 receipt number 0540-3078865.), filed by Digital Reg of Texas, LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1, # 2 Exhibit 2, # 3 Exhibit 3, # 4 Exhibit 4, # 5 Exhibit 5, # 6 Exhibit 6, # 7 Exhibit 7, # 8 Civil Cover Sheet)(Albritton, Eric)

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US007673059B2

(54)

United States Patent

(10)

Patterson

(12)

(45)

TRACKING ELECTRONIC CONTENT

4,796,220
4,888,798
4,999,806
5,023,907
5,033,084
5,057,935
5,103,476
5,113,518
5,191,611
5,204,897
5,319,705
5,337,357
5,351,293
5,390,297

Patrick E. Patterson, Arlington, VA
(US)

(75)

Inventor:

(73)

Assignee: DRM Technologies, LLC, Tucson, AZ
(US)

( *)

Notice:

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.c. 154(b) by 49 days.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

(21)

Filed:

CA

EP
WO
WO
WO

Prior Publication Data
US 2004/0205205 Al

Oct. 14,2004

(63)

Continuation of application No. 091199,150, filed on
Nov. 24, 1998, now Pat. No. 6,751,670.

(51)

Int. Cl.
G06F 15116
(2006.01)
U.S. Cl. ......................................... 7091229; 726/27
Field of Classification Search . ... ... ... ....... 709/229,
709/206,217; 705175,51; 7131168
See application file for complete search history.
References Cited

(56)

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FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

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(65)

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(Continued)

Appl. No.: 10/812,099

(22)

Patent No.:
US 7,673,059 B2
Date of Patent:
*Mar. 2, 2010

Donald et aI.
Freeny et aI.
Arnold et al.
Hellman
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Netdox Brochure, "Certified Verified Anytime" (12 pages), Dec. 3,
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(Continued)

Primary Examiner-Salad Abdullahi
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-McGuireWoods LLP
(57)

ABSTRACT

A 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.
27 Claims, 19 Drawing Sheets

175

US 7,673,059 B2
Page 2

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* cited by examiner

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR
PRODUCING AN EXECUTABLE
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CONTENT AND
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US 7,673,059 B2
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TRACKING ELECTRONIC CONTENT

The electronic content may be encrypted. Encrypted content may be accompanied by instructions decrypt the content.
The electronic content may be compressed. Compressed content may be accompanied by instructions that decompress the
content. The electronic content may include at least one file of
data, text, graphics, audio, video, or an executable instructions. The file may be transmitted via e-mail (e.g., as an e-mail
attachment) .
The method may further include determining an address to
receive the notification information. Such determining may
performed by interactively receiving an address from a user.
Such determining also may be determined by automatically
identifying the address as the address of the user creating the
file.
The executable instructions that transmit notification information may dynamically determine how to transmit the notification information via an intermediate device (e.g., a proxy
server and a firewall).
In general, in another aspect, a method of tracking access to
electronic content includes encrypting electronic content,
determining an address for receipt of notification information, and producing a file that includes the encrypted electronic content, and executable instructions. The executable
instructions 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 decrypt the
encrypted electronic content after transmitting notification
information successfully.
In general, in another aspect, a method for tracking access
to electronic content includes receiving notification information from a recipient of a file including electronic content, the
notification information being transmitted in response to an
attempt to access the electronic content. The notification
information includes an identifier that identifies a user or
computer system. The method also includes determining an
address for receipt of the notification information and transmitting the notification information to the determined
address.
Embodiments may include one or more of the following.
An access granting message may be transmitted. The identifier that identifies a user or computer system included in the
notification information may be used to verify that an authorized user produced the file. The identifier may also be used to
update information (e.g., a usage-charge) corresponding to
the identifier.
In general, in another aspect, a computer-implemented
method of regulating access to electronic content includes
collecting notification information in response to an attempt
to access the electronic content, attempting to transmit the
collected notification information to an address, and selectively granting access to the electronic content based on a
result of the attempted transmission of the notification information.
In general, in another aspect, a method of tracking access to
electronic content includes creating a file that includes electronic content and causes access to the electronic content to be
denied until notification information has been successfully
transmitted. The method also includes transmitting the file to
a set of addresses that includes at least one address andreceiving notification information.
In general, in another aspect, a computer-implemented
method of regulating access to e-mail includes detecting an
attempt by a message recipient to access received e-mail,
attempting to collect notification information from the recipi-

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED
APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation application of U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 091199,150 filed Nov. 24, 1998
now U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,670, which is now incorporated
herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to tracking electronic content, for
example, content included with or attached to an electronic
mail message.

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BACKGROUND
Electronic mail (e-mail) enables computer users to conveniently share information. Frequently, however, network
packets carrying e-mail are dropped due to network traffic or
physical transmission problems. Even when successfully
delivered, recipients sometimes delete or otherwise fail to
read received e-mail. Thus, a user sending e-mail often cannot
not be sure the intended recipient ever read or received the
e-mail.
Some e-mail software packages, such as cc:MaiFM available from Lotus™ Corporation of Cambridge, Mass., provide
a "return receipt" option when sending e-mail. E-mail software that receives e-mail specifying "return receipt" can
automatically send back a receipt message indicating that the
intended recipient received the e-mail. Some software packages permit an administrator or user to disable "return
receipt" functions and, thus, prevent transmission of receipts
back to e-mail senders.
E-mail contents can include text messages entered in an
e-mail editor and/or attachment files (attachments). Recent
surveys indicate that more than 50% of information transmitted via e-mail is transmitted in the form of attachments. Many
e-mail software packages enable a user receiving an e-mail
attachment to easily forward received attachments to other
recipients. Thus, an attachment may be quickly disseminated
to a large number of individuals unknown to the user originally sending the attachment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In general, in one aspect, a method of tracking electronic
content includes producing a file that includes electronic content and executable instructions. The executable instructions
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.
Embodiments may include one or more of the following.
The executable instructions may deny access until an access
granting message is received in response to the successful
transmission of notification information. The trigger event
may include an attempt to access (e.g., view, use, or list) the
electronic content, for example, from a computer or user that
has not previously accessed the electronic content.
The executable instructions may collect notification information by querying a computer and/or interactively collecting information from a user. Such information may include
demographic information (e.g., a name, an e-mail address,
and an organization identifier) or system information (e.g., a
network address).

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ent, and selectively granting access to the e-mail based on a
The notification infonnation provided by an envelope can
result of the attempt to collect notification information.
include any infonnation that can be acquired by querying a
computer system or user. The infonnation collected can proIn general, in another aspect, a method of regulating access
vide valuable marketing data describing the attributes of users
to electronic content includes collecting notification infonnaaccessing the electronic content.
tion from a recipient of electronic content in response to an
Receipt of notification information not only communicates
attempt to access the electronic content, initiating transmisreceipt of a file but also of attempted access or other attempted
sion of the collected notification infonnation to an address
functions (e.g., printing, saving, and deleting).
other than that of an immediate sender of the electronic conThe use of a notification server enables envelopes to content and selectively controlling access to the electronic content based on a result of the transmission of the notification 10 trol access to electronic content, for example, by limiting the
number of times a particular user can access electronic coninformation.
tent.
In general, in another aspect, a method for acquiring inforOther advantages of the invention will become apparent in
mation, includes receiving notification infonnation in
view of the following description, including the figures, and
response to an attempt to access electronic data having computer executable instructions, wherein the notification infor- 15 the claims.
mation is collected by executing the executable instructions
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
when triggered by an event at one or more successive computers other than a first computer and the notification inforFIG. 1 is a diagram of an envelope.
mation is received at a network address other than a network
FI G. 2A -2D are diagrams illustrating transmission of noti20
address transmitting the electronic data.
fication infonnation.
In general, in yet another aspect, a method for assessing
FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a procedure for creating envelopes.
fees or controlling infonnation includes receiving electronic
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a procedure for controlling access
data having at least in part computer executable instructions
to electronic content based on successful transmission of
from a sending computer, transmitting the received electronic
data and executable instructions to one or more successive 25 notification information.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a procedure for transmitting noticomputers and wherein the computer executable instructions
fication infonnation.
are executed at the one or more successive computers and
FIGS. 6A-6J are screenshots of envelope creation and use.
upon transmission of an authorized user identifier to a netFIG. 7 is a diagram of a computer platform.
work address other than a network address of the sending
computer, access is granted to at least a portion of the elec- 30
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
tronic data.
In general, in another aspect, a computer program, disReferring to FIG. 1, an envelope file 100 (envelope)
posed on a computer readable medium, tracks electronic conincludes electronic content 105 (e.g., data, text, graphics,
tent. The computer program including computer program
audio, video, or executable instructions) and executable notiinstructions for causing a computer to produce a file that 35
fication instructions 110 that control and report access to the
includes electronic content and executable instructions that
electronic content 105. The envelope file 100 may be transcollect notification infonnation and attempt to transmit the
mitted to other users or computers, for example, as an attachnotification infonnation to an address when triggered by an
ment to an e-mail message. The envelope 100 may also be
event. The executable instructions deny access to the elec40 transmitted via a network service such as FTP (File Transfer
tronic content until the notification information is transmitted
Protocol) or HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) or other
successfully.
mechanisms such as physical transfer of a floppy disk storing
In general, in another aspect, a computer program, disthe envelope or a direct modem connection between computposed on a computer readable medium, regulates access to
ers. A recipient of the envelope 100 may attempt to access
electronic content. The computer program includes instruc- 45 (e.g., view, use, or list) content 105 included in the envelope
tions for causing a processor to collect notification infonna100. The notification instructions 110 included in the envetion in response to an attempt to access the electronic content,
lope 100 may respond to the access attempt by collecting
attempt to transmit the collected notification infonnation to
notification information (e.g., a user name) and attempting to
an address, and selectively grant access to the electronic
transmit the collected infonnation to a network address descontent based on a result of the attempted transmission of the 50 ignated during envelope 100 creation. The notification
notification information.
instructions 110 may be configured during creation of the
Advantages include one or more of the following.
envelope 115 to grant or deny access to the electronic content
Transmitting electronic content in envelopes permits
105 based on the results of the attempted transmission of the
access to electronic content to be tracked in perpetuity. That
notification information 140.
is, regardless of how an envelope is passed on by different 55
The executable notification instructions 11 0 included in an
recipients, the envelope creator, or a user designated by the
envelope 100 may include computer platfonn-specific
envelope creator, receives notification information describing
instructions. For example, an envelope 100 may include
each recipient who attempts to access the electronic content
binary instructions 110 that program any PC-compatible
in the envelope.
computer. The executable instructions, however, need not be
By including its own set of executable instructions the 60 targeted to a particular computer platfonn. For example, the
instructions 110 may be Java commands. The executable
envelope can be used by existing e-mail software packages
instructions are placed in the envelope 100 such that an
without modification. Additionally, the executable instrucattempt to execute the envelope file 100 (e.g., "C:\enveloptions, for example, those that dynamically detennine how to
e.exe") causes execution of the executable instructions.
reach a network through intennediate devices (e.g., a fireReferring to FIG. 2A, an envelope 100 may be transmitted
wall), make the task of preventing transmission of notification 65
information extremely difficult without completely severing
from an envelope creator 120 to an envelope recipient 125, for
a network connection.
example, by including the envelope 100 as an attachment to

US 7,673,059 B2

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an e-mail message 115a. Attempted access to the content of
the envelope 100 by the recipient 125 causes execution of the
notification instructions 110 of the envelope that collect and
transmit notification information BOa from the recipient 125
to the envelope creator 120. Such information BOa may
include system infonnation (e.g., a network address and/or
other data stored on a system) and/or demographic infonnation such as a user's name, e-mail address, street address,
and/or organization. The envelope creator 120 and recipient
125 may use the same or different computer systems.
Including an envelope 100 as an e-mail attachment 115a
offers an envelope creator 120 a "certified receipt" functionality that transmits notification information BOa indicating
that not only has a recipient received the envelope 100, but
that the recipient has also accessed (or attempt to access) the
envelope contents 105. The notification instructions 110
included in the envelope 100 can be configured during creation to report events other than attempted access to envelope
contents 105 such as an attempt to save contents 105 to a file,
an attempt to delete envelope contents 105, and/or an attempt
to print envelope contents 105. For example, the notification
instructions 110 may monitor viewing of electronic content
105 and transmit notification infonnation BOa that summarizes the viewing (e.g., which pages of a document were read)
when viewing ends.
An envelope 100 can be included as an e-mail attachment
115a using any e-mail software package that supports attachments (e.g., Lotus™ cc:MaiFM, MicrosoftTM Exchange, and
Eudora). Because the envelope 100 includes its own independently executable notification instructions 110 that control
electronic content 105 access and transmission of notification
information BOa, BOb, the envelope 100 provides a notification mechanism independent of the capabilities of any particular e-mail software package. This independence offers a
number of benefits. For example, because the functionality
provided by an envelope 100 is independent of the e-mail
package used to transmit or receive e-mail, users can continue
to use an e-mail package of their choice without modification
and still receive notification information 130 from an envelope 100. Additionally, because the envelope 100 need not
rely on functions provided by any e-mail software package,
defeating the notification scheme implemented by an envelope 100 becomes much more difficult than re-configuring an
e-mail software package (e.g., an administrator clicking on a
check-box control that prevents transmission of return receipt
messages).
Referring to FIG. 2B, after transmission to a recipient 125,
the envelope 100 remains a convenient way to transmit electronic content 105 included in the envelope 100 to others.
Thus, a recipient 125 can easily re-transmit the received electronic content 105 to one or more new recipients 135 by
forwarding the received envelope 100 in a new e-mail message 115b. The notification instructions 110, however, remain
packaged with the electronic content 105 in the envelope 115
and continue to control access to the electronic content 105
and transmit notification information BOb collected from the
different recipients 135 that receive the forwarded envelope
100. Thus, the notification instructions 110 collect and transmit notification infonnation BOb to an envelope creator 120
each time a different user or computer accesses the electronic
content 105 even though the recipient 135 did not receive the
envelope directly from the envelope 100 creator. Thus, the
notification infonnation BOa, BOb received by an envelope
creator 120 can produce a list of the different users and
computers that access a particular envelope's electronic content 105 as an envelope 100 is passed on to different recipients. The infonnation reported can provide invaluable mar-

keting data that tracks the number and demographic attributes
of users accessing a particular set of electronic content 105.
Referring to FIG. 2C, an envelope 100 creator may configure the envelope 100 to transmit collected notification information BOa, BOb to an address 137 other than the address
120 of the envelope creator 120. Additionally, the envelope
100 creator can configure the envelope 100 to broadcast the
notification infonnation 100 to may different addresses (not
shown).
Referring to FIG. 2D, the notification instructions 110
included in an envelope 100 may transmit notification information BOa via a notification server 134 instead of directly to
an address 120 designated during envelope creation. The
notification instructions 110 may be configured to deny
access until an access granting message 132 is received from
the notification server 134. The notification server 134 may
automatically transmit an access granting message 132 upon
receipt of notification information BOa. Alternatively, the
notification server 134 may process the notification infonnation BOa before transmitting an access granting message
132. The use of a notification server 134 to transmit access
granting messages 136 provides a method of controlling
access (e.g., limiting the number of people who can access an
envelope 100) without requiring server software to continually run on an envelope creator's computer.
The notification server 134 may include a table 136 that
enables the server 134 to track use of envelopes and/or envelope production software. The table 136 can include information describing users of the envelope production software. For
example, the table 136 can store identifiers corresponding to
authorized envelope creators. The table 136 can also store
information describing particular envelopes by storing envelope IDs as they are received.
To facilitate use of a notification server 134, each envelope
100 may include an identifier indicating the user or computer
system 120 that created the envelope 100, the address of the
notification server 134, and the address specified during envelope creation that ultimately receives the notification information. The notification server 134 can match the identifier
included in the notification infonnation BOa with an identifier in its table 136 to verifY legitimate envelope production or
compute usage charges. The notification server 134 can then
re-transmit the notification infonnation BOa to the address
designated by an envelope creator during envelope creation.
Referring to FIG. 3, a procedure 140 produces an envelope
100. The procedure 140 may prompt (145) an envelope creator to designate a password for password protection of the
electronic content 105. The notification instructions 110 use
the designated password to deny access to an envelope's 100
electronic contents 105 to a recipient who fails to provide the
designated password. Thus, unless a recipient receives an
envelope's 100 password, for example, via a phone call or
separately transmitted e-mail message, the recipient caunot
access the electronic contents 105 of the envelope 100.
After receiving identification (150) of electronic content
105 for inclusion in an envelope 100, the procedure 140 may
compress (155) the electronic content 105 to minimize the
size (e.g., number of bytes) of the envelope 100 and, thus,
speed transmission of the envelope 100 across network lines.
The procedure 140 may use anyone of a variety of compression algorithms such as PKZip compression. The procedure
140 also may encrypt (160) the electronic content 105 to
provide security both during transmission over public network lines and to prevent attempts to bypass the notification
instructions 110 and access an envelope's content 105 before
successfully transmitting notification infonnation BOa,
BOb. The password designated by an envelope creator may

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act as the encryption key, providing extra protection against
unauthorized access. The procedure 140 may use any of a
variety of encryption algorithms such as Blowfish, DES (Data
Encryption Standard), or PKZip encryption. The terms compression and encryption are not mutually exclusive. That is
compressing data (i.e., making the size of an envelope
smaller) may also serve to encrypt the data.
The procedure 140 may determine (165) a network address
that will receive the notification information BOa, BOb. By
default, the procedure 140 may assume that the user executing
the envelope producing procedure 140 should receive the
notification information BOa, BOb. For example, the procedure 140 may query a system configuration file (e.g., a Windows™ registry) to determine the e-mail address of the envelope creator. However, an envelope creator may expressly
designate a different address at the time the envelope is created.
The procedure 140 may receive other envelope configuring
(167) information from an envelope creator. For example, the
creator may specifY than the envelope 100 need not successfully transmit notification information BOa, BOb before
granting access to the envelope's electronic content 105. The
creator may even specify that no notification information
BOa, BOb should ever be transmitted by the envelope 100.
The procedure 140 then builds (170) the envelope 100 to
include data corresponding to the identified electronic content 105 and notification instructions 110. The notification
instructions 110 included in the envelope 100 may vary
depending on the envelope's 100 specified configuration. For
example, an envelope 100 including compressed and
encrypted data corresponding to the electronic content 105
may include notification instructions 110 that decompress
and decrypt the data 105 when granting access to the content
105.
Other implementations of procedure 140 perform the
actions shown in different orders. Further, some implementations omit actions shown. Additionally, other implementations may include different configuration capabilities. For
example, an envelope 100 creator may configure the envelope
100 to collect different notification information BOa, BOb.
Referring to FIG. 4, the notification instructions 110
included in an envelope 100 can be configured to control
access to the electronic content 105. Typically, an envelope
100 will include compressed and/or encrypted electronic content 105. Further, different electronic content 105 included in
an envelope may use different file formats (e.g., electronic
content may include a JPEG file and a file that includes sound
data). Thus, an envelope recipient usually cannot easily
access the electronic content 105 by direct examination.
Instead, the recipient must execute the notification instructions 11 0 of an envelope 115 to gain access (e.g., extract the
electronic content 105 from the envelope). For example, a
recipient may save an envelope 100 received as an attachment
as a file and execute the file using platform specific commands (e.g., "C:\envelope.exe"). Many e-mail packages,
such as cc:MaiFM, can launch executable files from within the
e-mail package.
When executed, notification instructions 110 can determine (175) whether a previous attempt to access the electronic content 105 resulted in success (e.g., success transmission of notification information BOa, BOb or receipt of an
access granting message 136). If so, the notification instructions 11 0 may grant access (195) to the electronic content! 05
without re-collecting and/or re-transmitting notification
information BOa, BOb. If, however, a previous attempt to
access the electronic content 105 did not result in success, the

notification instructions 110 attempt to collect (215) and
transmit (220) the notification information BOa, BOb.
Many different techniques exist for determining (175)
whether a previous access attempt resulted in successful. For
example, each envelope 100 may include an envelope ID. The
envelope ID may be produced during envelope creation by
combining a timestamp produced during envelope production with a machine identification code of the computer used
to produce the envelope (e.g., a network address). The notification instructions can store (230) the envelope ID on a
computer system (e.g., in the registry) after successful transmission of notification information 140. By examining a
computer system for prior storage of an envelope's envelope
ID, the instructions 110 can determine (175) whether a previous access attempt succeeded. The determination (175)
may be a computer system-based or a user-based inquiry. For
example, by storing a user identification code along with the
envelope ID, the notification instructions 11 0 can distinguish
between different users of the same computer system. Thus,
the notification instructions 110 do not repeatedly require
re-transmission of notification information BOa, BOb by
users who already have successfully transmitted notification
information 140.
If the instructions 110 determine (175) that no previous
access attempt succeeded, the instructions 110 collect (215)
notification information BOa, BOb. The notification instructions 130 may interactively collect notification information
140 from a recipient through a GUI dialog (see FIG. 6H). The
notification instructions 130 also may collect information by
querying the recipient's computer system. For example, the
notification instructions 130 may examine registry information to retrieve a wide variety of system and demographic
information.
After collecting (215) the notification information BOa,
BOb, the notification instructions 11 0 attempt (220) to transmit the collected notification information BOa, BOb to the
address specified during an envelope's creation (165 FIG. 3).
An attempt to transmit the notification information BOa,
BOb may fail immediately and return a network service error
code (e.g., a port timeout error code). Additionally, even
though transmission does not result in a network service error,
the computer sending the notification information BOa, BOb
may not receive a network acknowledgment message that
indicates successful transmission and receipt of the notification information BOa, BOb. Further, notification instructions 11 0 configured to grant access only upon receipt of an
access granting message may fail to receive the access granting message 132 after a period of time. The notification
instructions 11 0 may be configured during envelope creation
to deny access based on any of these circumstances, alone or
in combination. If, however, the attempted transmission succeeds (225) or an access granting message 136 is received, the
notification instructions 110 can store (230) data indicating
successful access.
The notification instructions 130 may prompt (180) a
recipient for entry of the password, if any, designated during
envelope 100 creation (145 FIG. 3). Entry of a correct password (185) can cause the notification instructions 11 to grant
(195) access to an envelope's electronic content 105. Granting access may include decompressing and decrypting the
electronic content 105. As previously discussed, events other
than attempted access may trigger collection and transmission of notification information BOa, BOb. For example, as
shown notification information BOa, BOb may be transmitted after entry of an incorrect password (205) or after each
successful access to electronic content 105 (200).

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Different implementations of the instructions 110 may not
perform the same actions or perfonn actions in the same order
as shown. For example, prompting for a password (180) may
occur prior to a detennination (175) of whether notification
information 130a, 130b was successfully transmitted.
Referring to FIG. 5, an envelope's notification instructions
110 have no prior knowledge of the place a recipient's computer holds in a network configuration. For example, some
computers connect directly to a public network (e.g., the
Internet) while others connect via intennediate devices such
as protective proxy servers or firewalls.
Thus, the notification instructions 11 0 include instructions
220 that dynamically determine how to navigate through a
network configuration to a public network. The ability to
adapt to different configurations makes it more difficult for an
administrator or recipient to prevent transmission of notification infonnation 130a, 130b.
The instructions 220 transmit notification infonnation
130a, 130b by detennining how a recipient's computer connects to a network (502). For example, the instructions 220
can check a computer system's registry to see if proxy service
is enabled or disabled. If disabled, the instructions 220 can try
to transmit notification infonnation via communication ports
customarily used for network use (e.g., port 1080 which is
typically reserved for Internet communication) (510). If such
efforts fail, the instructions may try other commonly used
ports or notify the user that transmission was unsuccessful
(504).
Ifproxy service is enabled, notification information 130a,
130b must be sent to the network via an intennediate device.
Thus, the instructions 220 attempt to detennine the address of
the intermediate device (504). For example, the instructions
220 may examine the registry to detennine how different
network services access the Internet from the computer system. For example, instructions 220 may examine the address
stored in a Hkey_ Classes_Root/InternetiNetscape/ProxyServer registry entry to see how a Netscape™ browser accesses
the Internet through the intennediate device. After determining the address of the intennediate device, the instructions
220 attempt to transmit the notification infonnation 11 0 (506)
via the detennined address. If the transmission fails (508), the
instructions 220 may make another attempt using a different
registry entry corresponding to a different network service
(e.g., Microsoft™ Explorer). Alternatively, the instructions
220 may query the user for the address of the intermediate
device.
Referring to FIGS. 6A-6J, an intuitive graphical user interface facilitates production of an envelope 100 from electronic
content 105. The interface uses a vault metaphor that presents
each envelope 100 as storing electronic contents 105 behind
access doors 290a, 290b.
Referring to FIG. 6A, in addition to a menu bar 270, the
interface screen 250 includes buttons (e.g., 255) that initiate
tasks needed to create an envelope 100. As shown, the interface screen 250 includes a "New" button 255. Selecting the
"New" button (e.g., moving a mouse and clicking on the
button) initiates creation ofa new envelope 100. As shown, a
dialog 285 enables an envelope creator to name the new
envelope 1 00 (e.g., "Sample"). A directory of the same name
(e.g., "Sample") is created on the user's computer to store
files added to the envelope.
Referring to FIG. 6B, an envelope creator has added electronic content 105 including a text file 105a and an Adobe™
PDF file 105b. The user can add electronic content 105a,
105b by selecting an "Add File" button 265 and browsing
through system directories and selecting files, by interacting

with items in the menu bar 270, or by dragging-and-dropping
files into the interface screen 250.
Referring to FIG. 6C, after adding electronic content 105a,
1 05b, the user selects either a "Save to Desktop" button 275 or
a "Mail" button 280 to generate an instance of an envelope
100. As shown, a dialog 295 may prompt the userto designate
an envelope password to protect the electronic contents 105a,
105b. As shown in FIG. 6D, a dialog also may request specification of an address 300 for receipt of the notification information 130a, 130b.
Selecting the "Mail" button 280 launches a linked e-mail
client (e.g., cc:MaiFM) and causes it to create a new message
having the envelope 100 as an attachment. Then, the user can
optionally enter text and/or add other attachments before
sending the e-mail message and attachments according to the
particular protocol of the e-mail client.Alternatively.as
shown in FIG. 6E, selecting the "Save to Desktop" button
saves the envelope 100 to a system desktop 305 or directory.
A user can then e-mail the envelope 100 as an attachment by
manually including the envelope 100 in an e-mail message.
As shown in FIG. 6F, a user has attached an envelope to a
Lotus™ cc:MaiFM e-mail message.
As shown in FIG. 6G, after transmission to a recipient, a
recipient can attempt to access electronic content 105 in an
envelope 115 by interacting with a graphical user interface
provided by the notification instructions. Continuing the vault
motif, the screen shows a pair of access doors 320a, 320b
each having "open" buttons 315a, 315b. The doors 320a,
320b may also include a graphic image (e.g., a panda) or
series of images specified by the creator of the envelope 100.
Selecting either "open" button 280a, 280b can signifY
attempted access to the electronic content 105 and thus cause
collection and attempted transmission of the notification
information 130a, 130b by the notification instructions 110.
As shown in FIG. 6H, notification instructions 110 optionally may collect demographic infonnation via a dialog 330
that includes text controls for entry of a person's name 335,
e-mail address 340, and organization 345. As previously
described, collection of infonnation may be performed
instead of, or in addition to system calls or examination of
configuration files.
Referring to FIG. 61, the envelope creator or other address
designated during envelope creation receives an e-mail message containing the notification information.
Referring to FIG. 6J, after successful transmission of the
collected notification information, the graphical user interface presents the envelope recipient with a list of the electronic content 105a, 105b included in the envelope 100 during
envelope creation. The recipient can view the content, for
example, by selecting (e.g., clicking on) an electronic content
icon 105a, 1 05b or can save (e.g., by selecting button 332) the
electronic content 105a, 105b to specified files.
Referring to FIG. 7, a computer platform 120 suitable for
executing instructions 140 that produce an envelope 100
includes a digital computer 400 having memory 390 and a
processor 385. The digital computer 400 also includes a mass
storage device 395a (e.g., a hard disk) that includes the
instructions 140 for creating an envelope from electronic
content. In the course of operation, instructions 140 are transferred from the mass storage device 395a to memory 390 and
processor 385 for execution. Of course, a wide variety of mass
storage devices such as a floppy disk 395b or a CD-ROM
395c may store the instructions 110.
The computer platfonn 120 also may include a monitor
360 for displaying the graphical user interface screens 365
and electronic content 105. The user may interact with the
graphical user interface 365 via a keyboard 375 and/or a

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US 7,673,059 B2
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pointing device such as a mouse 370. The computer platform
120 also includes a network connection 380 that permits
transmission of the executable file to other computers.
Other embodiments are within the scope of the following
claims. For example, rather than implementing the instructions that construct an envelope as a stand-alone application,
different implementations may integrate the instructions
directly into an e-mail software package. Such a e-mail software package expands traditional e-mail packages capabilities beyond receiving a "return receipt" message. For
example, these packages can provide mechanisms that regulate access to e-mail content and track access to the e-mail
content via notification information received from recipients
accessing the content.
In one embodiment, an e-mail system could provide a
"certified receipt" feature as a native function. Upon generating an email message, a user could designate (e.g., by using
pull-down menu functions or by clicking appropriate checkboxes) that the text of the email message itself, and/or the
content of one or more attachments to the email, require
"certified receipt" before the recipient could view or otherwise access the content. The message sender optionally could
designate the nature and type of notification information to be
collected from the recipient, as well as the identity or address
of one or more parties that are to receive the notification
information.
What is claimed is:
1. A method for acquiring information, comprising the step
of:
receiving notification information from a successive computer in response to an attempt to access electronic data
having computer executable instructions, the successive
computer having previously received the electronic data
from another successive computer, a successive computer being a computer that receives the electronic content from a computer other than an original recipient
computer;
wherein the notification information is collected by executing the computer executable instructions when triggered
by an event at the successive computer and the notification information is received at a network address other
than a network address transmitting the electronic data
to the original recipient computer.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:
tracking the one or more successive computers that receive
the electronic data based on the receipt of the notification information from the one or more successive computers.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of
matching an identifier in the notification information with an
identifier in a table to compute a charge.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the charge is a usage
charge.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the identifier is at least
anyone of a user identifier that created the electronic data, an
address receiving the notification information, an identifier of
the electronic content, and an address specified when the
electronic data was created.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic data
comprises at least anyone of an envelope and one or more
files.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the electronic data includes electronic content other than the computer executable instructions.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the computer executable
instructions deny access to the electronic content until the
collected notification information has been transmitted to the
network address other than the network address transmitting
the electronic data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the executable instructions selectively deny access to a part of the electronic content.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the electronic content
includes at least anyone of a text file, a graphics file, an audio
file, a video file, an instruction file, and a program file.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is at least one
of:
(i) an attempt by a user to access the electronic data;
(ii) an attempt by a user to save the electronic data;
(iii) an attempt by a user to delete the electronic data; or
(iv) an attempt by a user to list the electronic data.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification information includes user information collected by querying a user
for personal information.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification information at least in part includes one of market data and demographic data.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising prompting
for user identification at the one or more successive computers.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising granting
access to at least a portion of the electronic data based on the
user identification.
16. A method for assessing fees or controlling information,
comprising the steps of:
receiving electronic data having at least in part computer
executable instructions from a sending computer;
transmitting the received electronic data and executable
instructions to one or more successive computers; and
wherein the computer executable instructions are executed
at the one or more successive computers and upon transmission of an authorized user identifier to a network
address other than a network address of the sending
computer, access is granted to at least a portion of the
electronic data.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of
updating information based on the authorized user identifier.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step for updating
information includes updating a usage charge.
19. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of
obtaining user information when the computer executable
instructions are executed.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the user information
includes at least anyone of a personal information, a market
information, and a demographic information.
21. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of
computing a charge when the user information is received at
a network address other than a network address of the sending
computer.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user information
includes at least anyone of a personal information, a market
information, and a demographic information.
23. The method of claim 16, further comprising denying
access to at least part of the electronic data until user information is received at the network address other than the
network address of the sending computer.
24. The method of claim 16, wherein the electronic data is
received from a server.
25. The method of claim 16, further comprising encrypting
at least a part of the electronic data.
26. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of
receiving an access granting message at the one or more
successive computers.
27. The method of claim 16, wherein the granting access to
at least a portion of the electronic data is also based in part on
the result of a transmission of notification information.

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