Managing telephony services using multiple users within a telephony control point in a home network

• US 8,934,478 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2011
• Issued: 01/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Rahman, Mahfuzur, Messer, Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): JENSEN, NICHOLAS A
• Application Number:
  US13/092,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20120189000A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 726/1
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1026 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1036 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42238 in systems with telephone lines with multiple users

Abstract

A method for operating a telephony server in a home network is provided, comprising: receiving a first registration action from a first telephony control point in the home network, the first registration action including an identification of a first user within a first telephony control point; supplying a first authentication identifier to the first telephony control point, wherein the first authentication identifier is bound to both the first telephony control point and the first user; receiving an invoked action granting a telephony action from the first telephony control point, wherein the invoked action includes an authentication identifier; determining if the authentication identifier received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves; and executing the telephony action if the authentication information received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves.

Claims

1. A method for operating a telephony server in a home network, the method comprising:

receiving, at the telephony server, a first registration action from a first telephony control point in the home network, wherein the first registration action includes an identification of a first user within the first telephony control point;

supplying, from the telephony server, a first authentication identifier to the first telephony control point, wherein the first authentication identifier is bound to both the first telephony control point and the first user;

receiving, at the telephony server, a second registration action from the first telephony control point, wherein the second registration action includes an identification of a second user within the first telephony control point;

supplying, from the telephony server, a second authentication identifier to the first telephony control point, wherein the second authentication identifier is bound to both the first telephony control point and the second user;

initiating a telephony action at the telephony server, wherein the telephony action involves either the first user or the second user;

determining, at the telephony server, which user the telephony action involves;

sending, from the telephony server, a notification to the user which the telephony action involves;

receiving, at the telephony server, an invoked action granting the telephony action from the first telephony control point, wherein the invoked action includes an authentication identifier;

determining, at the telephony server, whether the authentication identifier received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves; and

executing the telephony action at the telephony server if the authentication identifier received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony action is the answering of an incoming phone call.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony action is a request for presence information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony action is the playing of a recorded voice mail.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a policy corresponding to the user which the telephony action involves; and

wherein the sending a notification includes only sending types of information identified as permissible according to the policy.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the policy indicates that only the name of the user which the telephony action involves and the type of telephony action are contained in the notification.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the policy indicates that the name of the user which the telephony action involves, an identification of a caller, and the type of telephony action are contained in the notification.

8. A method for operating a telephony control point in a home network, the method comprising:

registering a user of the telephony control point with a telephony server by sending, from the telephony control point, a registration action including an identification of the user to the telephony server;

receiving, at the telephony control point, an authentication identifier corresponding to the user from the telephony server in response to the registration action;

storing, at the telephony control point, the authentication identifier in a mapping between users of the telephony control point and authentication identifiers corresponding to said users;

receiving, at the telephony control point, a notification of a telephony event from the telephony server, wherein the notification includes an identification of a user of the telephony control point to which the telephony event pertains;

retrieving, at the telephony control point, an authentication identifier corresponding to the user to which the telephony event pertains from the stored mapping; and

invoking an action on the telephony server to execute the telephony event by sending, from the telephony control point, an invoked action granting the telephony action to the telephony server, wherein the invoked action includes the authentication identifier corresponding to the user to which the telephony event pertains retrieved from the stored mapping.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

registering the user with a second telephony server by sending a registration action including an identification of the user to the second telephony server;

receiving an authentication identifier from the second telephony server; and

storing the authentication identifier from the second telephony server in the mapping.

10. A telephony server operating in a home network, comprising:

means for receiving, at the telephony, server, a first registration action from a first telephony control point in the home network, wherein the first registration action includes an identification of a first user within the first telephony control point;

means for supplying, from the telephony server, a first authentication identifier to the first telephony control point, wherein the first authentication identifier is bound to both the first telephony control point and the first user;

means for receiving, at the telephony server, a second registration action from the first telephony control point, wherein the second registration action includes an identification of a second user within the first telephony control point;

means for supplying, from the telephony server, a second authentication identifier to the first telephony control point, wherein the second authentication identifier is bound to both the first telephony control point and the second user;

means for initiating a telephony action at the telephony server, wherein the telephony action involves either the first user or the second user;

means for determining, at the telephony server, which user the telephony action involves;

means for sending, from the telephony server, a notification to the user which the telephony action involves;

means for receiving, at the telephony server, an invoked action granting the telephony action from the first telephony control point, wherein the invoked action includes an authentication identifier;

means for determining, at the telephony server, whether the authentication identifier received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves; and

means for executing the telephony action at the telephony server if the authentication identifier received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves.

11. The telephony server of claim 10, further comprising a presence server.

12. The telephony server of claim 10, wherein the telephony server corresponds to a single phone number.

13. A home network system comprising:

one or more telephony control points;

a first telephony server; and

a second telephony server;

wherein each of the one or more telephony control points is configured to register each user of said telephony control point with one or more of the telephony servers, and wherein at least one of the telephony control points registers at least one user with both the first telephony server and the second telephony server; and

wherein each telephony server is configured to;

in response to a registration from a particular telephony control point for a particular user, generate and send an authentication identifier corresponding to the particular telephony control point and the particular user to the particular telephony control point; and

receive an invocation of an action from the particular telephony control point for the particular user, wherein said telephony server only executes the action if an authentication identifier included in the invocation of the action matches the authentication identifier sent in response to the registration from the particular telephony control point for the particular user.

14. The home network system of claim 13, wherein the first telephony server corresponds to a private phone number and the second telephony server corresponds to a public phone number.

15. The home network system of claim 14, wherein the first and second telephony servers are configured to send a notification of a telephony event to one or more of the telephony control points, wherein the notification sent by the first telephony server contains more information regarding the telephony event than the notification sent by the second telephony event.

16. The home network system of claim 13, wherein the registration by each of the one of more telephony control points and the sending of an authentication identifier is performed using a secure session.

17. The home network system of claim 15, wherein the telephony event is received from a wide area network.

18. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for operating a telephony server in a home network, the method comprising:

receiving, at the telephony server, a first registration action from a first telephony control point in the home network, wherein the first registration action includes an identification of a first user within a first telephony control point;

supplying, from the telephony server, a first authentication identifier to the first telephony control point, wherein the first authentication identifier is bound to both the first telephony control point and the first user;

receiving, at the telephony, server, a second registration action from the first telephony control point, wherein the second registration action includes an identification of a second user within the first telephony control point;

supplying, from the telephony server, a second authentication identifier to the first telephony control point, wherein the second authentication identifier is bound to both the first telephony control point and the second user;

initiating a telephony action at the telephony server, wherein the telephony action involves either the first user or the second user;

determining, at the telephony server, which user the telephony action involves;

sending, from the telephony server, a notification to the user which the telephony action involves;

receiving, at the telephony server, an invoked action granting the telephony action from the first telephony control point, wherein the invoked action includes an authentication identifier;

determining, at the telephony server, whether the authentication identifier received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves; and

executing the telephony action at the telephony server if the authentication identifier received in the invoked action matches the authentication identifier bound to the user which the telephony action involves.

19. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 18, wherein the first and second telephony control points are operated in accordance with the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol.

20. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 18, wherein the first telephony control point is a television.