Location Restricted Content Delivery Over a Network

• US 20110077026A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Partridge, Ian, Cousins, David, Renshaw, Dave, Taylor, Andrew, Pilkington, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 8,744,486 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

A method for delivering content to a requesting device over a content delivery network, the content being deliverable in only one or more restricted geographic regions and the requesting device being communicatively connected to a cellular communications service provider via a cellular communications network, the method comprising steps of: receiving a network identifier of the requesting device uniquely identifying the requesting device in the cellular communications network; transmitting a verification message over the cellular communications network for receipt by the requesting device; receiving, from the requesting device, an access control submission; receiving, from the cellular communications service provider, location information corresponding to a geographic location of the requesting device; and in response to a determination that the access control submission derives from the transmitted verification message and the location information indicates the requesting device is in one of the one or more restricted geographic regions, delivering the content to the requesting device. An apparatus and computer program element for providing such content delivery are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for delivering content to a requesting device over a content delivery network, the content being deliverable in only one or more restricted geographic regions and the requesting device being communicatively coupled to a cellular communications service provider via a cellular communications network, the method comprising steps of:

receiving a network identifier of the requesting device uniquely identifying the requesting device in the cellular communications network;

transmitting a verification message over the cellular communications network using the network identifier for receipt by the requesting device;

receiving, from the requesting device, an access control submission;

receiving, from the cellular communications service provider, location information corresponding to a geographic location of the requesting device; and

in response to a determination that the access control submission derives from the transmitted verification message and the location information indicates the requesting device is in one of the one or more restricted geographic regions, delivering the content to the requesting device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the verification message is a secret shared with the cellular communications service provider, and the location information is received from the cellular communications service provider in the access control submission via the requesting device, and wherein the location information and the verification message are encrypted by the cellular communications service provider using a public key corresponding to a private key for a provider of the content.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the location information is received from the cellular communications service provider in the access control submission via the requesting device, and wherein the location information is encrypted by the cellular communications network using a public key corresponding to a private key for a provider of the content, and wherein the encrypted location information is signed by the cellular communications service provider using a digital signature.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the network identifier is one of a telephone number and a network address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the verification message is received by the requesting device as a short message service (SMS) message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information is determined by the cellular communications service provider as a cell location for a cell in the cellular communications network within which the requesting device is communicating.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the access control submission derives from the transmitted verification message includes a determination that the access control submission includes the verification message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content delivery network is provided by the cellular communications network.

15. A computer program element comprising computer program code stored thereon to, when loaded into a computer system and executed thereon, cause the computer to perform the steps of the method as claimed in claim 1.

9. An apparatus for delivering content to a requesting device over a content delivery network, the content being deliverable in only one or more restricted geographic regions and the requesting device being communicatively coupled to a cellular communications service provider via a cellular communications network, the apparatus comprising:

a central processor unit (CPU), a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to receive a network identifier of the requesting device uniquely identifying the requesting device in the cellular communications network;

second program instructions to transmit a verification message over the cellular communications network using the network identifier for receipt by the requesting device;

third program instructions to receive, from the requesting device, an access control submission;

fourth program instructions to receive, from the cellular communications service provider, location information corresponding to a geographic location of the requesting device; and

fifth program instructions, in response to a determination that the access control submission derives from the transmitted verification message and the location information indicates the requesting device is in one of the one or more restricted geographic regions, to deliver the content to the requesting device; and

wherein

the first, second, third, fourth and fifth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the verification message is a secret shared with the cellular communications service provider, and the location information is received from the cellular communications service provider in the access control submission via the requesting device, and wherein the location information and the verification message are encrypted by the cellular communications service provider using a public key corresponding to a private key for a provider of the content.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the location information is received from the cellular communications service provider in the access control submission via the requesting device, and wherein the location information is encrypted by the cellular communications network using a public key corresponding to a private key for a provider of the content, and wherein the encrypted location information is signed by the cellular communications service provider using a digital signature.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the network identifier is one of a telephone number and a network address.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the verification message is received by the requesting device as a short message service (SMS) message.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the content delivery network is provided by the cellular communications network.