Method and system for phone-number discovery and phone-number authentication for mobile communications devices

• US 7,610,056 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2007
• Issued: 10/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ontela Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Zapata, Charles B., Shapiro, Daniel J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor; Barry W
• Application Number:
  US11/732,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20070249375A1
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410, 455/411, 455/466
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Methods and systems by which a client application program running on a mobile communications device can determine the telephone number associated with the mobile device and communicate the telephone number to a remote computing entity in a secure and verifiable fashion are presented herein. In one embodiment, a client application program running on a mobile device sends an SMS message to a remote server, allowing the remote server to determine the telephone number associated with the mobile device and return the determined number to the client application program in a SMS response message. A client application program running on a mobile device may also prove to a remote computing entity that the program is running on the device. The client program and remote entity may exchange information in SMS messages, and the client program may transmit information obtained from the remote entity to the remote server via WAP-based communications.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining, by a local computational entity running on a mobile communications device, information associated with said mobile communications device that is not directly available to the local computational entity, the method comprising:

sending a request message by the local computational entity to a remote computational entity requesting specific information previously associated with said mobile communications device; and

receiving, by the local computational entity, said requested information previously associated with the mobile communications device from the remote computational entity in a response message.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the local computational entity is a client application program.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote computational entity is a remote server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile communications device is one of:

a mobile phone;

a computer that includes a cellular modem card;

a computer that includes built-in cellular-wireless functions;

a hand-held electronic device that includes a cellular modem card; and

a hand-held electronic device that includes built-in cellular-wireless functions.

5. The method of claim 1 further including:

upon reception, by the remote computational entity, of the request message, determining the information associated with the mobile communications device from at least one of;

a request-message header or other message-receiving-associated information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the request message and response message are SMS messages.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the response message is encrypted by a secret encryption key available to the remote computational entity, the method further including:

decrypting the response message, by the local computational entity using a decryption key to obtain the information associated with the mobile communications device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the information associated with the mobile communications device is a telephone number.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending received ones of said requested information to a device remote from said mobile communication device.

10. A method for securely authenticating, to a remote computational entity, information associated with a mobile communications device by a local computational entity running on the mobile communications device, the method comprising:

sending a local public encryption key by the local computational entity to the remote computational entity in a first message via a first communications medium;

receiving, from the remote computational entity, a second message encrypted using the local public encryption key that contains secret information provided by the remote computational entity via the first communications medium;

decrypting the second message using a private local decryption key; and

sending the secret information by the local computational entity to the remote computational entity via a second communications medium.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the local computational entity is a client application program.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the remote computational entity is a remote server.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the mobile communications device is one of:

a mobile phone;

a computer that includes a cellular modem card;

a computer that includes built-in cellular-wireless functions;

a hand-held electronic device that includes a cellular modem card; and

a hand-held electronic device that includes built-in cellular-wireless functions.

14. The method of claim 10 further including:

upon reception, by the remote computational entity, of the request message, determining the information associated with the mobile communications device from at least one of;

a request-message header or other message-receiving-associated information.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the first communications medium is SMS-based communications and the second communications medium is WAP-based communications.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the secret information is a secret value, text string, encryption key, or digital signature.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the information associated with the mobile communications device is a telephone number.

18. A mobile communications device comprising:

a computational entity local to said mobile communications device, configured to obtain information associated with said mobile communications device that is not directly available to said local computational entity;

means for sending a request message to a remote computational entity to request specific information previously associated with said mobile communications device; and

means for receiving said requested information previously associated with said mobile communications device from said remote computational entity in a response message.

19. The mobile communications device of claim 18 wherein said request message contains either a request-message header or other message-receiving-associated information.

20. The mobile communications device of claim 18 wherein said local computational entity is configured to communicate using a WAP protocol, and wherein said request message and said response message are SMS messages.

21. The mobile communications device of claim 18 wherein said information associated with the mobile communications device is a network identification number of said mobile device.

22. The mobile communications device of claim 18 wherein said local computational entity is further configured to send received ones of said requested information to a device remote from said mobile communication device.

23. The mobile communications device of claim 22 wherein said request message contains either a request-message header or other message-receiving-associated information.

24. The mobile communications device of claim 22 wherein said information associated with the mobile communications device is a telephone number.

25. A mobile communications device comprising:

a locally based application configured to securely authenticate, to a remote computational entity, information associated with said mobile communications device;

apparatus for sending a local public encryption key by said local computational entity to said remote computational entity in a first message via a first communications medium;

apparatus for receiving, from said remote computational entity, a second message encrypted using the local public encryption key that contains secret information provided by said remote computational entity via said first communications medium;

apparatus for decrypting said second message using a private local decryption key; and

apparatus for sending said secret information by said local computational entity to said remote computational entity via a second communications medium.

26. The mobile communications device of claim 25 wherein said first communications medium is SMS-based communications and the second communications medium is WAP-based communications.