Ambient Call Approval via Third-Party Acknowledgment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ambient listening and viewing calls in mission critical push to talk (MCPTT) and mission critical video (MCVideo) services can be misused or exploited for malicious purposes, lacking transparency and security.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced where a server entity initiates a call request only if acknowledged by one or more third client entities, increasing transparency and security through a consensus-based decision process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If ambient listening call is initiated without notification to the second user, then the listening user can monitor the other user's environment, but the system lacks transparency and can be misused for malicious purposes
Solution Approach 1:
The server acts as an intermediary between the listening user and the listened-to user. It receives the ambient listening request, notifies predefined third users (mediators), waits for their acknowledgment, and only then establishes the call. This intermediary mechanism provides transparency and prevents misuse while maintaining the core functionality of ambient listening.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by requiring acknowledgment from third users before allowing the ambient listening call to proceed. The server sends notifications to third users and waits for their feedback (acknowledgment or rejection). This feedback loop ensures that ambient listening calls are transparent and can be controlled by multiple parties, preventing malicious use.
2Reliability
If multiple third users must acknowledge the request before call initiation, then security and transparency are enhanced, but the call setup time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring third users who will serve as mediators for ambient listening calls. These third users are predefined in the system before any ambient listening request is made. When a request is received, the server only needs to notify these pre-selected users and wait for their acknowledgment, rather than searching for or selecting mediators in real-time, thus reducing setup time while maintaining security.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the second user is not notified of the call, then privacy is maintained, but the user cannot control or reject the call initiation
Solution Approach 1:
The third users serve as intermediaries who represent the second user's interests. Since these third users are predefined and trusted, their acknowledgment acts as implicit consent from the second user. This allows the second user to maintain privacy (not be directly notified) while still having control over the call initiation through their trusted representatives.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a method for handling a request to initiate a call. The method is performed by a server entity. In response to receiving a first request for a first client entity to initiate a call to a second client entity without the second client entity rendering a notification of the call, transmission of a first message is initiated towards one or more third client entities to inform the one or more third client entities of the first request. The first client entity is authorised to initiate the call only if a second message, acknowledging the first request, is received from at least one of the one or more third client entities.