PRE-AUTHENTICATED CALLING FOR VOICE APPLICATIONS

• US 20140096209A1
• Filed: 11/09/2013
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Saraf, Tal, Pall, Gurdeep Singh, Ramakrishna, Anand
• Granted Patent: US 9,703,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/062 Pre-authentication

Abstract

Architecture for providing pre-authenticated information from an endpoint for subsequently authenticating a device and/or user associated with the previously-authenticated information. A pre-authentication module of the architecture can be a trust component as part of an application that facilitates the utilization of user information and/or endpoint information in a media session protocol message to replace information that would otherwise be gathered via a dialog. In the context of IP-based voice communications, a call can be made from a client that is pre-authenticable, and no longer requires that an IP-based telephone interact with the phone user to facilitate sign-on.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented authentication method, comprising:

authenticating, by a trusted entity, a first client of a user for communications services at a remote location and generating pre-authenticated credentials at the remote location for the first client;

receiving, by a trust component at the first client, the pre-authenticated credentials from the trusted entity;

transmitting, by a transmitting component, the authenticated credentials to the second client based on authentication of the first client; and

receiving, by an application component at the first client, a request for communications services from a second client of the user and providing an application service based on the pre-authenticated credentials received by the trust component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-authenticated credentials are received via a media session protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the media session protocol is session initiation protocol (SIP).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the trusted entity is a communications server, the pre-authenticated credentials include at least one of a device identity data or user identity data, and the application service facilitates voice communications between a mobile device and the communications server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-authenticated credentials include a level of permission related to a type of the application service that is provided by the application component.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trusted entity receives the pre-authenticated credentials from another trusted entity.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting, by a permissions component, the application service from one or more applications based on a permission associated with the pre-authenticated credentials.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the trust component and the application component are of a client that receives the pre-authenticated credentials for connecting an IP-based phone call via the client to a remote destination.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising employing, by a machine learning and reasoning component, a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis to prognose or infer an action that is desired to be automatically performed.

11. A computer-implemented method of authentication processing, comprising:

authenticating a first client of a user for communications services at a remote location;

generating authenticated credentials at the remote location for the first client;

receiving a request for communications services from a second client of the user;

transmitting the authenticated credentials to the second client based on authentication of the first client; and

enabling the communications services for the second client based on the authenticated credentials.

10. The method of claim 11, wherein the pre-authenticated credentials include user profile information that defines a quality-of-service for communicating with a destination device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising accessing the remote location via a web interface, which remote location is a network-based middle-tier communications server that processes SIP-based communications from the first client.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first client or the second client is part of a voice-over-IP communications device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising including personality information in the authenticated credentials that changes how the second client, which is an automated attendant, interacts with a user.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising employing more-recently-used information based on the authenticated credentials to present information to the user for selection.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising controlling quality-of-service parameters for the second client based on the authenticated credentials.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising automatically exposing functionality of a personal virtual assistant based on the authenticated credentials, the functionality exposed based on knowledge of a contact list or buddy list.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting services from different applications of the first client based on the authenticated credentials and providing the selected services for communications by the second client.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising learning and reasoning about client or user interactive behavior and automating presentation of information to the user based thereon.

20. A computer-implemented system for authentication processing, comprising:

computer-implemented means for authenticating a first client of a user for communications services at a remote location;

computer-implemented means for generating authenticated credentials at the remote location for the first client;

computer-implemented means for receiving a request for communications services from a second client of the user;

computer-implemented means for transmitting the authenticated credentials to the second client based on authentication of the first client; and

computer-implemented means for enabling the communications services for the second client.