Implicit access for communications pathway

• US 20040128540A1
• Filed: 12/31/2002
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roskind, James A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,263,614 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks

Abstract

Communication applications may include lists of users with which a user of the application communicates. If two users of a communications application each include the other user on their user lists, an implicit trust may be established between the users. For example, if user A includes user B in her list and user B includes user A in his list, then it may be determined that each user knows and/or trusts the other user. As a result, a connection or communications pathway may be automatically created between the client devices of the users to facilitate communications between the users based on the implicit trust.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining that a first user is included on a user list associated with a communications application of a second user;

determining that the second user is included on a user list of a communications application associated with the first user; and

establishing a communications pathway between a first client device associated with the first user and a second client device associated with the second user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing the communications pathway includes establishing a virtual private network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the communications application is an instant messaging application such that determining that the first and second users are included on user lists includes accessing the instant messaging application.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing the communications pathway includes providing an Internet protocol address of the first client device to the second client device.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein establishing the communications pathway includes providing an Internet protocol address of the second client device to the first client device.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein establishing the communications pathway includes:

providing a shared secret to the first and second client devices,

sending a communication to the Internet protocol address of the second client device, the communication including the shared secret, and

validating the identity of the first client device based on the shared secret included in the communication.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending an initial message from the first client device to the second client device, wherein establishing the communications pathway includes determining that a source Internet protocol address for the message received from the first client device is different from the Internet protocol address of the first client device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising determining that the source Internet protocol address of the message received from the first client device is a global Internet protocol address, and the Internet protocol address of the first client device is a local Internet protocol address.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein establishing the communications pathway includes providing the Internet protocol address of the second client device to the first client device, providing a shared secret to the first and second client devices, sending a communication including the shared secret to the Internet protocol address of the second client device, and validating the identity of the first client device using the shared secret.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing the communications pathway includes establishing a hole in a firewall associated with the first client device for an Internet protocol address associated with the second client device.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising determining that a direct communications pathway between the first client device and the second client device may not be established.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein establishing the hole includes:

requesting creation of a proxy forward,

selecting a port number of the firewall,

providing the port number and Internet protocol address of the firewall to the second client device, and

establishing the proxy forward for the Internet protocol address associated with the second client device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein establishing the communications pathway further includes:

providing a shared secret to the first and second client devices,

contacting by the second client device the Internet protocol address associated with the firewall,

presenting the shared secret,

validating the identity of the second client device using the shared secret, and

establishing the communications pathway.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein requesting the proxy forward includes:

selecting a target Internet protocol address and a port number of the firewall associated with the first client device,

providing the target Internet protocol address to a host,

sending the target Internet protocol address from the host to the second client device,

sending an Internet protocol address associated with the second client device to the host,

providing the Internet protocol address associated with the second client device to the firewall associated with the first client device, and

enabling the proxy forward for the Internet protocol address associated with the second client device.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein providing the Internet protocol address associated with the second client device includes providing the Internet protocol address of a firewall associated with the second client device.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein establishing the communications pathway includes receiving a contact from the firewall associated with the second client device at the target Internet protocol address and port number of the firewall associated with the first client device.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that the first user is included in the user list of a communications application of a second user includes determining if a screen name associated with the first user is included in the user list of the second user.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein determining that the second user is included in the user list of the communications application of the first user determining if a screen name associated with the second user is included in the user list of the first user.

19. A communications system comprising:

a first client device associated with a first user and including a communications application;

a second client associated with a second user and including the communications application; and

a host to determine that the first user is included on a user list of the communications application of the second client device, and to determine that the second user is included on a user list of the communications application of the first client device, and to establish a communications pathway between the first client device and the second client device based on the determinations of the host.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the communications pathway comprises a virtual private network.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the host is configured to provide an Internet protocol address of the first client device to the second client device.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the host is configured to provide an Internet protocol address of the second client device to the first client device.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the host is configured to provide a shared secret to the first and second client devices, the first client device is configured to contact the Internet protocol address of the second client device and present the shared secret, and the second client device is configured to validate the identity of the first client device based on the shared secret.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein the first client device is configured to send a message to the second client device using the communications application and the host is configured to receive the message and to determine that the Internet protocol address of the message is different from the Internet protocol address of the first client device.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein Internet protocol address of the message is a global Internet protocol address and the Internet protocol address of the first client device is a local Internet protocol address.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the host is configured to provide the Internet protocol address of the second client device to the first client device and to provide a shared secret to the first and second client devices, the first client device is configured to contact the Internet protocol address of the second client device and present the shared secret, and the second client device is configured to validate the identity of the first user device.

27. The system of claim 19 wherein the host is configured to determine a direct communications pathway between first client device and the second client device may not be established.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the first client device is configured to request creation of a hole in a firewall associated with the first device for an Internet protocol address associated with the second device.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the first device is configured to receive a proxy forward from the firewall in response to the request and a port number and Internet protocol address of the firewall.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the proxy forward is created for the Internet protocol address associated with the second device.

31. The system of claim 29 wherein the second client device is configured to contact the Internet protocol address associated with the firewall and to present the shared secret, and the first client device is configured to validate the identity of the second client device and to negotiate details of the communications pathway with the second client device.

32. The system of claim 28 wherein the first client device is configured to receive a target Internet protocol address and a port number in response to the request from the firewall, the first client device is configured to provide the target Internet protocol address to the host, the host is configured to provide the target Internet protocol address to the second client device, the second client devices is configured to send an IP address associated with the second client device to the host, the host is configured to provide the Internet protocol address associated with the second IP device to the firewall, and the first client device is configured to receive the proxy forward for the Internet protocol address associated with the second client device.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the Internet protocol address associated with the second device is an IP address of a firewall associated with the second client device.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the second client device is configured through its associated firewall to contact the firewall associated with the first client device at the target Internet protocol address and port number to establish the communications pathway.

35. The system of claim 19 wherein the host is configured to determine that a screen name associated with the first user is included in the user list of the second user.

36. The system of claim 19 wherein the host is configured to determine that a screen name of the second user is included on the user list of the first user.

37. The system of claim 19 wherein the communications application is an instant messaging application.

38. The system of claim 19 wherein the first client device include an interface to receive gaming device signals, the second client device includes an interface to receive gaming device signals, and the communications pathway is configured to exchange the gaming device signals.

39. A host system comprising:

an interface to receive a communication from a first client device associated with a first user and to transmit a communication to a second client device associated with a second user;

storage to store a user list associated with the first user and to store a user list associated with the second user; and

a host to determine an identifier of the first user and an identifier of the second user associated with a received message, to determine if the first user list includes the second user identifier, to determine if the second user list includes the first user identifier, and to facilitate establishing a communications pathway between the first and second client devices when the second user identifier is included on the first user list and the first user identifier is included on the second user list.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the communications pathway is a virtual private network.

41. The system of claim 39 wherein the host is configured to provide an internet protocol address of the first client device to the second client device.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the host is configured to provide an Internet protocol address of the second client device to the first client device.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the host is configured to provide a shared secret to the first and second client devices to provide for validation of the identities of the first and second client devices.

44. The system of claim 39 wherein the host is configured to determine that the Internet protocol address of the message is different from the Internet protocol address of the first client device.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the Internet protocol address of the message is a global Internet protocol address and the Internet protocol address of the first client device is a local Internet protocol address.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the host is configured to determine a direct communications pathway between fist client device and the second client device may not be established.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the host is configured to receive a communication from the first client device including a target Internet protocol address and a port number of a firewall associated with the first client device, to provide the target Internet protocol address to the second client device, to receive an Internet protocol address associated with the second client device, and provide the second user Internet protocol address to the first client device to enable creation of a proxy forward to first client device for the second client device Internet protocol address.

48. The system of claim 47 wherein the second client device Internet protocol address is an Internet protocol address of a firewall associated with the second client device.

49. The system of claim 39 wherein the identifiers of the first and second users are screen names.

50. The system of claim 39 wherein the host is configured to provide the Internet protocol address of the second client device to the first client device and to provide a shared secret to the first and second client devices to facilitate establishing the communications pathway.

51. The system of claim 39 wherein the host is configured to determine a direct communications pathway between first client device and the second client device may not be established.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein the host is configured to receive a communication from the first client device including a target Internet protocol address and a port number of a firewall associated with the first client device, to provide the target Internet protocol address to the second client device, to receive an Internet protocol address associated with the second client device, and to provide the second client device Internet protocol address to the first client device to enable creation of a proxy forward to first client device for the second client device Internet protocol address.

53. The system of claim 52 wherein the second client device Internet protocol address is an Internet protocol address of a firewall associated with the second client device.