Challenging a first terminal intending to communicate with a second terminal

• US 9,252,959 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2009
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Barriga, Luis, Liljenstam, Michael, Naslund, Mats, Nerbrant, Per-Olof
• Primary Examiner(s): Sison, June
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, STEVEN C
• Application Number:
  US13/320,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059897A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,449 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2133 Verifying human interaction, e.g., Captcha
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, party challenging device (18) and computer program products for providing a challenge to a first terminal (10) intending to communicate with a second terminal (24) via two networks (N1, N2). The party challenging device receives a first electronic message (1M) concerning a transfer of media from the first terminal to the second terminal sent from the first terminal (10) and addressed to the second terminal (24), obtains communication contextual data associated with the first party or the first terminal, provides an electronic challenge message (CHM) including a challenge (CHl1) based on the obtained data and sends the challenge message to the first terminal in order to enable a decision to be made how to process the invitation message for the second terminal based on the correctness of a response (RM) including a response to the challenge.

Claims

1. A method for providing a challenge to a first terminal intending to communicate with a second terminal via at least one communication network, the method being performed in a party challenging device and comprising the steps of:

receiving a first electronic session initiation protocol (SIP) message concerning a transfer of media from the first terminal to the second terminal, said first electronic SIP message being sent from the first terminal associated with a first party and being addressed to the second terminal,

obtaining communication contextual data associated with the first party or the first terminal, said communication contextual data comprising session type identifying data,

using the communication contextual data to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session;

selecting, based on the communication contextual data, a challenge message format from among a plurality of challenge message formats;

providing, in the selected challenge message format, an electronic challenge message based on the obtained communication contextual data, said electronic challenge message comprising a challenge to the first party, wherein the electronic challenge message is a message of the type completely automated public Turing-test to tell computers and humans apart (CAPTCHA), and

sending said electronic challenge message to the first terminal, in order to enable a decision to be made on how to process said first electronic message for the second terminal based on correctness of an electronic response message received from the first terminal, wherein the electronic response message includes a response to the challenge provided in the electronic challenge message, wherein;

the first electronic SIP message is a session invitation message comprising a session type field storing session type information identifying a session type and a coding field storing coding information identifying a media coding type,

the contextual communication data comprises one or more of the session type information and the coding information, and

the step of using the communication contextual data to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session comprises evaluating one or more of the session type information and the coding information to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication contextual data comprises collected mobility data of the first terminal.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the communication contextual data comprises position data of the first terminal.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein said collected activity data comprises movement data of the first terminal.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of providing an electronic challenge message that is based on the obtained communication contextual data involves selecting information for inclusion in the electronic challenge message based on said collected mobility data.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication contextual data on which the selection of the challenge message format is based comprises challenge presentation capability defining data, such that the selection of the challenge message format is based on the challenge presentation capability defining data.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein at least some challenge presentation capability defining data relates to the challenge presentation capability of the first terminal.

8. The method according to claim 6, comprising the step of providing the first terminal with presentation settings adapted to the challenge presentation capability of a presentation device to be used by the first terminal for presenting the challenge.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein at least some challenge presentation capability defining data relates to a further terminal associated with the first party.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said communication contextual data comprises data identifying a separate communication channel to said further terminal.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving communication contextual data from the first terminal.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving communication contextual data from at least one communication contextual data providing node in the at least one communications network.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein one communication contextual data providing node is a mobility data collection node and the communication contextual data received from this mobility data collection node comprises radio network measurements regarding the first terminal.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein one communication contextual data providing node is a communication contextual data storage node and the communication contextual data received from this communication contextual data storage node comprises data identifying previous challenges or types thereof and communications in relation to the first party or first terminal.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the session type identifying data is included in the first electronic SIP message.

16. The method according to claim 1, comprising the step of receiving said electronic response message, determining the correctness of the response and treating the first electronic SIP message according to policy rules provided for correct responses if the response is correct and otherwise treating the first electronic message according to policy rules provided for incorrect responses.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication contextual data includes challenge preference data provided by the first party.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the session type identifying data indicates whether the transfer of media includes a voice call session or a video session, and wherein selecting the challenge message format comprises:

selecting an audio format as the challenge message format in response to a determination that the transfer of media includes a voice call session, wherein a challenge message in the audio format contains no text, image, or video; and

selecting an image format, a text format, or a video format as the challenge message format in response to a determination that the transfer of media includes a video session.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting the challenge message format comprises:

determining a speed of the first party; and

selecting the challenge message format based on whether the speed is above a speed threshold.

24. The method of claim 7, wherein the challenge presentation capability defining data indicates whether the first terminal includes at least one of a speaker, a display, and a vibrator.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the challenge presentation capability defining data indicates that the first terminal includes a display and further indicates a size and resolution of the display.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the challenge presentation capability defining data further indicates what challenge response input receiving unit is included in the first terminal.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the challenge presentation capability defining data indicates whether the first terminal includes at last one of a keyboard, a keypad, a microphone, and a camera.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the challenge message format based on the communication contextual data consists of choosing one or more of:

an audio message format, a video message format, an image message format, and a text message format based on the communication contextual data.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein

the method further comprises using the communication contextual data to determine whether the first user is seeking to engage the second user in an audio only communication session, and

the step of choosing one or more of:

an audio message format, a video message format, an image message format, and a text message format based on the communication contextual data consists of choosing the audio message format in response to determining that the first user is seeking to engage the second user in an audio only communication session.

18. A party challenging device for providing a challenge to a first terminal intending to communicate with a second terminal via at least one communication network, the device comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the party challenging device to provide:

at least one communication interface, and

a challenge providing unit configured to;

receive a first electronic session initiation protocol (SIP) message concerning a transfer of media from the first terminal to the second terminal, said first electronic SIP message being sent from the first terminal associated with a first party and being addressed to the second terminal,

obtain communication contextual data associated with the first party or the first terminal, said communication contextual data comprising session type identifying data,

using the communication contextual data to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session;

select, based on the communication contextual data, a challenge message format from among a plurality of challenge message formats;

provide, in the selected challenge message format, an electronic challenge message based on the obtained communication contextual data, said electronic challenge message comprising a challenge to the first party, wherein the electronic challenge message is a message of the type completely automated public Turing-test to tell computers and humans apart (CAPTCHA), and

send said electronic challenge message to the first terminal, in order to enable a decision to be made on how to process said first electronic SIP message for the second terminal based on correctness of an electronic response message received from the first terminal, wherein the electronic response message includes a response to the challenge provided in the electronic challenge message, wherein;

the first electronic SIP message is a session invitation message comprising a session type field storing session type information identifying a session type and a coding field storing coding information identifying a media coding type,

the contextual communication data comprises one or more of the session type information and the coding information, and

the instructions cause the device to use the communication contextual data to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session by evaluating one or more of the session type information and the coding information to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein said challenge providing unit when providing an electronic challenge message that is based on the obtained communication contextual data is further configured to select information for inclusion in the electronic challenge message based on said communication contextual data.

20. The device according to claim 18, wherein said challenge providing unit is further configured to receive said electronic response message, determine the correctness of the response and treat the first electronic SIP message according to policy rules provided for correct responses if the response is correct and otherwise treat the first electronic SIP message according to policy rules provided for incorrect responses.

21. A computer program product comprising a computer program and a non-transitory computer readable medium on which the computer program is stored, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run on a party challenging device for providing a challenge to a first terminal intending to communicate with a second terminal via at least one communication network, causes said party challenging device to:

receive a first electronic session initiation protocol (SIP) message concerning a transfer of media from the first terminal to the second terminal, said first electronic SIP message being sent from the first terminal associated with a first party and being addressed to the second terminal,

obtain communication contextual data associated with the first party or the first terminal, said communication contextual data comprising session type identifying data,

use the communication contextual data to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session

select, based on the communication contextual data, a challenge message format from among a plurality of challenge message formats,

provide, in the selected challenge message format, an electronic challenge message based on the obtained communication contextual data, said electronic challenge message including a challenge to the first party, wherein the electronic challenge message is a message of the type completely automated public Turing-test to tell computers and humans apart (CAPTCHA), and

send said electronic challenge message to the first terminal, in order to enable a decision to be made how to process said first SIP electronic message for the second terminal based on correctness of an electronic response message received from the first terminal, wherein the electronic response message includes a response to the challenge provided in the electronic challenge message, wherein;

the first electronic SIP message is a session invitation message comprising a session type field storing session type information identifying a session type and a coding field storing coding information identifying a media coding type,

the contextual communication data comprises one or more of the session type information and the coding information, and

the instructions cause the device to use the communication contextual data to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session by evaluating one or more of the session type information and the coding information to determine whether the first terminal is seeking to engage the second terminal in an audio only communication session.