Push notification service

• US 10,091,005 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2015
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Bell, Kris M., Bleau, Darryl Neil, Davey, Jeffrey Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Homayounmehr, Farid
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sarker, Sanchit
• Application Number:
  US14/938,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20160134426A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/64 Self-signed certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Gateway devices maintain presence information for various mobile devices. Each gateway is associated with a zone and manages presence information only for mobile devices associated with that zone. Courier devices back-propagate presence information for the mobile devices to respective gateways based at least on the respective zone associated with each mobile device. The gateways and couriers are dynamically configured such that messages can be pushed from a provider application to a mobile device via any gateway and any courier.

Claims

1. A method of provisioning a push notification service, the method comprising:

receiving, at a gateway from a push notification provider, a cryptographic certificate including data identifying an application, wherein the gateway receives presence information from one or more courier devices that are operably coupled to a plurality of mobile devices, and wherein the gateway is associated with a zone and manages the presence information for mobile devices associated with the zone;

receiving, at the gateway from the push notification provider, a push notification message for the application;

authenticating, using the cryptographic certificate, the push notification provider; and

provisioning, automatically from the data included within the cryptographic certificate, a push notification service for the application to route the push notification message from the gateway to a mobile device subscribed to the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the authenticating and the provisioning are performed by the gateway.

3. The method as in claim 2 wherein the cryptographic certificate is a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.

4. The method as in claim 2 wherein the gateway uses the data to identify the push notification provider.

5. The method as in claim 2 wherein the application is associated with the push notification provider.

6. The method as in claim 2 wherein the gateway, after provisioning the push notification service, receives the push notification message from the push notification provider and forwards the push notification message to the mobile device.

7. The method as in claim 6 wherein the push notification message includes a token identifying a zone associated with the mobile device, and wherein the mobile device created the token.

8. The method as in claim 7 wherein the token is a hash of an identifier of the mobile device and an identifier of the zone assigned to the mobile device and wherein the identifier of the zone is a persistent zone identifier constantly associated with the zone.

9. The method as in claim 7 wherein the gateway transmits the token to the push notification provider.

10. The method as in claim 7 wherein the data comprises data for a topic or feed associated with the application or the push notification provider.

11. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing executable instructions which when executed by a system cause the system to perform a method of provisioning a push notification service, the method comprising:

receiving, at a gateway from a push notification provider, a cryptographic certificate including data identifying an application, wherein the gateway receives presence information from one or more courier devices that are operably coupled to a plurality of mobile devices, and wherein the gateway is associated with a zone and manages the presence information for mobile devices associated with the zone;

receiving, at the gateway from the push notification provider, a push notification message for the application;

authenticating, using the cryptographic certificate, the push notification provider; and

provisioning, automatically from the data included within the cryptographic certificate, a push notification service for the application to route the push notification message from the gateway to a mobile device subscribed to the application.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the authenticating and the provisioning are performed by the gateway.

13. The medium as in claim 12 wherein the cryptographic certificate is a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.

14. The medium as in claim 12 wherein the gateway uses the data to identify the push notification provider.

15. The medium as in claim 12 wherein the application is associated with the push notification provider.

16. The medium as in claim 12 wherein the gateway, after provisioning the push notification service, receives the push notification message from the push notification provider and forwards the push notification message to the mobile device.

17. The medium as in claim 16 wherein the push notification message includes a token identifying a zone associated with the mobile device, and wherein the mobile device created the token.

18. The medium as in claim 17 wherein the token is a hash of an identifier of the mobile device and an identifier of the zone assigned to the mobile device, and wherein the identifier of the zone is a persistent zone identifier constantly associated with the zone.

19. The medium as in claim 17 wherein the gateway transmits the token to the push notification provider.

20. The medium as in claim 17 wherein the data comprises data for a topic or feed associated with the application or the push notification provider.