Reliable Reporting Of Location Data

• US 20110225626A1
• Filed: 05/23/2011
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deepak J. Manohar, Farid Adrangi, Manoj R. Sastry, Michael J. Covington, Shao-Cheng Wang
• Original Assignee: Deepak J. Manohar, Farid Adrangi, Manoj R. Sastry, Michael J. Covington, Shao-Cheng Wang
• Inventors: Manohar, Deepak J., Wang, Shao-Cheng, Adrangi, Farid, Covington, Michael J., Sastry, Manoj R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,804,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1053 IP private branch exchange [PBX] functionality entities or arrangements circuit switched PBXs H04M3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

A machine, such as a mobile device having telephony features, such as a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony application, is configured with a secure environment in which a location provider within (more reliable) or external to (less reliable) the machine may determine location data for the machine and securely provide it to a telephony application program for incorporation into a call setup for calling a callee. The secure environment may be created through use of one or more of Intel'"'"'s LaGrande Technology™ (LT), Vanderpool Technology (VT), or a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The LT and VT allow defining secure independent components within the machine, such as by instantiating them as Virtual Machines, and the TPM allows components to cryptographically sign data, such as to facilitate ensuring the location data is not tampered with. A recipient of a telephone call setup including cryptographically secured location data may validate the location data and accept the call. Other embodiments may be described.

Claims

1. A method for reliably providing user identification, comprising:

providing a first virtual machine hosting a user application and a local policy store storing user policies constraining operation of the user application;

providing a second virtual machine hosting a trusted mediator for mediating access to resources providing confidential data including the user identification;

checking the local policy store for a preventive policy precluding providing the confidential data along with establishing a data connection to a data recipient;

if no preventive policy, initiating the data connection including requesting the trusted mediator obtain the confidential data for establishing the data connection; and

receiving by the trusted mediator a first cryptographically signed confidential data from a trusted source, and responsive thereto, providing a second cryptographically signed confidential data to the application program.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cryptographically signed confidential data is the same as the second cryptographically signed confidential data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second cryptographically signed confidential data comprises a secondary signing by the trusted mediator of the first cryptographically signed confidential data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a eavesdrop-resistant inter-virtual machine communication channel communicatively coupling the first and second virtual machines.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidential data is location data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising making the location data less specific based on the preventative policy.

7. An article of manufacture comprising a tangible and non-transitory machine-readable medium having one or more associated instructions for reliably providing location data, wherein the one or more instructions, if executed, results in a machine performing operations including:

providing a first virtual machine hosting a user application and a local policy store storing user policies constraining operation of the user application;

providing a second virtual machine hosting a trusted mediator for mediating access to resources providing confidential data including the user identification;

checking the local policy store for a preventive policy precluding providing the confidential data along with establishing a data connection to a data recipient;

if no preventive policy, initiating the data connection including requesting the trusted mediator obtain the confidential data for establishing the data connection; and

receiving by the trusted mediator a first cryptographically signed confidential data from a trusted source, and responsive thereto, providing a second cryptographically signed confidential data to the application program.

8. The article of claim 7, wherein the first cryptographically signed confidential data is the same as the second cryptographically signed confidential data.

9. The article of claim 7, wherein the second cryptographically signed confidential data comprises a secondary signing by the trusted mediator of the first cryptographically signed confidential data.

10. The article of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprising providing a eavesdrop-resistant inter-virtual machine communication channel communicatively coupling the first and second virtual machines.

11. The article of claim 7, wherein the confidential data is location data.

12. The article of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprising making the location data less specific based on the preventative policy.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a local policy store configured to store user policies of a user application, wherein the user application and the local policy store reside in a first virtual machine, and

wherein the user application is configured to establish a data connection with a data recipient; and

a trusted mediator reside in a second virtual machine, and configured to;

mediate resources access from the user application;

check the local policy store for a preventive policy that precludes access of confidential data in conjunction with the data connection;

if no preventative policy, obtain the confidential data, and initiate the data connection;

receive a first cryptographically signed confidential data from a trusted source; and

provide a second cryptographically signed confidential data to the user application.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first cryptographically signed confidential data is the same as the second cryptographically signed confidential data.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second cryptographically signed confidential data comprises a secondary signing by the trusted mediator of the first cryptographically signed confidential data.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a eavesdrop-resistant inter-virtual machine communication channel communicatively coupling the first and second virtual machines.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the confidential data is location data.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the trusted mediator is further configured to make the location data less specific based on the preventative policy.