Routing secure communications across multiple communication devices or points-of-presence

• US 10,333,766 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2016
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dark Matter LLC
• Original Assignee: Dark Matter LLC
• Inventors: Sherkin, Alexander, Singh, Ravi, Matovsky, Michael, Chin, Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahman, Mahfuzur
• Application Number:
  US15/180,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20170359727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass networks security protocols H04L9/40; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/084 using delegated authorisation, e.g. open authorisation [OAuth] protocol
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/106 Packet or message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/47 using near field communication [NFC] or radio frequency identification [RFID] modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing

Abstract

A communication system is provided for enabling secure communications between at least a sender communication device and at least a recipient communication device or point-of-presence, wherein the then current recipient communication device(s) or point(s)-of-presence for the recipient(s) can vary over time. The communication system includes a network server component configured to maintain a current set of identification information elements for communicating with communication device(s) or points-of-presence associated with the one or more recipients; and if applicable provide up to date one or more identifiers or identification information elements for the one or more recipients to a sender communication device thereby prompting the sender communication device to send the secure communication based on the updated one or more identifiers or identification information elements. A related method is provided for exchanging secure communications between senders and recipients, where the communication device(s) or point(s)-of-presence associated with the recipients can vary over time.

Claims

1. A communication system for enabling secure communications between a sender communication device and at least one recipient communication device associated with a recipient, wherein the at least one recipient communication device associated with the recipient can vary over time, the communication system comprising:

a network server including a physical computer processor configured to;

maintain a set of identification information elements for identifying and communicating with one or more points-of-presence associated with the recipient, wherein each of the one or more points-of-presence corresponds to a respective recipient communication device currently or recently used by the recipient and is represented by a respective identification information element from the current set of identification information elements;

receive a secure communication from a sender communication device, the secure communication destined for a first recipient communication device and wrapped for the first recipient communication device;

obtain from the secure communication one or more identifiers identifying the first recipient communication device and the recipient;

when the obtained one or more identifiers identifying the first recipient communication device do not correspond to any of the one or more points-of-presence identified in the set of identification information elements and associated with the recipient, send a communication message to the sender communication device including an updated list of one or more identifiers associated with the recipient, thereby prompting the sender communication device to resend secure communication as a second secure communication based on the updated list of one or more identifiers, the updated list including at least one identifier corresponding to a second recipient communication device associated with the recipient; and

upon receipt of the second secure communication, the second secure communication destined for the second recipient communication device and wrapped for the second recipient communication device, forward the second secure communication to the second recipient communication device;

wherein the one or more recipient communication devices currently or recently used by the recipient receive the secure communication without broadcasting their presence to the network server.

2. The communication system of claim 1, further comprising one or more recipient communication device components, wherein each recipient communication device component is configured from time to time to transmit status information of an associated communication device or corresponding point-of-presence to the network server.

3. The communication system of claim 1, where the network server includes a secure communication protocol implementation component that is configured to:

(a) extract the one or more identifiers from the secure communication, including based on an applicable secure communication protocol; and

(b) send the communication message including the updated list of one or more identifiers, such that the sender communication device can wrap the secure communication using the secure communication protocol for the recipient based on the one or more points-of-presence associated with the recipient communication devices currently or recently used by the recipient.

4. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the network server is configured to manage a queue for communications such that if a recipient communication device or corresponding point-of-presence for a recipient is offline, the secure communication is sent from time to time until it is delivered to the recipient communication device or corresponding point-of-presence.

5. The communication system of claim 1, wherein when the obtained one or more identifiers identifying the first recipient communication device corresponds to at least one of the points of presence associated with the recipient, the network server forwards the secure communication to the recipient communication device.

6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein when the obtained one or more identifiers identifying the first recipient communication device do not correspond to any of the one or more points-of-presence, the computer processor invokes a reject function, whereby rather than forwarding the secure communication to the first recipient communication device, the computer processor initiates the communication of a reject message to the sender communication device, which includes the updated list of one or more identifiers.

7. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is configured to determine one or more active communication devices or points-in-presence for the recipient, or one or more communication devices or points-of-presence last observed to be active for the recipient.

8. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the reject message includes one or more information elements required for the sender communication device to wrap the secure communication for the recipient based on the recipient communication devices currently or recently used by the recipient associated with the one or more points-of-presence represented by the updated list of one or more identifiers.

9. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the network server comprises a computer server connected to an application repository, and configured to function as a routing server.

10. The communication system of claim 9, wherein when a secure communication from a sender communication device is not wrapped for a recipient communication device corresponding to at least one element of the set of identification information elements, the routing server is configured to automatically reject the secure communication and send a communication message to the sender communication device that includes one or more identifiers or associated information elements for resending the secure communication based on the one or more points-of-presence of the recipient.

11. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the receipt of the communication message from the routing server causes the sender communication device to automatically resend the secure communication, wrapped for the one or more recipient communication devices based on the one or more points-of-presence of the recipient.

12. The communication system of claim 11, wherein the routing server enables secure communications from the sender communication device to be processed by the one or more recipient communication devices seamlessly, regardless of any changes in the one or more recipient communication devices currently or recently used by the recipient over time.

13. The communication system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more points-of-presences comprises a user ID and a hardware ID, the user ID representing an identification of the recipient, and the hardware ID representing an identification of a hardware device with the respective recipient communication device currently or recently used by the recipient.

14. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the secure communication comprises a metadata and a wrapped message content, the wrapped message content being encrypted for end-to-end communication with the first recipient communication device such that the computer processor is prevented from accessing the encrypted message content, and wherein the computer processor is configured to obtain the one or more identifiers from the metadata of the secure communication.

15. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the wrapped message content is adapted for re-assembly initiated by a sender client application.

16. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a sender communication device, a secure communication by a network server component comprising at least one computer processor, the secure communication destined for a first recipient communication device and wrapped for the first recipient device;

the network service component extracting from the secure communication one or more identifiers identifying the first recipient communication device and the recipient;

comparing the extracted one or more identifiers to a set of identification information elements maintained for one or more points-of-presence associated with the recipient, wherein each of the one or more points-of-presence is associated with a respective recipient communication device currently or recently used by the recipient and is represented by a respective identification information element from the current set of identification information elements;

when the obtained one or more identifiers identifying the first recipient communication device corresponds to at least one element in the set of identification information elements, forwarding the secure communication to the first recipient communication device,

when the obtained one or more identifiers identifying the first recipient communication device do not correspond to any of the one or more points-of-presence identified in the set of identification information elements and associated with the recipient;

rejecting the secure communication and sending a communication message to the sender communication device -including an updated list of one or more identifiers associated with the recipient, the updated list including at least one identifier corresponding to a second recipient communication device associated with the recipient; and

upon receipt of a second secure communication from the sender communication device, the second secure communication destined for a second recipient communication device and wrapped for the second recipient communication device, forwarding the second secure communication to the second recipient communication device;

wherein the one or more recipient communication devices currently or recently used by the recipient receive the secure communication without broadcasting their presence to the network server component.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising maintaining a secure communication in a queue if the recipient communication device or corresponding point-of-presence from the updated list of identifiers for a recipient is offline, and sending the secure communication from time to time until it is delivered to the recipient communication device or corresponding point-of-presence.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising including in the secure communication to the sender communication device one or more information elements required for the sender communication device to wrap the secure communication for the recipient based on the one or more points-of-presence associated with the recipient communication devices currently or recently used by the recipient.

19. A mobile device, comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory, communicatively coupled to the processing unit and comprising computer-readable program instructions executable by the processing unit for;

generating a secure communication for transmission to a first recipient communication device associated with a recipient based on previous point-of-presence information associated with the recipient received from a routing server, the secure communication wrapped for the first recipient communication device;

sending the secure communication to a routing server for forwarding, by the routing server, the secure communication to the first recipient communication device and;

when a response message is received from the routing server, the response message including an updated list of one or more identifiers associated with the recipient, the updated list including at least one identifier corresponding to a second recipient communication device associated with the recipient;

generating a second secure communication, the second secure communication destined for the second recipient communication device and wrapped for the second recipient communication device; and

sending the second secure communication to the routing server for forwarding to the second recipient communication device;

wherein the one or more recipient communication devices currently or recently used by the recipient receive the secure communication without broadcasting their presence to the routing server.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable program instructions are further executable by the processing unit for sending a current set of identification information elements to a routing server intermittently, wherein the set of identification information elements represents at least a sender communication device currently or recently used by a sender associated with the mobile device.