Provisioning in communications systems

• US 20070042756A1
• Filed: 08/23/2006
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Orative Corp. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Perfetto, Josh, Fullarton, Paul, Chatterjee, Saurav, Rana, Hemendra, White, Mike, Ling, Lorraine
• Granted Patent: US 8,767,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• 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: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1091 Fixed mobile conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/206 composed of PSTN and wireless network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

Provisioning is described for use in communications systems. The provisioning includes receiving a message at an inbox of a device. The message includes information of an electronic location of a source device from which to download the appropriate application and device and user-specific information used for configuration of the application. An application is automatically transferred to the device in response to selection of the received message by a user of the device. The application is automatically installed on the device. The application is auto-started, at which time it self-configures using the original message.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a message at an inbox of a client device;

automatically transferring an application to the client device in response to selection of the message; and

automatically launching the application upon receipt at the client device, the launching including configuring the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is a push message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a provisioning server pushes the push message to the client device.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising transmitting the message to the client device, wherein the transmitting includes pushing the message to the client device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the client device is a mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the message includes a Short Message Service (SMS) message, an electronic mail (email) message, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) push message, a Blackberry push message, a device-specific electronic message, and a device-specific push message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the message includes one or more of electronic provisioning information of the source device and user information of a user of the client device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the provisioning information includes location information of the application.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the provisioning information includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for locating the source device and its access mechanism.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the provisioning information includes information of one or more of a host name of a source device of the message, wherein the source device is one or more of a server, facilitator, and endpoint of a provisioning server, a host name of a synchronization facilitator server, service provider information, a provisioning port, a synchronization port, client device information, user information, a port for remote couplings via a Web browser, a device access point, security levels of a plurality of couplings, and a string agreed upon by the source device and the client device to indicating the provisioning URL.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the message includes text.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the source device is one or more of a provisioning server, at least one server hosting the provisioning server, a proxy server coupled to the provisioning server, and a load balancer coupled to the provisioning server.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining the client device fails to receive the message;

re-initiating the transferring in response to the determining.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the message includes user selection of a component of the message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the component of the message includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a source of the message.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically transferring comprises:

launching a browser of the client device; and

forming a coupling with the source device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically transferring comprises selecting the application from a plurality of applications.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the selecting uses information from a user of the client device and identification information of the client device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein a user of the client device performs the selecting.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the source device performs the selecting using information of one or more of a service provider of the client device and one or more characteristic of the client device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one characteristic includes one or more of operating system, model, screen size, connection type, memory, language, and language version of the client device.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically transferring comprises downloading the application to the client device using a browser of the client device.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring comprises:

searching the inbox and locating the message;

parsing the message for one or more of electronic provisioning information of the source device and user information of a user of the client device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the provisioning information includes information of one or more of a host name of a source device of the message, wherein the source device is one or more of a server, facilitator, and endpoint of a provisioning server, a host name of a synchronization facilitator server, service provider information, a provisioning port, a synchronization port, client device information, user information, a port for remote couplings via a Web browser, a device access point, security levels of a plurality of couplings, and a string agreed upon by the source device and the client device to indicating the provisioning URL.

25. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving device information, the device information including one or more of a name of the client device, a model of the client device, a telephone number of the client device, a service provider of service of the client device, and electronic identification information of the client device.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving comprises sending via at least one portal.

27. The method of claim 25, comprising transferring the message to the client device using the user information.

28. The method of claim 1, comprising generating an archive resource file that includes information of the client device.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the information of the client device in the active resource file includes one or more of client devices supported, client device configurations, client device documentation, and client device applications.

30. The method of claim 28, comprising seeding the source device using information of the archive resource file.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the source device is lacking information of the client device prior to the seeding.

32. The method of claim 28, comprising:

periodically updating the archive resource file to generate an updated archive resource file;

periodically re-seeding the source device with the updated archive resource file.

33. The method of claim 1, comprising transmitting a notification to the client device, the notification including information of an updated version of the application.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the message includes the notification, and the application includes the updated application.

35. The method of claim 1, comprising synchronizing user data on the client device with user data on a source device.

36. A system comprising:

a server, wherein the server is coupled to an enterprise and a communication network that includes a client device; and

a provisioning component coupled to the server and configured to transfer a message to the client device, wherein the client device is configured to couple with the provisioning component and the provisioning component is configured to automatically transfer an application to the client device in response to selection by a user of a portion of the message received at an inbox of the client device, the application configured to automatically launch upon receipt at the client device, the launching including configuring the client device and synchronizing user data on the client device with user data on the server.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the provisioning server is configured to push the message to the client device, wherein the message includes a Short Message Service (SMS) message, an electronic mail (email) message, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) push message, a Blackberry push message, a device-specific electronic message, and a device-specific push message.

38. The system of claim 36, wherein the message includes one or more of electronic provisioning information of the source device and user information of a user of the client device.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the provisioning information includes location information of the application.

40. The system of claim 36, wherein the provisioning component is configured to determine the client device fails to receive the message and re-initiate the transferring in response to the determining.

41. The system of claim 36, wherein the selection of the message includes user selection of a component of the message.

42. The system of claim 36, wherein automatically transferring comprises selecting the application from a plurality of applications.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the selecting uses information from a user of the client device and identification information of the client device.

44. The system of claim 42, wherein a user of the client device performs the selecting.

45. The system of claim 42, wherein the source device is configured to perform the selecting using information of one or more of a service provider of the client device and one or more characteristic of the client device, wherein the at least one characteristic includes one or more of operating system, model, screen size, connection type, memory, language, and language version of the client device.

46. The system of claim 36, wherein automatically transferring comprises downloading the application to the client device using a browser of the client device.

47. The system of claim 36, wherein the configuring comprises:

searching the inbox and locating the message; and

parsing the message for one or more of electronic provisioning information of the source device and user information of a user of the client device.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the provisioning information includes information of one or more of a host name of a source device of the message, wherein the source device is one or more of a server, facilitator, and endpoint of a provisioning server, a host name of a synchronization facilitator server, service provider information, a provisioning port, a synchronization port, client device information, user information, a port for remote couplings via a Web browser, a device access point, security levels of a plurality of couplings, and a string agreed upon by the source device and the client device to indicating the provisioning URL.

49. The system of claim 36, wherein one or more of the server and the provisioning component if configured to generate an archive resource file that includes information of the client device, wherein the information of the client device in the active resource file includes one or more of client devices supported, client device configurations, client device documentation, and client device applications.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein one or more of the server and the provisioning component is configured to seed the source device using information of the archive resource file.

51. The system of claim 36, wherein one or more of the server and the provisioning component is configured to transmit a notification to the client device, the notification including information of an updated version of the application, wherein the message includes the notification, and the application includes the updated application.

52. The system of claim 36, comprising synchronizing user data on the client device with user data on a source device.

53. A computer readable media including executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, automatically provisions a client device by:

receiving a message at an inbox of the client device;

automatically transferring an application to the client device in response to selection of the message; and

automatically launching the application upon receipt at the client device, the launching including configuring the client device.