Communication and action approval system and method

• US 9,949,123 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2016
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lynn Wardley
• Original Assignee: Lynn Wardley
• Inventors: Henderson, Jason, Debnath, Sankhyayan
• Primary Examiner(s): PERUNGAVOOR, VENKATANARAY
• Application Number:
  US15/366,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20170086070A1
• Time in Patent Office: 502 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• 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 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1076 Screening of IP real time communications, e.g. spam over Internet telephony [SPIT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

A computer-based method for real-time communication authorization includes receiving, from a first communication device, a communication request, verifying, with a verification engine, a pre-approval status of the communication request, storing the communication request in an approval queue if the communication authorization the pre-approval status is set to false, issuing an alert to the authorization device, and receiving one or more authorization parameters from an authorization device.

Claims

1. A computer or mobile telephone based system for real-time communication authorization comprising:

a first communication device;

a second communication device;

an authorization device; and

a real-time centrally hosted access control server that accesses the Internet through a different Internet gateway device than any of the first communication device, the second communication device, and the authorization device, wherein the real-time access control server is configured to;

receive a communication request from the first communication device, wherein the communication request comprises a specified communication technology selected from a set of supported communication technologies;

verify a pre-approval status of the communication request;

store the communication request in an approval queue if the preapproval status is false and alerts for an administrator with an option to approve the communication request to enable real-time communication;

issue an alert to the authorization device; and

receive one or more authorization parameters that define communication protocols and level of communication for communication target contacts approved from the authorization device, wherein the one or more authorization parameters comprises an enablement flag,

wherein the first communication device is a computer or a mobile telephone.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the real-time access control server further comprises a communication controller, the communication controller being configured to enable communication between the first communication device and the second communication device using the specified communication technology if the enablement flag is set to true.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of supported communication technologies comprises telephonic voice communication technology, short message service text technology, instant messenger technology, social media messenger technology, social media posting technology, video conference technology, video game messenger technology, or email.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the real-time access control server further comprises a verification engine, the verification engine being configured to uniquely identify a user according to one or more identity parameters.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more identity parameters comprise manual parameters or automated parameters.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the automated parameters comprise a first name, a last name, a date of birth, an email address, a physical address, a phone number, or a social security number.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the first communication device and the authorization device each register with the real-time access control server using a shared account.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the real-time access control server is locally hosted on a private local area network.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the real-time access control server is hosted on aproxy server.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the authorization device deactivates and reactivates communication or internet-based services of the first communication device in real-time.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the authorization device deactivates and reactivates selected communication and internet-based services in accordance with a pre-determined event.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the authorization device deactivates and reactivates selected communication and internet-based services in accordance with a pre-determined time schedule.

13. A real-time access control appliance comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable program code embodied thereon, the computer executable program code configured to:

receive, from a communication device, an Internet data source access request, wherein the Internet data source access request comprises a specified communication technology selected from a set of supported communication technologies;

insert the Internet data source access request in an administrator queue;

issue an alert to an authorization device that the administrator queue contains an Internet data source access request for real-time approval by an administrator by gaining access to a real-time access control server;

receive administrator authorization parameters from the authorization device; and

restrict Internet data source access to the communication device according to the administrator authorization parameters,

wherein the authorization parameters comprise an enablement flag that allows the administrator to monitor and restrict Internet data access according to configurable user-specific authorization parameters that define communication protocols and level of communication for communication target contacts approved from the authorization device.