Method and apparatus for provisioning a communications client on a host device

• US 20060026335A1
• Filed: 07/26/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Plestid, Thomas Leonard Trevor, Hodgson, John S., Emery, Jeffrey K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,705 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

An apparatus for provisioning a data communications client on a host communications device, the host communications device adapted to operate on a communications network, the apparatus comprising: a first data store adapted to store variant configuration information; a second data store adapted to store provisioning information; a provisioning module adapted to select the provisioning information stored in said second data store as a function of the variant configuration information stored in said first data store and apply the selected provisioning information to provision the data communications client; and a user interface interacting with said provisioning module to enable a user of the host communications device to provision the data communications client.

Claims

1. An apparatus for provisioning a data communications client on a host communications device, the host communications device adapted to operate on a communications network, the apparatus comprising:

a first data store adapted to store variant configuration information;

a second data store adapted to store provisioning information;

a provisioning module adapted to select the provisioning information stored in said second data store as a function of the variant configuration information stored in said first data store and apply the selected provisioning information to provision the data communications client; and

a user interface interacting with said provisioning module to enable a user of the host communications device to provision the data communications client.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the variant configuration information includes a parameter selected from the group consisting of a device variant parameter, a lock parameter, and a default language parameter,

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein at least one portion of the variant configuration information is read-only.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the variant configuration information includes a current variant.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the variant configuration information includes a change flag.

6. The apparatus as recited in claims 2, wherein at least one portion of the variant configuration information is read-write.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the provisioning configuration information includes text that appears in the data communications client during a first time start of the host communications device.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the provisioning configuration information includes data communications client provisioning configuration information.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the data communications client provisioning information is set by the manufacturer of the data communications client.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the data communications client provisioning information is set by the operator of the communications network.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the first data store is further adapted to read information to control application functionality of the data communications client.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the first data store is further adapted to store the information to control application functionality of the data communications client.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the first data store is further adapted to set a change service flag.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the first data store is further adapted to store read-only operator settings.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the data communications client retrieves the read-only operator settings from said first data store.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is provided in the host communications device.

17. A method for provisioning a data communications client on a host communications device, the host communications device adapted to operate on a communications network, the method comprising the steps of:

enabling a user of the host communications device to select an option for the provisioning of the data communications client;

storing variant configuration information in a first data store on said host communications device;

storing provisioning information in a second data store on said host communications device;

selecting the provisioning information stored in said second data store as a function of the variant configuration information stored in said first data store based on said option selected in said enabling step; and

applying the selected provisioning information to provision the data communications client.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said variant configuration information is also applied to native host applications.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises clearing said data communications client of data using a clear data store prior to said applying step.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises clearing data from host native applications on said host communications device using a clear data store prior to said applying step.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein said storing provisioning information step is performed during a manufacturing process.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein said storing provisioning information step is performed during a configuration process

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the selecting step is performed through a native interface and abstraction layer on the data communications client.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the applying step for host native applications is performed based on a command received from said data communications client at said native host applications.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the applying step for host native applications is performed based on a listener module finding a change in provisioning on said data communications client and alerting said native host applications.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the storing variant configuration information at first data store step further stores information to control application functionality of the data communications client.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of setting a change service flag at the first data store.