Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W8/00—Network data management
  • H04W8/18—Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• • 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
• • 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
  • H04M3/42229—Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W8/00—Network data management
  • H04W8/18—Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
  • H04W8/20—Transfer of user or subscriber data
  • H04W8/205—Transfer to or from user equipment or user record carrier

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method according to the preamble of claim 1.
• Methods of this category are used in conjunction with the operation of telecommunications networks for submitting a user profile of a client entity utilizing network services to the service provider's telecommunications network.
• the function of the user profile is to compile such information on the owner of the user profile for the use of the telecommunications network that may be used to control the content of the service to be provided to the owner of the user profile.
• the user profile may contain information, e.g., on such telecommunications network addresses or names to which calls placed by the owner of the user profile may be connected or, alternatively, on services made accessible to the owner of the user profile.
• the user profile may include information on payment limitations and charge rates defined for the services to be provided to the owner of the user profile.
• the services to be provided may be of any type related to the physical layer, data link layer, Internet or middleware layer services offered in the network.
• Client entities for which user profiles can be formed belong to the groups of, e.g., private persons or firms and user applications, software agents and mobile agents.
• User profiles may also be formed for the nodes and subnetworks of the telecommunications network client's physical/data link layer or Internet layer.
• a user profile or a plurality of profiles can be submitted to the telecommunications network, e.g., when the client entity registers itself active with the network. When necessary, user profiles can be submitted after registration, too.
• user profiles are stored in user home registers maintained by telecommunications network operators.
• Such user home registers form a database which is distributed between the telecommunications network operators and permits an easy verification of user profiles contained in the user home registers.
• the database on the user profiles of client entities are generally maintained by 2
• a problem of the prior-art technique is that when the client entity gains access to another operator's network outside the local telephone network operator's region, the user profile of the calling client entity must be retrieved from the user home register maintained by the local telecommunications network operator.
• This convention has the consequence that for a user, particularly for a mobile private person, mobile application, mobile node, mobile connection or mobile subnetwork, the administrative systems of telecommunications network operators must be designed for rapidly retrieving the user profile required and then transmitting the profile to a telecommunications network access connection or connections, a network service management system and a middleware service management system according to the current need of the client entity.
• telecommunications network operators Due to the critical functions of mobile information transmission systems, the telecommunications network operators must acquire interoperator communication and data processing facilities that can be run with an almost real-time authentication. However, the erection and maintenance of such facilities is clumsy and steals a massive amount of resources, particularly as the number of internetwork accesses evidently tends to increase in the future. It must also be noted that telecommunications network operators communicating with each other may be located physically very remotely from each other, e.g., globally on opposite sides of the earth. Hence, conventional techniques are hampered by the time-critical operations needed between different telecommunications network operators.
• the goal of the invention is achieved by virtue of storing the user profiles at least 3
• the client entity by their core portions in the client entity subscribing to a telecommunications service. Then, during the visit of the client entity in a nonlocal operator's telecommunications network, the client entity itself can submit its user profile to the operator of the nonlocal telecommunications network being visited.
• the invention offers significant benefits.
• the user profile is stored in the client entity associated with the user profile. Additionally, the user profile can be stored in the databases of the telecommunications network operator issuing the user profile, that is, the local telecommunications network operator, for a possible authentication of the user profile.
• the user profile of the client entity is submitted to the network management system of the nonlocal network directly from visiting client entity such as the client's smart card, application, terminal equipment, network node or client's network.
• the entity capable of having a client profile can be an entity associated with the physical layer, application layer, data link layer or Internet layer of the network.
• the user profile may also be configured as a private person, company or a group user profile for network or middleware use. Respectively, the user profile can be submitted to the physical layer, data link layer or Internet layer networks of the nonlocal tele- communications network operator as well as to the middleware layer of the nonlocal telecommunications network operator.
• the visiting client entity is a terminal, node or network
• it can be identified, e.g., from the network ID part of the network address, the network ID part of the terminal equipment or the network ID part of the network address.
• a private person as a user can be identified on the basis of, e.g., a smart card and the authentication methods associated therewith.
• a smart card can also be the same smart card in which the network and middleware service profiles of the user are stored.
• Applications, agents and mobile agents can be authenticated with the help of the authentication methods developed for the same.
• the authentication is sufficiently reliable, based on a smart card, for instance, there is no need for real-time data communications between the local network operator and the visited network operator when the visiting client entity submits its user profile to the visited network.
• this arrangement can be accomplished with the presumption that the operators maintain in their local databases static register lists on stolen terminal equipment and smart cards, for instance.
• static information is understood to contain data that need not be updated at a frequent rate and, particularly, not in conjunction with each registry.
• the static database is updated, e.g., when a piece of terminal equipment or a smart card is reported lost. 5
• the user profiles themselves are compiled so that the local telecommunications network operator gives the client a blank user profile form which is easy to edit. This step can be accomplished using the Java applet technique, for instance.
• the edited form is authenti- cated by the client's electronic signature.
• User profile attributes subject to editing by the user are, e.g., service and payment limitations desiredly attributed to the user profile by the user, definitions on such A subscribers that are to be answered and on those not be answered and definitions on such B subscribers that are allowed to be contacted by the client entity associated with the user profile, or respectively, not be contacted.
• the client may also be allowed to include a list of users permitted to use the user profile.
• the client need not necessarily be the actual user of the user profile.
• the user profile may be company-specific, whereby the client, that is, the company names the users from a group of private person users such as the company's employees, for instance.
• the validity time of the profile is also stored in the user profile.
• the filled forms are returned to the operator. If the forms are found acceptable, the filled forms are confirmed with the operator's elec- tronic signature and the user profiles are thus ready for use. Next, the confirmed user profiles are returned back to the profile users, who can install the profiles, e.g., as files in target entities such as smart cards, applications, mobile agents, nodes, mobile network management systems or terminals. When requested, a copy of such a profile file may then be submitted to the network management system of a visited network in conjunction with a log-in registry to the visited network.
• target entities such as smart cards, applications, mobile agents, nodes, mobile network management systems or terminals.
• the client entity storing its own user profiles submits the required user profiles to the visited telecommunications network at the instant of registration therewith.
• the user profiles are immediately available to the visited network.
• user profiles may also be submitted after registry.
• the visited telecommunications network verifies the validity time of the profile and the electronic 6
• the visited network also verifies that the calling client entity or user profile is not on a blocking list. Provided that the user profile is valid, the signature is authenticated and neither the calling client entity nor the user profile is found on a blocking list, the user profile can be acknowledged which means that services compatible with the user profile will be, on request, delivered in the form defined in the user profile.
• a plurality of different user profiles may be stored in the smart card possessed by a private person user.
• a single smart card can contain, e.g., the employer's user profile and the card holder's own user profile or a plurality of such user profiles.
• a smart card can contain several project-specific user profiles which the employer has allocated for the use of his employee.
• a plurality of different user profiles may also be stored in other kinds of client entities.
• client entity such as a unit containing a smart card
• the client entity can decide in a self- contained manner which one or ones of the profiles are to be submitted to the telecommunications network.
• the local telecommunications network operator can dispense with the need for retrieving the user profiles from the user home register maintained by the local telecommunications network operator when the client wishes to perform a log-in registration with the local network. Also in this case, the client entity can submit its user profile to the operator's network management system in conjunction with registration.
• the local telecommunications network behaves in the same manner as a visited network in regard to the submission of a user profile.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8551554

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Cited By (4)

Citations (3)

• 1998
  • 1998-04-21 FI FI980878A patent/FI112431B/fi active
• 1999
  • 1999-04-21 WO PCT/FI1999/000325 patent/WO1999055067A1/fi not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1999-04-21 EP EP99918007A patent/EP1082847A1/en not_active Withdrawn
• 2000
  • 2000-10-18 NO NO20005233A patent/NO20005233L/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (3)

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