COMMUNICATION SESSION PERMISSIONS IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

• US 20100248691A1
• Filed: 03/09/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: LINDNER, MARK A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,565,727 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses and methods of determining whether to permit a call to an access terminal are disclosed. A second party is determined to be available for a communication session between a first party and the second party. Location information associated with a call permissions rule set is obtained, where the call permissions rule set includes at least one rule related to whether a communication session between the first and second parties is permissible. Further, at least one rule includes one or more location-based rules. Location information is obtained that is associated with the second party. Then, it is determined whether to permit the communication session based on the obtained location information associated with the call permissions rule set and the obtained location information associated with the second party.

Claims

1. A method of determining whether to permit a call to an access terminal, comprising:

determining that a second party is available for a communication session between a first party and the second party;

obtaining location information associated with a call permissions rule set, the call permissions rule set including at least one rule related to whether a communication session between the first and second parties is permissible, the at least one rule including one or more location-based rules;

obtaining location information associated with the second party; and

determining whether to permit the communication session based on the obtained location information associated with the call permissions rule set and the obtained location information associated with the second party.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication session is one or more of a call, a data transport session, a unicast communication, a multicast communication, a direct session and a group communication session including three or more potential session participants.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein the determining that the second party is available step is based on receiving a message at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from the received message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from a location database.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving one or more location updates from the second party that indicate location information associated with the second party; and

updating the location database based on the received location updates.

6. The method of claim 5,

wherein the determining that the second party is available step is based on receiving a message at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the received message includes a location update.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information associated with the call permissions rule set corresponds to location criteria that is required to determine whether the at least one rule of the call permissions rule set is satisfied.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining whether to permit the communication session step compares the location information associated with the call permissions rule set with the location information associated with the second party to determine whether to permit the communication session.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information associated with the second party includes one or more of a geographic coordinate of the second party, a building indicator at which the second party is located, or a geographic range that includes the second party and an address at which the second party is located.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information associated with the call permissions rule set includes one or more of a geographic coordinate, a building indicator, or a geographic range and an address.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule indicates either to block or permit the communication session based on whether at least one criterion is satisfied.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the call permissions rule set includes at least one rule that is not based on location.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more location-based rules include conditions related to second party position that, if met, result in the determining whether to permit the communication session step determining to block or permit the call.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more location-based rules include at least one non-location criterion.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the non-location criterion is time-based.

16. The method of claim 1,

wherein the determining that the second party is available step is based on receiving a message at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the received message is a call announce message received at the first party.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the receiving, obtaining and determining steps are performed at the first party.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the received message originates from an application server.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the received message is configured by the application server to convey the location information associated with the second party to the first party.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

automatically accepting the communication session if the determining whether to permit the communication session step determines to permit the communication session.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

prompting a user to indicate whether the communication session is accepted if the determining whether to permit the communication session step determines to permit the communication session.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

blocking the communication session such that the communication session is not accepted if the determining whether to permit the communication session step determines not to permit the communication session.

23. The method of claim 1,

wherein the determining that the second party is available step is based on receiving a message at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the received message is a call message received from the second party at an application server.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the receiving, obtaining and determining steps are performed at the application server.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the call permissions rule set is received from the first party before the receiving step receives the message.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

transmitting an announce message that announces the communication session to the first party if the determining whether to permit the communication session step determines to permit the communication session.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

blocking a transmission of an announce message that announces the communication session to the first party if the determining whether to permit the communication session step determines not to permit the communication session.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication session corresponds to a call, the first party corresponds to a called party and the second party corresponds to a calling party.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication session corresponds to a call, the first party corresponds to a calling party and the second party corresponds to a called party.

30. A method of conveying location information of one or more potential session participants to a communication session, comprising:

receiving a request to initiate a communication session with at least a first party;

determining location information associated with a second party;

generating a message for announcing the communication session to at least the first party;

configuring the message to include the determined location information; and

sending the configured message to at least the first party.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the communication session is one or more of a call, a data transport session, a unicast communication, a multicast communication, a direct session and a group communication session including three or more potential session participants.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the communication session corresponds to a call, the first party corresponds to a called party and the second party corresponds to a calling party.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the communication session corresponds to a group communication session that includes three or more potential session participants, and the second party corresponds to a session participant other than an originator of the communication session from which the receiving step receives the request.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the received request is a call request message, and the generated message corresponds to a call announce message.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the determining step extracts the location information from the call request message, or from one or more location update messages.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein the receiving, determining, generating, configuring and sending steps are each performed at an application server.

37. An apparatus for determining whether to permit a call to an access terminal, comprising:

means for determining that a second party is available for a communication session between a first party and the second party;

means for obtaining location information associated with a call permissions rule set, the call permissions rule set including at least one rule related to whether a communication session between the first and second parties is permissible, the at least one rule including one or more location-based rules;

means for obtaining location information associated with the second party; and

means for determining whether to permit the communication session based on the obtained location information associated with the call permissions rule set and the obtained location information associated with the second party.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the communication session is one or more of a call, a data transport session, a unicast communication, a multicast communication, a direct session or a group communication session including three or more potential session participants.

39. The apparatus of claim 37,

wherein the means for determining that the second party is available uses a message received at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from the received message.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from a location database.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising:

means for receiving one or more location updates from the second party that indicate location information associated with the second party; and

means for updating the location database based on the received location updates.

42. The apparatus of claim 41,

wherein the means for determining that the second party is available uses a message received at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the received message includes a location update.

43. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the location information associated with the call permissions rule set corresponds to location criteria that is used to determine whether the at least one rule of the call permissions rule set is satisfied.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the means for determining whether to permit the communication session includes means for comparing the location information associated with the call permissions rule set with the location information associated with the second party to determine whether to permit the communication session.

45. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the location information associated with the second party includes one or more of a geographic coordinate of the second party, a building indicator at which the second party is located, or a geographic range that includes the second party and an address at which the second party is located.

46. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations for determining whether to permit a call to an access terminal, the instructions comprising:

instructions to determine that a second party is available for a communication session between a first party and the second party;

instructions to obtain location information associated with a call permissions rule set, the call permissions rule set including at least one rule related to whether a communication session between the first and second parties is permissible, the at least one rule including one or more location-based rules;

instructions to obtain location information associated with the second party; and

instructions to determine whether to permit the communication session based on the obtained location information associated with the call permissions rule set and the obtained location information associated with the second party.

47. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 46, wherein the communication session is one or more of a call, a data transport session, a unicast communication, a multicast communication, a direct session or a group communication session including three or more potential session participants.

48. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 46,

wherein the instruction to determine that the second party is available uses a message received at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from the received message.

49. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 48, wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from a location database.

50. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 49, further comprising:

instructions to receive one or more location updates from the second party that indicate location information associated with the second party; and

instructions to update the location database based on the received location updates.

51. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 50,

instructions to determine that the second party is available uses a message received at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the received message includes a location update.

52. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 46, wherein the location information associated with the call permissions rule set corresponds to location criteria that is used to determine whether the at least one rule of the call permissions rule set is satisfied.

53. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 52, wherein the instructions to determine whether to permit the communication session includes instructions to compare the location information associated with the call permissions rule set with the location information associated with the second party to determine whether to permit the communication session.

54. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 46, wherein the location information associated with the second party includes one or more of a geographic coordinate of the second party, a building indicator at which the second party is located, or a geographic range that includes the second party and an address at which the second party is located.

55. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 46, wherein the location information associated with the call permissions rule set includes one or more of a geographic coordinate, a building indicator, or a geographic range and an address.

56. An apparatus for determining whether to permit a call to an access terminal, comprising:

logic configured to determine that a second party is available for a communication session between a first party and the second party;

logic configured to obtain location information associated with a call permissions rule set, the call permissions rule set including at least one rule related to whether a communication session between the first and second parties is permissible, the at least one rule including one or more location-based rules;

logic configured to obtain location information associated with the second party; and

logic configured to determine whether to permit the communication session based on the obtained location information associated with the call permissions rule set and the obtained location information associated with the second party.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the communication session is one or more of a call, a data transport session, a unicast communication, a multicast communication, a direct session or a group communication session including three or more potential session participants.

58. The apparatus of claim 56,

wherein the instructions to determine that the second party is available uses a message received at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from the received message.

59. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein the location information associated with the second party is obtained from a location database.

60. The apparatus of claim 59, further comprising:

logic configured to receive one or more location updates from the second party that indicate location information associated with the second party; and

logic configured to update the location database based on the received location updates.

61. The apparatus of claim 60,

logic configured to determine that the second party is available uses a message received at the first party that indicates that the second party is available for the communication session, and

wherein the received message includes a location update.

62. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the location information associated with the call permissions rule set corresponds to location criteria that is used to determine whether the at least one rule of the call permissions rule set is satisfied.

63. The apparatus of claim 62, wherein the logic configured to determine whether to permit the communication session includes logic configured to compare the location information associated with the call permissions rule set with the location information associated with the second party to determine whether to permit the communication session.

64. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the location information associated with the second party includes one or more of a geographic coordinate of the second party, a building indicator at which the second party is located, or a geographic range that includes the second party and an address at which the second party is located.

65. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the location information associated with the call permissions rule set includes one or more of a geographic coordinate, a building indicator, or a geographic range and an address.

66. An apparatus for conveying location information of one or more potential session participants to a communication session, comprising:

means for receiving a request to initiate a communication session with at least a first party;

means for determining location information associated with a second party;

means for generating a message for announcing the communication session to at least the first party;

means for configuring the message to include the determined location information; and

means for sending the configured message to at least the first party.

67. An apparatus for conveying location information of one or more potential session participants to a communication session, comprising:

logic configured to receive a request to initiate a communication session with at least a first party;

logic configured to determine location information associated with a second partY;

logic configured to generate a message for announcing the communication session to at least the first party;

logic configured to configure the message to include the determined location information; and

logic configured to send the configured message to at least the first party.

68. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations for conveying location information of one or more potential session participants to a communication session, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive a request to initiate a communication session with at least a first party;

instructions to determine location information associated with a second party;

instructions to generate a message for announcing the communication session to at least the first party;

instructions to configure the message to include the determined location information; and

instructions to send the configured message to at least the first party.