DETECTING MOBILE OPERATOR NETWORKS

• US 20120203795A1
• Filed: 02/04/2011
• Published: 08/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ackerman, Nathan, DeSeranno, Shane M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,914,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Various embodiments are disclosed that relate to detecting mobile operator networks. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method of operating a catalog server to which a mobile computing device connects via a computer network path that traverses a mobile operator network. The method may include receiving data from a mobile device, the data including a locale and a mobile operator identifier stored in memory on the mobile device; searching a database to find a store based on the mobile operator identifier and the locale; if a store is found, populating settings based on the store; and sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

Claims

1. A method for operating a content marketplace server, the method comprising:

receiving data from a mobile device, the data including a locale and a mobile operator identifier stored in memory on the mobile device;

searching a database to find a store based on the mobile operator identifier and the locale;

if a store is found, populating settings based on the store; and

sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile operator identifier is a mobile country code/mobile network code tuple.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

if a store is not found based on the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple, removing the last character of the tuple to obtain a modified tuple;

searching the database to find a store based on the modified tuple and the locale;

if a store is found, populating settings based on the store; and

sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

removing the last character of the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple to obtain a modified tuple;

searching the database to find a store based on the modified tuple and the locale; and

if a store is found for both the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple and the modified tuple, sending a fail message to the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a fail message to the mobile device if a store is not found.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile operator identifier is a mobile operator key.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data includes an OEM ID and the method further comprises:

searching a database to find a store based on the OEM ID and the locale;

if a store is found, populating settings based on the store; and

sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is an xml file with store specific information.

9. A method for operating a content marketplace server, the method comprising:

receiving data from a mobile device, the data including a locale and a mobile operator identifier stored in memory on the mobile device, where the mobile operator identifier is either a mobile country code/mobile network code tuple or a mobile operator key;

searching a database to find a store based on the mobile operator identifier and the locale;

if a store is found;

populating settings based on the store; and

sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings; and

if a store is not found sending a fail message to the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

if a store is not found based on the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple, removing the last character of the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple to obtain a modified tuple;

searching the database to find a store based on the modified tuple and the locale;

if a store is found, populating settings based on the store; and

sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

removing the last character of the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple to obtain a modified tuple;

searching the database to find a store based on the modified tuple and the locale; and

if a store is found for both the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple and the modified tuple, sending a fail message to the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the data includes an OEM ID and the method further comprises:

searching a database to find a store based on the OEM ID and the locale;

if a store is found, populating settings based on the store; and

sending configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the configuration information is an xml file with store specific information.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the fail message is configured to cause a marketplace on the mobile device to be disabled upon receipt by the mobile device.

15. A content marketplace server, comprising:

a logic subsystem; and

a data holding subsystem comprising machine-readable instructions stored thereon that are executable by the logic subsystem to;

receive data from a mobile device, the data including a locale and a mobile operator identifier stored in memory on the mobile device;

search a database to find a store based on the mobile operator identifier and the locale;

if a store is found, populate settings based on the store; and

send configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the mobile operator identifier is a mobile country code/mobile network code tuple.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the data holding subsystem comprising machine-readable instructions stored thereon are further executable by the logic subsystem to:

if a store is not found based on the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple, remove the last character of the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple to obtain a modified tuple;

search the database to find a store based on the modified tuple and the locale;

if a store is found, populate settings based on the store; and

send configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the data holding subsystem comprising machine-readable instructions stored thereon are further executable by the logic subsystem to:

remove the last character of the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple to obtain a modified tuple;

search the database to find a store based on the modified tuple and the locale; and

if a store is found for both the mobile country code/mobile network code tuple and the modified tuple, send a fail message to the mobile device.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the mobile operator identifier is a mobile operator key.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the data includes an OEM ID and the data holding subsystem comprising machine-readable instructions stored thereon are further executable by the logic subsystem to:

search a database to find a store based on the OEM ID and the locale;

if a store is found, populate settings based on the store; and

send configuration information to the mobile device based on the settings.