Patent ID: 6757740
Filing Date: 2004-06-29
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L,H04W

Abstract:
An automated computer-implemented method of determining a geographic location of an Internet user, comprising:receiving one of an IP address, host name or domain name associated with the Internet user; determining a geographic address of an entity that owns the IP address, host name or domain name; obtaining a route through the Internet to a target host for the IP address, the route containing any intermediate hosts; determining a geographic naming convention for all hosts contained in the route through the Internet to the target host; deriving a geographic location of any intermediate hosts contained in the route by automatically matching intermediate hosts to geographic locations through use of a database correlating geographic naming conventions to geographic locations; if any intermediate hosts within the route do not have associated known geographic naming conventions, deriving the geographic locations of any unknown intermediate host in the route by determining the geographic location of an entity that owns the unknown intermediate host; automatically determining the geographic location of the Internet user by analysis of the route and the geographic locations of the intermediate hosts; and storing the geographic location of the Internet user in a database along with the geographic locations of a plurality of other Internet users.