US 11,658,938 B2
Systems and methods for user defined network enabled content filtering
Mark Austin, Roswell, GA (US); Shahab Azmoudeh, Dallas, TX (US); Joseph Dorsey, Allen, TX (US); Victor Nilson, Dallas, TX (US); Christopher Sambar, San Antonio, TX (US); and Jerald Weber, Newcastle, WA (US)
Assigned to AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P., Atlanta, GA (US); and AT&T Mobility II LLC, Atlanta, GA (US)
Filed by AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P., Atlanta, GA (US); and AT&T Mobility II LLC, Atlanta, GA (US)
Filed on Jun. 7, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/341,000.
Application 17/341,000 is a continuation of application No. 16/823,818, filed on Mar. 19, 2020, granted, now 11,050,715.
Application 16/823,818 is a continuation of application No. 15/683,956, filed on Aug. 23, 2017, granted, now 10,708,228, issued on Jul. 7, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0297389 A1, Sep. 23, 2021
Int. Cl. H04L 29/06 (2006.01); H04L 9/40 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 63/0263 (2013.01) [H04L 63/0236 (2013.01); H04L 63/101 (2013.01); H04L 63/168 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A content filtering method, the method comprising:
receiving, by a network device, a request for using a content filtering list, the content filtering list comprising a set of rules identifying uniform resource locators (URLs) to be blocked for a mobile device, wherein a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses point to the network device such that the network device is accessible by mobile devices via each of the plurality of IP addresses, and wherein each IP address of the plurality of IP addresses corresponds to a respective content filtering list;
loading, by the network device, the set of rules into the network device;
receiving, by the network device, an access request from the mobile device to access a specified URL;
identifying, by the network device, that the access request from the mobile device is directed to a first IP address of the plurality of IP addresses that corresponds to the content filtering list,
wherein a different access request from the mobile device that includes a second IP address of the plurality of IP addresses corresponds to a different content filtering list,
wherein the content filtering list is associated with a first content filtering application vendor,
wherein the different content filtering list is associated with a second content filtering application vendor,
wherein the content filtering list and the different content filtering list are downloaded by the mobile device and subsequently provided to the network device for filtering implementation,
wherein the network device receives and stores the content filtering list and the different content filtering list based on requests from a first user of the mobile device,
wherein the network device receives and stores one or more other content filtering lists associated with one or more other content filtering application vendors based on one or more requests from a second user of another mobile device, and
wherein the network device assigns the first IP address for accessing the content filtering list and the second IP address for accessing the different content filtering list;
determining, by the network device, whether the specified URL is in the set of rules; and
responsive to a determination that the specified URL is in the set of rules, restricting, by the network device, the mobile device from accessing the specified URL.