Methods and systems for applying parental-control policies to media files

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9330274-B2
Application number	US-40403109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2009
Priority date	Mar 13, 2009
Publication date	May 3, 2016
Grant date	May 3, 2016

Abstract

A computer-implemented method may intercept a file-system call associated with a media file. The computer-implemented method may determine an attribute of the media file. The computer-implemented method may also identify a parental-control policy associated with the attribute of the media file. The computer-implemented method may further apply the parental-control policy to the media file. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
intercepting, by a file-system driver, a file-system call associated with a media file, the file-system driver being configured to intercept file-system calls issued by multiple applications through which a child is capable of attempting to access the media file;
determining, in response to the file-system driver intercepting the file-system call, whether the file-system call comprises an attempt to access a file that includes media content by checking whether a file extension of the media file identified by the file-system call matches a file extension included within a set of certain file extensions for at least one of e-book files, audio files, and video files;
determining, in response to determining that the file extension of the media file identified by the file-system call matches a file extension included within the set of certain file extensions for at least one of e-book files, audio files, and video files, an attribute of the media file;
identifying a parental-control policy associated with the attribute of the media file;
applying the parental-control policy to the media file.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein intercepting the file-system call associated with the media file comprises at least one of:
intercepting a file-system call to write the media file to a storage device;
intercepting a file-system call to read the media file.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the attribute of the media file comprises a hash of the media file.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the media file comprises an audio file.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein determining the attribute of the media file comprises at least one of:
identifying a genre of a song;
identifying an artist associated with the song.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein determining the attribute of the media file comprises at least one of:
querying a remote public database to obtain the attribute of the audio file;
accessing metadata of the audio file.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
the media file comprises a video file;
applying the parental-control policy comprises:
determining that the video file comprises a compressed video file;
displaying a warning to the child that is attempting to access the compressed video file to inform the child that the video file is compressed.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the attribute of the media file comprises identifying a signature included with the media file that indicates that the media file has been digitally signed by a content provider.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
identifying the parental-control policy associated with the attribute of the media file comprises using the attribute to determine a category rating of the media file;
applying the parental-control policy to the media file comprises determining whether the category rating violates the parental-control policy.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the category rating comprises at least one of:
a sexual-content rating for the media file;
a strong-language rating for the media file;
a violence rating for the media file.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein using the attribute to determine the category rating comprises:
sending the attribute to a category-ratings database;
receiving the category rating from the category-ratings database.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising tracking the child's attempts to access media files.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein applying the parental-control policy to the media file comprises deleting the media file.

14. A system comprising:
a file-system-monitor module, stored in a memory, that comprises a file-system driver configured to intercept file-system calls issued by multiple applications through which a child is capable of attempting to access a media file, the file-system-monitor module programmed to:
intercept, through the file-system driver, a file-system call associated with the media file;
determine, in response to the file-system driver intercepting the file-system call, whether the file-system call comprises an attempt to access a file that includes media content by checking whether the media file extension of the media file identified by the file-system call matches a file extension included within a set of certain file extensions for at least one of e-book files, audio files, and video files;
determine, in response to determining that the file extension of the media file identified by the file-system call matches a file extension included within the set of certain file extensions for at least one of e-book files, audio files, and video files, an attribute of the media file;
identify a parental-control policy associated with the attribute of the media file;

a policy-enforcement module, stored in the memory, that is in communication with the file-system-monitor module and that is programmed to apply the parental-control policy to the media file;
one or more hardware processors configured to execute the file-system-monitor module and the policy-enforcement module.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the file-system driver is programmed to intercept the file-system call associated with the media file at least in part by one of:
intercepting a file-system call to write the media file to a storage device;
intercepting a file-system call to read the media file.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the attribute of the media file comprises a hash of the media file.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the policy-enforcement module is programmed to determine whether the media file violates the parental-control policy by evaluating the attribute of the media file and at least one category rating of the media file.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the file-system-monitor module is programmed to determine the attribute of the media file at least in part by identifying a signature included with the media file that indicates that the media file has been digitally signed by a content provider.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein:
the media file comprises an audio file;
the file-system-monitor module is programmed to determine the attribute of the media file by performing at least one of:
identifying a genre of a song;
identifying an artist associated with the song.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
intercept, through a file-system driver, a file-system call associated with a media file, the file-system driver being configured to intercept file-system calls issued by multiple applications through which a child is capable of attempting to access the media file;
determine, in response to the file-system driver intercepting the file-system call, whether the file-system call comprises an attempt to access a file that contains media content by checking whether a file extension of the media file identified by the file-system call matches a file extension included within a set of certain file extensions for at least one of e-book files, audio files, and video files;
determine, in response to determining that the file extension of the media file identified by the file-system call matc

Assignees

• Schepis Adam
• Newstadt Keith
• Symantec Corp

Inventors

• Schepis Adam
• Newstadt Keith

Classifications

• G06F21/121

  Restricting unauthorised execution of programs · CPC title

• G06F2221/2149

  Restricted operating environment · CPC title

• G06F21/6218 Primary

  to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database · CPC title

• G06F21/60

  Protecting data · CPC title

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title