WO2000067450A1 - Systems and methods for determining, collecting, and using geographic locations of internet users - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of determining a geographic location of an Internet user involves determining if the host is on-line, determining ownership of the host name, and then determining the route taken in delivering packets to the user. Based on the detected route, the method proceeds with determining the geographic route based on the host locations and then assigning a confidence level to the assigned location. A system collects the geographic information and allows web sites or other entities to request the geographic location of their visitors. The database of geographic locations may be stored in a central location or, alternatively, may be at least partially located at the web site. With this information, web sites can target content, advertising, or route traffic depending upon the geographic locations of their visitors. Through web site requests for geographic information, a central database tracks an Internet user's traffic on the Internet whereby a profile can be generated. In addition to this profile, the central database can store visitor's preferences as to what content should be delivered to an IP address, the available interface, and the network speed associated with that IP address.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING. COLLECTING. AND USING GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS OF INTERNET USERS

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to, and incorporates by reference, U.S. Application

Serial No. 60/132,147 entitled "System to Determine the Geographic Location of an Internet

User" filed on May 3, 1999, and U.S. Application Serial No. 60/133,939 entitled "Method,

System and Set of Programs for Tailoring an Internet Site Based Upon the Geographic

Location or Internet Connection Speed of Internet User" filed on May 13, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for determining geographic

locations of Internet users. According to other aspects, the invention relates to systems and

methods for collecting geographic locations of Internet users, for profiling Internet users, or

for selectively delivering information based on the geographic locations or connection speeds

of the Internet users.

BACKGROUND

The Internet consists of a network of interconnected computer networks. Each of

these computers has an IP address that is comprised of a series of four numbers separated by

periods or dots and each of these four numbers is an 8-bit integer which collectively

represent the unique address of the computer within the Internet. The Internet is a packet switching network whereby a data file routed over the Internet to some destination is broken

down into a number of packets that are separately transmitted to the destination. Each packet

contains, inter alia, some portion of the data file and the IP address of the destination.

The IP address of a destination is useful in routing packets to the correct destination

but is not very people friendly. A group of four 8-bit numbers by themselves do not reveal or

suggest anything about the destination and most people would find it difficult to remember

the IP addresses of a destination. As a result of this shortcoming in just using IP addresses,

domain names were created. Domain names consist of two or more parts, frequently words,

separated by periods. Since the words, numbers, or other symbols forming a domain name

often indicate or at least suggest the identity of a destination, domain names have become the

standard way of entering an address and are more easily remembered than the IP addresses.

After a domain name has been entered, a domain name server (DNS) resolves the domain

name into a specific IP address. Thus, for example, when someone surfing the Internet enters

into a browser program a particular domain name for a web site, the browser first queries the

DNS to arrive at the proper IP address.

While the IP address works well to deliver packets to the correct address on the

Internet, IP addresses do not convey any useful information about the geographic address of

the destination. Furthermore, the domain names do not even necessarily indicate any

geographic location although sometimes they may suggest, correctly or incorrectly, such a

location. This absence of a link between the IP address or domain name and the geographic

location holds true both nationally and internationally. For instance, a country top-level domain format designates .us for the United States, .uk for the United Kingdom, etc. Thus,

by referencing these extensions, at least the country within which the computer is located can

often be determined. These extensions, however, can often be deceiving and may be

inaccurate. For instance, the .md domain is assigned to the Republic of Moldova but has

become quite popular with medical doctors in the United States. Consequently, while the

domain name may suggest some aspect of the computer's geographic location, the domain

name and the IP address often do not convey any useful geographic information.

In addition to the geographic location, the IP address and domain name also tell very

little information about the person or company using the computer or computer network.

Consequently, it is therefore possible for visitors to go to a web site, transfer files, or send

email without revealing their true identity. This anonymity, however, runs counter to the

desires of many web sites. For example, for advertising purposes, it is desirable to target

each advertisement to a select market group optimized for the goods or services associated

with the advertisement. An advertisement for a product or service that matches or is closely

associated with the interests of a person or group will be much more effective, and thus more

valuable to the advertisers, than an advertisement that is blindly sent out to every visitor to

the site.

Driven often by the desire to increase advertising revenues and to increase sales,

many sites are now profiling their visitors. To profile a visitor, web sites first monitor their

visitors' traffic historically through the site and detect patterns of behavior for different

groups of visitors. The web site may come to infer that a certain group of visitors requesting a page or sequence of pages has a particular interest. When selecting an advertisement for

the next page requested by an individual in that group, the web site can target an

advertisement associated with the inferred interest of the individual or group. Thus, the

visitor's traffic through the web site is mapped and analyzed based on the behavior of other

visitors at the web site. Many web sites are therefore interested in learning as much as

possible about their visitors in order to increase the profitability of their web site.

The desire to learn more about users of the Internet is countered by privacy concerns

of the users. The use of cookies, for instance, is objectionable to many visitors. In fact, bills

have been introduced into the House of Representatives and also in the Senate controlling the

use of cookies or digital ID tags. By placing cookies on a user's computer, companies can

track visitors across numerous web sites, thereby suggesting interests of the visitors. While

many companies may find cookies and other profiling techniques beneficial, profiling

techniques have not won wide-spread approval from the public at large.

A particularly telling example of the competing interests between privacy and

profiling is when Double Click, Inc. of New York, New York tied the names and addresses

of individuals to their respective IP addresses. The reactions to Double Click's actions

included the filing of a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by the

Electronic Privacy Information Center and outbursts from many privacy advocates that the

tracking of browsing habits of visitors is inherently invasive. Thus, even though the

technology may allow for precise tracking of individuals on the Internet, companies must

carefully balance the desire to profile visitors with the rights of the visitors in remaining anonymous.

A need therefore exists for systems and methods by which more detailed information

may be obtained on visitors without jeopardizing or compromising the visitors' privacy

rights.

SUMMARY

The invention addresses the problems above by providing systems and methods for

determining the geographic locations of Internet users. According to one aspect, a method of

collecting geographic information involves taking one of the IP address or host name and

determining the organization that owns the IP address. Preferably, the method first takes one

of the IP address or host name and checks whether the host name is associated with that IP

address, such as through an nslookup query. Next, the route to the host is acquired,

preferably through a traceroute query, so as to determine a number of intermediate hosts.

The specific route is analyzed and mapped against a database of stored geographic locations,

thereby mapping out the intermediate hosts. For any intermediate host not having a location

stored in the database, the method involves determining a geographic location and storing

this information in the database.

According to another aspect, the invention relates to a system for determining

geographic locations of Internet users. The determination system receives queries from

requestors, such as web sites, for the geographic location of a certain Internet user. The

determination system in turn queries a central database of stored locations and returns the

geographic information if contained in the database. If the geographic information is not in the database, then the system performs a search to collect that information. Instead of

querying a central database each time geographic location of an Internet user is desired, the

web site or other requestor may have geographic locations of at least some Internet users

stored in a local database. The web site first checks with the local database for the

geographic information and, if it not available, then sends a query to the central database.

The geographic location information of Internet users can be used for a variety of

purposes. For instance, a position targeter can be associated with web sites to target the

delivery of information based on the geographic location information. The web sites can

selectively deliver content or advertising based on the geographic location of its visitors. The

geographic location information can also be used in the routing of Internet traffic. A traffic

manager associated with a number of web servers detects the geographic locations of its

Internet visitors and routes the traffic to the closest server.

The databases of geographic locations can contain other information that may be

useful to web sites and other requestors. The databases, for instance, can serve as a registery

for allowed content that may be delivered to a particular IP address or range of IP addresses.

Thus, prior to a web site delivering content to an IP address, the web site may query the

database to ensure that the delivery of the content is permitted. The databases may store

network speeds of Internet users whereby a web site can tailor the amount of content

delivered to an Internet user based in part of the bandwidth to that user. The databases may

also store an interface of an Internet user whereby a web site can tailor the content and

presentation for that particular interface. Other uses of the geographic location and of the systems and methods described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art and are

encompassed by the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the

specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and, together with the

description, disclose the principles of the invention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a network having a collection system according to a

preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of operation for the collection

system of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of obtaining geographic

information through an Internet Service Provider (ISP);

Figure 4 is a block diagram of a network having a collection system and

determination system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 5 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of operation for the collection

and determination system;

Figure 6 is a block diagram of a web server using a position targeter connected to the

collection and determination system;

Figure 7 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of operation for the web server

and position targeter of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a block diagram of a web server using a position targeter having access to

a local geographic database as well as the collection and determination system;

Figure 9 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of operation for the web server

and position targeter of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a block diagram of a network depicting the gathering of geographical

location information from a user through a proxy server;

Figure 11 is a flow chart depicting a preferred method of operation for gathering

geographic information through the proxy server;

Figure 12 is a block diagram of a traffic manager according to a preferred

embodiment of the invention;

Figure 13 is a block diagram of a network including a profile server and a profile

discovery server according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; and

Figures 14(A) and 14(B) are flow charts depicting preferred methods of operation for

the profile server and profile discovery server of Figure 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to preferred embodiments of the invention, non-

limiting examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

I. COLLECTING. DETERMINING AND DISTRIBUTING GEOGRAPHIC

LOCATIONS According to one aspect, the present invention relates to systems and methods of

collecting, determining, and distributing data that identifies where an Internet user is likely to

be geographically located. Because the method of addressing on the Internet, Internet

Protocol (IP) addresses, allows for any range of addresses to be located anywhere in the

world, determining the actual location of any given machine, or host, is not a simple task.

A. Collecting Geographic Location Data

A system 10 for collecting geographic information is shown in Figure 1. The system

10 uses various Internet route tools to aid in discovering the likely placement of newly

discovered Internet hosts, such as new target host 34. In particular the system 10 preferably

uses programs known as host, nslookup, ping, traceroute, and whois in determining a

geographic location for the target host 34. It should be understood that the invention is not

limited to these programs but may use other programs or systems that offer the same or

similar functionality. Thus, the invention may use any systems or methods to determine the

geographic location or provide further information that will help ascertain the geographic

location of an IP address.

In particular, nslookup, ping, traceroute, and whois provide the best source of

information. The operation of ping and traceroute is explained in the Internet Engineering

Task Force (IETF) Request For Comments (RFC) numbered 2151 which may be found at

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2151.txt, nslookup (actually DNS lookups) is explained in the

IETF RFC numbered 2535 which may be found at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2535.txt, and whois is explained in the IETF RFC numbered 954 which may be found at

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0954.txt. A brief explanation of each of host, nslookup, ping,

traceroute, and whois is given below. In explaining the operation of these commands, source

host refers to the machine that the system 10 is run on and target host refers to the machine

being searched for by the system 10, such as target host 34. A more detailed explanation of

these commands is available via the RFCs specified or manual pages on a UNIX system.

host queries a target domain's DNS servers and collects information about the domain

name. For example, with the "-/" option the command "host -I digitalenvoy.net" will show

the system 10 all host names that have the suffix of digitalenvoy.net.

nslookup will convert an IP address to a host name or vice versa using the DNS

lookup system.

ping sends a target host a request to see if the host is on-line and operational, ping can

also be used to record the route that was taken to query the status of the target host but this is

often not completely reliable.

traceroute is designed to determine the exact route that is taken to reach a target host.

It is possible to use traceroute to determine a partial route to a non-existent or non-online

target host machine. In this case the route will be traced to a certain point after which it will

fail to record further progress towards the target host. The report that is provided to the

system 10 by traceroute gives the IP address of each host encountered from the source host

to the target host, traceroute can also provide host names for each host encountered using

DNS if it is configured in this fashion. whois queries servers on the Internet and can obtain registration information for a

domain name or block of IP addresses.

A preferred method 100 of operation for the system 10 will now be described with

reference to Figures 1 and 2. At 102, the system 10 receives a new address for which a

geographic location is desired. The system 10 accepts new target hosts that are currently not

contained in its database 20 or that need to be re- verified. The system 10 requires only one

of the IP address or the host name, although both can be provided. At 103, the system 10

preferably, although not necessarily, verifies the IP address and host name. The system 10

uses nslookup to obtain the host name or IP address to verify that both pieces of information

are correct. Next, at 104, the system 10 determines if the target host 34 is on-line and

operational and preferably accomplishes this function through aping. If the host 34 is not

on-line, the system 10 can re-queue the IP address for later analysis, depending upon the

preferences in the configuration of the system 10.

At 106, the system 10 determines ownership of the domain name. Preferably, the

system 10 uses a whois to determine the organization that actually owns the IP address. The

address of this organization is not necessarily the location of the IP address but this

information may be useful for smaller organizations whose IP blocks are often

geographically in one location. At 107, the system 10 then determines the route taken to

reach the target host 34. Preferably, the system 10 uses a traceroute on the target host 34. At

108, the system 10 takes the route to the target host 34 and analyzes and maps it

geographically against a database 20 of stored locations. If any hosts leading to the target host, such as intermediate host 32, are not contained in the database 20, the system 10 makes

a determination as to the location of those hosts.

At 109, a determination is then made as to the location of the target host and a

confidence level, from 0 to 100, is assigned to the determination based on the confidence

level of hosts leading to and new hosts found and the target host 34. All new hosts and their

respective geographic locations are then added to the database 20 at 110.

If the host name is of the country top-level domain format (.us, .uk, etc.) then the

system 10 first maps against the country and possibly the state, or province, and city of

origin. The system 10, however, must still map the Internet route for the IP address in case

the address does not originate from where the domain shows that it appears to originate. As

discussed in the example above, the .md domain is assigned to the Republic of Moldova but

is quite popular with medical doctors in the United States. Thus, the system 10 cannot rely

completely upon the country top-level domain formats in determining the geographic

location.

The method 100 allows the system 10 to determine the country, state, and city that the

target host 34 originates from and allow for an assignment of a confidence level against

entries in the database. The confidence level is assigned in the following manner. In cases

where a dialer has been used to determine the IP address space assigned by an Internet

Service Provider to a dial-up modem pool, which will be described in more detail below, the

confidence entered is 100. Other confidences are based upon the neighboring entries. If two

same location entries surround an unknown entry, the unknown entry is given a confidence of the average of the known same location entries. For instance, a location determined solely

by whois might receive a 35 confidence level.

As an example, a sample search against the host "digitalenvoy.net" will now be

described. First, the system 10 receives the target host "digitalenvoy.nef at 102 and does a

DNS lookup on the name at 103. The command nslookup returns the following to the system

10:

> nslookup digitalenvoy.net Name: digitalenvoy.net Address: 209.153.199.15

The system 10 at 104 then does aping on the machine, which tells the system 10 if the target

host 34 is on-line and operational. The "-c 7" option tells ping to only send one packet. This

option speeds up confirmation considerably. The ping returns the following to the system

10:

> ping -c 1 digitalenvoy.net

PING digitalenvoy.net (209.153.199.15): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 209.153.199.15: icmp_seq=0 ttl=241 time=120.4 ms digitalenvoy.net ping statistics

1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 120.4/120.4/120.4 ms The system 10 next executes a whois at 106 on "digitalenvoy.net" . In this example, the whois

informs the system 10 that the registrant is in Georgia.

> whois digitalenvoy.net

Registrant : Some One (DIGITALENVOY-DOM) 1234 Address Street ATLANTA, GA 33333 US Domain Name: DIGITALENVOY.NET

Administrative Contact:

One, Some (SO0000) some@one.net +1 404 555 5555

Technical Contact, Zone Contact: myDNS Support (MS311-0RG) support@MYDNS.COM +1 (206) 374.2143 Billing Contact: One, Some (SO0000) some@one.net

+1 404 555 5555

Record last updated on 14-Apr-99. Record created on 14-Apr-99. Database last updated on 22-Apr-99 11:06:22 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.MYD0MAIN.COM 209.153.199.2 NS2.MYD0MAIN.COM 209.153.199.3

NS3.MYDOMAIN.COM 209.153.199.4

NS4.MYD0MAIN.COM 209.153.199.5

The system 10 at 107 executes a traceroute on the target host 34. The traceroute on

"digitalenvoy. net " returns the following to the system 10 :

> traceroute digitalenvoy.net traceroute to digitalenvoy.net (209.153.199.15), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 130.207.47.1 (130.207.47.1) 6.269 ms 2.287 ms 4.027 ms

2 gatewayl-rtr. gatech.edu (130.207.244.1) 1.703 ms 1.672 ms 1.928 ms

3 fl-0.atlanta2-cr99.bbnplanet.net (192.221.26.2) 3.296 ms 3.051 ms 2.910 ms 4 fl-0.atlanta2-br2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.2.90) 3.000 ms 3.617 ms 3.632 ms

5 s4-0-0.atlantal-br2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.1.149) 4.076 ms s8-l- 0. atlantal-br2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.2.157) 4.761 ms 4.740 ms

6 h5-l-0.paloalto-br2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.3.142) 72.385 ms 71.635 ms 69.482 ms

7 p2-0.paloalto-nbr2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.2.197) 82.580 ms 83.476 ms 82.987 ms

8 p4-0.sanjosel-nbrl.bbnplanet.net (4.0.1.2) 79.299 ms 78.139 ms 80.416 ms 9 pl-0-0.sanjosel-br2.bbnplanet.net (4.0.1.82) 78.918 ms 78.406 ms 79.217 ms

10 NSanjose-coreO.nap.net (207.112.242.253) 80.031 ms 78.506 ms 122.622 ms 11 NSeattlel-coreO.nap.net (207.112.247.138) 115.104 ms 112.868 ms 114.678 ms

12 sea-atmO.starcom-accesspoint.net (207.112.243.254) 112.639 ms 327.223 ms 173.847 ms 13 van-atmlO.10. starcom.net (209.153.195.49) 118.899 ms 116.603 ms 114.036 ms 14 hume.worldway.net (209.153.199.15) 118.098 ms * 114.571 ms

After referring to the geographic locations stored in the database 20, the system 10

analyzes these hops in the following way:

The system 10 assigns a confidence level of 99 indicating that the entry is contained

in the database 20 and has been checked by a person for confirmation. While confirmations

may be performed by persons, such as an analyst, according to other aspects of the invention

the confirmation may be performed by an Artificial Intelligence system or any other suitable

additional system, module, device, program, entities, etc. The system 10 reserves a

confidence level of 100 for geographic information that has been confirmed by an Internet Service Providers (ISP). The ISP would provide the system 10 with the actual mapping of IP

addresses against geography. Also, data gathered with the system 10 through dialing ISPs is

given a 100 confidence level because of a definite connection between the geography and the

IP address. Many of these hosts, such as intermediate host 32, will be repeatedly traversed

when the system 10 searches for new target hosts, such as target host 34, and the confidence

level of their geographic location should increase up to a maximum 99 unless confirmed by

an ISP or verified by a system analyst. The confidence level can increase in a number of

ways, such as by a set amount with each successive confirmation of the host's 32 geographic

location.

The system 10 takes advantage in common naming conventions in leading to

reasonable guesses as to the geographic location of the hosts. For example, any host that

contains "sanjose" in the first part of its host name is probably located in San Jose, California

or connected to a system that is in San Jose, California. These comparison rule sets are

implemented in the system 10 as entries in the database 20. The database 20 may have look-

up tables listing geographic locations, such as city, county, regional, state, etc, with

corresponding variations of the names. Thus, the database 20 could have multiple listings for

the same city, such as SanFrancisco, SanFran, and Sfrancisco all for San Francisco,

California.

Often a block of IP addresses are assigned and sub-assigned to organizations. For

example, the IP block that contains the target address 209.153.199.15 can be queried:

> whois 209.153.199.15@whois.arin.net

[whois . arin. net]

Starcom International Optics Corp. (NETBLK-STARCOM97 ) STARCOM97 209.153.192.0 - 209.153.255.255 WORLDWAY HOLDINGS INC. (NETBLK-W AY-NET-01 ) WWAY-NET-01

209.153.199.0 - 209.153.199.255

From the results of this query, the system 10 determines that the large block from

209.153.192.0 to 209.153.255.255 is assigned to Starcom International Optics Corp. Within

this block, Starcom has assigned Worldway Holdings Inc. the 209.153.199.0 to

209.153.199.255 block. By further querying this block (NETBLK-WWAY-NET-01 ) the

collection system 10 gains insight into where the organization exists. In this case the

organization is in Vancouver, British Columbia, as shown below.

> whois NETBLK-WWAY-NET-01@whois.arin.net [whois.arin.net]

WORLDWAY HOLDINGS INC. (NETBLK-WWAY-NET-01)

1336 West 15th Street

North Vancouver, BC V7L 2S8

CA

Netname: WWAY-NET-01

Netblock: 209.153.199.0 - 209.153.199.255

Coordinator : WORLDWAY DNS (WD171-ORG-ARIN) dns@WORLDWAY.COM

+1 (604) 608.2997

Domain System inverse mapping provided by: NS1.MYDNS.COM 209.153.199.2

NS2.MYDNS.COM 209.153.199.3

With the combination of the trace and the IP block address information, the collection

system 10 can be fairly certain that the host "digitalenvoy.net" is located in Vancouver,

British Columbia. Because the collection system 10 "discovered" this host using automatic

methods with no human intervention, the system 10 preferably assigns a confidence level slightly lower than the confidence level of the host that led to it. Also, the system 10 will not

assume the geographic location will be the same for the organization and the sub-block of IP

addresses assigned since the actual IP address may be in another physical location. The

geographic locations may easily be different since IP blocks are assigned to a requesting

organization and no indication is required for where the IP block will be used.

B. Obtaining Geographic Location Data from ISPs

A method 111 for obtaining geographic locations from an ISP will now be described

with reference to Figure 3. At 112, the collection system 10 obtains access numbers for the

ISP. The access numbers in the preferred embodiment are dial-up numbers and may be

obtained in any suitable manner, such as by establishing an account with the ISP. Next, at

113, the collection system 10 connects with the ISP by using one of the access numbers.

When the collection system 10 establishes communications with the ISP, the ISP assigns the

collection system 10 an IP address, which is detected by the collection system 10 at 114.

The collection system 10 at 115 then determines the route to a sample target host and

preferably determines this route through a traceroute. The exact target host that forms the

basis of the traceroute as well as the final destination of the route is not important so any

suitable host may be used. At 116, the collection system 10 analyzes the route obtained

through traceroute to determine the location of the host associated with the ISP. Thus, the

collection system 10 looks in a backward direction to determine the geographic location of

the next hop in the traceroute. At 117, the collection system 10 stores the results of the analysis in the database 20.

With the method 111 , the collection system 10 can therefore obtain the geographic

locations of IP addresses with the assistance of the ISPs. Because the collection system 10

dials-up and connects with the ISP, the collection system 10 preferably performs the method

111 in a such a manner so as to alleviate the load placed on the ISP. For instance, the

collection system 10 may perform the method 111 during off-peak times for the ISP, such as

during the night. Also, the collection system 10 may control the frequency at which it

connects with a particular ISP, such as establishing connections with the ISP at 10 minute

intervals.

C. Determining Geographic Location Data

With reference to Figure 4, according to another aspect, the invention relates to a

geographic determination system 30 that uses the database 20 created by the collection

system 10. The determination system 10 receives requests for a geographic location and

based on either the IP address or host name of the host being searched for, such as target host

34. A geographic information requestor 40 provides the request to, and the response from,

the determination system 30 in an interactive network session that may occur through the

Internet 7 or through some other network. The collection system 10, database 20, and

determination system 30 can collectively be considered a collection and determination

system 50.

A preferred method 120 of operation for the determination system 30 will now be described with reference to Figure 5. At 122, the system 30 receives a request for the

geographic location of an entity and, as discussed above, receives one or both of the IP

address and domain name. At 123, the determination system 30 searches the database 20 for

the geographic location for the data provided, checking to see if the information has already

been obtained. When searching for an IP address at 123, the system 30 also tries to find

either the same exact IP address listed in the database 20 or a range or block of IP addresses

listed in the database 20 that contains the IP address in question. If the IP address being

searched for is within a block of addresses, the determination system 30 considers it a match,

the information is retrieved at 125, and the geographic information is delivered to the

requestor 40 at 126. If the information is not available in database 20, as determined at 124,

then at 127 the system 30 informs the requestor 40 that the information is not known. At

128, the system 30 then determines the geographic location of the unknown IP address and

stores the result in the database 20. As an alternative at 125 to stating that the geographic

location is unknown, the system 30 could determine the geographic information and provide

the information to the requestor 40.

The determination system 30 looks for both the IP address in the database 20 and also

for the domain name. Since a single IP address may have multiple domain names, the

determination system 30 looks for close matches to the domain name in question. For

instance, when searching for a host name, the system 30 performs pattern matching against

the entries in the database 20. When a match is found that suggests the same IP address, the

determination system 30 returns the geographic data for that entry to the requestor 40. An ambiguity may arise when the requestor 40 provides both an IP address and a

domain name and these two pieces of data lead to different hosts and different geographic

locations. If both data pieces do not exactly match geographically, then the system 30

preferably responds with the information that represents the best confidence. As another

example, the system 30 may respond in a manner defined by the requestor 40. As some

options, the determination system 30 can report only when the data coincide and agree with

each other, may provide no information in the event of conflicting results, may provide the

geographic information based only on the IP address, may provide the geographic

information based only on the host name, or may instead provide a best guess based on the

extent to which the address and host name match.

A sample format of a request sent by the requestor 40 to the determination system 30

is provided below, wherein the search is against the host "digitalenvoy.net" and the items in

bold are responses from the geographic determination system 30:

Connecting to server.digitalenvoy.net... ; digitalenvoy . net ; Vancouver;british Columbia; can; 99 ;

The format of the request and the format of the output from the determination system 30 can

of course be altered according to the application and are not in any way limited to the

example provided above.

D. Distributing Geographic Location Data

A system for distributing the geographic location information will now be described with reference to Figures 6 and 7. According to a first aspect shown in Figure 6, the

geographic information on IP addresses and domain names is collected and determined by

the system 50. A web site 60 may desire the geographic locations of its visitors and would

desire this information from the collection and determination system 50. The web site 60

includes a web server 62 for receiving requests from users 5 for certain pages and a position

targeter 64 for at least obtaining the geographic information of the users 5.

A preferred method 130 of operation of the network shown in Figure 6 will now be

described with reference to Figure 7. At 132, the web server 62 receives a request from the

user 5 for a web page. At 133, the web server 62 queries the position targeter 64 that, in turn,

at 134 queries the collection and determination system 50 for the geographic location of the

user. Preferably, the position targeter 64 sends the query through the Internet 7 to the

collection and determination system 50. The position targeter 64, however, may send the

query through other routes, such as through a direct connection to the collection and

determination system 50 or through another network. As discussed above, the collection and

determination system 50 accepts a target host's IP address, host name, or both and returns the

geographic location of the host in a format specified by the web site 60. At 135, the position

targeter obtains the geographic location from the collection and determination system 50, at

136 the information that will be delivered to the user 5 is selected, and is then delivered to

the user 5 at 137. This information is preferably selected by the position targeter based on

the geographic location of the user 5. Alternatively, the position targeter 64 may deliver the

geographic information to the web server 62 which then selects the appropriate information to be delivered to the user 5. As discussed in more detail below, the geographic location may

have a bearing on what content is delivered to the user, what advertising, the type of content,

if any, delivered to the user 5, and/or the extent of content.

As another option shown in Figure 8, the web site 60 may be associated with a local

database 66 storing geographic information on users 5. With reference to Figure 9, a

preferred method 140 of operation begins at 142 with the web server 62 receiving a request

from the user 5. At 143, the web server 62 queries a position targeter 64' for the geographic

location information. Unlike the operation 130 of the position targeter 64 in Figures 6 and 7,

the position targeter' next first checks the local database 66 for the desired geographic

information. If the location information is not in the database 66, then at 145 the position

targeter 64' queries the database 20 associated with the collection and determination system

50.

After the position targeter 64' obtains the geographic information at 146, either

locally from database 66 or centrally through database 20, the desired information is selected

based on the geographic location of the user 5. Again, as discussed above, this selection

process may be performed by the position targeter 64' or by the web server 62. In either

event, the selected information is delivered to the user 5 at 148.

For both the position targeter 64 and position targeter 64', the position targeter may

be configured to output HTML code based on the result of the geographic location query.

An HTML code based result is particularly useful when the web site 60 delivers dynamic

web pages based on the user's 5 location. It should be understood, however, that the output of the position targeter 64 and position targeter 64' is not limited to HTML code but

encompasses any type of content or output, such as JPEGs, GIFs, etc.

A sample search against the host "digitalenvoy.net" is shown here (items in bold are

responses from the position targeter 64 or 64':

> distributionprogra digitalenvoy.net Vancouver ;british Columbia ;can; 99 ;

The format of the output, of course, may differ if different options are enabled or disabled.

End users 5 may elect a different geographic location as compared to where they have

been identified from by the system 50 when it possibly chooses an incorrect geographic

location. If this information is passed backed to the position targeter 64 or 64', the position

targeter 64 or 64' will pass this information to the determination system 30 which will store

this in the database 20 for later analysis. Because this information cannot be trusted

completely, the collection and determination system 50 must analyze and verify the

information and possibly elect human intervention.

E. Determining Geographic Locations Through A Proxy Server

One difficulty in providing geographic information on a target host is when the target

host is associated with a caching proxy server. A caching proxy will make requests on behalf

of other network clients and save the results for future requests. This process reduces the

amount of outgoing bandwidth from a network that is required and thus is a popular choice

for many Internet access providers. For instance, as shown in Figure 10, a user 5 may be

associated with a proxy server 36. In some cases, this caching is undesirable since the data inside them becomes stale.

The web has corrected this problem by having a feature by which pages can be marked

uncacheable. Unfortunately, the requests for these uncacheable pages still look as if they are

coming from the proxy server 36 instead of the end-user computers 5. The geographic

information of the user 5, however, may often be required.

A method 150 of determining the geographic information of the user 5 associated

with the proxy server 36 will now be described with reference to Figure 11. In the preferred

embodiment, the user 5 has direct routable access to the network; e.g. a system using

Network Address Translation will not work since the address is not a part of the global

Internet. Also, the proxy server 36 should allow access through arbitrary ports whereby a

corporate firewall which blocks direct access on all ports will not work. Finally, the user 5

must have a browser that supports Java Applets or equivalent such functionality.

With reference to Figure 11, at 152, a user 5 initiates a request to a web server 60,

such as the web server 60 shown in Figure 6 or Figure 8. At 153, the HTTP request is

processed by the proxy server 36 and no hit is found in the proxy's cache because the pages

for this system are marked uncachable. On behalf of the user 5, the proxy server 38 connects

to the web server 60 and requests the URL at 153. At 154, the web server 60 either through

the local database 60 or through the database 20 with the collection and determination system

50, receives the request, determines it is coming from a proxy server 36, and then at 155

selects the web page that has been tagged to allow for the determination of the user's 5 IP

address. The web page is preferably tagged with a Java applet that can be used to determine the IP address of the end-user 5. The web server 60 embeds a unique applet parameter tag

for that request and sends the document back to the proxy server 36. The proxy server 36

then forwards the document to the user 5 at 156.

At 157, the user's 5 browser then executes the Java Applet, passing along the unique

parameter tag. Since by default applets have rights to access the host from which they came,

the applet on the user's 5 browser opens a direct connection to the client web server 60, such

as on, but not limited to, port 5000. The web server 60, such as through a separate server

program, is listening for and accepts the connection on port 5000. At 158, the Java applet

then sends back the unique parameter tag to the web server 60. Since the connection is

direct, the web server 60 at 159 can determine the correct IP address for the user 5, so the

web server 60 now can associate the session tag with that IP address on all future requests

coming from the proxy server 38.

As an alternative, at 155, the web server 155 may still deliver a web page that has a

Java applet. As with the embodiment discussed above, the web page having the Java applet

is delivered to the proxy server at 156 and the user 5 connects with the web server 60 at 157.

The Java applet according to this embodiment of the invention differs from the Java applet

discussed above in that at 158 the Java applet reloads the user's browser with what it was told

to load by the web server 60. The Java applet according to this aspect of the invention is not

associated with a unique parameter tag that alleviates the need to handle and to sort the

plurality of unique parameter tags. Instead, with this aspect of the invention, the web server

60 at 159 determines the IP address and geographic location of the user 5 when the Java applet connects to the web server 60.

II. TAILORING AN INTERNET SITE BASED ON GEOGRAPHIC

LOCATION OF ITS VISITORS

The web site 60 can tailor the Internet site based upon the geographic location or

Internet connection speed of an Internet user 5. When the user 5 visits the Internet site 60,

the Internet site 60 queries a database, such as local database 60 or central database 20, over

the Internet which then returns the geographic location and/or Internet connection speed of

the user based upon the user's IP address and other relevant information derived from the

user's "hit" on the Internet site 60. This information may be derived from the route to the

user's 5 machine, the user's 5 host name, the hosts along the route to the user's machine 5,

via SNMP, and/or via NTP but not limited to these techniques. Based on this information the

Internet site 60 may tailor the content and/or advertising presented to the user. This tailoring

may also include, but not be limited to, changing the language of the Internet site to a user's

native tongue based on the user's location, varying the products or advertising shown on an

Internet site based upon the geographic information and other information received from the

database, or preventing access based on the source of the request (i.e. "adult" content sites

rejecting requests from schools, etc.). This tailoring can be done by having several

alternative screens or sites for a user and having the web server 62 or position targeter 64 or

64' dynamically select the proper one based upon the user's geographic information. The

geographic information can also be analyzed to effectively market the site to potential Internet site advertisers and external content providers or to provide media-rich content to

users that have sufficient bandwidth.

The methods of tailoring involve tracing the path back to the Internet user's machine

5, determining the location of all hosts in the path, making a determination of the likelihood

of the location of the Internet user's machine, determining other information about the hosts,

which may or may not be linked to its geographic location, in the path to and including the

Internet user's machine by directly querying them for such information (by using, but not

limited by, SNMP or NTP for example), or alternatively, there is a complete database that

may be updated that stores information about the IP addresses and host names which can be

queried by a distant source which would then be sent information about the user.

The web site 60 dynamically changes Internet content and/or advertising based on the

geographic location of the Internet user 5 as determined from the above methods or

processes. The web site 60 presents one of several pre-designed alternative screens,

presentations, or mirror sites depending on the information sent by the database as a result of

the user 5 accessing the web site 60.

As discussed above, the selection of the appropriate information to deliver to the user

5 base on the geographic location can be performed either by the web server 62 or the

position targeter 64 or 64'. In either case, the web site can dynamically adapt and tailor

Internet content to suit the needs of Internet users 5 based on their geographic location and/or

connection speed. As another option, the web site 60 can dynamically adapt and tailor

Internet advertising for targeting specific Internet users based on their geographic location and/or connection speed. Furthermore, the web site 60 can dynamically adapt and tailor

Internet content and/or advertising to the native language of Internet users 5 which may be

determined by their geographic location. Also, the web site 60 can control access, by

selectively allowing or disallowing access, to the Internet site 60 or a particular web page on

the site 60 based on the geographic location, IP Address, host name and/or connection speed

of the Internet user. As another example, the web site can analyze visits by Internet users 5

in order to compile a geographic and/or connection speed breakdown of Internet users 5 to

aid in the marketing of Internet sites.

A. CREDIT CARD FRAUD

In addition to using geographic location information to target information to the user,

the web site 60 or the collection and determination system 50 can provide a mechanism for

web sites owners to detect possible cases on online credit card fraud. When a user 5 enters

information to complete an on-line order, he/she must give a shipping and billing address.

This information cannot currently be validated against the physical location of the user 5.

Through the invention, the web site 60 determines the geographic location of the user 5. If

the user 5 enters a location that he is determined not to be in, there could be a possible cause

of fraud. This situation would require follow up by the web site owner to determine if the

order request was legitimate or not.

B. SITE MANAGEMENT In addition to using geographic information to detect credit card fraud, the geographic

information can also be used in managing traffic on the Internet 7. For example, with

reference to Figure 12, a traffic manager 70 has the benefit of obtaining the geographic

information of its users or visitors 5. The traffic manager 70 may employ the local database

60 or, although not shown, may be connected to the collection and determination system 50.

After the traffic manager 70 detects the geographic location of the users 5, the traffic

manager 70 directs a user's 5 request to the most desirable web server, such as web server A

74 or web server B 72. For instance, if the user 5 is in Atlanta, the traffic manager 70 may

direct the user's request to web server A 74 which is based in Atlanta. On the other hand, if

the user 5 is in San Francisco, then the traffic manager 70 would direct the user 5 to web

server B, which is located in San Francisco. In this manner, the traffic manager 70 can

reduce traffic between intermediate hosts and direct the traffic to the closest web server.

III. PROFILE SERVER AND PROFILE DISCOVERY SERVER

As discussed above, the collection and determination system 50 may store geographic

information on users 5 and provide this information to web sites 60 or other requesters 40.

According to another aspect of the invention, based on the requests from the web sites 60 and

other requestors 40, information other than the geographic location of the users 5 is tracked.

With reference to Figure 13, a profile server 80 is connected to the web site 60 through the

Internet and also to a profile discovery server 90, which may also be through the Internet,

through another network connection, or a direct connection. The profile server 80 comprises a request handler 82, a database server engine 83, and a database 84. As will be more

apparent from the description below, the database 84 includes a geography database 84A, an

authorization database 84B, a network speed database 84C, a profile database 84D, and an

interface database 84E. The profile discovery server 90 includes a discoverer engine 92, a

profiler 93, and a database 94. The database 94 includes a common geographic names

database 94A, a global geographic structure database 94B, and a MAC address ownership

database 94C.

A. PROFILER

In general, the profile server 80 and profile discovery server 90 gather information

about specific IP addresses based upon the Internet users' interactions with the various web

sites 60 and other requestors 40. This information includes, but is not limited to, the types of

web sites 60 visited, pages hit such as sports sites, auction sites, news sites, e-commerce sites,

geographic information, bandwidth information, and time spent at the web site 60. All of this

information is fed from the web site 60 in the network back to the database 84. This

information is stored in the high performance database 84 by IP address and creates an

elaborate profile of the IP address based on sites 60 visited and actions taken within each site

60. This profile is stored as a series of preferences for or against predetermined categories.

No interaction is necessarily required between the web site 60 and the user's 5 browser to

maintain the profile. Significantly, this method of profiling does not require the use of any

cookies that have been found to be highly objectionable by the users. While cookies are not preferred, due to difficulties induced by network topology, cookies may be used to track

certain users 5 after carefully considering the privacy issues of the users 5.

As users 5 access web sites 60 in the network, profiled information about the IP

address of the user 60 is sent from the database 84 to the position targeter 64 or 64' at the

web site 60. As explained above, the position targeter 64 or 64' or the web server 62 allows

pre-set configurations or pages on the web site 60 to then be dynamically shown to the user 5

based on the detailed profile of that user 5. In addition preferences of users 5 similar to those

of a current user 5 can be used to predict the content that the current user 5 may prefer to

view. The information profiled could include, but is not limited to, the following: geographic

location, connection speed to the Internet, tendency to like/dislike any of news, weather,

sports, entertainment, sporting goods, clothing goods, etc.

As an example, two users are named Alice and Bob. Alice visits a web site,

www.somerandomsite.com. This site, asks the profile server 80, such as

server.digitalenvoy.net, where Alice is from and what she likes/dislikes. The database 84 has

no record of Alice but does know from geography database 84 A that she is from Atlanta, GA

and notifies the web site to that effect. Using Alice's geographic information, the web site

sends Alice a web page that is tailored for her geographic location, for instance it contains the

Atlanta weather forecast and the new headlines for Atlanta. Alice continues to visit the web

site and buys an umbrella from the site and then terminates her visit. The web site lets the

profile server 80 and database 84 know that Alice bought an umbrella from the site. Bob

then visits the site www.somerandomsite.com. The site again asks the profile server 80, such as a server.digitalenvoy.net, about Bob. The server 80 looks in the database 84 for

information on Bob and finds none. Again though, the server 80 looks in the geography

database 84A and determines that he is from Atlanta, GA. Also, based on the data gathered

in part from Alice and stored in profile database 84D, the profile server 80 infers that people

from Atlanta, GA may like to buy umbrellas. The site uses Bob's geographic information

and the fact that Atlantans have a propensity to buy umbrellas to send Bob a web page with

Atlanta information, such as the weather and news, and an offer to buy an umbrella. Bob

buys the umbrella and the site sends this information to the server 80, thereby showing a

greater propensity for Atlantan's to buy umbrellas.

In addition, if the profile stored in the profile database 84D in profile server 80 shows

that an IP Address has previously hit several e-commerce sites and sports sites in the network

and that the address is located in California, the web site can be dynamically tailored to show

sports items for sale that are more often purchased by Califomians, such as surf boards. This

method allows for more customized experiences for users at e-commerce and information

sites.

This information can also be compiled for web sites in the network or outside the

network. Web sites outside of the network can develop profiles of the users typically hitting

their web site. Log files of web sites can be examined and IP Addresses can be compared

against the profiled IP Address information stored on the central server. This will allow web

sites to analyze their traffic and determine the general profile of users hitting the site.

In order to remove "stale" information, the database server engine 83 occasionally purges the database 84 in the profile server 80. For example, a user 5 that is interested in

researching information about a trip will probably not want to continue seeing promotions for

that trip after the trip has been completed. By purging the database 84, old preferences are

removed and are updated with current interests and desires.

B. CONTENT REGISTRY

In addition to the examples provided above, the profile server 80 can provide a

mechanism for end users 5 to register their need for certain types of information content to be

allowed or disallowed from being served to their systems. Registration is based on IP

address and registration rights are limited to authorized and registered owners of the IP

addresses. These owners access the profile server 80 through the Internet and identify classes

of Internet content that they would want to allow or disallow from being served to their IP

addresses ranges. The classes of Internet content that a particular IP address or block of

addresses are allowed or disallowed from receiving is stored by the profile server 80 in the

authorization database 84B. Internet content providers, such as web sites 60, query the

profile server 80, which in turn queries the authorization database 84B, and identify users 5

that do or do not want to receive their content based on this IP address registry.

For example, a school registers their IP ranges and registers with the profile server 80

to disallow adult content from being sent to their systems. When an access is made from

machines within the school's IP range to an adult site, the adult site checks with the profile

server 80 and discovers that content provided by the adult site is disallowed from being sent to those IP addresses. Instead of the adult content, the adult site sends a notice to the user

that the content within the site cannot be served to his/her machine. This series of events

allows end IP address owners to control the content that will be distributed and served to

machines within their control.

C. BANDWIDTH REGISTRY

The profile server 80 preferably is also relied upon in determining the amount of

content to be sent to the user 5. Web sites 60 dynamically determine the available bandwidth

to a specific user and provide this information to the profile server 80, which stores this

information in the network speed database 84C. In addition, the web site 60 examines the

rate and speed by which a specific user 5 is able to download packets from the web site 60,

the web site 60 determines the available bandwidth from the web site 60 to the end user 5. If

there is congestion at the web site 60, on the path to the end user 5, or at the last link to the

user's 5 terminal, the web site 60 limits the available bandwidth for that user 5. Based on

this information, the web site 60 can dynamically reduce the amount of information being

sent to the user 60 and consequently increase download times perceived by the user 5. The

bandwidth information is preferably sent to the profile server 80 and stored in the network

speed database 84C so that other sites 60 in the network have the benefit of this bandwidth

information without having to necessarily measure the bandwidth themselves.

In order to remove "stale" bandwidth information, the database server engine 83

occasionally purges the information in the network speed database 84C. For example, congestion between a web site 60 and a user 5 will usually not persist.

D. INTERFACE REGISTRY

Web sites 60 also preferably are able to dynamically determine the interface that a

user 5 has to view the web site 60. This user interface information may be placed in the

database 84E through a registration process, may be known from the ISP, or may be detected

or discovered in other ways. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) users are shown a web site 60

with limited or no graphics in order to accommodate the PDAs limited storage capabilities.

Web sites 60 query the profile server 80 when accessed by a user 5. The profile server 80, in

turn, queries the interface database 84E and, if available, retrieves the type of interface

associated with a particular IP address. The profile server 80 stores in the database 84E all

users and informs the web site 60 of the display interface that the user 5 has. Based on this

information, the web site 60 tailors the information that is being sent to the user 5.

E. METHODS OF OPERATION

A preferred method 160 of operation for the profile server 80 and profile discovery

server 90 will now be described with reference to Figures 14(A) and 14(B). At 162, the

profile server 80 is given an IP address or host name to query. At 163, the profile server 80

determines whether the requestor is authorized to receive the information and, if not, tells the

requestor at 166 that the information is unknown. The inquiry as to whether the requestor is

authorized at 163 is preferably performed so that only those entities that have paid for access to the profile server 80 and profile discovery server 90 obtain the data. If the requestor is

authorized, then the profile server at 164 determines whether the profile of the address is

known. If the profile for that address is known, the profile server 80 sends the requested

information to the requestor at 165, otherwise the profile server 80 at 166 informs the

requestor that the information is unknown.

For information that is unknown to the profile server 80, the profile server 80 passes

the information to the profile discovery server 90 at 167. At 168, the profile discovery server

determines the route to the address, at 169 obtains known information about all hosts in route

from the profile server 80, and then decides at 170 whether any unknown hosts are left in the

route. If no unknown hosts are left in the route, then at 171 the profile discovery server 90

returns an error condition and notifies the operator.

For each host name left in the route, the profile discovery server 90 next at 172

determines whether a host name exists for the unknown host. If so, then at 173 the profile

discovery server attempts to determine the location based on common host name naming

conventions and/or global country based naming conventions. At 174, the profile discovery

server 90 checks whether the host responds to NTP queries and, if so, at 175 attempts to

determine the time zone based on the NTP responses. At 176, the profile discovery server 90

checks whether the host responds to SNMP queries and, if so, at 177 attempts to determine

the location, machine type, and connection speed based on public SNMP responses. Next, at

178, the profile discovery server 90 checks whether the host has a MAC address and, if so,

attempts to determine machine type and connection speed based on known MAC address delegations.

At 180, the profile discovery server 90 determines whether any additional unknown

hosts exist. If so, the profile discovery server 90 returns to 172 and checks whether a host

name is available. When no more unknown hosts exist, the profile discovery server 90 at 181

interpolates information to determine any remaining information, at 182 flags the

interpolated data for future review, and at 183 saves all discovered and interpolated data at

the profile server 80.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention has been

presented only for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to be

exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and

variations are possible in light of the above teaching.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the

invention and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the

invention and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the

particular use contemplated.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed:

1. A method of determining the geographic locations of Internet users,

comprising:

receiving one of an IP address or domain name associated with an Internet user;

determining a geographic address of an entity that owns the IP address;

obtaining a route through the Internet to a target host for the IP address;

deriving a geographic location of any intermediate hosts contained within the route

through the Internet to the target host;

analyzing the route and the geographic locations of any intermediate hosts;

determining the geographic location of the Internet user; and

storing the geographic location of the Internet user in a database along with the

geographic locations of a plurality of other Internet users.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the receiving one of the IP address

or the domain name comprises receiving both the IP address and the domain name and the

method further comprises verifying that the IP address corresponds to the domain name.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the verifying comprises

performing an nslookup on one of the IP address or domain name.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the determining comprises

performing a whois for the IP address.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising checking whether the

target host is on-line prior to determining the geographic address.

6. The method as set forth in claim 5, wherein the checking comprises

performing a ping.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the route through

the Internet comprises performing a traceroute.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the analyzing of the route

comprises mapping the route to geographic locations stored in a database.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising assigning a confidence

level to the geographic location of the Internet user.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the determining of the geographic

location includes analyzing the domain name for the geographic location.

11. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising confirming the

geographic location of the Internet user.

12. A method of providing geographic locations of Internet users to requestors,

comprising:

collecting geographic locations on a plurality of Internet users and storing the

geographic locations in a database;

receiving a query from a requestor for the geographic location of a particular Internet

user, the query containing at least one of an IP address or a domain name for the particular

Internet user;

determining whether the geographic location of that particular Internet user is

available in the database;

if the geographic location is available in the database, delivering the geographic

location on that particular Internet user to the requestor.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein if the geographic location is not

available in the database, the method further comprises determining the geographic location

of the particular Internet user and storing the geographic location in the database.

14. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein the determining whether the

geographic location is available in the database comprises sending a query to a remote

database.

15. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein the determining whether the

geographic location is available in the database comprises sending a query to a local

database.

16. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising selectively delivering

information to the Internet user based on the geographic location of the Internet user.

17. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising selectively redirecting

the Internet user based on the geographic location.

18. A method of tracking the behavior of Internet users based on their activities on

the Internet, comprising:

obtaining geographic locations of a plurality of Internet users and storing the

geographic locations in a database;

receiving queries from requestors for the geographic locations of a particular Internet

user;

delivering the geographic location for that particular Internet user to the requestors; tracking the requestors associated with that particular Internet user; and

determining the behavior of the particular Internet user based on the associated

requestors.

19. The method as set forth in claim 18, further comprising determining the

geographic locations of the plurality of Internet users.

20. The method as set forth in claim 18, wherein the determining of the behavior

comprises generating a profile for that particular Internet user.

21. A method of determining a geographic location of an Internet user that

accesses the Internet through a caching proxy server, comprising:

embedding an identifiable tag in a web page to form a tagged web page;

in response to the Internet user requesting the web page and receiving a request for the

web page from the caching proxy server, transmitting the tagged web page to the Internet

user through the proxy server;

opening a direct connection with the Internet user;

communicating with the Internet user through the direct connection;

receiving the identifiable tag from the Internet user;

obtaining an IP address for the Internet user from use of the identifiable tag; and

determining the geographic location of the Internet user.

22. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein the embedding comprises tagging

the web page with a Java applet.

23. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein the identifiable tag comprises a

unique applet parameter tag.

24. The method as set forth in claim 21 , further comprising marking the web page

as uncachable.

25. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein the opening of the direct

connection comprises accepting the direct connection through a port.

26. A method of determining a geographic location of an IP address on the

Internet, comprising:

obtaining an access number for an Internet Service Provider;

connecting to the Internet Service Provider through the access number;

determining an IP address provided by the Internet Service Provider;

determining a route through the Internet;

determining a geographic location of at least one point of presence for the Internet

Service Provider by analyzing the route; and

determining the geographic location of the IP address based on the geographic

location of the point of presence for the Internet Service Provider.

27. The method as set forth in claim 26, wherein the obtaining of the access

number comprises obtaining a dial-up number for the Internet Service Provider.

28. The method as set forth in claim 26, wherein the determining of the route

comprises performing a traceroute.

29. The method as set forth in claim 26, further comprising storing the geographic

location of the IP address.

30. A method for permitting information to be selectively delivered to Internet

users, comprising:

compiling information on a plurality of Internet users and obtaining data related to the

Internet users;

storing the information and data related to the plurality of Internet users in at least one

database;

receiving a query from a requestor regarding a particular Internet user;

retrieving the data associated with that particular Internet user; and

transmitting the data to the requestor;

wherein the data permits the requestor to select desired content for that particular

Internet user from a plurality of possible choices of possible content and to deliver the

desired content to that particular Internet user.

31. The method as set forth in claim 30, wherein the database is a geography

database and the data relates to geographic locations of the Internet users.

32. The method as set forth in claim 30, wherein the database is an authorization

database and the data relates to the desired content the particular Internet user is authorized to

receive.

33. The method as set forth in claim 30, wherein the database is a network speed

database and the data relates to a down-load rate for the particular Internet user.

34. The method as set forth in claim 30, wherein the database is a profile database

and the data relates to a profile of the particular Internet user.

35. The method as set forth in claim 30, wherein the database is an interface

database and the data relates to an interface of the particular Internet user.

36. A method of determining a geographic location of an Internet user that

accesses the Internet through a caching proxy server, comprising:

associating a Java applet with a web page;

in response to the Internet user requesting the web page and receiving a request for the web page from the caching proxy server, transmitting the web page and associated Java

applet to the Internet user through the proxy server;

opening a direct connection with the Internet user;

communicating with the Internet user through the direct connection;

obtaining an IP address for the Internet user; and

determining the geographic location of the Internet user.