AUTHENTICATION OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE COMMUNICATING THROUGH WI-FI CONNECTION

• US 20130244616A1
• Filed: 04/26/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: DING, Jihui
• Granted Patent: US 8,774,766 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A wireless mobile communication device may be configured to include its Mobile Device Number (MDN) and its Mobile Equipment Identification (MEID) with each outgoing communication request when communicating over the internet through a Wi-Fi connection. A server may be configured to authenticate each request by comparing the MEID and MDN which are received from the wireless mobile communication device with MEID and MDN pairs which are stored in an equipment registration database. The wireless mobile communication device may also be configured to communicate at different times through a different type of internet connection, such as through a cellular telecommunication system. During this mode of communication, the IP address and the MDN of the mobile communication device may instead be used for authentication purposes by the server.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a computer network interface configured to receive communications over a computer network, sent from wireless mobile communication devices through a Wi-Fi connection and through a different, type of wireless internet network connection; and

a computer processing system configured to;

determine whether each communication received from a mobile communication device was sent through the Wi-Fi connection or the different type of wireless internet network connection based on information in each received communication;

upon a determination indicating that;

one received communication was sent through the Wi-Fi connection, determine whether the one received communication is authentic using a first authentication method; and

upon a determination indicating that another received communication was sent through the different type of wireless internet network connection, determine whether the other received communication is authentic using a second authentication method which is different from the first authentication method.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the different type of wireless internet network connection is a cellular telecommunication system.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the first authentication method is based at least in part on a mobile equipment identifier (MEID) for a wireless mobile communication device which sent the received communication through the Wi-Fi connection.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the second authentication method is based at least in part on an IP address for a wireless mobile communication device which sent the received communication through the different type of wireless internet network connection.

5. The of claim I wherein the determination whether each received communication was sent through the Wi-Fi connection or the different type of wireless internet network connection is based on a flag In each received communication.

6. A system comprising:

a computer network interface configured to receive communications over a computer network sent from a wireless mobile communication device through a Wi-Fi connection and through a different type of wireless internet network connection, each communication received from the wireless mobile communication device including a communication request by the mobile communication device including a first identifier for the mobile communication device; and

a computer processing system configured to;

determine whether each communication received from the mobile communication device was sent through the Wi-Fi connection or the different type of wireless internet network connection based on information in each received communication;

upon a determination indicating that one received communication was sent through the Wi-Fi connection, determine whether the one received communication is authentic using a first authentication method based on relationship of the first identifier and a second identifier for the mobile communication device; and

upon a determination indicating that another received communication was sent through the different type of wireless internet network connection, determine whether the other received communication is authentic using a second authentication method which is different from the first authentication method, the second authentication method being based on relationship of the first identifier and a third identifier, which is different than the second identifier, for the mobile communication device.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein each communication request comprises an HTTPS request.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the different type of wireless internet network connection utilizes communication through a cellular telecommunication system.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the first mobile device identifier is a mobile device number (MDN) of the mobile communication device for communication through the cellular telecommunication system.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the second identifier for the mobile communication device is one of a mobile equipment identifier (MEID) for the mobile communication device and an IP address assigned to the mobile communication device, and

the third identifier for the mobile communication device is the other of the MEID for the mobile communication device and the IP address assigned to the mobile communication device.

11. A wireless mobile communication device comprising:

a computer network interlace configured to send communications wirelessly over the internet through a Wi-Fi connection and at different times through a different type of wireless internet network, connection; and

a computer processing system configured to;

determine whether the communications are being sent by the computer network interface through the Wi-Fi connection or through the different type of wireless internet network connection;

if the determination indicates that the communications are being sent by the computer network interface through the Wi-Fi connection, cause communication authentication information of a first type to be included in each communication;

if the determination indicates that the communications are being sent by the computer network interface through the different type of wireless internet network connection, cause communication authentication information of a second type which is different from the first type to be included in each communication.

12. The wireless mobile communication device of claim 11 wherein the first type of authentication information includes a mobile equipment identifier (MEID) for the wireless mobile communication device.

13. The wireless mobile communication device of claim 11 wherein the second type of authentication information includes an IP address for the wireless mobile communication device.

14. The wireless mobile communication device of claim 11 wherein the computer processing system is configured to cause the communication authentication, information of the first and the second type to include a flag indicative of whether the communication is being sent through the Wi-Fi connection or the different type of wireless internet network connection.

15. The wireless mobile communication device of claim 11 wherein the different type of internet connection is a cellular telecommunication system.

16. The wireless mobile communication device of claim 11 wherein the wireless mobile communication device is a smart phone.

17. The wireless mobile communication device of claim 11 wherein the first type of authentication information includes a mobile device number (MDN) and a mobile equipment identifier (MEID) for the wireless mobile communication device.

18. The wireless mobile communication device of claim 17 wherein the second type of authentication information includes the mobile device number (MDN) and an IP address for the wireless mobile communication device.