Trusted policy and charging enforcement function

• US 9,066,230 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Paczkowski, Lyle W., Parsel, William M., Rajagopal, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): Sarwar, Babar
• Application Number:
  US13/533,969
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: 455/411, 455/418, 455/422.1, 455/420, 455/424, 455/445, 455/435.2, 455/436, 455/444, 455/406
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

A system for policy and charging enforcement function on a mobile access terminal. The system comprises a radio transceiver, a processor, a memory, and an application stored in the memory. The application stored in the memory, when executed by the processor, receives policy and charging rules via the radio transceiver, and enforces the policy and charging rules when the mobile access terminal initiates a wireless communication.

Claims

1. A method of trusted policy and charging enforcement function on a mobile communication device, comprising:

establishing a wireless communication link between a mobile communication device and a policy server;

coupling a trusted security zone in the mobile communication device with a trusted security zone in the policy server;

transmitting a credential from a policy and charging enforcement function application residing in the trusted security zone on the mobile communication device to a policy and charging rules function application residing in the trusted security zone on the policy server, wherein the credential is used to establish trust between the mobile communication device and the policy server for accessing the functionality of the mobile communication device;

transmitting policy rules from the policy and charging rules function application on the policy server to the policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device;

enforcing the received policy rules by the policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device;

monitoring wireless network activities by the policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device; and

transmitting, by the policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device, the monitored network activities to the policy and charging rules function application on the policy server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication link between the mobile communication device and the policy server is established in accordance with a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication standard.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein enforcing the received policy rules is based on a time since communicating with the policy and charging rules function application on the policy server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein enforcing the received policy rules comprises blocking access to a wireless communication network when specified by the policy and charging rules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein coupling the trusted security zone in the mobile communication device with the trusted security zone in the policy server comprises creating a virtual private network (VPN).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein enforcing the received policy rules by the policy and enforcement function application comprises enforcing policy rules in place of the policy and charging rules function application on the policy server.

7. A method of monitoring and rating network usage on a mobile communication device, comprising:

establishing a first wireless communication link between a mobile communication device and a policy server on a first wireless network;

receiving, by a policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device, policy rules from a policy and charging rules function application on the policy server on the first wireless network;

establishing a second wireless communication link between the mobile communication device and a second wireless network;

monitoring, by the policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device, the activity of the mobile communication device on the second wireless network, wherein monitoring the activity of the mobile communication device comprises counting the amount of data usage on the second wireless network;

monitoring, by the second wireless network, an amount of data usage by the mobile communication device on the second wireless network;

transmitting, by the policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device, the amount of data usage on the second network by the mobile communication device to the policy and charging rules function on the policy server on the first wireless network;

transmitting, by the second wireless network, the amount of data usage on the second wireless network by the mobile communication device to the first wireless network; and

verifying, by the first wireless network, the amount of data usage on the second wireless network received from the mobile communication device correlates to the amount of data usage on the second wireless network received from the second wireless network.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising throttling the data usage of the mobile communication device on the second wireless network based on a received policy rule.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising disabling functionality on the mobile communication device when accessing the second wireless network based on the received policy rules.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the policy and charging enforcement function application on the mobile communication device communicates an indication of a premium subscription to the second wireless network, and wherein the second wireless network provides a higher bandwidth to the mobile communication device based on the premium subscription.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the second wireless network is based on the Wi-Fi wireless network standards.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the second wireless network comprises a policy and charging rules function.