User device adding secure token to network requests to obfuscate an identity of a user to a third-party provider

• US 8,799,172 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2012
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Yeleswarapu, Chandrashekhar, Libonate, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Armouche, Hadi
• Assistant Examiner(s): WRIGHT, BRYAN F
• Application Number:
  US13/670,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20140130145A1
• Time in Patent Office: 636 Days
• Field of Search: 726/9
• US Class Current: 705/74
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A user device is configured to receive a request to obtain a service, an application, or content from a provider; obtain, based on receiving the request, a token that may correspond to a user of the user device and may obfuscate an identity of the user to the provider; modify the request to include the token and to form a modified request; provide the modified request to the provider; receive, based on providing the modified request, information regarding the service, the application, or the content from the provider; and present the information for display on a display screen.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a user device, a request to obtain a service, an application, or content from a content provider,

the request being received from an application executing on the user device;

obtaining, by the user device and based on receiving the request, a token,

the token being generated by a network service provider based on an identifier,

the identifier being associated with at least one of the user device or a user of the user device, and

the network service provider being different from the content provider, and

the token obfuscating an identity of the user to the content provider;

determining, by the user device, whether the user device is connected to a wireless local area network or to a network associated with the network service provider;

selectively modifying, by the user device and based on whether the user device is connected to the wireless local area network or to the network associated with the network service provider, the request to include the token,

the request not being modified when the user device is connected to the network associated with the network service provider;

providing, by the user device, the request to the content provider,

the content provider providing the token to the network service provider to authenticate the user when the request is modified to include the token,

the user being authenticated without the identity of the user being provided to the content provider;

receiving, by the user device and based on providing the request, information regarding the service, the application, or the content from the content provider; and

providing, by the user device, the information to the application,

the application providing the information for display, to the user, on a display screen associated with the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting the token from the network service provider,

the token being requested prior to receiving the request from the application;

receiving the token; and

storing the token in a secure storage location in the user device; and

where obtaining the token includes;

reading the token from the secure storage location.

3. The method of claim 2, where obtaining the token further includes:

determining that the token is not valid; and

contacting a network device of the network service provider to obtain a valid token based on the token not being valid.

4. The method of claim 1, where obtaining the token includes:

contacting a network device to obtain the token.

5. The method of claim 1, where the network service provider generates the token based on encrypting the identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, where the request is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request, and

where selectively modifying the request to include the token includes:

inserting the token into a header field of the HTTP request when

the user device is connected to the wireless local area network.

7. A user device, comprising:

a memory to store a token,

the token being generated by a wireless service provider providing wireless service to the user device,

the token being generated based on an identifier,

the identifier being associated with at least one of the user device or a user of the user device, and

the token obfuscating an identity of the user; and

receiving, by a processor, from an application executing on the user device, a request to obtain a service, an application, or content from a content provider,

the content provider being independent of the wireless service provider,

retrieving, by the processor, based on receiving the request, the token from the memory,

determining, by the processor whether the user device is connected to a wireless local area network or to a network associated with the wireless service provider,

selectively modifying, by the processor, based on whether the user device is connected to the wireless local area network or to the network associated with the wireless service provider, the request to include the token,

the request not being modified when the user device is connected to the network associated with the wireless service provider,

providing, by the processor, the request to the content provider,

the content provider authenticating the user by providing the token to the wireless service provider when the request is modified to include the token,

receiving, by the processor, based on providing the request, information regarding the service, the application, or the content from the content provider, and

providing, by the processor, the information to the application,

the application providing the information for display, to the user, on a display screen associated with the user device.

8. The user device of claim 7, wherein the processor receives the token from the wireless service provider prior to receiving the request and stores the token in a secure storage location in the memory,

and where the processor, when retrieving the token, retrieves the token from the secure storage location.

9. The user device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

determine that the token is not valid, and

contact a network device, associated with the wireless service provider, to obtain a valid token based on determining that the token is not valid.

10. The user device of claim 7, where the processor, when retrieving the token, is to:

contact a network device, associated with the wireless service provider, to obtain the token,

store the token in the memory, and

retrieve the stored token from the memory.

11. The user device of claim 7, where the wireless service provider generates the token based on encrypting the identifier.

12. The user device of claim 7, where the request is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request, and

where the processor, when selectively modifying the request to include the token attaches the token as a header of the HTTP request when the user device is connected to the wireless local area network.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a user device that obtains service from a first provider, cause the one or more processors to;

receive, from an application executing on the user device, a request to obtain a service, an application, or content from a second provider,

the second provider being different from the first provider;

obtain, based on receiving the request, a token,

the token being generated by the first provider based on an identifier,

the identifier being associated with at least one of the user device or a user of the user device, and

the token obfuscating an identity of the user to the second provider;

determine whether the user device is connected to a wireless local area network or to a network associated with the first provider;

selectively modify the request to include the token based on whether the user device is connected to the wireless local area network or the network associated with the first provider,

the request not being modified when the user device is connected to the network associated with the first provider;

provide the request to the second provider,

when the request is modified to include the token, the second provider providing the token to the first provider to determine whether to provide the service, the application, or the content;

receive, based on providing the request, information regarding the service, the application, or the content from the second provider; and

provide the information to the application,

the application providing the information for display, to the user, on a display screen associated with the user device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive the token from the first provider; and

store the token in a secure storage location in the user device; and

where the one or more instructions to obtain the token include;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

obtain the token from the secure storage location.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

determine that the token is not valid; and

contact a network device, associated with the first provider, to obtain a valid token based on the token not being valid.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the one or more instructions to obtain the token include:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

request, from a network device, associated with the first provider, the token, and

receive the token from the network device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the request is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request, and

where the one or more instructions to selectively modify the request to include the token include:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

insert the token into a header of the HTTP request when the user device is connected to the wireless local area network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the one or more instructions to obtain the token include:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

request, from a network device, associated with the first provider, the token,

the token being requested prior to receiving the request from the application, and

receive the token from the network device.