Non-mobile authentication for mobile network gateway connectivity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9264898-B2
Application number	US-201213553543-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2012
Priority date	Apr 26, 2012
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

In general, techniques are described for emulating mobile authentication methods to establish authenticated connectivity between a mobile service provider gateway and a wireless device attached to an alternate access network. For example, a system operating according to the described techniques includes a mobile service provider network, an alternate access network having an access gateway, and an authentication server of the mobile service provider network that receives a network access request. A subscriber database responds to the network access request with virtual mobility information, wherein the network access request does not include an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and wherein the virtual mobility information comprises a virtual IMSI. The access gateway uses the virtual mobility information to signal a mobile network gateway of the mobile service provider network to establish a service session for the wireless device over the alternate access network that is anchored by the mobile network gateway.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, with an authentication server of a mobile service provider network, a network access request for a wireless device from an access gateway of an alternate access network, wherein the network access request does not include an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI);
authenticating, with the authentication server in response to receiving the network access request, the wireless device for access to the mobile service provider network;
dynamically allocating, with the authentication server and in response to the authenticating, virtual mobility information for the wireless device that includes a virtual International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) not stored by a Home Location Register of the mobile service provider network;
sending the virtual mobility information from the authentication server to the access gateway; and
signaling, with the access gateway using the virtual mobility information, a mobile network gateway of the mobile service provider network to establish a service session for the wireless device over the alternate access network that is anchored by the mobile network gateway.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein dynamically allocating the virtual mobility information comprises obtaining, with the authentication server, the virtual mobility information for the wireless device from a subscriber database for the mobile service provider network,
wherein the subscriber database does not operate as a Home Location Register for the mobile service provider network.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising pre-populating the subscriber database with subscriber credentials and associating the subscriber credentials with respective virtual mobility information for corresponding subscribers.

4. The method of claim 3 ,
wherein the network access request comprises subscriber credentials, and
wherein the subscriber database maps the subscriber credentials to the corresponding virtual mobility information.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
obtaining, with the subscriber database, respective virtual mobility information for corresponding subscribers from a Home Location Register for the mobile service provider network, wherein the virtual mobility information for corresponding subscribers comprises actual mobility information for corresponding subscribers.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual IMSI is not associated with a subscriber for the wireless device in a Home Location Register for the mobile service provider network.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alternate access network comprises one of a Wi-Fi network, WiMAX network, or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) network and the access gateway comprises one of a Wi-Fi access gateway, WiMAX access gateway, WLAN access gateway.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access gateway comprises an S2a Mobility over General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol (SaMOG) gateway that interfaces to the mobile network gateway using an S2a interface.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein signaling, with the access gateway using the virtual mobility information, the mobile network gateway comprises sending a create session request that includes the virtual IMSI to the mobile network gateway.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein signaling, with the access gateway using the virtual mobility information, the mobile network gateway comprises receiving a create session reply with the access gateway that includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the wireless device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile service provider network comprises one of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) architecture.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending and receiving subscriber data traffic for the wireless device with the access gateway using the service session with the mobile network gateway.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing a General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-User (GTP-U) tunnel connecting the access gateway and mobile network gateway for the service session; and
mapping, with the access gateway, the GTP-U tunnel to a layer two (L2) connection in the alternate access network with the wireless device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual mobility information comprises a non-default Access Point Name (APN) for the service session.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the authorization server authenticates the wireless device using non-mobile authentication methods that do not require an IMSI.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual mobility information comprises an MSISDN number associated with a subscriber of the wireless device in a Home Location Register for the mobile service provider network, the method further comprising:
charging the subscriber with the mobile network gateway using the MSISDN number.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual mobility information comprises a temporary MSISDN number, the method further comprising:
charging the service session with the mobile network gateway using the temporary MSISDN number.

18. A method comprising:
receiving, with an authentication server of a mobile service provider network, a network access request for a wireless device from an access gateway of an alternate access network, wherein the network access request does not include an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), wherein the network access request comprises a MAC address for the wireless device;
in response to the network access request, obtaining virtual mobility information from a subscriber database for the mobile service provider network, wherein the virtual mobility information comprises a virtual International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI);
assigning, with the subscriber database, the virtual mobility information for the wireless device and associating the MAC address with the virtual mobility information when the subscriber database does not include an association between the MAC address and the virtual mobility information;
assigning, with the subscriber database, the virtual mobility information associated with the MAC address when the subscriber database includes an association between the virtual mobility information and the MAC address;
sending the virtual mobility information from the authentication server to the access gateway; and
signaling, with the access gateway using the virtual mobility information, a mobile network gateway of the mobile service provider network to establish a service session for the wireless device over the alternate access network that is anchored by the mobile network gateway.

19. A method performed by an access gateway of an alternate access network, the method comprising:
receiving a network access request for a wireless device, wherein the network access request does not include an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI);
extracting a wireless device identifier from the network access request;
sending the wireless device identifier to an authentication server to request mobility information for the wireless device;
receiving virtual mobility information for the wireless device from the authentication server, the virtual mobility information dynamically allocated by the authentication server in response to authenticating, in response to receiving the wireless device identifier, the wireless device for access to a mobile service provider network, wherein the virtual mobility information includes

Assignees

• Schroeder Hartmut
• Kitson Nikolas Dawson
• Tellakula Sreenivasa
• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Schroeder Hartmut
• Kitson Nikolas Dawson
• Tellakula Sreenivasa

Classifications

• H04W8/06

  Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W8/08

  Mobility data transfer · CPC title

• H04W12/06 Primary

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W12/062 Primary

  Pre-authentication · CPC title