System and method of maintaining communications policy settings in a wireless network

• US 7,650,140 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Issued: 01/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Plumb, Marc, Patterson, Ian Michael, Goggin, Sean Arthur Daniel Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): D AGOSTA, STEPHEN M
• Application Number:
  US11/260,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20070099620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410, 455/414.1, 455/434, 455/437, 455/515, 455/525, 455/411, 455/418, 455/550.1, 379/189, 379/197, 379/200, 379/210.02, 709/201, 709/217, 709/227, 726/1, 726/2, 726/3, 726/4, 726/27
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• 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 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method of modifying policy settings in a network having a plurality of subscriber devices. An embodiment includes a plurality of base stations, each capable of wirelessly transmitting across a geographic region and a server. A cell-phone, capable of roaming between regions, is operable to establish a wireless link with the base stations and through the base stations, with the server. The network contains a communication policy determining from which other communication devices a subscriber device can receive voice calls. The communication policy is updated, by the server, based on requests from the subscriber devices. Once a request is received from a subscriber device, the determination whether to update the communication policy can be based on a record of rejections respective to the caller requested to be blocked. Alternatively, the communication policy can be updated according to a trust policy maintained on the server respective to the subscriber device making the request; the trust policy represents the procedure to follow when a request is received from that subscriber device.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining a communication policy in a voice telephony network having a policy server and a plurality of subscriber devices comprising the steps of:

maintaining, in a memory of said policy server, a communication policy comprising at least one identifier representing whether reception of a voice call having said at least one identifier is permissible at said subscriber devices;

maintaining, in said memory of said policy server, a trust policy comprising an indicator representing a level of trust respective to one of said subscriber devices;

said level of trust representing an allowability of modifying said communication policy;

receiving, at a network interface associated with said policy server, a request to modify said communication policy from said one of said subscriber devices;

retrieving, at said policy server, said indicator from said trust policy maintained in said memory;

selecting, at said policy server, from a plurality of modification-procedures maintained in said memory, a modification-procedure for said communication policy according to said request and said indicator;

determining whether said communication policy is subject to modification upon performance of said modification-procedure; and

,

performing an operation to update said indicator according to results of said determining step, wherein said operation decreases said indicator if said communication-policy is not subject to modification and increases said indicator if said communication-policy is subject to modification.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein if said communication policy is subject to modification then said indicator is expressed as a percentage and said operation increases said indicator according to the Equation:

3. The method of claim 1 wherein if said communication policy is not subject to modification then said indicator is expressed as a percentage and said operation decreases said indicator according to the formula:

4. A method of maintaining a communication policy in a voice telephony network having a policy server and a plurality of subscriber devices comprising the steps of:

maintaining, in a memory of said policy server, a communication policy comprising at least one identifier representing whether reception of a voice call having said at least one identifier is permissible at said subscriber devices;

maintaining, in said memory of said policy server, a trust policy comprising an indicator representing a level of trust respective to one of said subscriber devices;

said level of trust representing an allowability of modifying said communication policy;

receiving, at a network interface associated with said policy server, a request to modify said communication policy from said one of said subscriber devices;

retrieving, at said policy server, said indicator from said trust policy maintained in said memory;

selecting, at said policy server, from a plurality of modification-procedures maintained in said memory, a modification-procedure for said communication policy according to said request and said indicator;

determining whether said communication policy is subject to modification upon performance of said modification-procedure;

performing an operation to update said indicator according to results of said determining step;

maintaining a request counter respective to said one of said subscriber devices;

maintaining a success counter respective to said one of said subscriber devices;

updating said indicator with a value representing said success counter divided by said request counter; and

,

repeating the foregoing steps for at least one additional request; and

wherein said operation comprises the steps of;

increasing said request counter;

increasing said success counter if said communication policy is subject to modification.