Patent ID: 9350734
Filing Date: 2016-05-24
CPC Classification: H04L,H04W

Claim Text:
1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a gateway, a number of data-connection requests during a period of time, wherein each data-connection request relates to establishing a respective packet data connection for a respective wireless communication device (WCD); determining, by the gateway, a request rate based on the number of data-connection requests received during the period of time; receiving, by the gateway, an additional data-connection request, wherein the additional data-connection request relates to establishing a packet data connection for a requesting WCD; and in response to receiving the additional data-connection request, determining, by the gateway, whether to authenticate the requesting WCD based on the request rate, wherein the gateway is configured to (i) initiate an authentication process to authenticate the requesting WCD, if the request rate is less than a first threshold, (ii) accept the additional data-connection request without authenticating the requesting WCD, if the request rate is greater than the first threshold and less than a second threshold, and (iii) reject the additional data-connection request without authenticating the requesting WCD, if the request rate is greater than the second threshold.