SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING AN APPLICATION TO A DEVICE

• US 20080178175A1
• Filed: 01/22/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Holdings LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Bongoni, Srinivas, Chaudhari, Manoj, Datla, Raju, Woundy, Richard M., Lee, Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 7,844,658 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments include a system and method for providing at least one electronic application to at least one device. In one embodiment, the method includes acquiring device information that relates to the device and determining whether the device supports the at least one application based on the device information. The method may further include generating an electronic message for the device wherein the message contains at least one link for acquiring the at least one application when the device supports the application.

Claims

1. A method for providing at least one electronic application to at least one device, the method comprising:

acquiring device information that relates to the device;

determining whether the device supports the at least one application based on the device information; and

generating an electronic message for the device, wherein the message contains at least one link for acquiring the at least one application when the device supports the at least one application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising downloading the application when the link is selected via the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the electronic message for the device includes:

receiving the electronic message at a wireless service provider; and

transmitting the electronic message to the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating an electronic message for the device includes generating a short message service (SMS) message that is transmitted utilizing a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) protocol or a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the link includes a uniform resource locator (URL) link.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring account information that relates to an account through the use of a graphical user interface, wherein the device is associated with the account; and

updating the account information when the device is configured for the at least one application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application includes at least one of an email client application, a television (TV) client application, and a theme client application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the email client application and the TV client application are automatically downloaded through the use of the theme client application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the electronic message for the device includes generating a plurality of messages that are transmitted to a plurality of devices after a delay period.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein,

acquiring device information that relates to the device and generating an electronic message for the device occurs through the use of a graphical user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the device supports the at least one application based on the device information includes determining whether the device is configured for the at least one application based upon a make of the device or a model of the device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is at least one of a mobile telephone and a personal digital assistant (PDA).

13. A system for providing at least one electronic application to at least one device, wherein the device has device information relating to the device capabilities, the system comprising:

a provisioning services layer having at least one server with a memory, wherein the device information is stored within the memory, the provisioning layer being configured to;

determine whether the device supports the at least one application based on the device information, and

generate electronic messages for the device that contain at least one link for acquiring the at least one application; and

a user interface being in communication with the provisioning layer for acquiring the device information and causing the provisioning layer to generate the electronic messages when the device supports the at least one application.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the provisioning services layer includes:

a subscriber services component being configured to identify an account that is associated with the device, wherein the subscriber services component identifies account information that relates to the account and provides the account information for the user interface;

a device services component that provides the device information including the device capabilities and product information for the device; and

a messaging services component for generating the electronic messages containing the link for acquiring the at least one application.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one application includes at least one of an email client application, a television (TV) client application, and a theme client application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the email client application and the TV client application are automatically downloaded through the use of the theme client application.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein generating the electronic message for the device includes generating a plurality of messages that are transmitted to a plurality of devices after a delay period.

15. The system of 13, wherein generating the electronic messages containing the link for acquiring the at least one application includes generating a short message service (SMS) message that is transmitted utilizing a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) protocol or a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP).

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the link includes a uniform resource locator (URL) link.

20. A method for providing at least one electronic application to at least one mobile device, the method comprising:

acquiring device information that relates to the mobile device through the use of a provisioning layer and a user interface;

determining whether the device supports the at least one application based on the device information through the use of the provisioning services layer;

transmitting a short message service (SMS) message for the mobile device in response to a request submitted via the user interface when the device supports the at least one application, wherein the SMS message contains at least one uniform resource locator (URL) link for acquiring the at least one application;

determining whether the SMS message has been received by the mobile device;

receiving an error message via the user interface when the SMS message has not been received by the mobile device;

batching the SMS message for a second transmission;

transmitting the batched SMS message;

displaying a message received indication when the batched SMS message is received by the mobile device; and

downloading the application upon the selection of the link through the use of the mobile device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one application includes at least one of an email client application, a television (TV) client application, and a theme client application.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the email client application and the TV client application are automatically downloaded through the use of the theme client application.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein transmitting the batched SMS message includes transmitting a batch file containing a telephone number of the mobile device, a make and model of the mobile device, an email support flag, a television (TV) support flag, and a theme support flag.