METHOD AND TECHNOLOGY FOR REMOTE ADMINISTRATION OF WIRELESS DEVICES

• US 20080218309A1
• Filed: 03/06/2007
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Chen, Liren, Steenstra, Jack, Hedtke, Paul, Taylor, Kirk, Lobovsky, Richard J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,942,689 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.8
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal

Abstract

A remote administrator to allow a caregiver to configure a user'"'"'s wireless device includes a master software client in the remote administrator and a controllable software client in the wireless device. Commands transmitted to the wireless device from the remote administrator allow the caregiver to configure the user'"'"'s wireless device based on user initiated configuration requested.

Claims

1. A method for remotely configuring a wireless device of a user by a service provider, comprising:

communicating a requested configuration from a user of a wireless device to a service provider;

accessing an remotely located administration device to initiate a configuration change based oil the requested configuration;

transmitting from the remotely located administration device to the wireless device commands to execute the configuration change;

receiving at the wireless device the commands;

confirming the received commands are from an authorized source; and

executing the commands at the wireless device to cause the configuration change to the requested configuration to occur, wherein

the service provider remotely causes configuration changes in the wireless device of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested configuration is provided in at least one of real-time or near real-time.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of providing feedback to the remotely located administration device regarding the configuration changes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the configuration steps are repeated based on the feedback.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested configuration comprises at least one of enabling a feature, disabling a feature, or altering a feature.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested configuration influences a function of the wireless device, the function selected from a group of functions consisting of:

downloading applications, downloading data, downloading patches, adjusting volume adjusting brightness, adjusting display fonts, adding to a contact list, deleting from the contact list, editing the contact list, assigning a speed dial, adjusting a volume, adjusting a ring style, initiating a communication, starting an application, or backing up wireless device memory and settings.

7. The method of claim 1, the step of communicating a requested configuration comprises communicating a request using at least one of a cellular telephone call, a data link, a USB connection, a network connection, an electronic mail, a text message, a two-way radio transmission, a conventional telephone call, or a VoIP telephone call.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein confirming the received commands are from an authorized source comprising authenticating an identity of the service provider.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein authenticating the identity comprises receiving biometric information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein confirming the received commands are from an authorized source comprises receiving an identification code from the remotely located administrative device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the remotely located administrative device is another wireless device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the remotely located administrative device is a identical to wireless device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the service provider is a caregiver.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the service provider is located at a call center.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the remotely located administrative device is a server connected to a network.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising polling the wireless device by the remotely located administrative device to determine a current configuration of the wireless device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting from the remotely located administration device to the wireless device commands to execute the configuration change;

receiving at the wireless device the commands;

confirming the received commands are from an authorized source; and

executing the commands at the wireless device to cause the requested configuration occur only if the current configuration of the wireless device is different than the requested configuration.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing current configuration settings prior to executing the commands.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising restoring the wireless device using the stored current configuration settings.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the wireless device is powered.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising storing the configuration change commands if it is determined the wireless device is not powered for implementation when the wireless device is next powered.

49. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the commands to configure the wireless device.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the step of displaying the commands include displaying the keystrokes on a display.

51. The method of claim 49, further comprising providing at least one of audio, visual, or textual help along with the displayed commands.

52. The method of claim 49, wherein the step of displaying the commands include highlighting actual keys associated with the keystrokes.

22. A method for remotely configuring, a trouble shooting a wireless device of a user by a service provider, comprising;

communicating to the service provider a need for trouble shooting the wireless device;

accessing a remotely located administration device to initiate the trouble shooting;

transmitting from the remotely located administration device to the wireless device identification and authorization to trouble shoot;

initiating a trouble shooting procedure;

returning results to the remotely located administration device; and

based on the returned results, configuring the wireless device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the communicating to the service provider includes establishing a communication path selected from a group of communication paths consisting of:

a cellular telephone call, a data link, a USB connection, a network connection, an electronic mail, a text message, a two-way radio transmission, a conventional telephone call, or a VoIP telephone call.

24. A method for remotely checking the configuration of a wireless device of a user by a service provider, comprising:

accessing administrative functions on a remote device;

entering a configuration check request to check the configuration of at least one part of the wireless device;

transmitting the request to the wireless device;

retrieving the actual configuration of the wireless device;

returning the actual configuration of the wireless device; and

displaying the actual configuration at the remote device.

25. The method of claim 24, comprising authenticating the configuration check request is from an authorized service provider.

26. The method of claim 25, comprising initiating a configuration change based on the displayed actual configuration.

27. The method of claim 26, comprising storing the actual configuration prior to initiating the configuration change.

28. The method of claim 27, comprising restoring the actual configuration.

29. The method of claim 24, comprising establishing a data link between the wireless device and the remote device.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the data link comprises a data link selected from a group of data links consisting of:

a cellular telephone call, a USB connection, a network connection, an electronic mail, a text message, a two-way radio transmission, a conventional telephone call, or a VoIP telephone call.

31. A method of alerting a remote administrator that an alarm condition exists on a wireless device, comprising:

pre-configuring a wireless device for a user;

storing in a memory associated with the wireless device minimum configuration settings;

polling by the wireless device the actual configuration settings;

comparing the actual configuration settings to the stored minimum configuration settings;

determining based on the comparison whether an alarm condition exists; and

if it is determined an alarm condition exists, transmitting the alarm condition to a service provider.

32. The method of claim 31, comprising initiating a configuration change at a remote administrator by the service provider based on the alarm condition.

33. A wireless system to allow a remote administrator to configure the wireless device, comprising:

a communication network;

a base station interconnected to the communication network;

a wireless device, the wireless device including a controllable software client, wirelessly interconnected to the base station; and

a remote administrator interconnected to the communication network, the remote administrator including a master software client,

wherein configuration change requests can be communicated from the wireless device to the remote administrator;

wherein the remote administrator can transmit command functions from the master software client to the controllable software client, such command functions being based on the change requests, and

wherein the command functions are executed by the controllable software client to configure the wireless device.

34. The wireless system of claim 33, wherein the command functions to configure the wireless device are executed in real-time or near real-time.

35. The wireless system of claim 34, further comprising a feedback to allow a user of the wireless device to indicate whether the configuration is satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

36. The wireless system of claim 33, wherein the remote administrator is wirelessly interconnected to another base station and the another base station is interconnected to the communication network.

37. The wireless system of claim 33, wherein the communication network comprises a plurality of networks.

38. The wireless system of claim 33, wherein the communication network is selected from a group of communication networks consisting of:

cellular telephone networks, public switch telephone networks, LAN, WAN, WiFi, wireless networks, WiMax, Bluetooth, IEEE 801.11, Internet, or Ethernet.

39. The wireless system of claim 33, comprising a call center interconnected to the wireless device and the remote administrator is a server.

40. The wireless system of claim 33, wherein the remote administrator is identical to the wireless device.

41. The wireless system of claim 33, wherein the wireless device is selected from a group of wireless devices consisting of:

cellular telephones, pagers, PDAs, digital music players, video players, hand held computers, or laptop computers.

42. A wireless device adapted to be configured remotely by a service provider with a remote administrator, the wireless device comprising:

transmit/receive circuit that is operable to transmit/receive signals to/from a wireless communications network;

a user interface; and

a control processor including a controllable software client that receives configuration commands over the wireless communications network from a master software client, wherein said controllable software client causes the control processor to configure the wireless device based on the commands.

43. The wireless device of claim 42, comprising a memory associated with the control processor, the memory to store current configuration settings.

44. The wireless device of claim 43, wherein the controllable software client is responsive to queries from the remote administrator to retrieve current configuration settings from the memory and transmit the current configuration setting over the communication network to the remote administrator.

45. The wireless device of claim 42, comprising a memory associated with the wireless device to store minimum configuration settings and wherein the controllable software client polls the wireless device to determine actual configuration setting a different than the minimum configuration settings and transmitting to a remote administrator when an alarm condition exists based on the determination.

46. A remote administrator adapted to remotely configured a user'"'"'s wireless device, the remote administrator comprising:

transmit/receive circuit that is operable to transmit/receive signals to/from a communications network;

a user interface; and

a control processor including a master software client that transmits configuration commands over the communications network to a controllable software client, wherein said controllable software client causes a control processor to configure the wireless device based on the commands.

47. The remote administrator of claim 46, wherein the remote administrator is a wireless device interconnected to a wireless communications network.

48. The remote administrator of claim 46, wherein the remote administrator is a server connected a network.