Registration notification for mobile device management

• US 10,372,439 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2018
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lewis, John, Payne, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr., Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gooray, Mark A
• Application Number:
  US16/123,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20190004787A1
• Time in Patent Office: 334 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/36 due to handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

Notification of registration of a mobile device with femto coverage for firmware content management is provided. An attachment component that administers location of mobile devices or a femto access point (AP) conveys a notification to a network platform that manages firmware content updates when a mobile device for which firmware update is available hands off from wireless macro coverage onto femto coverage through the femto AP. The notification is triggered in response to firmware update notification received by the attachment component, or an update flag received by the femto AP. Upon reception of the notification, to exploit wireline bandwidth, the network platform delivers firmware content(s) update through backhaul link to the femto AP to which the mobile device is registered. Femto APs not provisioned to serve a mobile device can be incentivized to authorize the mobile device for coverage and thus facilitate firmware updates.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in response to a first indication that a mobile device is not registered with a femto cell device of a femto network, delaying, by a network device comprising a processor, sending a firmware update for the mobile device to the femto cell device;

sending, by the network device, data representing a data storage incentive to the femto cell device to incentivize the mobile device to transfer a connection from a base station device of a wireless network to the femto cell device to receive the firmware update;

in response to a second indication that the mobile device has registered with the femto cell device, receiving, by the network device, a registration notification from the femto cell device;

based on the second indication, sending, by the network device, the firmware update to the femto cell device and facilitating caching the firmware update in the femto cell device to be sent to the mobile device, resulting in a cached firmware update;

facilitating, by the network device, sending the cached firmware update to the mobile device;

in response to the sending the firmware update, receiving, by the network device, error bits indicative of an error associated with the firmware update at the femto cell device being determined to have been unsuccessful;

in response to the receiving the error bits, initiating, by the network device, a retry cycle to resend the cached firmware update to the mobile device; and

in response to the mobile device transferring the connection from the base station device to the femto cell device, crediting, by the network device, the mobile device with the data storage incentive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the registration notification is received via a backhaul link from the femto cell device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the error bits are received via a control channel between the femto cell device and the network device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the network device, an update flag associated with an availability of the firmware update for the mobile device of the femto network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring, by the network device, the femto cell device to extend coverage to the mobile device when a subscriber opts in.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting, by the network device, a subscriber linked to the femto cell device to opt in as a hub for the available firmware update.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the network device, whether femto coverage is attainable for the mobile device.

8. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

sending, to a femto cell device of a femto network, incentive data related to an incentive for a mobile device to transfer its connection from a bases station device to the femto cell device to receive a firmware content update;

in response to a first indication that the mobile device is not registered with the femto cell device, delaying sending of the firmware content update;

in response to the mobile device being determined to have registered with the femto cell device, receiving a registration notice from the femto cell device;

based on the registration notice, sending, to the femto cell device, the firmware content update and facilitating caching the firmware update in the femto cell device to be sent to the mobile device, resulting in a cached firmware content update;

sending the cached firmware content update to the mobile device;

in response to the sending the cached firmware content update, receiving notification data indicative of a notification that the firmware content update, at the mobile device, was unsuccessful and initiating a retry cycle to resend the firmware update to the mobile device, wherein the notification data comprises error bits;

in response to the receiving the notification data, resending the cached firmware content update a defined number of times; and

in response to the mobile device transferring a wireless connection from a base station device to the femto cell device, crediting the mobile device with the incentive.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

sending, to the femto cell device, flag data that indicates that the firmware content update is available for the mobile device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device is a first mobile device, and wherein the operations further comprise:

based on a bandwidth granted for the firmware content update via a second mobile device, configuring an update profile.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the firmware content update, configuring an update profile.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuring is based on a priority ranking of the firmware content update.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a location pattern associated with the mobile device to identify the femto cell device.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the resending the firmware content update is based on a condition associated with wireless device resources being determined not to have been satisfied.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

sending incentive data, related to an incentive for a mobile device to transfer a connection from a base station device to a femto cell device of a femto network;

in response to a first indication that the mobile device has not registered with the femto cell device, delaying sending a firmware content update to the femto cell device;

in response to a second indication that the mobile device has registered with the femto cell device, sending the firmware content update to the femto cell device and facilitating caching the firmware update in the femto cell device, resulting in a cached firmware content update;

sending the cached firmware content update to the mobile device;

in response to the sending the cached firmware content update to the mobile device, receiving error bits representative of a notification that the firmware content update at the mobile device has failed;

based on the firmware content update having failed, resending the cached firmware content update to the mobile device a determined number of times; and

in response to the mobile device transferring a connection from the base station device to the femto cell device, crediting the mobile device with the incentive.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein notification data comprises an error bit, of the error bits, received via a control channel.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the incentive data is associated with a data storage for the mobile device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

tracking a location of the mobile device relative to the femto cell device.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the indication is a first indication, and wherein the operations further comprise:

sending, to the femto cell device, update flag data comprising a second indication that the firmware content update is available for the mobile device.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the notification is a first notification, and wherein the operations further comprise:

based on receiving a second notification, tracking a registration status associated with a registration of the mobile device to the femto cell device.