Patent EA-002513-B1 (EA)
Title: Multi-language domain name service
Inventor: TAN TIN WEE
IPC: G06F40/00
Filed: 2000-02-17
Abstract: 1. A method, implemented on an apparatus, of detecting the linguistic encoding type of a digitally represented domain name, the method comprising: receiving the digital sequence of a prespecified portion of the digitally represented domain name; matching said digital sequence from the domain name with a known digital sequence from a collection of known digital sequences, each associated with a particular linguistic encoding type, and the collection including known digital sequences for at least two different linguistic encoding types; and identifying an encoding type associated with the known digital sequence matching the digital sequence from the domain name. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a DNS request containing the digitally represented domain name. 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the prespecified portion of the digitally represented domain name is a minimum code resolving string in the domain name. 4. The method of claim 1, 2, or 3, further comprising transforming the format of the digital sequence of the digitally represented domain name prior to matching that digital sequence. 5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the collection of known digital sequences is provided in a table containing records having attributes including known digital sequences and encoding types. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the table includes records having at least the following encoding types: ASCII, BIGS, GB2312, shift-JIS, EUC-.TP, KSC5601, and extended ASCII. 7. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying the encoding type comprises identifying the encoding type of a record having the matching known digital sequence. 8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein at least two known digital sequences match the digital sequence from the domain name, and further comprising: receiving the digital sequence of a second portion of the digitally represented domain name; and matching the digital sequence of the second portion with a known digital sequence from the collection of known digital sequences. 9. The method of claim 2, further comprising: identifying a root level DNS server responsible for resolving root level domains of the identified encoding type; and transmitting the DNS request to the root level DNS server. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, prior to transmitting the DNS request, converting the domain name's digital sequence from the identified encoding type to a DNS encoding type compatible with DNS protocol. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the DNS encoding type is ASCII or a universal linguistic encoding type. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein converting the domain name's digital sequence comprises: converting the domain name's digital sequence from tlie identified encoding type to a universal linguistic encoding type; and converting the domain name's digital sequence from the universal linguistic encoding type to a DNS encoding type compatible with the DNS protocol. 13. A computer program product comprising a machine readable medium on which is provided program instructions for performing a method of detecting the linguistic encoding type of a digitally represented domain name, the method comprising: receiving the digital sequence of a prespecified portion of the digitally represented domain name; matching said digital sequence from the domain name with a known digital sequence from a collection of known digital sequences, each associated with a particular linguistic encoding type, and the collection including known digital sequences for at least two different linguistic encoding types; and identifying an encoding type associated with the known digital sequence matching the digital sequence from the domain name. 14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the collection of known digital sequences is provided in a table containing records having attributes including known digital sequences and encoding types. 15. The computer program product of claim 13 or 14, further comprising program instructions for the following: receiving a DNS request containing the digitally represented domain name; identifying a root level DNS server responsible for resolving root level domains of the identified encoding type; and transmitting the DNS request to the root level DNS server. 16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising program instructions for the following: prior to transmitting the DNS request, converting the domain name's digital sequence from the identified encoding type to a DNS encoding type compatible with DNS protocol. 17. On a machine-readable medium, a linguistic encoding type mapping table that associates particular linguistic encoding types with particular digital sequences, the mapping table comprising a plurality of records, and the records comprising: a known digital sequence of a prespecified portion of a digitally represented domain name; and a linguistic encoding type associated with the known digital sequence. 18. The mapping table of claim 17, wherein the prespecified portion of the digitally represented domain name is the digital sequence of the top-level domain in the domain name. 19. The mapping table of claim 17 or 18, wherein the mapping table records include at least the follcwing linguistic encoding types: ASCII, BIG5, GB2312, shift-JIS, EUC-JP, KSC5601, and extended ASCII. 20. The mapping table of claim 17, 18, or 19, wherein the records further comprise a top-level DNS server responsible for resolving root level domains of the linguistic encoding type in the record. 21. The mapping table of any of claims 17-20, wherein the records further comprise a transformation for converting the encoding type to a DNS compliant encoding type. 22. The mapping table of any of claims 17-21, wherein the records further comprise a time to live field. 23. The mapping table of claim 22, wherein the DNS encoding type is ASCII or a universal linguistic encoding type. 24. An apparatus comprising: one or more processors; memory coupled to at least one of the one or more processors; and one or more network interfaces capable of receiving a first DNS request including a domain name in a non-DNS encoding type and transmitting a DNS request with the domain name in a DNS encoding type that is compatible with the DNS protocol, wherein at least one of the one or more processors is designed or configured to convert the domain name in the non-DNS encoding type to that domain name in the DNS encoding type. 25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the one or more network interfaces are coupled to a network in a manner allowing the apparatus to receive client DNS requests, wherein the client DNS requests present the domain name in the non-DNS encoding type. 26. The apparatus -of claim 24 or 25, wherein the one or more network interfaces are coupled to a network in a manner allowing the apparatus to transmit a DNS request to a standard DNS server, wherein the DNS request presents the domain name in the DNS encoding type. 27. The apparatus of claim 24, 25, or 26, further comprising a mapping table residing, at least in part, on the memory,' wherein the mapping table associates particular linguistic encoding types with particular digital sequences expected to be found in digitally encoded domain names. 28. The apparatus of any of claims 24-27, wherein at least one processor is configured or designed to identify the non-DNS encoding type of the domain name prior to converting that domain name from the non-DNS encoding type to the DNS encoding type.