SECURED COMMUNICATION VIA LOCATION AWARENESS

• US 20140328219A1
• Filed: 07/24/2014
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Forbes, Scott C., Criddle, Linda, Milstein, David, Chu, Lon-Chan, Wang, Kuansan, Malueg, Michael D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,185,206 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/259
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42034 Calling party identification service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/40 Security arrangements using identity modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

A method and system for collecting and verifying the location information of a calling party and a device of the calling party is provided. More specifically, a method and system is provided for determining whether the identity of the calling party can be confirmed, via evaluating location information, with an acceptable degree of certainty. The location information may be provided by the calling party or obtained from various sources over a digital communication channel. Some of the provided location information which can be accidentally or intentionally altered is identified and evaluated to determine its accuracy as part of the verification process of the caller'"'"'s identity.

Claims

1. A method for collecting information about a location of a calling device to verify a calling party in response to a request for establishing a digital communication channel, comprising:

receiving a first set of location information from a calling device;

obtaining a second set of location information that is necessary for verifying the first set of location information;

evaluating the first set of location information by comparing it with the second set of location information in order to authenticate an identity of the calling party; and

wherein the contextual information is exchanged during a connection set-up phase of a digital communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein evaluating includes determining whether the identity of the calling party is authenticated within a degree of certainty.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein evaluating includes transmitting a request for more information relating to a location from the calling party.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a response to the request from the calling party and verifying the response.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

if the identity of the calling party is authenticated within a degree of certainty, accepting the request for establishing a digital communication channel; and

if the identity of the calling party is not authenticated within a degree of certainty, rejecting the request for establishing a digital communication channel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein after accepting the request for establishing a digital communication channel, the calling party is periodically authenticated.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of location information is location information voluntarily reported by the calling party.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of information is basic location information automatically collected by the calling device at the time of the request for establishing a digital communication channel.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of location information is authenticated location information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of location information is securely encrypted.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for confirming a caller'"'"'s identity via location information exchanged over a digital voice conversation, the computer-executable components comprising:

a communication interface component configured for receiving identity information from a caller as part of a digital voice conversation;

an information confirming component configured for identifying location information necessary to verify the identity information and requesting the identified location information from the caller; and

wherein after the communication interface component obtains the identified location information from the caller over the digital voice conversation, the information confirming component confirms the identity information by verifying the identified location information obtained from the caller.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the communication interface component obtains additional information for verifying the identified location information obtained from the caller and wherein the additional information is trusted.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the identity information is confirmed if the identified location information obtained from the caller corresponds to the additional information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein a unique identification of a calling device is used to determine if the identified location information obtained from the caller corresponds to the additional information.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein geographic location information of a calling device is used to determine if the identified location information obtained from the caller corresponds to the additional information.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein network path information of a calling device is used to determine if the identified location information obtained from the caller corresponds to the additional information.

17. A method for verifying user information about VoIP clients while the VoIP clients are engaged in a digital voice conversation, comprising:

receiving user information from a VoIP client, the user information relating to a location of the VoIP client;

obtaining previously verified location information about the VoIP client;

verifying whether the received user information is consistent with previously verified location information of the VoIP client;

generating output including a result of verification of the received user information; and

presenting a first portion of the output along with a second portion of the output,

wherein the first portion of the output represents part of the user information which is verified and the second portion of the output represents part of the user information which fails to be verified.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the VoIP client is verified at a predetermined time during the digital voice conversation.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the previously verified location information is obtained from an authorized third party.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

transmitting a warning notification about the second portion to the VoIP client.