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

• US 8,150,377 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2009
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Patterson, Ian Michael, Goggin, Sean Arthur Daniel Carlos, Plumb, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Agosta, Steve D
• Application Number:
  US12/622,089
• Publication Number:
  US 20100069049A1
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410, 455/411, 455/414.1, 455/418, 455/434, 455/550, 379/189, 379/197, 379/200, 379/210.02, 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 one of at least three levels of trust respective to each one of said subscriber devices;

each of said levels of trust representing a different 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 respective to said one of said subscriber devices from said trust policy maintained in said memory; and

,

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;

wherein said modification-procedure comprises one of an alert for a system administrator that comprises a report of said request, and a vote to modify said communication policy such that if a predetermined number of said votes are received from a plurality of said subscriber devices then said communication policy is automatically modified in accordance with said request; and

wherein said indicator is expressed as a percentage and said vote is selected if said indicator has a value of less than twenty percent.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of performing said modification-procedure.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said indicator is expressed as a percentage and said alert is selected if said indicator has a value of between twenty percent and eighty percent.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said modification-procedure is an automatic modification to said communication policy according to said request.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said indicator is expressed as a percentage and said alert is selected if said indicator has a value of greater than eighty percent.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

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.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said network is based on one or more of CDMA, OFDM, AMPS, GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth, infrared, 802.11, and PSTN.

8. A policy server comprising:

a network interface for communicating with a plurality of subscriber devices via a voice telephony network interconnecting said devices and said interface;

at least one persistent storage device for maintaining 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 in said network;

said at least one persistent storage device additionally for maintaining a trust policy comprising an indicator representing one of at least three levels of trust respective to each one of said subscriber devices;

each one of said levels of trust representing a different allowability of modifying said communication policy;

a processor interconnecting said interface and said at least one persistent storage devices;

said processor for receiving a request to modify said communication policy from said one of said subscriber devices via said interface;

said processor operable to retrieve said indicator for said one of said subscriber devices from said trust policy; and

,

said processor operable to select from a plurality of modification-procedures, a modification-procedure for said communication policy according to said request and said indicator;

wherein said modification-procedure comprises one of an alert for a system administrator that comprises a report of said request, and a vote to modify said communication policy such that if a predetermined number of said votes are received from a plurality of said subscriber devices then said communication policy is automatically modified in accordance with said request; and

wherein said indicator is expressed as a percentage and said vote is selected if said indicator has a value of less than twenty percent.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of programming instructions;

said programming instructions, when executed by a processor of a policy server, implementing a method of maintaining a communication policy in a voice telephony network including said policy server and a plurality of subscriber devices;

said method performing 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 in said network;

maintaining, in a memory of said policy server, a trust policy comprising an indicator representing one of at least three levels of trust respective to each one of said subscriber devices;

each of said levels of trust representing a different 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; and

,

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;

wherein said modification-procedure comprises one of an alert for a system administrator that comprises a report of said request, and a vote to modify said communication policy such that if a predetermined number of said votes are received from a plurality of said subscriber devices then said communication policy is automatically modified in accordance with said request; and

wherein said indicator is expressed as a percentage and said vote is selected if said indicator has a value of less than twenty percent.