System, apparatus, and method for dynamically customizing and configuring applications

• US 20070130156A1
• Filed: 12/02/2005
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Mannermaa, Mika, Lahtiranta, Atte, Sainio, Miikka, U. Tenhunen, Jouko, Berg, Jyrki.Pe, Pankakoski, Hannu
• Granted Patent: US 9,002,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

A system and method for dynamically customizing and/or configuring applications on devices. The user interface of a base application resident on a terminal can be modified in accordance with the invention. Terminal-related information is transmitted from the terminal upon initial activation of the base application at the terminal. The terminal-related information is received at a configuration server system, where application variant information for the terminal is derived based on the terminal-related information. This application variant information is transmitted back to the terminal, and the user interface of the base application is modified as specified by the application variant information.

Claims

1. A method for modifying a base application resident on a terminal, comprising:

transmitting terminal-related information from the terminal upon initial activation of the base application at the terminal;

receiving application variant information from a configuration server system; and

modifying a user interface of the base application according to the application variant information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the terminal retrieving an address of the configuration server upon initial activation of the base application at the terminal, and wherein transmitting the terminal-related information from the terminal comprises transmitting the terminal-related information to the configuration server addressed by the address.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the terminal retrieving an address comprises the base application initiating retrieval of a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) corresponding to the configuration server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the application variant information correlates to entity-specific information associated with at least one entity in a distribution chain of deliverable content to which the base application is requesting.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein modifying the user interface of the base application comprises modifying the user interface of the base application to include the entity-specific information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the user interface of the base application comprises modifying the user interface of the base application with any one or more of visual presentations, audio presentations, or tactile presentations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the user interface of the base application comprises modifying a visual presentation of the user interface of the base application with any one or more of display backgrounds, logos, icons, color schemes, trademarks or service marks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting terminal-related information from the terminal comprises transmitting at least information identifying characteristics of the terminal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting at least information identifying characteristics of the terminal comprises transmitting at least a User Agent Profile (UAProf), International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), the terminal'"'"'s current language selection or roaming indicator.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting terminal-related information from the terminal comprises transmitting at least information identifying the operator or service provider associated with the service utilized by the base application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting at least information identifying the operator or service provider comprises transmitting one or more of a Mobile Country Code (MCC), Mobile Network Code (MNC), Service Provider Name (SPN), or Short Message Service Center (SMSC) number.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining updated application variant information after obtaining the application variant information upon the initial activation of the base application.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining updated application variant information after obtaining the application variant information upon the initial activation of the base application comprises obtaining the updated application variant information in response to a triggering event.

14. A method for facilitating modification of a base application capable of residing on a terminal, comprising:

receiving terminal-related information which relates to the terminal;

deriving application variant information based on the terminal-related information, wherein the application variant information is usable by the terminal to modify a user interface of the base application; and

transmitting the application variant information to the terminal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the terminal-related information includes at least a software version of the base application, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the software version of the base application corresponds to an earlier version of the base application; and

providing an updated software version of the base application if it is determined that the version of the base application provided via the terminal-related information corresponds to an earlier version of the base application.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing content to the terminal together with the application variant information, wherein the content relates to the particular base application being executed on the terminal.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein providing content comprises providing a list of one or more selectable catalogs.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein deriving application variant information comprises identifying, using the terminal-related information, the appropriate application variant information from a plurality of variant data sets associated with a plurality of different entities.

19. A server operable on a network, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive terminal-related information transmitted from a terminal upon a first activation of a client at the terminal;

a user interface variant identification module executable by a processing arrangement and configured to derive modified user interface information for the client based on the terminal-related information; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the modified user interface information to the terminal for use by the client in modifying the client user interface.

20. The server as in claim 19, wherein the server comprises a database of the modified user interface information available for a plurality of terminals, and wherein the user interface variant identification module is further configured to identify within the database the modified user interface information for a particular terminal based on the terminal-related information provided by that particular terminal.

21. The server as in claim 19, further comprising a plurality of the servers distributed to multiple server locations, wherein at least some of the modified user interface information is replicated in databases associated with each of the multiple server locations.

22. The server as in claim 19, further comprising a redirect module executable by the processing arrangement and configured to redirect the terminal-related information and responsibility of deriving the modified user interface information to an alternative server addressable by an address available to the server.

23. The server as in claim 19, wherein the processing arrangement is configured to derive the modified user interface information by using the terminal-related information to identify an entity-specific modified user interface information from a plurality of modified user interface information sets corresponding to different entities.

24. A terminal capable of transmitting and receiving information, comprising:

a user interface;

one or more storage elements to store at least a base application, an access information to a configuration server, and terminal-related information;

a transmitter;

a processing system coupled to the one or more storage elements and configured to recognize an initial activation of the base application on the terminal, and to direct the transmitter to transmit the terminal-related information to the configuration server in response to recognizing the initial activation of the base application;

a receiver configured to receive user interface modification information generated at the configuration server based on the terminal-related information; and

wherein the processing system is further configured to modify a presentation associated with the base application via the user interface pursuant to the user interface modification information.

25. The terminal as in claim 24, wherein the user interface comprises at least one display, and wherein the presentation associated with the base application comprises at least a visual presentation provided on the at least one display.

26. The terminal as in claim 24, wherein the user interface comprises at least a speaker, and wherein the presentation associated with the base application comprises at least an audio presentation provided via the at least one speaker.

27. Computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon which are executable by a processing system for modifying a user interface of a client application resident on a terminal by performing steps comprising:

receiving terminal-related information transmitted from the terminal upon a first activation of the client application at the terminal;

deriving modified user interface information for the client application based on the terminal-related information; and

transmitting the modified user interface information to the terminal for use by the client application in modifying the client user interface.

28. Computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon which are executable by a processing system for modifying a client application resident on a terminal by performing steps comprising:

detecting a first activation of the client application;

transmitting terminal-related information relating to the terminal upon detection of the first activation of the client application;

receiving application variant information derived from the terminal-related information; and

modifying a user interface of the client application based on the application variant information.

29. A system for modifying a client application, comprising:

(A) a terminal including;

a user interface;

a terminal processing system configured to recognize a first activation of the client application on the terminal, to initiate transmission of terminal-related information to the target address in response to recognizing the initial activation of the client application, and to modify a presentation associated with the client application via the user interface pursuant to received user interface modification information; and

(B) a configuration server including;

a receiver configured to receive the terminal-related information;

a user interface variant identification module executable by a server processing system and configured to derive the user interface modification information based on the terminal-related information; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the user interface modification information to the terminal for use by the client application in modifying the presentation associated with the client application via the user interface.