Identity based access and performance allocation

• US 9,730,112 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2015
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Peraton, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Adams, Mark S., Connell, Susan L., Noori, Yama A., Gupta, Ajay, Benjamin, Rajesh K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gelin, Jean
• Application Number:
  US14/674,637
• Publication Number:
  US 20160295543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: 455410, 455411, 455412, 455418, 4554323, 4554261, 4554262, 455433, 455434, 4554351
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 Access restriction performed under specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

A method for dynamically provisioning access and/or service for a device may include receiving information indicative of a user identity associated with a user of a device, correlating the user identity to the device, determining a user profile descriptive of access to be afforded to the user in a network or indicative of service parameters associated with provision of services to the user in the network, and granting the user access to use the network services via the device in accordance with the user profile.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically provisioning access and/or service for a device, the method comprising:

receiving information indicative of a unique user identity associated with a specific user;

receiving information indicative of a unique device identifier associated with the device and identifying the device as a specific device;

correlating the unique user identity to the unique device identifier, the device being used by a plurality of different users including the user at different times or the device being one of a plurality of devices used by the user at the different times;

determining a user profile descriptive of access to be afforded to the user within a wireless communication network or indicative of service parameters associated with provision of services to the user in the wireless communication network, the user profile defining quality of service parameters to be provisioned to the device; and

granting the user access to use the services of the wireless communication network via the device in accordance with the quality of service parameters defined in the user profile.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising an initial operation of receiving an indication of a potential identity change event, wherein receiving the information indicative of the unique user identity occurs responsive to the potential identity change event.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the potential identity change event comprises log-in of a new user onto the device, or occurrence of an event requiring a change in profile for a user or a group of users on the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique device identifier comprises an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user profile comprises determining the user profile based on a table associating a unique identifier indicative of the unique user identity with a user quality of service profile.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein granting the user access to use the services of the wireless communication network comprises granting the user access responsive to updating a Home Subscriber Server/Subscriber Profile Registry datastore of the wireless communication network to associate the user profile with the unique device identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein granting the user access to use the services of the wireless communication network comprises granting access to a first user, and

wherein, responsive to a login on the same device by a second user, access is granted to the second user based on a second user profile associated with the second user.

8. An apparatus of a wireless communication network for dynamically provisioning access and/or service for a wireless communication device, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured for:

receiving information indicative of a unique user identity associated with a specific user;

receiving information indicative of a unique device identifier associated with the device and identifying the device as a specific device;

correlating the unique user identity to the unique device identifier, the device being used by a plurality of different users including the user at different times or the device being one of a plurality of devices used by the user at the different times;

determining a user profile descriptive of access to be afforded to the user in the wireless communication network or indicative of service parameters associated with provision of services to the user in the wireless communication network, the user profile defining quality of service parameters to be provisioned to the device; and

granting the user access to use the services of the wireless communication network via the device in accordance with the quality of service parameters defined in the user profile.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured for an initial operation of receiving an indication of a potential identity change event, and wherein receiving the information indicative of the unique user identity occurs responsive to the potential identity change event.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the potential identity change event comprises log-in of a new user onto the device, or occurrence of an event requiring a change in profile for a user or a group of users on the device.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the unique device identifier comprises an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the device.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein determining the user profile comprises determining the user profile based on a table associating a unique identifier indicative of the unique user identity with a user quality of service profile.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein granting the user access to use the services of the wireless communication network services comprises granting the user access responsive to updating a Home Subscriber Server/Subscriber Profile Registry datastore of the network to associate the user profile with the unique device identifier.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein granting the user access to use the services of the wireless communication network comprises granting access to a first user, and

wherein, responsive to a login on the same device by a second user, access is granted to the second user based on a second user profile associated with the second user.

15. A wireless communication network comprising:

a wireless communication device;

one or more access nodes configured to wirelessly connect to the wireless communication device to provide network services to the wireless communication device;

a Home Subscriber Server/Subscriber Profile Registry datastore configured to store service subscription states and user-subscribed QoS information to be provided to devices of the wireless communication network; and

an Identity and Access Management module for dynamically provisioning access and/or service for the wireless communication device, the Identity and Access Management module comprising processing circuitry configured for;

receiving information indicative of a unique user identity associated with a specific user;

receiving information indicative of a unique device identifier associated with the wireless communication device and identifying the wireless communication device as a specific wireless communication device;

correlating the unique user identity to the unique device identifier of the wireless communication device, the wireless communication device being used by a plurality of different users including the user at different times or the wireless communication device being one of a plurality of devices used by the user at the different times;

determining a user profile descriptive of access to be afforded to the user in the wireless communication network or indicative of service parameters associated with provision of services to the user in the wireless communication network, the user profile defining quality of service parameters to be provisioned to the device; and

updating the Home Subscriber Server/Subscriber Profile Registry datastore of the wireless communication network to associate the user profile with the device identifier to grant the user access to use the services of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication device in accordance with the quality of service parameters defined in the user profile.

16. The network of claim 15, wherein the Identity and Access Management module is configured to enable dynamic creation, modification and deletion of subscriber and quality of service profiles.