ACCESS CONTROL TO SECURED APPLICATION FEATURES USING CLIENT TRUST LEVELS

ARCHITECTURE THAT FACILITATES THE CONVEYANCE OF A TRUST LEVEL WHEN THE CALLER MAKES A CALL, THE TRUST LEVEL IN DEPENDENCE ON THE STATE OF THE CALLER SYSTEM. THE CALLEE (CALL RECIPIENT) RECEIVES NOTIFICATION OF THE TRUST LEVEL AND CAN USE THIS INFORMATION IN THE COMMUNICATION SUCH AS TO REQUEST VERIFICATION FROM THE CALLER AND/OR INITIATE OTHER MODES OF COMMUNICATION. A CALLER CAN AUTHENTICATE THE CALLER IDENTITY IN DIFFERENT WAYS TO A COMMUNICATION SERVER. BASED ON THAT, THE SERVER CAN ASSIGN AN APPROPRIATE SERVER-VERIFIED TRUST LEVEL TO THE CALLER. FURTHER, AN UNSECURED PHONE CONTROLLER CAN INDICATE A LOWER CLIENT-SIDE DEFINED TRUST LEVEL. THE SERVER VERIFIED AND CLIENT-SIDE TRUST LEVELS ARE THEN SENT TO THE CALLEE, WHERE THE CALLEE DETERMINES WHETHER TO ALLOW CALLER ACCESS TO ONE OR MORE SECURED FEATURES BASED ON THE FEATURE VALUES AND THE TRUST LEVEL IMPOSED BY THE CALLEE TO ACCESS THOSE FEATURES.