Authenticating voice calls from mobile devices

A method for implementation on a mobile communication device, comprising:

• placing an outgoing voice call over a voice channel to a remote entity;
• after detecting that the voice call was answered, providing a message over a data channel established with that remote entity, the message indicating to the remote entity that the mobile communication device placed the voice call over the voice channel;
• accepting a plurality of incoming voice calls;
• attempting to obtain call-identifying information for each accepted voice call;
• if any of the accepted voice calls had (1) call-identifying information that matched to the stored identification information for the authorizable device, (2) failed to match any stored identification information, or (3) for which no call-identifying information was obtained, then
• maintaining each of those incoming calls in a parked state,
• requesting, over data channels of devices initiating those calls, that each device send an authentication token over its voice channel,
• for each authentication token received, determining whether such authentication token matches an authentication token previously provided to the authorizable device, and
• providing the service over the voice channel from which the matching authentication token was received.

A mobile communications device, comprising:

• a data network interface;
• a voice network interface;
• a processing module coupled with the voice network interface and with the data network interface, operable to
• initiate a voice call, over the voice network interface, and
• send a call connected message, over the data network interface, after the call has been answered;
• accept a plurality of incoming voice calls;
• attempt to obtain call-identifying information for each accepted voice call;
• if any of the accepted voice calls had (1) call-identifying information that matched to the stored identification information for the authorizable device, (2) failed to match any stored identification information, or (3) for which no call-identifying information was obtained, then
• maintain each of those incoming calls in a parked state,
• request, over data channels of devices initiating those calls, that each device send an authentication token over its voice channel,
• for each authentication token received, determine whether such authentication token matches an authentication token previously provided to the authorizable device, and
• provide the service over the voice channel from which the matching authentication token was received.

A system for selectively granting access to voice services by mobile devices, comprising:

• a data network interface;
• a voice call receiver coupled with a voice grade network;
• and
• one or more processing modules for;
• accepting a plurality of incoming voice calls;
• attempting to obtain call-identifying information for each accepted voice call;
• if any of the accepted voice calls had (1) call-identifying information that matched to the stored identification information for the authorizable device, (2) failed to match any stored identification information, or (3) for which no call-identifying information was obtained, then
• maintaining each of those incoming calls in a parked state,
• requesting, over data channels of devices initiating those calls, that each device send an authentication token over its voice channel,
• for each authentication token received, determining whether such authentication token matches an authentication token previously provided to the authorizable device, and
• providing the service over the voice channel from which the matching authentication token was received.

A method of authorizing mobile devices to receive voice services, comprising:

• communicating with mobile devices over data channels that also authenticate each mobile device to a provider of voice services;
• accepting incoming voice calls at a server of the voice services provider,
• concurrently with the communication over the secure data channels, wherein the incoming voice calls may originate from any of the mobile devices or from other devices;
• collecting calling-party identifiers from the incoming voice calls;
• if any of the accepted incoming voice calls had (1) calling-party identifiers that matched to stored identification information for the respective authorized device or (2) failed to match any stored identification information, then
• maintaining each of those incoming calls in a parked state,
• requesting, over data channels of devices initiating those calls, that each calling device send an authentication token over its voice channel,
• for each authentication token received, determining whether such authentication token matches an authentication token previously provided to the calling device, and
• providing the service over the voice channel from which the matching authentication token was received.