Granted Patent B1

US 9,106,712 · App. 11/821,702 · Granted Aug 11, 2015

Abstract

Claims (43)

1. A domain name management system for determining whether an operator has access rights to make changes on behalf of a registrant owning a domain name, and if the system properly authorizes the operator to make changes to information about the domain name, using an information change engine to transmit the information to a shared registry system, said system comprising:

a processor and a memory;

a domain name identification engine configured to:

obtain a user name, a password, and the domain name from a graphical user interface rendered on an operator computer; and

direct an authorization checker to determine whether the operator has authorization to make changes to the domain name information on behalf of the registrant;

said authorization checker being configured to:

receive the user name, the domain name, and the password from the domain name identification engine;

determine whether the operator is authorized to change the information about the domain name based at least in part on the user name, the domain name, and the password; and

perform a check with a previously established administrative contact of the domain name to see if the operator should be listed as authoritative for the domain name when the operator is not authorized to change the information;

said information change engine configured to be responsive to a request from an operator recognized as authoritative to make changes to the domain name information, and said information change engine further being configured to change information about the domain name by:

generating an information change request; and

submitting the information change request to the shared registry system; and

said domain name identification engine, said authorization checker, and said information change engine being implemented on one or more web servers.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the operator is authorized to change the information further comprises determining whether (A) the operator initially registered the domain name for the registrant, or (B) the authorization checker has previously authorized the operator to make changes to the domain name information on behalf of the registrant.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the authorization checker is further configured to grant access to the operator to use the information change engine to make changes to the domain name information when the authorization checker determines (A) or (B) to be true.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the authorization checker is further configured to compare the user name, the domain name, and the password with information from the shared registry system to determine whether the operator is authorized to change information about the domain name in a registry through the domain name management system.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the check the authorization checker is configured to perform comprises:

generating a dialog box to provide the operator with an option to instruct the authorization checker to send an email to the administrative contact associated with the domain name, said email asking the administrative contact whether the operator should be authorized; and

sending the email to the administrative contact.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the check comprises waiting until the administrative contact confirms authorization of the operator is proper, and wherein the operator is recognized as an authoritative zone and technical contact for the domain name upon receipt of said authorization.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the authorization checker is further configured to update the authoritative zone and technical contact information for the domain name at the shared registry system upon successful receipt of authorization from the administrative contact to list the operator as the authoritative zone and technical contact for the domain name.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the authorization checker is further configured to:

update authorization information at the shared registry system for the domain name upon successful receipt of authorization from the administrative contact; and

allow the operator to change the domain name information.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the domain name information includes: IP addresses, domain aliases, mail exchange (MX) records, and start of authority information.

10. A method of using a domain name management system for determining whether an operator has access rights to make changes on behalf of a registrant owning the domain name, and if the system properly authorizes the operator to make changes to information about the domain name, using an information change engine to transmit the information to a shared registry system, said method of using the system comprising:

receiving, via the domain name management system, a user name, the domain name, and a password from an operator computer;

determining, via the domain name management system, whether the operator has authorization to make changes to the domain name information on behalf of the registrant based at least in part on the user name, the domain name, and the password;

performing, via the domain name management system, a check with a previously established administrative contact of the domain name to see if the operator should be listed as authoritative for the domain name when the operator is not authorized to change information about the domain name; and

responding, via the domain name management system, to a request to make changes to the domain name information from the operator when the operator is recognized as authoritative to make changes to the domain name information; and

changing, via the domain name management system, information about the domain name by generating an information change request and submitting the request to the shared registry system.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining whether the operator is authorized to make changes to the domain name information further comprises:

determining whether the operator initially registered the domain name for the registrant; and

determining whether the operator has previously been authorized to make changes to the domain name information on behalf of the registrant.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, granting, via the domain name management system, access to the operator to use the information change engine to make changes to the domain name information when the operator initially registered the domain name or when the operator has previously been authorized to make changes.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining whether the operator is authorized to make changes to the domain name information further comprises comparing the user name, the domain name, and the password with information from the shared registry system.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein performing the check further comprises:

generating, via the domain name management system, a dialog box to provide the operator with an option to instruct the domain name management system to send an email to the administrative contact associated with the domain name, said email asking the administrative contact whether the operator should be authorized; and

sending, via the domain name management system, the email to the administrative contact upon receipt of an instruction to send the email.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein performing the check additionally includes waiting until the administrative contact confirms authorization of the operator is proper, and upon receipt of said authorization, recognizing, via the domain name management system, the operator as an authoritative zone and a technical contact for the domain name.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising updating, via the domain name management system, the authoritative zone and technical contact information for the domain name at the shared registry system upon successful receipt of authorization from the administrative contact to list the operator as the authoritative zone and the technical contact for the domain name.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising updating, via the domain name management system, authorization information at the shared registry system for the domain name upon successful receipt of authorization from the administrative contact to allow the operator to change the domain name information.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the domain name information includes: IP addresses, domain aliases, mail exchange (MX) records, and start of authority information.

Assignments (8)