Security techniques for device assisted services

• US 9,198,042 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2013
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US13/737,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20130145422A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 455/405, 455/406, 455/411, 455/414.1, 455/417, 455/432.1, 370/352, 370/354, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 726/1, 726/26, 705/28, 705/30
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/55 Detecting local intrusion or implementing counter-measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 : for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0876 : Aspects of the degree of configuration automation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 : Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 : Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 : by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 : Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 : Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 : for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 : Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 : Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 : for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 : wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 : for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 : using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0892 : by using authentication-authorization-accounting [AAA] servers or protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 : for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 : the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/145 : avoiding end of session, e.g. keep-alive, heartbeats, resumption message or wake-up for inactive or interrupted session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 : involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 : Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 : Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 : including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 : involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 : Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 : based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/61 : based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 : Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/88 : Provision for limiting connection, or expenditure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 : Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 : Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 : Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/037 : of the control plane, e.g. signalling traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 : using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 : Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 : Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 : based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 : using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/12 : using signalling between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 : Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 : Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 : Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 : using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 : Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 : Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 : Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 : Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 : Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 : Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 : Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 : adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 : Management or planning

Abstract

Methods and systems for receiving a report from an end-user device, the report comprising information about a device service state; determining, based on the report, that a particular service policy setting of the end-user device needs to be modified, the particular service policy setting associated with a service profile that provides for access to a network data service over a wireless access network and configured to assist in controlling one or more communications between the end-user device and the wireless access network, the particular service policy setting stored in a protected partition configured to deter or prevent unauthorized modifications to the particular service policy setting; and, in response to determining that the particular service policy setting needs to be modified, sending configuration information to the end-user device, the configuration information configured to assist in modifying or allowing modifications to the particular service policy setting.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, over a service control link, a report from a wireless end-user device, the report comprising information about a device service state;

determining, based on the report, that a particular service policy setting of the wireless end-user device needs to be modified, the particular service policy setting being stored in a protected partition of the wireless end-user device, the protected partition configured to deter or prevent unauthorized modifications to the particular service policy setting, the particular service policy setting being associated with a service profile that provides for access by the wireless end-user device to a network data service over a wireless access network, the particular service policy setting configured to assist in controlling one or more communications associated with the wireless end-user device over the wireless access network; and

is in response to determining that the particular service policy setting needs to be modified, sending configuration information to the wireless end-user device over the service control link, the configuration information configured to assist in modifying or allowing modifications to the particular service policy setting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular service policy setting assists in implementing a roaming control, a parental control, or an enterprise wireless wide-area network (WWAN) management control.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless end-user device is an intermediate networking device for forwarding traffic between a wireless wide-area network (WWAN) and a wireless local-area network (WLAN).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless end-user device is an intermediate networking device comprising a cellular device, the intermediate networking device for forwarding traffic between the wireless access network and a second network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless end-user device is an intermediate networking device, and the particular service policy setting assists one or more other end-user devices in communicating over the wireless access network via the intermediate networking device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a service usage measure, the service usage measure accounting for the one or more communications associated with the wireless end-user device over the wireless access network; and

based on the service usage measure, taking an action.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the service usage measure comprises a measure of a service usage activity.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the action is to verify the service usage measure.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the action is to quarantine or suspend the wireless end-user device.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising obtaining secondary information associated with the wireless end-user device, and wherein the action is to verify the service usage measure using the secondary information.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the wireless end-user device, an integrity report configured to assist a network element in identifying an access control integrity violation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises at least a portion of the service profile.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the service control link is secured by an encryption protocol.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the device service state comprises a service profile setting, a service usage policy setting, or a device-assisted services (DAS) setting.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the device service state provides information about a user preference.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the device service state comprises information associated with an encryption key.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the device service state comprises an agent report, a service usage record, a transaction record, or an integrity report.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the device service state comprises user status information, device status information, application status information, a device location, or a device quality-of-service (QOS) state.