ANONYMOUS CUSTOMER REFERENCE CLIENT

• US 20130324082A1
• Filed: 05/29/2012
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mohajeri, Shahram
• Granted Patent: US 9,031,539 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/75 Temporary identity

Abstract

A system and methodology that facilitates management and utilization of variable subscriber identifiers (V-SubIds) for protecting subscriber privacy is disclosed herein. In one aspect, an Anonymous Customer Reference (ACR) component receives a V-SubId, which is a short-lived subscriber identifier that is to be inserted in a communication messages transmitted from a user equipment instead of a unique device identifier (UDID) of the user equipment. On expiration of the V-SubId, a new V-SubId is received and utilized in subsequent communication messages transmitted from the user equipment. Further, trusted systems/applications can exchange the V-SubId for a subscriber identifier (SubId) associated with the user equipment. Furthermore, untrusted systems/applications can exchange, based on user authorization, the V-SubId for an application-specific ACR that remains static and/or valid for a predefined time period. Moreover, the application-specific ACR is utilized as a device identifier for the user equipment in subsequent communication messages for the predefined time period.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions;

at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the at least one memory, that facilitates execution of the computer-executable instructions to at least;

issue a request for an authentication between a user equipment and a first communication network to be performed, the authentication employing a static identifier associated with the user equipment;

receive at the user equipment via the first communication network a variable subscriber identifier corresponding to the static identifier, in response to the authentication being successful;

provide the variable subscriber identifier to an application, the application being executable at least in part by a processor on the user equipment; and

utilize the variable subscriber identifier as an identifier of the user equipment during a communication that involves the application and that takes place via a second communication network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to request a new variable subscriber identifier in response to an invalidity criterion being met.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the invalidity criterion includes at least one of a period of time being exceeded, a detection of an event, a predefined number of data sessions being performed by the application, or a predefined number of queries being received from the application.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to insert the variable subscriber identifier within a communication message that is transmitted by the user equipment via the second communication network.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to insert the variable subscriber identifier within a header of the communication message.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to request user authorization to obtain an anonymous customer reference specific to the application, wherein the anonymous customer reference is static for a specific time period.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to:

request from a gateway within the first communication network the anonymous customer reference, in response to receipt of the user authorization; and

receive from the gateway within the first communication network, the anonymous customer reference specific to the application.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to:

receive, from the application, a request for a device identifier associated with the user equipment; and

provide the anonymous customer reference to the application in response to receipt of the request for the device identifier and in response to the anonymous customer reference being currently valid.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to:

receive an input that authorizes deletion of the anonymous customer reference; and

transmit data indicative of the input to the gateway within the first communication network to facilitate the deletion of the anonymous customer reference.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the authentication employs at least one of the static identifier that is associated with a subscriber identity module, a mobile station international subscriber directory number, or a unique device identifier of the user equipment.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor reside within the user equipment and the at least one processor at least in part executes the computer-executable instructions.

12. A method, comprising:

requesting, by a system comprising at least one processor, from a network gateway within a telecommunications network, a variable subscriber identifier that is to be utilized as a device identifier for a user equipment;

receiving, by the system, the variable subscriber identifier that is generated by the network gateway in response to authenticating the user equipment with the telecommunications network by employing a static identifier associated with the user equipment; and

utilizing, by the system, the variable subscriber identifier as the device identifier of the user equipment during a communication.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the authenticating includes authenticating the user equipment with the telecommunications network by employing at least one of a mobile station international subscriber directory number, a unique device identifier of the user equipment, or data associated with a subscriber identity module.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the utilizing includes inserting the variable subscriber identifier within a communication message transmitted by the user equipment.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining, by the system, that an invalidity criterion has been satisfied; and

in response to the determining that the invalidity criterion has been satisfied, requesting, by the system, from the network gateway, a new variable subscriber identifier.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the telecommunications network is a first communication network and the utilizing includes utilizing the variable subscriber identifier as the device identifier of the user equipment during the communication via a second communication network.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

in response to receiving user authorization, requesting, by the system, the network gateway for an anonymous customer reference that is specific to an application on the user equipment and does not change for a fixed time period; and

inserting, by the system, the anonymous customer reference in a communication message associated with the application, in response to receiving the anonymous customer reference.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the user authorization is a first user authorization and the method further comprises:

deleting the anonymous customer reference based on receiving a second user authorization.

19. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system, including at least one processor, to perform operations comprising:

requesting an authentication of a user equipment in connection with determining whether to allow the user equipment to connect with a first communication network including authenticating as a function of a static identifier associated with the user equipment;

receiving, at the user equipment via the first communication network, a variable subscriber identifier that is generated in response to the authentication being successful; and

utilizing the variable subscriber identifier as a device identifier of the user equipment during a communication via a second communication network.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a new variable subscriber identifier in response to an invalidity criterion being satisfied; and

utilizing the new variable subscriber identifier as the device identifier of the user equipment during the communication via the second communication network.