ACCOUNT LINKAGE IN MACHINE-TO-MACHINE SCENARIOS

• US 20140045454A1
• Filed: 04/28/2011
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Monjas Llorente, Miguel Angel, Canales Valenzuela, Carolina
• Granted Patent: US 9,396,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/308 using the Internet of Things
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3229 Use of the SIM of a M-device as secure element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/48 using secure binding, e.g. securely binding identity modules to devices, services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Upon a user switching-on an appliance with an appliance SIM card of a home telecommunication network, the appliance attaches to the home telecommunication network. The user sets the appliance for association of the user with the appliance. The appliance requests a token to the home telecommunication network. The request includes an appliance identifier of the card. An Identity Linking Function server of the home telecommunication network generates the token, associates the token and the appliance identifier of the card, and provides the token. The user registers a user name and password. The appliance media site server creates a user account for the user with the user name and password. The user submits an identifier of the home telecommunication network, and the appliance media site server redirects the user towards the home telecommunication network with information for further return.

Claims

1. A method of associating an appliance with an appliance user at respective appliance media site and home telecommunication network, the method comprising:

upon a user switching-on an appliance with an appliance SIM card of a home telecommunication network, the appliance attaching to the home telecommunication network;

the user setting the appliance for association of the user with the appliance;

the appliance requesting a token to the home telecommunication network for the association of the user with the appliance, the request including an appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

an Identity Linking Function server of the home telecommunication network generating the token, associating the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card, and providing the token to the appliance;

the user accessing an appliance media site server, through a terminal equipment, and registering a user name and password to initiate a user account in the appliance media site server;

the appliance media site server creating a user account for the user with the user name and password;

the user submitting, through the terminal equipment, an identifier of the home telecommunication network to the appliance media site server, and the appliance media site server redirecting the user towards the home telecommunication network with information for further return;

upon redirection to the home telecommunication network, the user providing through the terminal equipment the token as user identification;

the Identity Linking Function server retrieving the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card associated with the token, and redirecting the user back to the appliance media site server with the retrieved appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card; and

the appliance media site server associating the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card with the user account in the appliance media site server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the setting of the appliance for association of the user with the appliance is carried out by selecting a corresponding option by the user in a user interface unit of the appliance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user submitting the identifier of the home telecommunication network to the appliance media site server is responsive to the appliance media site server requesting the user to identify the home telecommunication network, upon detecting there is no appliance associated with the user account in the appliance media site server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user submitting the identifier of the home telecommunication network to the appliance media site server is carried out along with the user registering the user name and password to create a user account in the appliance media site server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating of the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card includes storing the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card in a storage accessible to the Identity Linking Function server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the token at the Identity Linking Function server comprises generating a time-stamp, and the associating of the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card comprises associating the time-stamp with the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the associating of the token, the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card and the time stamp comprises storing the token, the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card and the time-stamp in a storage accessible to the Identity Linking Function server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying at the Identity Linking Function server whether the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card corresponds to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the redirecting of the user back to the appliance media site server includes deleting the token and any association thereof from the Identity Linking Function server.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising, upon expiry of the time-stamp, deleting the token and any association thereof from the Identity Linking Function server.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the user submitting to the home telecommunications network, through a terminal equipment with a user SIM card of the home telecommunication network, the token along with a request for association of the appliance with a user subscription corresponding to the user SIM card, the request including a user identifier of the user SIM card; and

the Identity Linking Function server retrieving the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card associated with the token, associating the user identifier of the user SIM card with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card, and confirming back to the user the association of the appliance and the user subscription.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the user setting the appliance for association of the user with the appliance;

the appliance requesting a token to the home telecommunication network for the association of the user with the appliance, the request including an appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

the Identity Linking Function server of the home telecommunication network generating the token, associating the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card, and providing the token to the appliance;

the user submitting to the home telecommunications network, through a terminal equipment with a user SIM card of the home telecommunication network, the token along with a request for association of the appliance with a user subscription corresponding to the user SIM card, the request including a user identifier of the user SIM card; and

the Identity Linking Function server retrieving the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card associated with the token, associating the user identifier of the user SIM card with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card, and confirming back to the user the association of the appliance and the user subscription.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the confirming back to the user the association of the appliance and the user subscription includes deleting the token and any association thereof from the Identity Linking Function server.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the appliance media site server submitting a charging event with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card towards the home telecommunication network;

a billing function server of the home telecommunication network querying the Identity Linking Function server about a user subscription associated with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

the Identity Linking Function server retrieving the user identifier of the user SIM card associated with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card and providing the user identifier of the user SIM card to the billing function server; and

the billing function server charging a user charging record for the user identified by the user identifier of the user SIM card with the charging event received from the appliance media site server.

15. An Identity Linking Function (ILF) server of a home telecommunication network for associating an appliance with its user at respective appliance media site and home telecommunication network, the ILF server comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a request, which is originated from an appliance with an appliance SIM card of the home telecommunication network, requesting a token for association of the user with the appliance, the request including an appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

a generator configured to generate the token;

a processing unit configured to associate the token with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

a sender configured to provide the token to the appliance;

the receiver being configured to receive, through a terminal equipment in use by the user, the token as user identification, along with information indicating a return redirection;

the processing unit being configured to retrieve the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card associated with the token; and

the sender being configured to use the information indicating the return redirection for redirecting the user with the retrieved appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card towards the return redirection.

16. The ILF server of claim 15, wherein

the receiver is configured to receive the token from the user, through a terminal equipment with a user SIM card of the home telecommunication network, along with a request for association of the appliance with a user subscription corresponding to the user SIM card, the request including a user identifier of the user SIM card;

the processing unit is configured to retrieve the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card associated with the token and for associating the user identifier of the user SIM card with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card; and

the sender is configured to confirm back to the user the association of the appliance and the user subscription.

17. The ILF server of claim 15, further comprising storage configured to store the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card.

18. The ILF server of claim 15, wherein the generator is configured to generate a time-stamp, and the processing unit is configured to associate the time-stamp with the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card.

19. The ILF server of claim 15, wherein the processing unit is configured to verify that the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card corresponds to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) connection.

20. The ILF server of claim 15, wherein:

the receiver is configured to receive a query from a billing function server of the home telecommunication network about a user subscription associated with the appliance identified by the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

the processing unit is configured to retrieve the user identifier of the user SIM card associated with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card; and

the sender is configured to provide the user identifier of the user SIM card to the billing function server.

21. An appliance configured to access an appliance media site for submitting information to be stored therein at disposal of a user of the appliance, the appliance comprising:

a SIM card reader configured to read an appliance identifier from an appliance SIM card of a home telecommunication network;

a setting unit for a user setting the appliance for association of the user with the appliance;

a requester, which is responsive to the user setting, configured to request a token to the home telecommunication network for the association of the user with the appliance, the request including the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

a receiver configured to receive the token from an Identity Linking Function server of the home telecommunication network; and

a user interface unit configured to present the token to the user.

22. The appliance of claim 21, wherein the setting unit is configured to allow a user to select an option in the user interface unit of the appliance for setting the appliance.

23. An appliance media site (AMS) server for storing appliance information and for servicing users of appliances, the AMS server comprising:

a user interface unit for a user, who accesses the AMS server through a terminal equipment, configured to register a user name and password to initiate a user account in the AMS server;

a processing unit configured to create the user account with the username and password;

the user interface unit configured to receive an identifier of a home telecommunication network;

a redirection unit configured to redirect the user towards the home telecommunication network with information for further return, and to receive the user back to the AMS server with an appliance identifier of an appliance SIM card from the home telecommunication network; and

the processing unit configured to associate the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card with the user account.

24. The AMS server of claim 23, wherein the user interface unit is configured to request the user to identify the home telecommunication network, upon the processing unit detecting there is no appliance identifier associated with the user account.

25. The AMS server of claim 23, further comprising:

a charging unit configured to generate a charging event incurred by at least one of;

the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM and the user account; and

a sender configured to submit the charging event with the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card towards the home telecommunication network.

26. The AMS server of claim 23, further comprising storage configured to store the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card associated with the user name and password per user account basis.

27. A computer program, loadable into an internal memory of a computer with input and output units and a processing unit, the computer program comprising executable code, which when executed by the processing unit, causes the processing unit to:

upon a user switching-on an appliance with an appliance SIM card of a home telecommunication network, cause the appliance to attach to the home telecommunication network, the user setting the appliance for association of the user with the appliance;

request a token to the home telecommunication network for the association of the user with the appliance, the request including an appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card;

an Identity Linking Function server of the home telecommunication network generating the token, associate the token and the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card, and provide the token to the appliance, the user accessing an appliance media site server, through a terminal equipment, and registering a user name and password to initiate a user account in the appliance media site server;

creating, at the appliance media site server, a user account for the user with the user name and password, the user submitting, through the terminal equipment, an identifier of the home telecommunication network to the appliance media site server;

redirect the user towards the home telecommunication network with information for further return, the user providing through the terminal equipment the token as user identification upon redirection to the home telecommunication network;

retrieving, at the Identity Linking Function server, the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card associated with the token, and redirecting the user back to the appliance media site server with the retrieved appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card; and

associate, at the appliance media site server, the appliance identifier of the appliance SIM card with the user account in the appliance media site server.

28. (canceled)