Method of authorization for a cellular system

• US 7,877,079 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2004
• Issued: 01/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Leppānen, Eva-Maria, Saarenpaa, Matti, Aakula, Jukka
• Primary Examiner(s): D'Agosta; Stephen M
• Application Number:
  US10/986,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149731A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,262 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370335-337, 370/338, 370/310, 370/229, 370/230, 370/352, 455/414.1, 455/433, 455/435.2, 455/410, 455/411, 455/418, 455/432.1, 455/432.3, 455/435.1, 713/155, 713/166, 713/168, 713170-175, 709/204, 709/218, 709/219, 709/223
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• 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

A method and entity of authorising in a communication system are disclosed. The method includes using authorising data to reference other data to define an authorisation associated with the other data. The authorising data includes one of a data component, data group, or data element. Further, a user profile can be provided and includes a user profile data component and an authorisation data component. The authorisation data component or the user profile data component references another authorisation component. Access is authorised to data associated with the user profile data component in accordance with the authorisation data component.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending to at least one of a plurality of repository access functions, by the generic user profile server, a request for a generic user profile data, said generic user profile data comprising a plurality of parts, at least one of the plurality of parts comprising one or more of a data component, a data group, and a data element, wherein authorization data referencing the generic user profile data is one of the plurality of parts of said generic user profile data, wherein the authorization data is independent of the at least one of the plurality of parts, wherein the authorization data is common to a plurality of users of a certain part of a profile, and wherein each of the plurality of repository access functions is configured to access a different portion of the generic user profile data stored in a respective one of a plurality of repositories;

receiving from the at least one of the plurality of repository access functions, at the generic user profile server, a response comprising said generic user profile data to which a requestor has authorized access rights, the authorization being defined on the basis of the authorization data stored in at least one of the plurality of repositories accessed by the respective ones of the plurality of repository access functions; and

sending to the requestor, by the generic user profile server, said generic user profile data after receiving the response comprising said generic user profile data.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of parts and said authorization data are parts of a common data structure.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the authorizing data comprises defining access to said other plurality of parts with said authorization data.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said authorization data comprises at least one of

rules for said authorization data,

data distribution information,

usage information, and

default information.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said authorization data comprises data that is user specific or common to a plurality of users.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising

arranging said authorization data to reference at least one element of a generic user profile information model.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said authorizing comprises taking into account at least one of a requestor, requested data, a target subscriber, and an operation to be performed.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising

obtaining said authorization data from at least one of a separate privacy register, a user profile server, a separate server, and a data storage.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said authorization data is common to all components of a profile for a user.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a sender configured on a generic user profile server to send a request for a generic user profile data to at least one of a plurality of repository access functions, said generic user profile data comprising a plurality of parts, at least one of the plurality of parts comprising one or more of a data component, a data group, and a data element, wherein authorization data referencing the generic user profile data is one of the plurality of parts of said generic user profile data, the sender further configured to send said generic user profile data to a requestor after receiving the response comprising said generic user profile data, wherein each of the plurality of repository access functions is configured to access a different portion of the generic user profile data stored in a respective one of a plurality of repositories; and

a receiver configured on the generic user profile server to receive a response from the at least one of the plurality of repository access functions comprising said generic user profile data to which the requestor has authorized access rights, the authorization being defined on the basis of the authorization data stored in at least one of the plurality of repositories accessed by the respective ones of the plurality of repository access functions;

wherein the authorization data is independent of the at least one of the plurality of parts, and wherein the authorization data is common to a plurality of users of a certain part of a profile.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said apparatus comprises an application a server or a user equipment.

12. A system comprising:

at least one application; and

at least one generic user profile server comprising;

a receiver configured to receive a request from the application relating to generic user profile data;

a processor configured to access authorization data via at least one of a plurality of repository access functions, reference the generic user profile data, said generic user profile data comprising a plurality of parts, the parts being one or more of a data component, data group and data element, wherein each of the plurality of repository access functions is configured to access a different portion of the generic user profile data stored in a respective one of a plurality of repositories;

wherein the authorization data is one of the plurality of parts of the generic user profile data, wherein the authorization data is independent of the at least one of the plurality of parts, and wherein the authorization data is common to a plurality of users of a certain part of a profile; and

a processor configured to authorize access to a requestor of one or more parts of the generic user profile data in accordance with the authorization data, and send a response to the application including data relating to the parts of the generic user profile data the requestor is authorized to access, the authorization being defined on the basis of the authorization data stored in at least one of the plurality of repositories accessed by the respective ones of the plurality of repository access functions.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said at least one application is provided on at least one of

at least one user equipment,

at least one third party server, and

a home network.

14. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said at least one server comprises at least one of a generic user profile server and an authorization server.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

sending means for sending to at least one of a plurality of repository access functions a request for a generic user profile data, said generic user profile data comprising a plurality of parts, at least one of the plurality of parts comprising one or more of a data component, a data group, and a data element, wherein authorization data referencing the generic user profile data is one of the plurality of parts of said generic user profile data, wherein the authorization data is independent of the at least one of the plurality of parts, wherein the authorization data is common to a plurality of users of a certain part of a profile, and wherein each of the plurality of repository access functions is configured to access a different portion of the generic user profile data stored in a respective one of a plurality of repositories;

receiving means for receiving from the at least one of the plurality of repository access functions a response comprising said generic user profile data to which a requestor has authorized access rights, the authorization being defined on the basis of the authorization data stored in at least one of the plurality of repositories accessed by the respective ones of the plurality of repository access functions; and

sending means for sending said generic user profile data after receiving the response comprising said generic user profile data.