SMS-initiated mobile registration

• US 9,210,557 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Huxley, Iain Andrew, Linde, Alexander Nickolas, Schulz, Torsten, Young, Travis Scott, Adatia, Rahim Ismail
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Huy C
• Application Number:
  US13/332,308
• Publication Number:
  US 20120264427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 455/435.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards SMS-initiated mobile registration. A mobile device sends an SMS message to a mobile registration device. In response, the mobile registration device generates a random identifier and associates it with the mobile device identifier of the mobile device. Then, the mobile registration device sends a response SMS message to the mobile device, the response SMS message containing a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to a mobile registration web page, where the URI contains the generated random identifier. The mobile device uses the URI to navigate to the mobile registration web page, where additional registration information is provided. The mobile registration device associates the additional registration information with the mobile device based on the generated random identifier included in the URI, and creates a user account based on the mobile number from which the SMS message was received and the additional registration information.

Claims

1. A computer based method comprising:

receiving, by at least one computer processing unit, a request Short Message Service (SMS) message from a mobile device;

generating, by the at least one computer processing unit, a token and associating the token with a mobile device identifier of the mobile device in response to the request;

transmitting, by the at least one computer processing unit, a response SMS message to the mobile device, the response SMS message including a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to a registration web page comprising at least one field for receiving registration information for a user to be used in creating an online account for the user, wherein the URI includes the generated token;

receiving, by the at least one computer processing unit, the registration information submitted to the registration web page and the token included in the URI of the registration web page;

associating, by the at least one computer processing unit, the submitted registration information and the mobile device identifier based on the token; and

creating, by the at least one computer processing unit, the online account based on the registration information and the associated mobile device identifier.

2. The computer based method of claim 1, further comprising:

expiring the generated token after a defined amount of time.

3. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the request SMS message further includes a subset of the registration information.

4. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device identifier is extracted from the request SMS message.

5. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the registration web page includes a list of available user identifiers derived from a name of a user registering the online account.

6. The computer based method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for account recovery;

transmitting an SMS message including a confirmation code to the mobile device;

receiving the confirmation code at an account recovery web page; and

authorizing the account recovery.

7. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is prevented from registering more than a threshold number of accounts.

8. The computer based method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is prevented from registering accounts at greater than a threshold rate.

9. The computer based method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving a geographical region associated with the mobile device based on a country code of the mobile device identifier and a header submitted with the registration web page.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause actions to be performed, the actions comprising:

receiving a request Short Message Service (SMS) message from a mobile device;

generating a token and associating the token with a mobile device identifier of the mobile device in response to the request;

transmitting a response SMS message to the mobile device, the response SMS message including a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to a registration web page comprising at least one field for receiving registration information for a user to be used in creating an online account for the user, wherein the URI includes the generated token;

receiving the registration information submitted to the registration web page and the token included in the URI of the registration web page;

associating the submitted registration information and the mobile device identifier based on the token; and

creating the online account based on the registration information and the associated mobile device identifier.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the request SMS message further includes a subset of the registration information.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the mobile device identifier of the mobile device is extracted from the request SMS message.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, further storing instructions that when executed by the processor perform actions comprising:

receiving a request for account recovery at an account recovery web page;

sending an SMS message including a confirmation code to the mobile device;

receiving the confirmation code at the account recovery web page; and

authorizing the account recovery.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the registration web page includes a list of available user identifiers derived from a name of a user registering the online account.

15. A mobile registration device comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the stored program logic comprising;

receiving logic executed by the processor for receiving a request Short Message Service (SMS) message from a mobile device;

generating logic executed by the processor for generating a token and associating the token with a mobile device identifier of the mobile device in response to the request;

transmitting logic executed by the processor for transmitting a response SMS message to the mobile device, the response SMS message including a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to a registration web page comprising at least one field for receiving registration information for a user to be used in creating an online account for the user, wherein the URI includes the generated token;

receiving logic executed by the processor for receiving the registration information submitted to the registration web page and the token included in the URI of the registration web page;

associating logic executed by the processor for associating the submitted the registration information and the mobile device identifier based on the token; and

creating logic executed by the processor for creating the online account based on the registration information and the associated mobile device identifier.

16. The mobile registration device of claim 15, the receiving logic for receiving registration information further comprising:

receiving logic executed by the processor for receiving the registration information from the mobile device via the registration web page that is made available to the mobile device via a web server device.

17. The mobile registration device of claim 15, wherein the request SMS message further includes a subset of the registration information.

18. The mobile registration device of claim 15, wherein the registration web page comprises a plurality of web pages submitted in series.

19. The mobile registration device of claim 15, wherein the mobile device is prevented from registering more than a threshold number of accounts.

20. The mobile registration device of claim 15, wherein the token expires after a defined period of time.