Cross-Platform Network Address Identification via Directory Lookup
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for identifying individuals associated with a given network address, such as in law enforcement or corporate settings, are limited to specific communication systems and do not effectively track contacts across multiple platforms, making it difficult to determine who has been in contact with the individual.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that enables a communication device to transmit a request to multiple remote communication devices across various networks, triggering a lookup of the network address in a directory, allowing for the identification of occurrences of the given network address by querying a directory stored on these devices or databases, and returning a response indicating the presence of the associated data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If telephone records and call history are used to identify contacts, then established calls can be identified, but the method is limited to specific telephone systems and does not track contacts across multiple platforms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal directory service that can store and query network addresses across multiple communication platforms (telephone, email, messaging). The directory service acts as a central repository that different communication systems can access, enabling cross-platform contact identification while maintaining information completeness through standardized network address formats.
2Measurement precision
If a centralized database is queried for network address occurrences, then comprehensive contact identification is achieved, but system complexity and query transmission overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a directory service as an intermediary layer between communication systems and the centralized database. This mediator handles query transmission, formats requests in standardized protocols (such as LDAP), and manages the complexity of database access, thereby maintaining high identification accuracy while reducing system complexity for individual communication systems.
3Loss of information
If directory lookups are performed on multiple remote devices, then comprehensive network address tracking is enabled, but communication overhead and query time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the directory service into distributed components that can operate independently across multiple remote devices. Each device maintains a local directory or cache, allowing parallel query processing and reducing the time required to search for network address occurrences. The segmented architecture enables comprehensive tracking while minimizing query time through distributed computation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and apparatus for identifying occurrences of a given network address is provided. A request is transmitted comprising data associated with the given network address to at least one remote communication device, the request for triggering a lookup of at least a portion of the data in a directory associated with the at least one remote communication device. At least one message is received indicative that the data associated with the given network address is present in the directory.