METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A DEVICE IDENTIFIER BASED SOLUTION FOR USER IDENTIFICATION

• US 20120102008A1
• Filed: 10/25/2010
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Kääriäinen, Teemu, Otranen, Jari Tapio
• Granted Patent: US 9,723,463 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

An approach is provided for a device identifier based solution for user identification. A device identifier component receives from a user device a request for access to a service platform. The device identifier component determines one or more identifiers associated with the user device and generates a record of the access with respect to the one or more identifiers.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a user device a request to access a service platform, the request being associated with a non-anonymous, unregistered user account;

determining one or more identifiers associated with the user device; and

generating a record of the access with respect to the one or more identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access comprises access by a user to a service on the service platform.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the record comprises information regarding at least one of actions, activities and behavior associated with the access.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more identifiers comprise one or more of an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), a Mobile Country Code (MCC), a Mobile Network Code (MNC) and a Mobile Station Identifier Number (MSIN).

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining based, at least in part, on the one or more identifiers whether the user device has previously accessed the service; and

associating the record from one or more previous accesses to the service with the user device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

causing, at least in part, a heuristic analysis of the one or more identifiers to determine whether the user device has previously accessed the service,

wherein the heuristic analysis is based, at least in part, on assigning different identification strengths to the one or more identifiers.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining to adapt the access to the service platform based, at least in part, on the record from the one or more previous accesses to the service.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a registered user account is associated with the request; and

associating the record with the registered user account.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining to create a registered user account associated with the request, and associating the one or more identifiers with the registered user account; and

determining to associate the record with the registered user account.

10. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

determine one or more identifiers associated with a user device in response to a request from the user device to access a service platform, the request being associated with a non-anonymous, unregistered user account; and

generate a record of the access with respect to the one or more identifiers.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the access comprises access by a user to a service on the service platform.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the record comprises information regarding at least one of actions, activities and behavior associated with the access.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more identifiers comprise one or more of an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), a Mobile Country Code (MCC), a Mobile Network Code (MNC) and a Mobile Station Identifier Number (MSIN).

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine based, at least in part, on the one or more identifiers whether the user device has previously accessed the service; and

associate the record from one or more previous accesses to the service with the user device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine to adapt the access to the service platform based, at least in part, on the record from the one or more previous accesses to the service.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine to create a registered user account associated with the request, and associate the one or more identifiers with the registered user account; and

determine to associate the record with the registered user account.

17. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform the following steps:

receiving from a user device a request to access a service platform, the request being associated with a non-anonymous, unregistered user account;

determining one or more identifiers associated with the user device; and

generating a record of the access with respect to the one or more identifiers.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is caused to further perform:

determining based, at least in part, on whether the user device has previously accessed the service; and

associating the record from one or more previous accesses to the service with the user device.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is caused to further perform:

determining whether a registered user account is associated with the request; and

associating the record with the registered user account.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is caused to further perform:

determining to create a registered user account associated with the request, and associate the identifiers with the registered user account; and

determining to associate the record with the registered user account.

21-44. -44. (canceled)