Servers and Methods for Controlling Group Management
First Claim
1. A group server suitable for managing groups, contact lists or access lists of users, each user being a subscriber of a network operator, the group server comprising:
- (a) a first protocol front-end for communication with the user and suitable for managing at least one element selected from;
user groups, user contact lists and user access lists;
(b) a second protocol front-end suitable for communication with a subscriber server of the network operator for the purpose of correlating group profiles in the group server with user profiles in the subscriber server; and
(c) a group evaluator module for checking whether the user, depending on group and user profiles, is allowed to, or barred from, creating, deleting, modifying, or being a member of at least one element selected from;
a user group, a user access list and a user contact list.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention addresses the management of user groups, user contact lists, and user access lists in a telecom-communication system whereby a user access to a group and list management server for creating, deleting or modifying a group, contact list and access list in terms of group policies and members. User groups, user contact lists, and user access lists are operated without any validation other than being syntactically correct, and without taking into consideration the users access capabilities, the users privacy, and even the user existence. In particular, the telecommunication system may comprise a number of networks operated by different network operators where the users hold subscriptions. The present invention offers a new interface between a group management server and a subscriber server of a network operator where the users hold their subscriptions, so that user policies in the subscriber server govern operations on groups, contact lists and access lists.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A group server suitable for managing groups, contact lists or access lists of users, each user being a subscriber of a network operator, the group server comprising:
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(a) a first protocol front-end for communication with the user and suitable for managing at least one element selected from;
user groups, user contact lists and user access lists;
(b) a second protocol front-end suitable for communication with a subscriber server of the network operator for the purpose of correlating group profiles in the group server with user profiles in the subscriber server; and
(c) a group evaluator module for checking whether the user, depending on group and user profiles, is allowed to, or barred from, creating, deleting, modifying, or being a member of at least one element selected from;
a user group, a user access list and a user contact list. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A subscriber server holding subscriber data for a subscriber of a network operator, and suitable for providing the subscriber data to a network entity wherein the subscriber is a user, the subscriber server comprising:
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(a) a first protocol front-end for communication with the network entity; and
characterized by including;
(b) a second protocol front-end suitable for communication with a group server of user groups, user contact lists or user access lists, and for the purpose of correlating user profiles in the subscriber server with group profiles in the group server; and
(c) a user evaluator module for checking whether the user, depending on group and user profiles, is allowed to, or barred from, creating, deleting, modifying, or being a member of at least one element selected from;
a user group, a user access list and a user contact list. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of controlling in a group server the management of user groups, user contact lists or user access lists for a user, the groups, contact lists and access lists including a number of users, each user being subscriber of a network operator, the method including the steps of:
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(a) receiving from the user an operation request intended to operate on at least one element selected from;
a user group, a user access list and a user contact list, the operation being selected from;
creating, deleting, and modifying the at least one selected element;
(b) correlating a group profile corresponding to the at least one selected element in the group server with at least one user profile obtainable from a subscriber server of the network operator; and
(c) checking whether the user, depending on group and user profiles, is allowed to, or barred from, creating, deleting, modifying, or being a member of the at least one selected element. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of controlling from a subscriber server the management in a group server of user groups, user contact lists and user access lists for a user, the user being a subscriber of a network operator, the method comprising:
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(a) holding subscriber data for the user in the subscriber server of the network operator;
(b) correlating at least one user profile in the subscriber server with a group profile obtainable from the groupserver; and
(c) checking whether the user, depending on group and user profiles, is allowed to, or barred from, creating, deleting, modifying, or being a member of at least one element selected from;
a user group, a user access list and a user contact list. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification