Systems and methods for direction of communication traffic

Abstract

An Internet traffic redirection architecture is disclosed that allows for directing of trash traffic to specified sites. The system or method allows a controller, such as an ISP, to benefit from mistyped Internet addresses so that participating partners of the ISP are presented to the customer when the requests a web site that is not found or does not exist. The system decreases lost traffic by means of capturing unresolved “trash” traffic on the Internet and redirecting said traffic to a search engine partner and/or other partners.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
   
   
       21 . A method for redirecting Internet communications, the method comprising:
 determining if an Internet communication from a computer at a point of origin includes a malformed request for an Internet address;   if the communication does not include a malformed request:
 returning to the computer at the point of origin a response from the Internet; 
   if the communication includes a malformed request:
 returning to the computer at the point of origin a redirect IP address for a landing page server; 
 creating a landing page at the redirect IP address, which includes information that is relevant to the malformed request; 
 receiving from the computer at the point of origin a request to connect to the redirect IP address; 
 determining if the redirect request is associated with the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP); 
 returning to the computer at the point of origin the content of a landing page at the requested redirect IP address only if the redirect request is associated with HTTP; 
   wherein all of the steps are performed at the DNS/ISP level of the Internet, and not at the browser/application level of the computer at the point of origin.   
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the step of determining if the web page request is associated with HTTP includes determining the port number associated with the web page request. 
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the malformed request is a request that does not specify an existing IP address. 
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the malformed request is a request that specifies an unused or parked IP address. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the malformed request is a request that specifies an IP address of an entity that does not want to receive a communication from the point of origin. 
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the malformed request for an Internet address results from a broken link. 
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising processing the malformed request prior to returning to the computer at the point of origin a redirect IP address for a landing page server, wherein processing includes identifying or approximating the location and/or demographics of the entity initiating the request at the point of origin. 
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 21 , which is a method of controlling communication traffic, wherein said method provides one or more of the following services: DNS forwarding, URL filtering, DDOS attack detection, and SPAM source identification. 
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 28 , which is a method of URL filtering. 
   
   
       30 . A computer system for redirection of malformed Internet communications, the system comprising:
 a server in the DNS;   a first device that:
 determines if an Internet communication from a computer at a point of origin includes a malformed request for an Internet address; 
 if the communication does not include a malformed request:
 returns to the computer at the point of origin a response from the Internet; 
 
 if the communication includes a malformed request:
 returns to the computer at the point of origin a redirect IP address for a landing page server; and 
 
   a second device that:
 creates a landing page at the redirect IP address, which includes information that is relevant to the malformed request; 
 receives from the computer at the point of origin a request to connect to the redirect IP address; 
 determines if the redirect request is associated with the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP); and 
 returns to the computer at the point of origin the content of a landing page at the requested redirect IP address only if the redirect request is associated with HTTP; 
   wherein none of the DNS server, the first device, and the second device is the computer at the point of origin.   
   
   
       31 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the DNS server and the first device are the same. 
   
   
       32 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the first device is interposed, within the communication pathway, between the computer at the point of origin and the DNS server, and wherein the first device is capable of intercepting and analyzing communications between the computer at the point of origin and the DNS server. 
   
   
       33 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the system comprises two or more second devices. 
   
   
       34 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the second device identifies the port number associated with the request to connect to the redirect IP address to determine if the request is associated with HTTP. 
   
   
       35 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the malformed request is a request that does not specify an existing IP address. 
   
   
       36 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the malformed request is a request that specifies an unused or parked IP address. 
   
   
       37 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the malformed request is a request that specifies an IP address of an entity that does not want to receive a communication from the point of origin. 
   
   
       38 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the malformed request for an Internet address results from a broken link. 
   
   
       39 . The system of  claim 30 , which provides one or more of the following services: DNS forwarding, URL filtering, DDOS attack detection, and SPAM source identification. 
   
   
       40 . The system of  claim 39 , which is a method of URL filtering.