MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT AS A SIMPLIFIED ONLINE SOFTWARE SERVICE

• US 20150095970A1
• Filed: 10/01/2013
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Codeproof Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Codeproof Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Shetty, Satish Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 9,083,752 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Technology is disclosed for implementing a mobile device management service. The technology includes a first computing device behind a first firewall, for providing device management as a software as a service that is configured to (a) receive one or more policies from an entity, the entity managing a second server computing device that is behind a second firewall, wherein the first firewall and the second firewall are different firewalls, further wherein at least one of the received policies is indicated to pertain to a group of mobile computing devices; and (b) upon receiving a communication from a mobile computing device belonging to the group of mobile computing devices, transmit to the mobile computing device the received policy pertaining to the group of mobile computing devices, wherein the received policy specifies a condition for future communications between the mobile computing device and the second server computing device.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a first server computing device implementing a mobile device management service, the first computing device behind a first firewall, for providing device management as a software as a service, comprising:

receiving one or more policies from an entity, the entity managing a second server computing device that is behind a second firewall, wherein the first firewall and the second firewall are different firewalls, further wherein at least one of the received policies is indicated to pertain to a group of mobile computing devices; and

upon receiving a communication from a mobile computing device belonging to the group of mobile computing devices, transmitting to the mobile computing device the received policy pertaining to the group of mobile computing devices, wherein the received policy specifies a condition for future communications between the mobile computing device and the second server computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an expandable user interface to enable an administrator to select the group of mobile computing devices and configure the policy pertaining to the group of mobile computing devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a mobile device management application programmatic interface (API), wherein software executing at a mobile computing device can employ the API to communicate with the first server computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising a component, operating in association with an electronic mail server operating behind the second firewall, that receives information from the first server computing device and determines whether to enable electronic mail communications between mobile computing device and the electronic mail server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy pertaining to the group of mobile computing device inherits aspects of a policy from a different policy pertaining to a different group of mobile computing devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server computing device has a digital certificate relating to the mobile device management service and the second server computing device does not have a digital certificate relating to the mobile device management service.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving one or more policies from a second entity, the second entity managing a fourth server that is behind a fourth firewall, wherein the first firewall and the fourth firewall are different firewalls, further wherein at least one of the received policies is indicated to pertain to a second group of mobile computing devices, and the fourth server does not have a digital certificate relating to the mobile device management service.

8. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, comprising:

instructions for receiving one or more policies from an entity, the entity managing a second server computing device that is behind a second firewall, wherein the first firewall and the second firewall are different firewalls, further wherein at least one of the received policies is indicated to pertain to a group of mobile computing devices; and

instructions for transmitting, upon receiving a communication from a mobile computing device belonging to the group of mobile computing devices, to the mobile computing device the received policy pertaining to the group of mobile computing devices, wherein the received policy specifies a condition for future communications between the mobile computing device and the second server computing device.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for providing an expandable user interface to enable an administrator to select the group of mobile computing devices and configure the policy pertaining to the group of mobile computing devices.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for providing a mobile device management application programmatic interface (API), wherein software executing at a mobile computing device can employ the API to communicate with the first server computing device.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions defining a component, operating in association with an electronic mail server operating behind the second firewall, that receives information from the first server computing device and determines whether to enable electronic mail communications between mobile computing device and the electronic mail server.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the policy pertaining to the group of mobile computing device inherits aspects of a policy from a different policy pertaining to a different group of mobile computing devices.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the first server computing device has a digital certificate relating to the mobile device management service and the second server computing device does not have a digital certificate relating to the mobile device management service.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions for receiving one or more policies from a second entity, the second entity managing a fourth server that is behind a fourth firewall, wherein the first firewall and the fourth firewall are different firewalls, further wherein at least one of the received policies is indicated to pertain to a second group of mobile computing devices, and the fourth server does not have a digital certificate relating to the mobile device management service.

15. A system, comprising:

a group of mobile computing devices;

a first server computing device implementing a mobile device management service for providing device management as a software as a service, the first computing device behind a first firewall, wherein upon receiving an enrollment request from a mobile computing device belonging to the group of mobile computing devices, transmits a document to the mobile computing device to enforce a policy; and

a second server computing device that is behind a second firewall, wherein the first firewall and the second firewall are different firewalls, wherein the second server computing device transmits the document to the first server computing device, wherein server computing devices behind the second firewall only exchange information with the mobile computing device if the mobile computing device complies with the policy.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising an administrator console configured to enable an administrator to configure the policy.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising an application programmatic interface service associated with the first server computing device.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising a middle tier for defining policies according to business rules.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein data on at least one mobile computing device belonging to the group of mobile computing devices is deleted upon receiving a command from the first server computing device.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein data on at least one mobile computing device belonging to the group of mobile computing devices is unable to exchange data with the second server computing device because it does not comply with a password policy.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the policy specifies permitted or disallowed actions when the mobile computing device is within a specified geographical area.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the policy specifies a whitelist or a blacklist, wherein the whitelist specifies the only applications that the mobile computing device is permitted execute and the blacklist specifies the applications that the mobile computing device is not permitted to execute.