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 . A method for directing communication, the method comprising:
 receiving a request from an Internet user for a specific website;   relaying the request to a domain name system (DNS) server to determine the Internet address for the website;   responding to the request by providing a response containing an Internet address when the requested Internet address for the website is resolved by the DNS;   if an Internet address for the requested website is not resolved by the DNS, performing the following actions:
 determining if the request is a request associated with a protocol of interest; 
 if the request is not associated with the protocol of interest, 
 forwarding to the Internet user an error response for the request; 
 for all other requests: 
 directing the Internet user to a predetermined search network; 
 choosing at least one appropriate target through the search network 
 sending a request for information to that at least one target; and 
 providing a result page to the Internet user, the result page being a culmination of information received from the at least one target, 
   wherein the actions that are performed when the requested website is not resolved by the DNS are not performed by the Internet user's computer.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein directing the Internet user to a predetermined search network when the requested Internet address is not resolved by the DNS comprises intercepting the request at a name level to return a contrived IP address for a web server landing page in place of an unresolved domain name request. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the targets are predetermined partners and associated with the DNS server. 
     
     
         4 . A method for directing communication, the method comprising:
 relaying a request from an Internet user for a specific website to a DNS server to determine the Internet address for the website;   responding to the request by providing an Internet address location when the requested Internet address is resolved by the DNS;   determining if the request is associated with a protocol of interest;   only if the request is not associated with the protocol of interest and the Internet address for the requested website is not resolved by the DNS:
 directing the Internet user to a predetermined search network; 
 choosing at least one appropriate target and sending a request for information to that at least one target; and 
 forwarding an Internet address for a result page to the Internet user, the result page being a culmination of information received from the at least one or more targets, 
 wherein the actions that are performed when the request is not associated with the protocol of interest and the requested website is not resolved by the DNS are not performed by the Internet user's computer. 
   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein directing the Internet user to a predetermined search network comprises intercepting the request at the name level to return a contrived IP address for a web server landing page in place of an unresolved domain name request. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the targets are predetermined partners and associated with the DNS server. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising making an accounting of the number of times that the target is presented to different Internet users. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein an ISP maintains control over the recited steps. 
     
     
         9 . A method of controlling communication traffic, said method comprising:
 receiving a communication from a computer user;   passing the communication to a DNS server;   receiving information regarding the communication from the DNS server;   analyzing the information for at least information about whether the communication is associated with a protocol of interest; and   providing a response to the computer user,
 wherein, if the information received from the DNS server indicates that the communication from the user was resolved, wanted, used, proper, and correct, passing the information to the user, and 
 wherein, if the information received from the DNS server indicates that the communication from the user was unresolved, unwanted, unused, improper, or incorrect, and was not associated with the protocol of interest, providing a landing page containing alternative information to the user, 
   wherein none of the steps are performed by the user's computer.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the information comprises advertisements. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the information comprises a search bar. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the landing page is generated in real-time based, at least in part, on the communication from the user. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the method provides one or more of the following services: DNS forwarding, URL filtering, DDOS attack detection, and SPAM source identification. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising providing the computer user with the option to elect whether or not to have his communications subjected to the method,
 wherein, if the computer user elects not to have his communications subjected to the method, the method does not comprise the step of analyzing information, and the step of providing a response to the computer user comprises passing the information from the DNS server to the computer user.