Method for verifying the validity of a telephone line of a user of a service or of a software application

Abstract

Verification of the validity of a telephone line of a user likely to use a service or a software application, the verification process can include: the allocation to said validation procedure, by a validation system, of a temporary validation telephone number that has a predetermined validity duration; the generation of a call by the communication terminal of the user, via a telephone communication network, to the temporary validation telephone number; the verification of the correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called and the validation procedure; and the validation of the telephone line of the user insofar as the correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called by the communication terminal of the user and the validation procedure has been verified in the preceding step, such that the client system is able to authorise the user to use the service or software application.

Claims

1. A method for verifying the validity of a telephone line of a user likely to use a service or a software application, with the purpose of authorising said user to use a service or a software application, by means of a communication terminal of the user associated with said telephone line, the method comprising the following steps: the initiation, by a client system associated with the service or with the software application, of a validation procedure of the user likely to use the service or the software application, said validation procedure being associated with an ID of said user and with said service or with said software application, the allocation to said validation procedure, by a validation system, of a temporary validation telephone number that has a predetermined validity duration, the generation of a call by the communication terminal of the user, via a telephone communication network, to the temporary validation telephone number, the reception of the call by a call server, the transmission of the call received by the call server to the validation system, the notification by the validation system to the client system, where applicable, of the call received intended for the temporary validation telephone number, during the predetermined validity duration of said temporary validation telephone number, the verification of the correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called and the validation procedure, to ensure that the communication terminal of the user emitted the call intended for the temporary validation telephone number, during the predetermined validity duration of said temporary validation telephone number, and the validation of the telephone line of the user insofar as the correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called by the communication terminal of the user and the validation procedure has been verified in the preceding step, such that the client system is able to authorise the user to use the service or the software application.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of verifying the correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called and the validation procedure is carried out by the client system.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of verifying the correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called and the validation procedure is carried out by the validation system.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the validation system acquires, via the call server, a number of a telephone line at the origin of the call intended for the temporary validation telephone number, said number of a telephone line being associated with a subscriber card to a mobile telephone service integrated into the caller communication terminal, and said validation system notifies said number of a telephone line to the client system.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the user enters their telephone line number on an interface of the client system and said client system verifies that the call intended for the temporary validation telephone number is indeed coming from said telephone line number entered by the user on the interface of the client system.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, if no call intended for the temporary validation telephone number is received during the predetermined validity duration of said temporary validation telephone number, the validation system notifies to the client system a failure of the validation procedure, such that said client system is capable of not authorising the user to use the service or the software application.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention will be better understood upon reading the following description, given solely by way of example, and in reference to the appended FIG. 1 which shows the working block diagram of the method according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(2) It is reminded that the present invention is described hereinafter using various non-limiting embodiments and is likely to be implemented in alternatives that are within the scope of a person skilled in the art, also aimed for by the present invention.

(3) In the description below, the term communication terminal means any electronic device, in particular any mobile telephone of the smartphone type, provided with calculation means and data storage means and capable of transmitting and receiving data via a telephone communication and/or data network.

(4) In FIG. 1, the communication terminal A is thus, in particular, a smartphone connected to a telephone communication network and to a data communication network.

(5) It is reminded that a telephone communication network consists of a private or extended communication infrastructure that makes it possible for the connection of a plurality of communication equipment such as servers, switches, databases and communication terminals. In a known manner, the communication infrastructure of a telephone communication network forms a wireless and/or wired network. In particular, in the context of the invention, the telephone communication network is of the GSM, CDMA, UMTS or LTE type.

(6) It is also reminded that a data communication network consists of a private or extended communication infrastructure that makes it possible for the connection of a plurality of communication equipment, such as servers, switches, databases or communication terminals for example. In a known manner, the communication infrastructure of a data communication network forms a wireless and/or wired network. In the context of the invention, the data communication network is, in particular, a network compliant with the IP protocol.

(7) FIG. 1 shows a communication terminal A seeking to register on a web interface connected to a client system S, for the purpose of being authenticated in order be able to access, for example, services or to use a software application.

(8) To authenticate the user, the client system S needs to verify the validity of the telephone line associated with the communication terminal A implemented by the user.

(9) According to the invention, the method for validating the telephone line of the user unfolds according to the following sequence.

(10) When a client system S initiates a validation procedure of the telephone line of a clientuser applying for the use of a service or of a software application via their communication terminal A, the user, via their communication terminal A (step E1), and a validation system V (step E2) are informed of this.

(11) The validation system V has a database comprising a plurality of available telephone line numbers. The validation system V assigns a temporary validation telephone number to the validation procedure initiated by the client system S (step E3), to make it possible for the authentication of the user for the purpose of the use of the service or of the software application considered.

(12) The temporary validation telephone number is allocated for a predefined duration, for the specific purpose of validating the telephone line of the user, for the service or the application considered. Said predefined duration is typically of around 15 seconds.

(13) Then, the temporary validation telephone number to be reached is notified to the communication terminal A of the user, typically via a notification emitted by the client system S, and said communication terminal A emits a call, via a telephone communication network, to this temporary validation telephone number (step E4). According to an embodiment, said call is emitted in the background, while the user remains connected on a page of the web interface of the client system for example, typically displaying a message inviting them to wait during the validation procedure. Alternatively, the call to the temporary validation telephone number is carried out as a main task, in the forefront, on the communication terminal A of the user.

(14) The call emitted to the temporary validation telephone number by the communication terminal A of the user transits, such as is known, by a call server C which notifies the call to the addressee thereof (step E5), namely the validation system V.

(15) If it is notified of an incoming call intended for the temporary validation telephone number (step E6), during the predetermined validity duration of said temporary validation telephone number, starting from the instant when it allocated it, the validation system V notifies to the client system S (step E7) that it has received such a call on the temporary validation telephone number that it allocated to the validation procedure.

(16) According to the invention, the proper correspondence of the temporary validation telephone number called with the validation procedure in question, i.e. with the user and the target service or the software application, is verified.

(17) In practice, the validation system V is capable of verifying the proper correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called and the validation procedure considered, initiated by the client system S.

(18) According to a main embodiment, the client system S validates, using this information relating to the proper correspondence between the temporary validation telephone number called and the validation procedure considered, the telephone line of the user and consequently authorises them to use the service or the software application.

(19) According to a preferred embodiment, the validation system V acquires, via the call server C, the number of the telephone line calling the temporary validation telephone number, said number of a telephone line being associated with the SIM card integrated into the communication terminal A, and said validation system V notifies this telephone line number of the caller to the client system S (in step E7).

(20) In this case, according to a particular embodiment, the user is furthermore asked beforehand to enter the number of their telephone line, making it possible for the client system S to consolidate the validation of the telephone line of said user by comparing the telephone line number supplied by the user and the telephone line number of the caller supplied by the validation system.

(21) It must be noted, that the call intended for the temporary validation telephone number is emitted, by the communication terminal A, via a telephone communication network, while said communication terminal A can be connected to the client system S via a data communication network.