US 7,688,959 B2Granted

Method for remotely connecting to a secure telephone network

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsChristopher J. Dawson, Rick A. Hamilton, II, James W. Seaman, Timothy M. Waters

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Abstract

A system and method for allowing remote callers to access a secure telephone network maintains a registry (i.e. a database) of all remote callers that have access to the network. The registry contains an electronic serial number (ESN) and a personal identification number (PIN) for each remote caller. The ESN is typically the serial number of the callers cellular telephone. Alternatively, the ESN is a phone number of the remote caller's telephone. To establish a connection, the remote caller calls a private branch exchange (PBX) of the secure network. Upon receiving the call, the PBX compares the ESN and PIN of the remote caller with the ESN and PIN stored in the registry. If a match is found, the PBX authenticates the remote caller and allows the connection. The remote caller may have full access or access limited by a connection policy.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A method for connecting a user of a remote telephone to a secure telephone network comprising the steps of:

providing a secure telephone network having a plurality of network extensions, said secure telephone network capable of being accessed by a remote telephone;
providing one or a plurality of remote telephones capable of accessing said secure telephone network;
providing a registry connected to the secure telephone network, said registry comprising
at least one registry entry comprising a matched pair comprising one electronic serial number (ESN) identifying a remote telephone and one personal identification numbers (PINs) identifying a user, wherein each said ESN is found in a plurality of matched pairs and each said PIN is found in a plurality of matched pairs, and
a connection policy specifying,
for each network extension, access times when access is permitted and each matched pair authorized to obtain access and
for each ESN-PIN matched pair, access times when access is permitted and each network extension to which the matched pair is authorized to obtain access;
transmitting a connection request to the secure telephone network, said connection request comprising a specified ESN-PIN matched pair;
searching the registry for a registry entry containing ESN-PIN matched pair transmitted in the connection request;
and
taking one action of a group consisting of:
in response to not finding a registry entry for the transmitted ESN-PIN matched pair, denying access by the remote telephone to the secure telephone network and
in response to finding a registry entry for the transmitted ESN-PIN matched pair, applying the connection policy to the connection request and taking one action of a group of actions comprising
denying access to the secure telephone network where a request for access is not permitted by the connection policy and
granting access to the secure telephone network only to the extent permitted by the connection policy.

12 more elements

A secure network telephone system providing remote access for a user of a remote telephone comprising

a secure telephone network for receiving incoming calls and routing the incoming calls to a plurality of extensions;
one or more remote telephones capable of connecting to said secure telephone network, each of said one or more remote telephones having means to transmit a connection request to said secure telephone network, said connection request comprising a dataset comprising an electronic serial number (ESN) of the remote telephone, a personal identification number (PIN) of a user of the remote telephone, and a network extension to which connection is being requested;
and
a registry database connected to said secure telephone network, said registry database comprising one or more storage devices storing registry data comprising
ESN data comprising an ESN for each of said one or more remote telephones having authorization to connect to a network extension,
PIN data comprising a PIN for each of one or more remote users having authorization to connect to a network extension;
at least one registry entry comprising a matched pair comprising one electronic serial number (ESN) identifying a remote telephone and one personal identification numbers (PINs) identifying a user, wherein each said ESN is found in a plurality of matched pairs and each said PIN is found in a plurality of matched pairs;
and
connection policy data comprising a connection policy specifying
for each network extension, access times when access is permitted and each combination of ESN and PIN authorized to obtain access and
for each combination of ESN and PIN for which access is authorized, access times when access is permitted and each network extension to which access may be obtained;
wherein the secure telephone network is capable of comparing the connection request dataset to a group comprising the registry database data.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.