US 8,554,882 B2Granted

Method, apparatuses and computer program for parental control over children's activities in an IMS network

AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)

InventorsMaria-Carmen Belinchón Vergara, Berta Isabel Escribano Bullon

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Abstract

The present invention faces the issue of exercising a parental control over children's activities in the IMS network, in terms of registering into the IMS network as well as in terms of call establishment, and provides for a new IMS subscription model supporting a hierarchy of IMPI's, so-called ‘primary’ IMPI's and so-called ‘secondary’ IMPI's, whereby only the primary IMPI's are allowed to register themselves, whereas the secondary IMPI's can only register themselves after having been previously registered by a primary IMPI. To this end, the present invention provides for a new method and an enhanced HSS to allow the implicit registration of one or more ‘secondary’ IMPI's upon the explicit registration of an IMS subscriber with a given IMPI/IMPU pair, wherein the given IMPI is a ‘primary’ IMPI and the given IMPU is associated with a registration set of IMPI's which includes said one or more ‘secondary’ IMPI's.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method of registering during a single registration process in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) an implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMS private identities, the method comprising the steps of:

configuring at a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) which holds subscriptions for subscribers of the IMS, an IMS subscription for a subscriber with a number ‘n’ of IMS private identities (IMPI) and a number ‘m’ of IMS public identities (IMPU), wherein each IMPI is associated with at least one IMPU and each IMPU is associated with at least one IMPI, and wherein one or more IMPU is shared by more than one IMPI;
and
receiving at the HSS from a Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF), which is currently assigned for serving the subscriber, an indication of a registration of the subscriber with a given IMPU and a given IMPI, and an identifier of the S-CSCF;
and
wherein the method also comprises:
for at least one shared IMPU, configuring at the HSS the IMS subscription for the subscriber with an implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's associated with the shared IMPU;
configuring at the HSS at least one IMPI as ‘primary’ IMPI and any other IMPI as ‘secondary’ IMPI of the IMS subscription for the subscriber;
determining at the HSS whether the given IMPI is configured as a ‘primary’ IMPI or as a ‘secondary’ IMPI;
and
where the given IMPI is a ‘primary’ IMPI and the given IMPU is the shared IMPU associated with the implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's which comprises the given IMPI, registering the implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's and downloading from the HSS towards the S-CSCF the implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's;
or
where the given IMPI is a ‘secondary’ IMPI not previously registered by a ‘primary’ IMPI within an implicit registration set, rejecting the registration of the subscriber with the given IMPU and given IMPI.

9 more elements

A Home Subscriber Server (HSS) for holding subscriptions for subscribers of an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), the HSS comprising:

an accessible storage adapted to configure an IMS subscription for a subscriber with a number ‘n’ of IMS private identities (IMPI) and a number ‘m’ of IMS public identities (IMPU), wherein each IMPI is associated with at least one IMPU and each IMPU is associated with at least one IMPI, and wherein one or more IMPU is shared by more than one IMPI;
a receiver adapted to receive from a Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF), which is assigned for serving the subscriber, an indication of a registration of the subscriber with a given IMPI and a given IMPU, and an identifier of the S-CSCF;
and
a processing unit adapted to determine whether the given IMPU and the given IMPI are associated;
and wherein
the accessible storage is adapted to configure the IMS subscription for the subscriber, for at least one shared IMPU, with an implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's associated with the shared IMPU, and adapted to configure at least one IMPI in the IMS subscription as ‘primary’ IMPI and any other IMPI as ‘secondary’ IMPI of the IMS subscription for the subscriber;
the processing unit is adapted to determine whether the given IMPI is a ‘primary’ IMPI or a ‘secondary’ IMPI, whether a ‘secondary’ IMPI has been previously registered within an implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's, and whether the given IMPU is the shared IMPU associated with the implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's which comprises the given IMPI;
and
the HSS also comprises a sender adapted to download towards the S-CSCF the implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's, where the given IMPI is a ‘primary’ IMPI and the given IMPU is the shared IMPU associated with the implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's;
or adapted to reject the registration of the subscriber with the given IMPU and given IMPI towards the S-CSCF, where the given IMPI is a ‘secondary’ IMPI not previously registered by a ‘primary’ IMPI within an implicit registration set of ‘j’ IMPI's.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/003,993Filed 15 Jul 2008
Published: US 2011/0119359 A119 May 2011
Granted: 8 Oct 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification12 codes

H04W 8/04
Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of…:…
G06F 21/6218
Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules: to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file…
H04L 61/30
Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming: managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames
H04L 61/4588
Network directories; Name-to-address mapping: containing mobile subscriber information, e.g. home subscriber server [HSS]