CONTROLLING, FILTERING, AND MONITORING OF MOBILE DEVICE ACCESS TO THE INTERNET, DATA, VOICE, AND APPLICATIONS

• US 20120102147A1
• Filed: 12/30/2011
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OSRAM GmbH (Ams-Osram AG)
• Original Assignee: Carrie Carlander
• Inventors: CARLANDER, Carrie
• Granted Patent: US 8,769,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/12 Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol]

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling, filtering, and monitoring mobile device access to the internet are disclosed. According to an embodiment a server is responsible for controlling, filtering and monitoring internet activity. For every request, the server interacts with back-end databases that categorize requests, and based on user/carrier/corporate settings, allow or disallow access to particular content.

Claims

1. A system for managing internet activity, the system comprising:

a transmission means operable to transmit and receive voice and data information between a mobile communication means and a proxy means, wherein the proxy means is operable to mediate communication between the mobile communication means and a network means;

a computing means operable to check user accounts, log user activity, and allow or disallow the mobile communication means access to the network means; and

a mobile device computing means operable to control user access to content.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device computing means includes a software stack means comprising a plurality of software module means and hardware means.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the computing means is further operable to:

communicate with a customer data storage means to search for data including user accounts and user activity to determine if the mobile communication means is authorized to access the internet; and

pass a request for content from the mobile communication means to the mobile device computing means.

4. The system of claim 3, where in the customer data storage means is operable to store formatted information comprising user names, profiles, and content identifiers.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the mobile device computing means is operable to control user access to domain names, sub-domain names, websites, and individual files based on information stored in the customer data storage means and a mobile device data storage means.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the mobile device data storage means is operable to store formatted information comprising a categorization of domain names and keywords.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the mobile device data storage means is further operable to store formatted information comprising a complete list of all internet websites with associated categories based on content or meta data describing the websites.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the software stack means further comprises a filter adaptor means operable to monitor and store internet activity associated with the user profile.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device computing means is further operable to send an error message to the mobile communication means in response to an unauthorized request for content from the mobile communication means, and to pass the request for content to a firewall means in response to an authorized request for content.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the firewall means is operable to control access to the internet from within a carrier network and to restrict unauthorized incoming traffic from the internet to the carrier network means.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the firewall means is further operable to relay the authorized request for content through the internet to a website means containing the requested content.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the website means is further operable to transfer the requested content to the mobile communication means by passing the requested content through the firewall means, the mobile device computing means, the computing means, the wireless application protocol proxy means, and the transmission means.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication means further comprises a mobile browser means operable to send a request for content.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the request for content is formatted using a communication protocol comprising a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), a secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS), a user datagram protocol (UDP), a file transfer protocol (FTP).

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the request for content is received as a uniform resource locator (URL) using HTTP.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein the software stack means further comprises an application server means operable to manage communication amongst the plurality of software module means and hardware means.

17. The system of claim 2, wherein the software stack means further comprises a policy management layer means operable to set policies for managing internet activity on the mobile communication means.

18. The system of claim 2, wherein the policy management layer means is further operable to designate authorized internet website and unauthorized internet websites.

19. The system of claim 2, wherein the software stack means further comprises an application distribution proxy means operable to mediate communication between the mobile communication means and the computing means to enforce access control and security.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the application distribution proxy means is further operable to authorize only valid protocol exchanges originating from the mobile communication means.

21. The system of claim 2, wherein the software stack means further comprises a customization server means operable to customize the internet activity for the mobile communication means associated with the user profile.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the customization server means is further operable to:

select authorized internet sites;

set download limits; and

set time limits of the internet activity.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the customization server means is further operable to communicate with one or more databases to select authorized internet sites.