SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MIGRATING AGENTS BETWEEN MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20140274133A1
• Filed: 04/14/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OL Security LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Osocad Remote LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Peterson, Robert W., Gerard, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,965,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4862 the task being a mobile agent, i.e. specifically designed to migrate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

Mobile agents can be deployed to location aware mobile devices within specific regions of interest to achieve specific goals in respect of events occurring in the region of interest. In order to ensure that the agent can persist within the region of interest until the agent goals are achieved, the agent is configured to locate other devices within the region of interest and to propagate itself, by moving or copying itself, to those other devices. When a device hosting the agent exits the region of interest, the agent is terminated, thereby freeing device resources.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for execution by a destination processor of a destination device to:

transmit an agent participation request providing a location of the destination device;

receive an agent activation request comprising an agent application in response to a comparison of the location of the destination device to a region of interest;

execute the agent application in response to the destination device being located within the region of interest; and

transmit an agent activation response based at least in part on executing the agent application.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the agent activation response comprises at least one of a device identification, an agent application identification, and a success indicator.

2-4. -4. (canceled)

6. A device, comprising:

a memory configured to store an agent application received from a source device in response to an agent activation request; and

a processing device configured to;

transmit an agent participation request to the source device, the agent participating request providing a location of the device to the source device; and

execute the agent application in response to receiving an agent activation request from the source device, the agent activation request being configured to indicate that the device is located within a region of interest.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the processing device is further configured to trigger the storing of store the region of interest or agent history in memory in response to the agent activation request.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the processing device is further configured to transmit an agent activation response to the source device based at least in part on executing the agent application.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the agent activation response comprises at least one of a device identification, an agent application identification, and a success indicator.

7. (canceled)

11. A mobile device, comprising:

a memory device configured to store instructions; and

a processing device configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory device to;

transmit an agent participation request providing a location of the mobile device;

receive an agent activation request comprising an agent application based at least in part on a comparison of the location of the mobile device to a region of interest;

activate the agent application based at least in part on receiving the agent activation request; and

transmit an agent activation response based at least in part on successfully activating the agent application.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processing device is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory device further to transmit the agent activation response based at least in part on activating the agent application within a predetermined time after receiving the agent activation request.

13. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processing device is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory device further to terminate execution of the agent application in response to detecting that the mobile device is leaving the region of interest.

14. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processing device is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory device further to propagate the agent application to at least one other mobile device based at least in part on receiving an agent participation request from the at least one other mobile device.

15. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein the processing device is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory device further to determine a location of the at least one other mobile device based at least in part the agent participation request received from the at least one other mobile device.

16. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processing device is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory device further to receive the agent activation request based at least in part on the comparison of the location of the mobile device to the region of interest being within a predetermined threshold.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the predetermined threshold is based at least in part on a distance between the mobile device and a base station that serves the region of interest.

18. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the predetermined threshold is based at least in part on a battery power of the mobile device.

19. A method, comprising:

transmitting an agent participation request comprising a location of the mobile device;

receiving an agent activation request comprising an agent application based at least in part on a comparison of the location of the mobile device to a region of interest;

activating the agent application based at least in part on receiving the agent activation request; and

transmitting an agent activation response based at least in part on successfully activating the agent application.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting the agent activation response based at least in part on activating the agent application within a predetermined time after receiving the agent activation request.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising terminating execution of the agent application in response to detecting that the mobile device is leaving the region of interest.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising propagating the agent application to at least one other mobile device based at least in part on receiving an agent participation request from the at least one other mobile device including a location of the at least one other mobile device.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising comparing the location of the at least one other mobile device to the region of interest.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining that the location of the at least one other mobile device is within a predetermined threshold distance of the region of interest.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the predetermined threshold distance is based at least in part on a distance between the mobile device and a base station that serves the region of interest.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the predetermined threshold distance is based at least in part on a battery power of the mobile device.