System and method for directing a tethered device to an in-vehicle stored landing page based on an available credit or data balance

• US 10,708,220 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2017
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Vig, Sandeep, Ranjan, Rajeev
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby, Frantz
• Application Number:
  US15/837,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20190182203A1
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: 709225, 709223, 709217, 709238, 707706, 707768, 701123
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8214 Data or packet based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/851 Determined tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/852 Low balance or limit reached
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/854 Available credit
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

An access system is provided and includes a memory and a control module. The memory stores a local DNS server VM, LLPS VM and local landing page, where the local DNS server VM is programmed with an IP address and a domain name of the LLPS VM. The control module: transmits a HTTP request from an in-vehicle device to a network application server via a PDN gateway or GGSN; based on a network event, receives a redirect response signal to redirect the in-vehicle device from accessing the network application server to receiving the landing page; based on a URI of the landing page, provides a query request signal to the local DNS server VM for the IP address and the domain name of a network or local landing page server; receives a query response signal from the local DNS server VM and the landing page from the LLPS VM.

Claims

1. An access system comprising:

a memory configured to store a local domain name system server virtual machine (VM), a local landing page server VM, and a local landing page, wherein the local domain name system server VM is programmed with an Internet protocol (IP) address and a domain name of the local landing page server VM; and

a control module configured to

transmit a hypertext transfer protocol request from an in-vehicle device to a network application server via a packet data network (PDN) gateway or a gateway general packet radio server (GPRS) support node (GGSN),

based on a network event, receive a redirect response signal from the PDN gateway or the GGSN to redirect the in-vehicle device from accessing the network application server to receiving the local landing page or a network landing page, wherein the redirect response signal includes a uniform resource identifier of the local landing page or the network landing page,

based on the uniform resource identifier, provide a first query request signal to the local domain name system server VM for the IP address and the domain name of a network landing page server or the local landing page server VM,

receive a first query response signal from the local domain name system server VM including the IP address and the domain name,

contact the local landing page server VM based on the first query response signal, and

subsequent to contacting the local landing page server VM, receive the local landing page from the local landing page server VM.

2. The access system of claim 1, wherein the network event corresponds to at least one of:

an amount of credit an owner of the in-vehicle device has with a carrier;

the in-vehicle device being out of a predetermined network and is in a roaming state;

a contract service term between the owner and the carrier has expired;

or

a carrier network where the in-vehicle device is located has insufficient resources to accommodate communication of the in-vehicle device.

3. The access system of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to receive the local landing page from the local landing page server VM instead of from a network landing page system server.

4. The access system of claim 1, wherein the local domain name system server VM is configured to:

based on the uniform resource identifier, determine whether the local landing page is stored in the memory;

if the local landing page is stored in the memory, provide the IP address to the control module; and

if the local landing page is not stored in the memory, transmit the first query request signal to a network domain name system server to obtain an IP address of the network landing page server.

5. The access system of claim 1, wherein the control module is further configured to:

prior to transmitting the hypertext transfer protocol request to the PDN gateway or the GGSN, transmit a second query request signal to a network domain name system server to obtain a second IP address of the network application server; and

receive a second query response from the network domain name system server including the second IP address.

6. The access system of claim 5, wherein the control module is configured to:

subsequent to receiving the second query response and when an owner of the in-vehicle device has a predetermined amount of credit with a carrier, (i) transmit a second hypertext transfer protocol request from the in-vehicle device to the network application server, and (ii) receive a hypertext transfer protocol response from the network application server based on the second hypertext transfer protocol request; and

receive the redirect response signal from the PDN gateway when the owner has less than the predetermined amount of credit with the carrier.

7. The access system of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to:

in response to receiving the first query response signal, provide a second request signal to the local landing page server VM;

in response to the second request signal, receive a certificate from the local landing page server VM;

determine whether the certificate is authentic; and

if the certificate is authentic, display the local landing page on a display of the in-vehicle device.

8. The access system of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to:

in response to receiving the first query response signal, provide a second request signal to the local landing page server VM;

in response to the second request signal, receive a second response signal from the local landing page server VM including a certificate; and

based on the response signal, determine whether the local landing page server VM is authorized including verifying at least one of

a domain name or IP address provided with the certificate,

an authority entity or authority device indicated on the certificate, wherein the authority device is operated by the authority entity and is authorized to generate or encrypt a signature of the certificate,

the certificate or signature is authentic,

a hashing algorithm used to hash data in the certificate, or

an encryption algorithm used to encrypt the signature.

9. The access system of claim 1, wherein the local landing page server VM has a same domain name as the domain name of the network landing page server.

10. The access system of claim 1, wherein:

the landing page server VM hosts cryptographic information including private keys, public keys and a server certificate; and

the server certificate is identical to a certificate of a network landing page server.

11. The access system of claim 1, wherein:

the landing page server VM hosts cryptographic information including private keys, public keys and a server certificate; and

the server certificate is a shared certificate used for a plurality of services in the access system.

12. The access system of claim 1, wherein:

the landing page server VM hosts the local landing page; and

the local landing page

indicates an owner of the in-vehicle device has less than a predetermined amount of credit with a carrier,

includes a link to a website or an application enabling the owner to increase the amount of credit with the carrier,

indicates the in-vehicle device is out of a predetermined network and is in a roaming state,

indicates a contract service term between the owner and the carrier has expired, or

indicates a carrier network where the in-vehicle device is located has insufficient resources to accommodate communication of the in-vehicle device.

13. The access system of claim 1, wherein the in-vehicle device is an onboard device or a mobile device.

14. The access system of claim 1, wherein the in-vehicle device includes the memory and the control module.

15. A method of operating an access system, the method comprising:

transmitting a hypertext transfer protocol request to a network application server via a packet data network (PDN) gateway or a gateway general packet radio server (GPRS) support node (GGSN);

based on a network event, receive a redirect response signal from the PDN gateway or the GGSN to redirect an in-vehicle device from accessing the network application server to receiving a landing page, wherein the redirect response signal includes a uniform resource identifier of the landing page;

based on the uniform resource identifier, providing a first query request signal to a local domain name system server virtual machine (VM) for an Internet protocol (IP) address of a network landing page server or a local landing page server VM;

receiving a first query response signal from the local domain name system server VM including the IP address;

contacting the local landing page server VM based on the first query response signal; and

subsequent to contacting the local landing page server VM, receiving the landing page from the local landing page server VM.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the network event corresponds to at least one of:

an amount of credit an owner of the in-vehicle device has with a carrier;

the in-vehicle device being out of a predetermined network and is in a roaming state;

a contract service term between the owner and the carrier has expired;

or

a carrier network where the in-vehicle device is located has insufficient resources to accommodate communication of the in-vehicle device.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

in response to receiving the first query response signal, providing a second request signal to the local landing page server VM;

in response to the second request signal, receiving a certificate from the local landing page server VM;

determining whether the certificate is authentic; and

if the certificate is authentic, displaying the landing page on a display of the in-vehicle device.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

in response to receiving the first query response signal, providing a second request signal to the local landing page server VM;

in response to the second request signal, receiving a certificate from the local landing page server VM;

determining whether the local landing page server VM is authorized; and

based on whether the local landing page server VM is authorized, providing a certificate response signal to the local landing page server VM.