REGISTRATION NOTIFICATION FOR MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT

• US 20100135201A1
• Filed: 12/03/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Payne, James, Lewis, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,204,968 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/36 due to handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

System(s) and method(s) are provided for notification of registration of a mobile device with femto coverage for firmware content management. An attachment component that administers location of mobile devices or a femto access point (AP) conveys a notification to a network platform that manages firmware content updates when a mobile device for which firmware update is available hands off from wireless macro coverage onto femto coverage through the femto AP. The notification is triggered in response to firmware update notification received by the attachment component, or an update flag received by the femto AP. Upon reception of the notification, to exploit wireline bandwidth, the network platform delivers firmware content(s) update through backhaul link to the femto AP to which the mobile device is registered. Femto APs not provisioned to serve a mobile device can be incentivized to authorize the mobile device for coverage and thus facilitate firmware updates.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

conveying a notification that firmware content update for a mobile device is available, when femto coverage is attainable for the mobile device;

receiving a registration notification when the mobile device is registered to a femto access point for femto coverage; and

pushing the available firmware content update through a femto cell backhaul pipe associated with the femto access point.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether femto coverage is attainable for the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether femto coverage is attainable for the mobile device includes retrieving information on subscription type(s) for the mobile device, the information retained in subscriber records in a memory.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising delaying the available firmware content update when the mobile device fails to be registered to a femto access for femto coverage.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification that firmware content update for the mobile device are available includes a unique identifier for the mobile device, and a set of one or more bits that flag the mobile device for update.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the registration notification is least one of a set of one or more bits, or a light-weight file.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting a subscriber linked to femto access point within a set of femto access points in a location pattern for the mobile device to opt in as a hub for the available firmware content update in exchange of monetized incentives; and

configuring the femto access point within the set of femto access points to extend coverage to the mobile device when the subscriber opts in.

8. The method of claim 7, delivering monetized incentive to the configured femto access point in the set of access points when the available firmware update is pushed to the femto access point and successfully delivered to the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the location pattern for the mobile device and identifying the set of femto access points in the location pattern.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein prompting the subscriber linked to the femto access point within the set of femto access points includes at least one of aural and visual indicia, a SMS communication, a MMS communication, an email message, or an instant message.

11. A system comprising:

a tracking component that determines whether a mobile device for which a firmware update is available has access to femto coverage through a femto access point;

a notification component that conveys a notification that a firmware update for the mobile device is available;

a component that receives a registration notification when the mobile device is registered to the femto access point.

12. The system of claim 11, the tracking component accesses a subscriber database to determine whether the mobile device for which a firmware update is available has access to femto coverage through a femto access point.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the mobile device has access to femto coverage when it is authorized to attach to the femto access point, the authorization recorded in an access list linked to the femto access point and retained in the subscriber database.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising a handover component that generates the registration notification when the mobile device is registered to the femto access.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the component that receives the registration notification delays the available firmware update when the mobile device fails to be registered to the femto access.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the notification that a firmware update for the mobile device is available includes a unique identifier for the mobile device, and a set of one or more bits that flag the mobile device for update.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the registration notification is least one of a set of one or more bits, or a light weight file.

18. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a component that determines a location pattern for the mobile device for which the firmware update is available, and identifies a set of femto access points in the location pattern;

a component that prompts a subscriber linked to a femto access point within the set of femto access points in a location pattern for the mobile device for which the firmware update is available to elect to facilitate the available firmware update in exchange of monetized incentives; and

a component that configures the femto access point within the set of femto access points to facilitate the firmware update when the subscriber elects to facilitate the available firmware update.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising an incentive component that delivers the monetized incentives to the configured femto access point within the set of access points when the available firmware update is pushed to the femto access point and successfully delivered to the mobile device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the incentive component retains credits for incentives, and the subscriber that elected to facilitate the available firmware redeems the credited incentives with a service operator.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the monetized incentives include at least one of free voice minutes or data buckets, add-on applications or features for mobile and non-mobile devices served by the configured femto access point, licensed multimedia items, coupons for service, free on-the-cloud storage service, or differentiated rating for specific services for a predetermined time interval.

22. A method to deliver a firmware update to a mobile device in a femto cell, the method comprising:

receiving an update flag that conveys the firmware update is available for the mobile device;

conveying a notification when the mobile device is registered to the femto cell;

receiving the firmware content update available for the mobile device; and

delivering the available firmware content update to the mobile device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving the firmware content update available for the mobile device includes determining whether resources are available to receive the available firmware update, and rejecting the available firmware content update when resources are unavailable.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein delivering the available firmware content update to the mobile device includes signaling one of update success or failure.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein resources include at least one of memory space to retain the available firmware update, bandwidth, or quality of service.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the update flag can be embodied in one of a P-bit word (with P a natural number) or a light-weight file.

27. A system to deliver a firmware update to a wireless device, the system comprising:

a platform that receives an update flag that indicates the firmware update is available for the wireless device;

a notification component that delivers a notification when the mobile device is attached to a femto cell;

a platform that receives the firmware content update available for the wireless device; and

an update component that communicates the available firmware content update to the wireless device.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising a memory that retains the update flag.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the update component facilitates, at least in part, configuration and enforcement of an update profile, the update profile include at least one of memory allocated to retain an available firmware update, bandwidth granted for third-party firmware updates for third-party mobile devices, quality of service, a priority ranking for firmware update push for mobile devices authorized to attach, register, or camp in the femto cell, a number of iterations in a firmware update retry cycle.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the update component assesses whether communication resources are available to receive the available firmware update, and rejects the available firmware update when resources are unavailable.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the update component determines whether delivery of an update succeeds or fails, and signals delivery success or failure.