EP0571503A1 - Procede et appareil pour controler l'acces a un systeme de transmission - Google Patents

Procede et appareil pour controler l'acces a un systeme de transmission

Info

Publication number
EP0571503A1
EP0571503A1 EP92905908A EP92905908A EP0571503A1 EP 0571503 A1 EP0571503 A1 EP 0571503A1 EP 92905908 A EP92905908 A EP 92905908A EP 92905908 A EP92905908 A EP 92905908A EP 0571503 A1 EP0571503 A1 EP 0571503A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
communication system
access
communication
communication unit
authorized
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP92905908A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0571503A4 (en
Inventor
Robert Louis Breeden
Muppidi Prabhakar
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Motorola Solutions Inc
Original Assignee
Motorola Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Motorola Inc filed Critical Motorola Inc
Publication of EP0571503A1 publication Critical patent/EP0571503A1/fr
Publication of EP0571503A4 publication Critical patent/EP0571503A4/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W12/00—Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
    • H04W12/08—Access security
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/4228—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers in networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
    • H04Q3/0016—Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
    • H04Q3/0029—Provisions for intelligent networking
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/10—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for controlling access to devices or network resources
    • H04L63/101—Access control lists [ACL]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2242/00—Special services or facilities
    • H04M2242/22—Automatic class or number identification arrangements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/42025—Calling or Called party identification service
    • H04M3/42034—Calling party identification service
    • H04M3/42059—Making use of the calling party identifier
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13515—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems authentication, authorisation - fraud prevention
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13532—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems mobile networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
    • H04Q3/72—Finding out and indicating number of calling subscriber
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W12/00—Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
    • H04W12/60—Context-dependent security
    • H04W12/61—Time-dependent

Definitions

  • This invention relates in general to communication systems, and more particularly to those communication systems that employ some type of access control criteria to regulate access to the communication system.
  • the decision to disable a communication unit or deny access to a communication system is a serious consideration for communication service providers.
  • the problems associated with this decision are reduced in a more centralized communication system, where the information used to make the deny/disable decision can be more rapidly updated and more readily controlled and maintained. Conversely, these problems are more profound in distributed or decentralized communication systems since the information used to make the deny/disable decision must be distributed and cannot be as carefully controlled or as rapidly updated.
  • a communication system base site receives a signal representing a request from a communication unit to access the communication system.
  • the signal includes an identification code and another code which represents when the communication unit was authorized to access the communication system.
  • the base site operates to process the identification code to initially determine that the communication unit should not be permitted access to the communication system. Additionally, the other code is processed to determine whether the communication unit was authorized to access the communication system within a time interval. If so, the communication unit is permitted to access the communication system.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system suitable for employing an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communication unit of FIG. 1.
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base site of FIG. 1.
  • FIG. 4 is an illustration of a request for access to the communication system in accordance with the present invention.
  • FIGs. 5a-5c are flow diagrams illustrating the operation of the base sites of FIG. 3.
  • FIG. 6 is an illustration to facilitate understanding the present invention.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system 100 suitable for employing the present invention.
  • the communication system 100 comprises a second generation cordless telephone system commonly referred to as "CT-2" by those skilled in the art.
  • CT-2 second generation cordless telephone system
  • the present invention can apply to a CT-2 communication system based upon the CT-2 Common Air Interface (CAI) Standard, or a derivative thereof, as well as find application in any number of different types of communication systems.
  • CAI Common Air Interface
  • a CT-2 communication system is centered about a conventional public or private switched telephone network (PSTN) 102.
  • PSTN public or private switched telephone network
  • a communication service provider controls the system via one or more terminals 108a-b coupled to a control center 104, which in turn is coupled to a plurality of base sites 300a-b through one or more telephone type communication channels (lines) 106.
  • the base sites 300a-b are distributed throughout the communication system to provide a wide area communication service.
  • the preferred base sites are capable of communicating on forty different communication channels, although in practice only twenty channels are used at any given time to minimize adjacent channel interference.
  • the base sites also maintain a record of usage of the communication system by each of the communication units, which is transmitted periodically to the control center 104 for billing purposes.
  • a plurality of communication units 200a-e are free to roam within the communication system coverage area and communicate with other individuals having access to conventional public or private wireline telephone sets or the like.
  • the communication units are required to request access to the communication system by transmitting a request signal to the nearest base site (i.e., communication units 200a-c to base site 300a, and communication units 200d-e to base site 300b). If a channel is available at a base site receiving a request to access the communication system 100, the communication unit will be permitted to communicate provided that the communication unit is registered on the communication system and has not been previously disabled or identified as a communication unit that should be disabled.
  • the service provider can enter the identification code of the stolen communication unit into the control center for distribution to the various base sites at the next update interval.
  • the update interval occurs once a day (24 hours) at an appropriate off-peak hour of the PSTN.
  • the service provider can disable a communication unit whose user has not paid the service charge for using the communication system.
  • each base site 300a-b reports which communication units were disabled to the control center 104.
  • the control center 104 will distribute the identification of the disabled communication units to the plurality of base sites. While not immediately apparent, the foregoing description contains a rather serious customer problem for providers of communication services. That is, a customer having a disabled communication unit must wait up to two days before he or she can communicate on the system again. This is true even if the stolen communication unit is immediately recovered, or the delinquent bill immediately paid. The reason for this problem results from the infrequent update interval used in a distributed communication system such as a CT-2 system. For example, assume that the owner of a disabled communication unit proceeds to a local service center 110 immediately upon discovering that his or her communication unit is disabled.
  • the service center reprograms or otherwise re-enables the communication unit.
  • the base sites will not be informed that the communication unit should be permitted to access the communication for two days: one day for a base unit report that the communication unit was disabled, and a second day for the control center to distribute the disabling of the communication unit to the other base sites causing them to remove the communications unit's identity from a disable list.
  • the customer attempts to use the just re-enabled communication unit, it will be again disabled forcing the customer to return to the service center 110.
  • a communication unit 200 preferably comprises a CT-2 compatible transceiver constructed and arranged to comply with the CT-2 time division duplex (TDD) CAI or any other protocol that may be used in any particularly implementation of a communication system.
  • the preferred communication unit 200 operates under control of a microprocessor (or microcontroller or equivalent) 202 coupled to nonvolatile memory 204a and random access memory 204b.
  • a microprocessor or microcontroller or equivalent
  • the user To communicate via the communication unit, the user first activates the communication unit via a switch on a keypad 206. Automatically, the communication unit contacts the nearest base site in accordance with the CT-2 CAI protocol to be hereinafter discussed.
  • the user of the communication unit selects (dials) a number associated with the person to whom he or she desires to communicate via the keypad 206.
  • dials a number associated with the person to whom he or she desires to communicate via the keypad 206.
  • the user can speak to and hear the called party via the audio circuits 208 and the radio frequency (RF) circuits 210, which are controlled by the microprocessor 202 via control lines 212 and 214 respectively.
  • RF radio frequency
  • a preferred embodiment of a base site 300 is illustrated in block diagram form.
  • the base site is coupled to the PSTN (via a telco type interface 302 in the preferred embodiment) to allow customers to communicate with other individuals and to allow the base site to communicate with the control center.
  • the PSTN is coupled through the telco interface 302 to audio circuits 304 and RF circuits 306, which are controlled by a microprocessor (or microcontroller or the like) 308 via control lines 310 and 312 respectively.
  • the system usage of each customer is monitored by the microprocessor 308, and a data base is maintained in the non-volatile memory portion 320a of the memory 320.
  • the memory 320a contains the list of communication units to be disabled, the list of communication units that have been disabled, and any other system control parameters as may be implemented in any given communication system.
  • the telco interface 302 is controlled (via control line 314) to couple the PSTN to a modem (or equivalent) 316, which is coupled to the microprocessor 308 via data line(s) 318.
  • the control center can receive and send updates to the disable list, billing information, and other system parameters during the periodic data base updates.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates the preferred request signal 400 transmitted by a communication unit 200 to the nearest base unit 300 to request access to the communication system.
  • the request signal 400 is compliant with the CT-2 CAI, which is the preferred embodiment of the communication system 100.
  • the request signal 400 is arranged into four primary portions of fields.
  • One field 402 contains information representing the unique portable identification (PID) code assigned to the communication unit.
  • the PID is twenty-seven bits in length to allow over two million different communication unit identification codes.
  • Another field is preferably sixteen bits in length and contains information representing the link identification (LID) code 404 assigned to the provider of the communication service.
  • LID link identification
  • a service provider will only allow communication units associated with his or her communication service to access the communication system.
  • a LID is typically programmed into the non-volatile memory of each communication unit.
  • Another field comprises an enable field 406, which preferably is four bits in length and indicates whether the communication unit is currently enabled to access the communication system. When a communication unit is enabled and disabled, it is this field that is updated to reflect the current status of the communication unit.
  • the request signal includes a telepoint registration data (TRD) field 408, which is preferably embodied as twenty binary coded decimal (BCD) digits that may be used in any convenient manner by the service providers.
  • TRD telepoint registration data
  • a time code 410 which is maintained by the microprocessor of the communication unit 200.
  • the time code represents the time interval since the last enablement of the communication unit. That is, when the enable field is updated to reflect an enabled status of the communication unit, the time code is thereafter maintained to represent the time interval since the status change.
  • the time increment represents days, although weeks, hours, half-hours, or minutes could be used.
  • a communication unit in accordance with the preferred embodiment can measure in excess of twenty-five years from the last enabling status change. Other arrangements are, of course, possible depending upon the number of reserved BCD digits and the increment interval selected.
  • the time code is maintained by any of several known software timing routines, but could also be implemented via a hardware timer as those skilled in the art will readily appreciate.
  • a base site 300 receives the request signal 400 from a communication unit 200.
  • Decision 504 determines whether the communication unit's LID is registered to the service provider's communication system. Failure of the communication unit's LID to be registered results in denial of access to the communication services (step 518). Assuming that the correct LID was received, the base site 300 next examines the enable field 406 of the request signal 400 (decision 506).
  • step 518 access to the communication services is denied.
  • decision 508 attempts to correlate the PID of the communication unit with the identification codes of those communication units that the service provider has decided should be disabled. If the PID of the access requesting communication unit is not found on the disable list, the communication unit is permitted to access the communication system (step 510), and the communication system 100 operates normally to monitor the system usage to collect billing information or other system performance parameters.
  • the present invention examines the time code 410 of the request signal 400 to determine whether the communication unit was recently enabled (or re-enabled) within a time interval, which in the preferred embodiment is set at the two day time interval necessary to complete updating of the data bases in all of the various base sites of the communication system 100. If the time code represents a time interval longer than the threshold limit of two days, the communication unit must be scheduled to be disabled otherwise the PID would have been deleted via ordinary data base management. Therefore, the base site transmits a disable code (step 516) to the communication unit, which causes the enable field 406 to be altered to reflect a disabled communication status.
  • the base site After disabling the communication unit, the base site operates to remove the communication unit's PID from the disable list (since it was just disabled) and store the communication unit's in a disabled unit list preferably located in the non-volatile memory of the base site (step 516). Naturally, since the communication unit was just disabled, access to the communication system is denied (step 518). Conversely, assuming that decision 512 determines that the communication unit was last enabled within the preferred two day time interval, the present invention operates to allow communication since the user of the communication unit must have recently had the communication unit re-enabled by a service center. By tracking the time interval from enablement (or re-enablement), the present invention allows customers instant access to the communication system without expensive and time consuming data traffic between the control center and the several base sites. In this way, authorized customers gain instant access to the communication system, and service providers are not required to continually update the several base sites to adequately serve their customers.
  • the data base update begins when the control center contacts a base site via the PSTN (step 520). After communication is established, the base site transmits any update (PIDs of disabled communication units, billing information, etc.) to the control center (step 522). Next, the base site receives (step 524) and stores (step 526) data base updates from the control center (for example, new PID numbers to be disabled or removing PID numbers so that they are not disabled).
  • the base site receives (step 524) and stores (step 526) data base updates from the control center (for example, new PID numbers to be disabled or removing PID numbers so that they are not disabled).
  • FIG. 6 a simple illustration summarizes the advantages offered by the present invention. When a request to access the communication system 400 is received, a base site need simply to determine the time interval from when the communication unit was last enabled.
  • the present invention serves both the customer and the service provider by allowing instant access to the communication system to customers entitled to do so, while requiring only the infrequent data base management illustrated in FIG 5c to control the operating expenses of the service provider.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

Un site de base (300) d'un système de transmission reçoit un signal (400) représentant une demande émanant d'une unité de transmission (200) pour accéder au système de transmission (100). Ce signal renferme un code d'identification (402) et un autre code qui indique le moment où l'unité de transmission a été autorisée à accéder au système de transmission (100). Le site de base (300) traite le code d'identification (402) pour déterminer initialement que l'unité de transmission (200) ne doit pas être autorisée à accéder au système de transmission (100). En outre, l'autre code (410) est traité pour déterminer si l'unité de transmission (200) a été autorisée à accéder au système de transmission (100) dans un certain intervalle de temps. Dans l'affirmative, l'unité de transmission (200) est autorisée à accéder au système de transmission.
EP19920905908 1991-02-15 1992-01-21 Method and apparatus for controlling access to a communication system Withdrawn EP0571503A4 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US65665991A 1991-02-15 1991-02-15
US656659 2000-09-07

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0571503A1 true EP0571503A1 (fr) 1993-12-01
EP0571503A4 EP0571503A4 (en) 1994-05-18

Family

ID=24634007

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19920905908 Withdrawn EP0571503A4 (en) 1991-02-15 1992-01-21 Method and apparatus for controlling access to a communication system

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0571503A4 (fr)
WO (1) WO1992015056A1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5509052A (en) * 1994-05-25 1996-04-16 Motorola, Inc. Base storage of handset's base registrations
US5689247A (en) * 1994-12-30 1997-11-18 Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation Automated system for identifying authorized system users
FR2761849A1 (fr) * 1997-04-02 1998-10-09 Philips Electronics Nv Systeme de telecommunications, terminal mobile et procede d'enregistrement d'un terminal aupres d'un reseau de telecommunications

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3441724A1 (de) * 1984-11-15 1986-05-15 Siemens AG, 1000 Berlin und 8000 München Verfahren zur missbrauchsverhinderung in fernmeldenetzen, insbesondere mobilfunknetzen

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4626845A (en) * 1983-02-28 1986-12-02 Epic Systems, Inc. Subscriber validation system
US4677434A (en) * 1984-10-17 1987-06-30 Lotus Information Network Corp. Access control system for transmitting data from a central station to a plurality of receiving stations and method therefor
US5058201A (en) * 1988-06-07 1991-10-15 Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. Mobile telecommunications system using distributed miniature zones

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3441724A1 (de) * 1984-11-15 1986-05-15 Siemens AG, 1000 Berlin und 8000 München Verfahren zur missbrauchsverhinderung in fernmeldenetzen, insbesondere mobilfunknetzen

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See also references of WO9215056A1 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO1992015056A1 (fr) 1992-09-03
EP0571503A4 (en) 1994-05-18

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