Method and system for conditional acceptance to a group

• US 20050149443A1
• Filed: 01/05/2004
• Published: 07/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Torvinen, Marko
• Application Number:
  US10/751,664
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149443A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/71 using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/406 Transmission via wireless network, e.g. pager or GSM
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/558 by assessing the players' skills or ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 Transfer of terminal data

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method and system allows management of restricted group access based upon credentials associated with network terminals. Location information from a location server and capability information from a profile server may provide the credentials that are checked by an application server for compliance with predefined access requirements to the group. Additionally, performance during, for example, a gaming activity may provide performance related credentials that are required for access to performance related groups.

Claims

1. A method of managing group membership within a network using predefined access restrictions, comprising:

defining access restrictions associated with network group membership;

comparing credentials received from a prospective network group attendee to the predefined access restrictions; and

granting network group membership to the prospective network group attendee when credentials associated with the prospective network group attendee meets the predefined access restrictions.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein defining the access restrictions includes setting minimum capabilities required for the network group membership.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the minimum capabilities include any one or more of gaming capability and video streaming capability.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein comparing credentials comprises retrieving the capability information from a profile server associated with the prospective network group attendee.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein comparing credentials comprises retrieving location information from a location server associated with the prospective network group attendee.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the predefined access restrictions are met when a location of the prospective network group attendee is within a location area specified for the network group membership.

7. A group management system, comprising:

a plurality of mobile terminals wirelessly coupled to the group management system and adapted to request access to a restricted group;

an application server adapted to receive group access credentials associated with each of the plurality of mobile terminals and to compare the group access credentials to predefined access restrictions; and

a group management module arranged to update group membership in response to group membership messages received from the application server, wherein a mobile terminal is granted access to the restricted group if the group access credentials associated with the mobile terminal satisfy the predefined access restrictions.

8. The group management system according to claim 7, further comprising a profile server associated with the plurality of mobile terminals and adapted to provide capability information to the application server for each of the plurality of mobile terminals.

9. The group management system according to claim 8, wherein the capability information includes any one or more of video streaming and gaming capability.

10. The group management system according to claim 7, further comprising a location server associated with the plurality of mobile terminals and adapted to provide location information to the application server for each of the plurality of mobile terminals.

11. A mobile terminal capable of being wirelessly coupled to a network which includes a restricted access group, the mobile terminal comprising:

a memory capable of storing a group access module;

a processor coupled to the memory and configured by the group access module to submit access requests to the restricted access group; and

a transceiver configured to facilitate content exchange with the restricted access group, wherein credentials associated with the mobile terminal are compared to predefined access restrictions to qualify the mobile terminal for group membership.

12. The mobile terminal according to claim 11, further comprising a location definition module adapted to generate a region of interest to be used as one of the predefined access restrictions.

13. The mobile terminal according to claim 12, wherein the location definition module includes a global positioning system (GPS) module adapted to facilitate a location definition for the mobile terminal.

14. The mobile terminal according to claim 13, wherein the location definition module includes a mapping module adapted to generate map data associated with the current position of the mobile terminal and the region of interest.

15. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which are executable by a mobile terminal for accessing a restricted group by performing steps comprising:

generating an access request to the restricted group located on a network;

receiving a challenge in response to the access request;

providing a response to the challenge; and

receiving access rights to the restricted group when the response is validated by the network, wherein network access to credentials associated with the mobile terminal are used to determine the access rights of the mobile terminal.

16. The computer-readable medium according to claim 15, further comprising instructions to perform the step of generating the credentials associated with the mobile terminal.

17. The computer-readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the step of generating the credentials associated with the mobile terminal includes generating gaming capability information.

18. The computer-readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the step of generating the credentials associated with the mobile terminal includes generating video streaming capability information.

19. An application server capable of being coupled to a network to facilitate access to a restricted group, the application server comprising:

means for receiving requests from network elements to access the restricted group;

means for validating credentials associated with the network elements; and

means for granting access rights to the restricted groups in response to validation of the credentials of the network elements.

20. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which are executable by an application server by performing steps comprising:

receiving requests from network elements to access the restricted groups;

validating credentials associated with the network elements; and

granting access rights to the restricted groups in response to validation of the credentials of the network elements.

21. A method of granting access to a restricted group within a network, comprising:

monitoring activity of a terminal within the network;

offering restricted group access to the terminal when the activity of the terminal meets a predefined threshold; and

updating a group management module with membership changes to the restricted group when the terminal accepts membership to the restricted group.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein monitoring activity of the terminal includes monitoring a gaming activity executing on the terminal.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein meeting the predefined threshold includes earning at least a minimum score during execution of the gaming activity.