The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 27, 2012
Filed:
May. 24, 2007
Heather Maria Hinton, Austin, TX (US);
Alastair John Angwin, Eastleigh, GB;
Mark Pozefsky, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Heather Maria Hinton, Austin, TX (US);
Alastair John Angwin, Eastleigh, GB;
Mark Pozefsky, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A mobile device identifier (such as an MSISDN) that typically accompanies a mobile device request is replaced with an 'enriched' identifier that exposes the mobile device user's home operator but obfuscates the mobile device's (and, thus, the device user's) identity. In one embodiment, the identifier comprises a first part, and a second part. The first part comprises a data string that identifies (either directly or through a database lookup) the mobile device user's home operator. The second part, however, is an opaque data string, such as a one-time-use unique identifier (UID) or a value that is otherwise derived as a function of the MSISDN (or the like). The opaque data string encodes the mobile device's identity in a manner that preferably can be recovered only by the user's home operator. The present invention describes a method and apparatus for use in a home network to manage the generation, storage and use of the unique identifiers.