Methods and apparatus for providing access to a service

• US 10,084,766 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2015
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kreiner, Barrett, Reeves, Jonathan, Schaub, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Rashid, Harunur
• Application Number:
  US14/753,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20150304298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,184 Days
• Field of Search: 726 4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1845 broadcast or multicast in a specific location, e.g. geocast protocols for adapting network applications to user terminal location H04L67/52; services specially adapted for wireless communication networks making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/14 for detecting or protecting against malicious traffic

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing access to a service are disclosed. An example method includes analyzing a received request to verify a requesting device, the received request identifying multicast group memberships of the requesting device. Access is provided to the service in response to verifying the requesting device using the multicast group memberships.

Claims

1. A method of providing access to a service, the method comprising:

storing, in a storage device, a first list identifying multicast group memberships of a requesting device existing at a first time;

receiving, over a network and at a processor, a first network communication representing a request to access the service, the first network communication including a second list identifying multicast group memberships of the requesting device existing at a second time later than the first time;

in response to receiving the first network communication, retrieving the first list from the storage device based on an identifier in the first network communication;

authenticating, by executing an instruction with the processor, the requesting device based on a comparison of the first list identifying the multicast group memberships of the requesting device existing at the first time to the second list identifying the multicast group memberships of the requesting device existing at the second time;

transmitting a second network communication from the processor to allow access to the service in response to the authenticating of the requesting device; and

transmitting a third network communication from the processor in response to determining that the first list includes a multicast group membership that is not included in the second list, the third network communication to request additional credentials to authenticate the requesting device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time corresponds to a time at which the requesting device first accessed the service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein an identity of the requesting device is authenticated when the first list represents at least a subset of the second list.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising disallowing access to the service when the first list includes a multicast group membership that is not included in the second list.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to successful authentication of the additional credentials, updating the first list to remove the multicast group membership that is not included in the second list.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a first multicast group membership in the first list is associated with an attribute of the requesting device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the attribute is a geographic location of the requesting device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the geographic location is a prior geographic location of the requesting device, and the prior geographic location is at least one of a distribution center, a manufacturing location, or a point of sale.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the attribute is a model of the requesting device.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the first multicast group membership is an Internet Protocol version 6 multicast group.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including machine readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including;

transmitting, to a storage device, a first list identifying multicast group memberships of a requesting device existing at a first time;

receiving, over a network, a first network communication representing a request to access a service the first network communication including a second list identifying multicast group memberships of the requesting device existing at a second time later than the first time;

in response to receiving the first network communication, retrieving the first list from the storage device based on an identifier in the request;

authenticating the requesting device based on a comparison of the first list identifying the multicast group memberships of the requesting device existing at the first time to the second list identifying the multicast group memberships of the requesting device existing at the second time;

transmitting a second network communication to allow access to a service in response to the authenticating of the requesting device; and

transmitting a third network communication in response to determining that the first list includes a multicast group membership that is not included in the second list, the third network communication to request additional credentials to authenticate the requesting device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein an identity of the requesting device is authenticated when the first list represents at least a subset of the second list.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to disallow access to the service when the first list includes a multicast group membership that is not included in the second list.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to update the first list to remove the multicast group membership that is not included in the second list.

15. A tangible computer-readable medium including instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

storing, in a storage device, a first list identifying multicast group memberships of a requesting device corresponding to a first time;

receiving, over a network, a first network communication representing a request to access a service, the first network communication including a second list identifying multicast group memberships of the requesting device corresponding to a second time later than the first time;

in response to receiving the first network communication, retrieving the first list from the storage device based on an identifier in the request;

authenticating the requesting device based on a comparison of the multicast group memberships of the first list to the multicast group memberships of the second list;

transmitting a second network communication to allow access to a service in response to the authenticating of the requesting device; and

transmitting a third network communication in response to determining that the first list includes a multicast group membership that is not included in the second list, the third network communication to request additional credentials to authenticate the requesting device.

16. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first time corresponds to a time at which the requesting device first accessed the service.

17. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein an identity of the requesting device is verified when the multicast group memberships of the first list are at least a subset of the multicast group memberships of the second list.

18. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to disallow access to the service when the first list includes a multicast group membership that is not included in the second list.