Handling unsolicited content at a telecommunications terminal

• US 7,864,761 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Issued: 01/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Patel, Jatin, Soltes, John W., Illuzzi, Vincent A., Sinha, Rituraj, Abramson, Sandra R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe; Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rutkowski; Jeffrey M
• Application Number:
  US11/051,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20060176833A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,160 Days
• Field of Search: 370/312, 370/349, 370/390, 370/432, 370/471, 370/352, 370/389, 726 22- 25, 709/219, 709/245, 709/246, 709/206, 709/238, 709/227, 713/153, 713/161, 713/170, 455/550.1, 455/433, 455/466, 455/419, 455/463, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed that enable a telecommunications terminal to securely receive unsolicited content from applications that are external to the terminal. In particular, the present invention enables the terminal to control the interaction with external applications by using a secure, two-task process. In the two-task process of the present invention, the execution of the second task is based on verifying the trustworthiness of address information that is provided in the first task. This is in contrast to a one-task process, in which an untrustworthy server that provides content might hide its own address by substituting a legitimate address.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

(1) receiving, by a telecommunications terminal, a first message transmitted from a first source, wherein;

a. the first source initiated the transmission of the first message without communicating with a second source,

b. the first message is an unsolicited message, and

c. the first message instructs the telecommunications terminal to request a second message from an address specified in the first message;

(2) transmitting, by the telecommunications terminal, a request to the second source based on the address specified in the first message, wherein;

a. the request is transmitted when, and only when, the trustworthiness of the address specified in the first message can be verified by the telecommunications terminal, and

b. the first source and the second source are different sources;

(3) receiving, by the telecommunications terminal, the second message in response to the request transmitted to the second source;

(4) determining, by the telecommunications terminal, a call state of the telecommunications terminal after receiving the second message;

(5) wherein the telecommunications terminal performs at least one of the following tasks based on the type of content contained within the second message;

a. output content contained within the second message to a user at the telecommunications terminal based on the call state, and

b. transmit a third message to a third source based on a second address specified in the second message;

(0.5) receiving, by the telecommunications terminal, a list of valid addresses from a fourth source, wherein;

a. the list valid of addresses is received by the telecommunications terminal prior to receiving the first message from the first source, and

b. the first source, the second source, the third source, and the fourth source are different sources.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the list of valid addresses is received by the telecommunications terminal in response to a boot-up signal transmitted by the telecommunications terminal to the fourth server.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein verifying the trustworthiness of the address specified in the first message is based on comparing the address with the list of valid addresses.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein verifying the trustworthiness of the address specified in the first message is based on comparing:

a. the address specified in the first message with the list of valid addresses, and

b. an address of the first source with the list of valid addresses.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the content contained within the second message is also based on whether the content includes at least one of text and audio.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the content contained within the second message further comprises determining, by the telecommunications terminal, a priority of the content;

and

wherein outputting the content contained within the second message is also based on the priority of the content.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the content contained within the second message further comprises determining, by the telecommunications terminal, an output device to output the content based on the call state of the telecommunications terminal as determined at task (4).

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

(1.5) determining, by the telecommunications terminal, the call state of the telecommunications terminal before transmitting the request to the second source, wherein the request is transmitted by the telecommunications terminal;

a. when the trustworthiness of the address specified in the first message can be verified by the telecommunications terminal, and

b. based on the call state of the telecommunications terminal as determined at task (1.5).

9. A method comprising:

(1) receiving, by a telecommunications terminal, a first message transmitted from a first source, wherein;

a. the first source initiated the transmission of the first message without communicating with a second source,

b. the first message is an unsolicited message, and

c. the first message instructs the telecommunications terminal to request a second message from a first address specified in the first message;

(2) transmitting, by the telecommunications terminal, a request to the second source based on the first address specified in the first message, wherein the request is transmitted when, and only when, the trustworthiness of the first address specified in the first message can be verified by the telecommunications terminal;

(3) receiving, by the telecommunications terminal, the second message in response to the request transmitted to the second source, wherein the second message instructs the telecommunications terminal to transmit a third message to a second address specified in the second message;

(4) transmitting, by the telecommunications terminal, the third message to a third source based on the second address specified in the second message, wherein the third message is transmitted when, and only when, the trustworthiness of the second address specified in the second message can be verified by the telecommunications terminal; and

(0.5) receiving, by the telecommunications terminal, a first list of addresses from a fourth source, wherein;

a. the first list of addresses is received by the telecommunications terminal prior to receiving the first message from the first source, and

b. the first source, the second source, the third source, and the fourth source are different sources.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the first source and the second source are different sources.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the first list comprises one or more valid addresses, and wherein the first list of addresses is transmitted from the fourth source to the telecommunications terminal in response to a boot-up signal transmitted from the telecommunications terminal transmitting.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the task of (0.5) further comprises:

receiving, by the telecommunications terminal, a second list of address from the fourth source, wherein the second list of addresses are received by the telecommunications terminal prior to receiving the first message from the first source.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein:

a. the first list of addresses is indicative of trusted sources of a first type,

b. the second list of addresses is indicative of trusted sources of a second type, and

c. the trusted sources of the first type and the trusted sources of the second type are different types of sources.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

(1.5) determining, by the telecommunications terminal, a call state of the telecommunications terminal before transmitting the request to the second source, wherein;

a. the request is transmitted to the second source when, and only when, the telecommunications terminal accepts the first message based on the call state as determined at task (1.5), and

b. transmits a fourth message to the first source when the telecommunications terminal rejects the first message based on the call state as determined at task (1.5).