Patent ID: 7805531

Claim:
A method of controlling access to content from a mobile client device, the mobile client device being communicably connected to a server device via a communication link, and the method including the steps of: (i) receiving in the mobile client device, an input indicative of the content, wherein the input received in the mobile client device is not pre-formatted or pre-tagged with a content-rating information, and wherein the content includes human-readable content, and wherein the mobile client device includes at least one of: (a) a mobile phone; and (b) a PDA; (ii) thereafter, processing the received input, wherein said processing includes the mobile client device determining if the received input meets an access criteria, whereby the mobile client device selectively provides access to content if the access criteria is determined to have been met, wherein when determining if the received input meets the access criteria, at least one of the following sub-steps are performed: (a) the mobile client device determining if the received input matches an entry in an allowed content list, whereby if the received input does match an entry in the allowed content list, then access is enabled to the human-readable content indicated by the received input data via the mobile client device; (b) the mobile client device determining if the received input matches an entry in a disallowed content list, whereby, if the received input does match an entry in the disallowed content list, then access is disabled to the human-readable content indicated by the received input data via the mobile client device; (c) the mobile client device determining if the received input matches an entry in a client-side active list indicative of content that has been accessed relatively recently on the mobile client device, wherein if the received input does match an entry in the client-side active list, and, a content profile associated with the matched entry is determined to be allowable by reference to a pre-defined user access setting, then access from the human-readable content indicated by the received input is enabled; (d) the mobile client device querying the server device, wherein in response to the query, the server device is adapted to: (I) receive the input indicative of human-readable content from the mobile client device; and (II) determine if the received input matches an entry in a server-side active list, wherein, if the received input matches an entry in the server-side active list, and, a content profile associated with the matched entry is allowable by reference to the pre-defined user access setting, then access to the human-readable content indicated by the received input is enabled from the mobile client device.