Control of cellular data access
AssigneeUnited States Cellular Corporation
InventorsNarayanan Haran, Michael Irizarry, Narothum Saxena
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for controlling cellular access to data services from a mobile device such as a cellular telephone or PDA. The wireless network monitors IP traffic to and from the mobile device. Attempts to access an data service are checked to determine whether the requested access is authorized. Access to the data service is granted subject to the authorization. Access to the mobile device from external sources is also restricted.
Claims20
A method for a Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) to control data access for a mobile station, the method comprising:
- receiving by the PDSN, from the mobile station, a request to provide a network address of a source of data services that is connected to an Internet and identified in the request by a name;
- conditionally permitting access, by the mobile station to the source of data services, by way of controlling access to a Domain Name System (DNS) for resolving the name to the network address of the source of data services, the conditionally permitting being based on comparing the name to a list of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs);
- and
- filtering, at the PDSN, data packets communicated between the mobile station and networked data services, via the PDSN, based on an IP address contained in the data packets for the networked data services, and
- wherein during filtering, if a communication including a received data packet from a networked sender was not initiated by the mobile station, then the PDSN uses a reverse-DNS query based on the IP address for the networked sender contained in the received data packet to determine the name corresponding to the networked sender, and thereafter using the name to determine whether to drop the received data packet.
A networked system including a Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) to control data access for a mobile station, the PDSN comprising:
- a first access control mechanism configured to enable the PDSN to perform the steps of:
- receiving by the PDSN, from the mobile station, a request to provide a network address of a source of data services that is connected to an Internet and identified in the request by a name;
- conditionally permitting access, by the mobile station to the source of data services, by way of controlling access to a Domain Name System (DNS) for resolving the name to the network address of the source of data services, the conditionally permitting being based on comparing the name to a list of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs);
- and
- a second access control mechanism configured to enable the PDSN to perform the steps of:
- filtering, at the PDSN, data packets communicated between the mobile station and networked data services, via the PDSN, based on an IP address contained in the data packets for the networked data services, and
- wherein during filtering, if a communication including a received data packet from a networked sender was not initiated by the mobile station, then the PDSN uses a reverse-DNS query based on the IP address for the networked sender contained in the received data packet to determine the name corresponding to the networked sender, and thereafter using the name to determine whether to drop the received data packet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.