TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to network communications and particular to methods and systems for further advancing current domain name system, enabling registration and utilisation of unlimited number of domain names. BACKGROUND ART

The Internet has become an essential part of modern society and the explosive growth of the Internet and the increasing amount of online electronic information has made the Internet an important information source for digital consumers today. On the consumer side, many new devices other than traditional desktop computers are being used to access the Internet. On the network side, more and more websites provide rich multimedia content, an integration of text, images, audio, video, graphics, and applications.

Network computing, at its core, relates to the transport of data between addressable computing endpoints in a network of computing endpoints. Integral to network computing is the universal way in which data is addressed to an intended endpoint. In this regard, the Internet protocol (IP) is the principal communications protocol used for relaying packets of data across an internetwork using the IP suite. Responsible for routing packets across network boundaries, IP is the primary protocol that establishes the Internet.

However, easily memorable and pronounceable names, referred as "domain names" are preferable for people. For this reason, Domain Name System (DNS) was implemented in order to make it easy to connect to various contents and services in the Internet.

DNS is a global database system which provides resolution or mapping from a host name (such as www.un.org) to an IP address (such as 157.150.34.32 or 0:0:0:0:0:ffff:9d96:2220), or vice versa. It is a distributed and hierarchical system, ensuring coherency as well as avoiding a single point of failure. The results of database lookups are often cached, reducing network traffic and server load, and increasing lookup efficiency.

From data structure point of view, the database system of the DNS is represented as a labelled tree called the domain name space. The strings associated with tree nodes are called DNS labels, which consists of alphabets, numeric numbers, and the dash character (-). The domain name of a domain is a string concatenating all labels from the domain's root to the root of the entire name space, separated with periods. The highest level in the DNS hierarchy is the "root," which is technically unnamed but often referred to as the "." The level immediately below the root in the DNS hierarchy is the top- level domain, or "TLD." Examples of TLDs are the com, net, org, bank, edu domains, which are commonly called generic TLD (gTLD). At the first level, there are also per country domain names, which are called country code top-level domains (or ccTLDs). There is no technical difference between gTLDs and ccTLDs in terms of the DNS protocol; the difference is in who manages the corresponding name space.

Then follows second-level domain names (SLD), which are mostly registered by companies, organisations and individuals to be present in Internet. The tree of domain names are sub-divided into zones. A DNS zone file may contain one or many domains and sub-domains, depending on administrative options of the zone manager. For example all TLD names are listed in root zone file.

Every node in the name space belongs to one and only one of the zones, which allows a zone to define an administration boundary of a particular part of the name space.

Each zone is served by one or more nameservers . A nameserver of a zone maintains domain names within the zone, and responds to database queries for the names.

Nameservers are often called authoritative (DNS) servers. Nameservers of the root zone and gTLD zones are for multiple different zones. For example, com and net zones are served by the same set of nameservers.

Many zones have more than one authoritative server, particularly in the case of top-level zones, to provide redundancy and improve stability. Usually only one of them maintains the master database, which is called the primary (or master) server of the zone. Other nameservers, called secondary (or slave) servers, periodically synchronize with the primary server to provide coherent behaviour. This process is called a zone transfer.

There are also non- authoritative servers, which have a cache file that is constructed from all the DNS lookups it has performed in the past for which it has gotten an authoritative response.

Domain name registration is made through Shared Registration System (SRS) with accredited registrars.

DNS system, briefly described above, is administered and accredited by non-profit organisation called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN responsible for coordinating the maintenance and methodologies of several databases, with unique identifiers, related to the namespaces of the Internet - and thereby, ensuring the network's stable and secure operation. ICANN was established by US Department of Commerce initiative to take over the IANA functions in 1998.

There are some problems related to current state of Internet.

There is high demand for new domain name variations (strings or labels) from many Internet end-users. For example, it may be more favourable for individuals to have domain name consisting his/her own initials, such as "nurzhamal.askar", "askar.bauka", "james. Oliver" etc. This demand was translated into demand for new TLD extensions. Considering new Internet related programs, masterplans, roadmaps such as Internet Plus in 13 ^th 5-year plan of China, ASEAN ICT Masterplan 2020, Digital India, Intelligent Nation 2015 by Singapore and more for increasing the Internet penetration, Internet presence and digital literacy of the citizens, the demand will be high and theoretically it is hard to predict in the future.

ICANN decided to introduce new TLDs gradually and new gTLD programme was initiated by ICANN, which was very lengthy for unknown reasons. In spite of this, technical aspect of current Internet domain naming system limits infinite number of domain names and/or TLDs as it will increase root zone file dramatically, compromising stability and operation of Internet to some extent.

Furthermore, the success of new TLD depends on how it is marketed and used by end-user. Historically, domain name extensions like .biz, .info, .mobi, .travel, introduced in 2001, failed to be popular and since then have largely been ignored by large brand companies. It will be problematic for registrant to register and invest on domain name with TLD extension not secured or guaranteed to operate in the future. This situation unintentionally or otherwise forces the registrant to use traditional extensions, such as com, net or country code TLDs. Moreover, there are high cost requirements for TLD operator to maintain and manage new gTLD, which may force the operator to set higher price for registration and renewal of SLD name in case of lower number of registered SLD names. Additionally, current state of Internet and current policies implemented by ICANN necessitates to have vast majority of gTLD operators in operation in case of increased number of TLDs.

One embodiment of current invention can be used to eliminate the dependence on gradual increase of root zone file; in addition to possibility, it creates for end-users to register domain name from unlimited variation of domain names. Furthermore, in one embodiment of current invention, the bound of particular TLD name to particular TLD operator is eliminated. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods and systems for registering unlimited number of domain names and utilizing thereof based on classification and grouping of domain names.

According to one embodiment of present invention, systems and methods are provided to classify and group new and/or currently registered domain names into groups, and at least one server (group- server) maintains each said group. The servers may operate in hierarchy of "master" and "slave" for redundancy or other purposes.

According to one embodiment of present invention, domain name classification and grouping system is implemented and named as "Qazaq system" by author. In case of a request of DNS resolution or domain name registration, network address of the corresponding group-server for unknown domain name is computed from the domain name itself by the Qazaq system utilising disclosed method. Further operations such as DNS lookup, availability for registration and other operations relating to the domain name are performed within the corresponding group-server. Network address may be denoted by another domain name or IP address. According to another embodiment of present invention, there is no difference between

TLD and SLD labels in terms of hierarchy. Both of these labels can be used to group domain names, which in turn eliminates TLD nameservers from DNS system.

According to one embodiment of present invention, the Qazaq system can be implemented in non- authoritative DNS servers, such as Internet service provider's DNS, Google public DNS, OpenDNS, which will allow to request for DNS resolution of unknown domain name directly from corresponding group- server.

According to one embodiment of present invention, the Qazaq system can be implemented in end-user's computer system, which will allow to request for DNS resolution of unknown domain name directly from corresponding group-server. According to one embodiment of present invention, the Qazaq system can be implemented in a system involved in domain name registration and/or modification, such as registry and/or registrar's server, which will allow to perform operations such as checking availability of a domain name for registration directly from a corresponding group-server.

According to one embodiment of present invention, the Qazaq system can be implemented in the group-server in order to further divide the group of domain names into smaller groups for redundancy or other purposes. According to one embodiment of present invention, the Qazaq system can be implemented in current root nameservers, where TLD names will be classified and grouped according to disclosed method. In case of DNS request for unknown TLD name resolution, the request will be redirected to group-server maintaining corresponding group of TLDs.

According to one embodiment of present invention, entire domain names registered so far will be classified and grouped according to the method disclosed herein and future new domain names are only added to existing groups, which in turn makes implementation of the embodiment of present invention transparent to existing domain name owners.

According to one embodiment of present invention, the Qazaq system can be implemented as root servers, having no database of domain names and/or TLDs and eliminating current root nameservers from overall DNS system. DNS requests and domain name registrations will be handled by computing and forwarding to corresponding group-servers.

According to one embodiment of present invention, the Qazaq system can be implemented on specially build computing hardware such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) or the like, in order to increase speed of computation of plurality of operations and/or requests.

According to one embodiment of present invention, group-servers are implemented on one or more computing system such as computing server, virtual computing server or implemented as a software application or program and operates in anycasting methodology for redundancy or other purposes.

It is to be understood that both foregoing general description and following description are exemplary and explanatory only and various modifications may be made to embodiments in order to implement present invention in addition to embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG.1 illustrates example of operation of domain name classification and grouping system (Qazaq system).

FIG.2 illustrates an example process for registering domain name in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG.3 illustrates an example process for DNS resolution of domain name into network address in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Preferred exemplary embodiment will be described with references to examples illustrated in accompanying drawings. Same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

According to one embodiment of present invention, all participants in registration and DNS resolution of domain name are grouped in to six group of entities. The grouping of those entities are made for simple explanatory purposes only. The groups are:

1) group of end-users (computers, browsers, Internet services and other endpoints),

2) group of DNS servers (Internet Service Provider DNS, Google Public DNS, OpenDNS servers and other non- authoritative servers),

3) group of authoritative nameservers (domain name owners' servers),

4) group of members of domain name registration and modification system (Registries, registrars, payment operators, etc.),

5) group of group-servers.

6) group of Qazaq system servers.

First, operation of Qazaq system (Figure 1) with its functions executing disclosed method will be described in detail, followed by description of registration of new domain name (Figure 2) and resolution of domain name (Figure 3) according this embodiment of present invention.

In this embodiment, the Qazaq system is implemented in separate unit, comprising at least one computing server connected to network (e.g. Internet). Qazaq system 108 has main functions performing main purpose of the system in addition to other functions such as, security. These main functions are operating according to disclosed method. Here, the disclosed method is based on number of characters in both domain name labels (double label based) and is shown as an example in Figure 1. (e.g. askar.bauka). It should be noted, that double label based domain name grouping method encompasses both SLD and TLD into one domain name and eliminates hierarchical level between SLD and TLD as is usually used in conventional DNS system.

First, Qazaq system 100 receives request containing at least one domain name by receiving function 102. Next, corresponding group for the received domain name is computed by a function 104 by for example, counting the characters in the labels (e.g. a s k a r b a u k a = 10). Then data containing network address of group-server maintaining corresponding group is retrieved from a database of groups 106 (e.g. Group 10 - IPv4 10.20.30.60). Next, function 108 sends the data back to enquiring entity. Notice should be taken, that for a person skilled in the art, it will be obvious to realize other ways, functions and/or implementations of disclosed method and the system not departing from the scope and the spirit of present invention. Now, the process of registration of a domain name and other entities involved will be described in detail according to this embodiment. First, registrant 200, wishing to register a domain name (e.g. "astana.services"), contacts and sends the domain name 202 to registrar's system. 204. Here, registrar is accepted as a member of the domain name registration and modification system, which could be one of existing registrars currently operating in the Internet. Registrar 204 sends the domain name data 206 to Qazaq system 100 in order to get data 208 containing network address of corresponding group-server, (e.g. Group 8 - A 30.40.50.70) Registrar 204 connects and requests 210 the availability of the domain name for registration from corresponding group-server 212 (e.g. Group 8 server). Group- server 212 alphabetically or otherwise searches for records in its database of domain names for the domain name. If in the database exists a record then the group-server sends back a message of not availability of domain name for registration back to the registrar. If there is no record for the domain name in the database, then sends a message 214 of availability of domain name for registration back to the registrar 204, which in turn sends corresponding message 216 to the registrant 200. In case of not availability of the domain name for registration the process terminates. In case of availability of the domain name for registration, the registrant fills registration form, submits other information 218 and makes payment of fee for domain name registration, which is handled by other members of domain name registration and modification system (not shown). Then registrar 204 sends request 220 for registration of the domain name to corresponding group- server 212, which in turn, makes entry of records for the domain name into the database. The process may further be followed by assignment of authoritative name server for the registered domain name, where the record in the database of corresponding group-server is updated upon a request of the registrant (not shown).

Now resolution or mapping of domain name into network address will be described in detail according above-mentioned embodiment. First, end-user (e.g. real person) wishing to get access to a service, provided in a domain name, enters the domain name into address bar of a web browser application in a network-connected computer 300. Then DNS query process is initiated and if the corresponding network address of the name server for the domain name is present in local cache of the computer, the process terminates. If there is no data in cache, the DNS query process 302 is forwarded to DNS resolver 304, which may be Internet service provider's DNS server or other DNS resolvers. Assuming the domain name (e.g. com.apple) is unknown for the DNS resolver, then the DNS resolver sends data 206 containing the domain name (e.g. com.apple) to Qazaq system 100 and gets 208 network address data of corresponding group-server 212 (e.g. Group 8) for the domain name. Then, DNS resolver 304 contacts and requests 306 from group- server 212 and gets network address data 308 of authoritative name 312 server for the domain name. Next, DNS resolver 304 contacts to said name server 312 and requests DNS resolution 310 of the domain name. Finally, the DNS resolver receives data 314 containing network address of the domain name from said name server 312 and forwards that data 316 to the requesting end-user computer 300, the browser application then establishes connection between end-user and the service provider on that domain name. As can be noticed, the DNS resolver' s iterative queries after getting the network address of group-server is similar to conventional operation of DNS server and so other ways are also possible to imagine for skilled person in the art.

As can be noticed further, from above detailed descriptions of the embodiment root name servers and TLD operator servers are eliminated from overall DNS system.

According another embodiment, Qazaq system together with group-servers can be used in or in parallel to current ICANN maintained root name servers in order to allow end-users to register unlimited number of domain names, not compromising root zone file and overall Internet stability. Root name server in case of DNS request containing unknown TLD extension will redirect or respond by providing network address of Qazaq system, where DNS request will be redirected or responded by providing network address of corresponding group-server, followed by conventional operation of DNS server.

It should be underlined that implementation of any embodiment of present invention is highly transparent to end-user as the conventional DNS server operations and operations of authoritative nameservers for domain names registered so far are intact.

It is within the scope of present invention to provide a computer program or program element, or a program storage or memory device such as a solid, magnetic or optical wire, tape or disc, or the like, for storing signals readable by a machine, for controlling the operation of a computer according to the method of the invention and/or to structure its components in accordance with the system of the invention. Further, each step of the method may be executed on any general computer, such as an IBM mainframe, PC or the like and pursuant to one or more, or a part of one or more, program elements, functions or objects generated from any programming language, such as C, C++, Java or the like. And still further, each said step, or a file or object or the like implementing each said step, may be executed by special purpose hardware or a circuit function designed for that purpose. Accordingly, the scope of protection of this invention is limited only by the following claims and their equivalents.