System for broadcasting to, and programming, a motor device in a protocol, device, and network independent fashion

• US 6,282,294 B1
• Filed: 06/30/1998
• Issued: 08/28/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Goldschmidt, Pamela, Deo, Vinay, Kadyk, Don, Tuniman, David, OʼLeary, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barron, Jr., Gilberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): LATHAM, BRYAN S
• Application Number:
  US09/108,953
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• Field of Search: 455/418-419, 455/68, 455/38.1, 455/412, 380/270, 380/273, 713/189, 713/191
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/12 Use of codes for handling textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/149 Adaptation of the text data for streaming purposes, e.g. Efficient XML Interchange [EXI] format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9057 Arrangements for supporting packet reassembly or resequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 : by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 : using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/037 : of the control plane, e.g. signalling traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 : Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/023 : with message or information receiving capability

Abstract

The present invention is directed, in one embodiment, to a programming interface which enables device/protocol/network independent transmission of messages to, and programming of, mobile devices. In another embodiment, the present invention is directed to data structures maintained on, and supported by, the mobile devices. The present invention also, in another embodiment, provides security for programming messages and an acknowledgement channel over which the mobile device can acknowledge receipt of, and successful implementation of, a programming message.

Claims

1. A programming interface on a mobile device for transferring information to and from a radio receiver on the mobile device, the programming interface including:

a message processing component configured to receive messages to be delivered to the radio receiver; and

a driver component coupled to the message processing component;

wherein the message processing component is configured to execute a control call to the driver component specifying a control operation to be performed based on a message received, an input buffer location of an input buffer containing data to be transferred to the radio receiver, a number of bytes of information contained in the input buffer, an output buffer location of an output buffer containing information received from the radio receiver, a maximum number of bytes of information contained in the output buffer, and an actual number of bytes received from the radio receiver;

wherein the control operation is a programming operation to program values in the radio receiver and wherein the control call passes a programming data structure to the driver, the programming data structure including;

a structure size portion indicative of a size of the programming data structure;

a mask portion Indicative of which portions in the programming data structure are valid;

an operation code portion indicative of whether the programming operation is to program values or deprogram values;

a type code portion indicative of a type of values to be programmed or deprogrammed;

a program data portion indicative of the values to be programmed or deprogrammed; and

a program data length portion indicative of a length of the program data; and

wherein the driver component is configured to receive the control call from the message processing component and execute the specified control operation.

2. The programming interface of claim 1 wherein the radio receiver has existing values stored therein, wherein programming data portion comprises a programming data structure having a plurality of fields, each field corresponding to a value on the radio receiver and each field containing new values to be programmed into the radio receiver, and wherein existing values on the radio receiver are left unchanged when the field in the programming data structure does not have a field corresponding to the existing value.

3. The programming interface of claim 2 wherein the type code portion is indicative of an encryption key to be programmed or deprogrammed and wherein the program data portion comprises a key data structure.

4. The programming interface of claim 3 wherein the key data structure includes:

a structure size portion indicative of a size of the key data structure;

a mask portion indicative of which portions of the key data structure are valid;

a key portion indicative of the encryption key;

a key number portion indicative of a number corresponding to the encryption key;

an algorithm portion indicative of an encryption algorithm to be used in conjunction with the encryption key;

a key length portion indicative of a length of the encryption key;

a key tag portion indicative of a location in which the encryption key is stored; and

a key tag length portion indicative of a length of the key tag portion.

5. The programming interface of claim 1 wherein the mobile device receives messages over an address from a carrier and wherein the type code portion is indicative of a carrier designation to be programmed or deprogrammed and wherein the program data portion comprises a carrier data structure.

6. The programming interface of claim 5 wherein the carrier data structure includes:

a structure size portion indicative of a size of the carrier data structure;

a mask portion indicative of which portions of the carrier data structure are valid;

a frequency portion indicative of a radio frequency at which the messages are received from the carrier;

a name portion indicative of a name of the carrier;

a description portion indicative of a description of message types received from the carrier;

a user identification portion indicative of an identification number associated with a user of the mobile device;

an user identification length portion indicative of a length of the user identification portion;

a name length indicative of a length of the name portion; and

a description length portion indicative of a length of the description portion.

7. The programming interface of claim 2 wherein the mobile device receives messages over an address and a group code corresponding to the address and wherein the type code portion is indicative of a group code to be programmed or deprogrammed and wherein the program data portion comprises a group code data structure.

8. The programming interface of claim 7 wherein the group code data structure includes:

a structure size portion indicative of a size of the group code data structure;

a mask portion indicative of which portions of the group code data structure are valid;

an group code portion indicative of the group code;

an group code number portion indicative of a number corresponding to the group code;

a status portion indicative of a status of the group code;

an expiration date portion indicative of an expiration date associated with the group code, wherein subsequent messages received over the group code after the expiration date are discarded;

a group code tag portion indicative of a tag associated with the group code;

an address tag portion indicative of a tag associated with the address;

an address tag length portion indicative of a length of the address tag portion; and

a group tag length indicative of a length of the group tag portion.

9. The programming interface of claim 8 wherein the group code data structure further includes:

a key tag portion indicative of a location at which an encryption key used to decrypt messages received over the group code is stored; and

a key tag length portion indicative of a length of the key tag portion.

10. The programming interface of claim 9 wherein the group code data structure further comprises:

a group code name portion indicative of a descriptive name of the group code;

a description portion indicative of a textual description of messages received over the group code;

an group code name length portion indicative of a length of the group code name portion; and

a description length portion indicative of a length of the description portion.

11. The programming interface of claim 2 wherein the mobile device receives messages over an address and wherein the type code portion is indicative of an address to be programmed or deprogrammed and wherein the program data portion comprises an address data structure.

12. The programming interface of claim 11 wherein the address data structure includes:

a structure size portion indicative of a size of the address data structure;

a mask portion indicative of which portions of the address data structure are valid;

an address portion indicative of the address;

an address number portion indicative of a number corresponding to the address;

a status portion indicative of a status of the address;

an address tag portion indicative of a tag associated with the address portion;

an expiration date portion indicative of an expiration date associated with the address, wherein subsequent messages received over the address after the expiration date are discarded; and

an address tag length portion indicative of a length of the address tag portion.

13. The programming interface of claim 12 wherein the address data structure further includes:

a key tag portion indicative of a location at which an encryption key used to decrypt messages received over the address is stored; and

a key tag length portion indicative of a length of the key tag portion.

14. The programming interface of claim 12 wherein the address data structure further comprises:

an address name portion indicative of a descriptive name of the address;

a description portion indicative of a textual description of messages received over the address;

an address name length portion indicative of a length of the address name portion; and

a description length portion indicative of a length of the description portion.

15. A programming interface on a mobile device for transferring information to and from a radio receiver on the mobile device, the programming interface including:

a message processing component configured to receive messages to be delivered to the radio receiver; and

a driver component coupled to the message processing component;

wherein the message processing component is configured to execute a control call to the driver component specifying a control operation to be performed based on a message received, an input buffer location of an input buffer containing data to be transferred to the radio receiver, a number of bytes of information contained in the input buffer, an output buffer location of an output buffer containing information received from the radio receiver, a maximum number of bytes of information contained in the output buffer, and an actual number of bytes received from the radio receiver;

wherein the driver component includes a function library of functions performed by the driver in executing the specified control operation, wherein the function library includes an encryption key derivation component for deriving an encryption key based on information provided to the driver component in the control call, wherein the driver component utilizes the encryption key derivation component to derive the encryption key, stores the encryption key at a key location in the driver component and returns a key handle indicative of the key location to the message processing component; and

wherein the driver component is configured to receive the control call from the message processing component and execute the specified control operation.

16. A programming interface on a mobile device for transferring information to and from a radio receiver on the mobile device, the programming interface including:

a message processing component configured to receive messages to be delivered to the radio receiver; and

a driver component coupled to the message processing component;

wherein the message processing component is configured to execute a control call to the driver component specifying a control operation to be performed based on a message received, an input buffer location of an input buffer containing data to be transferred to the radio receiver, a number of bytes of information contained in the input buffer, an output buffer location of an output buffer containing information received from the radio receiver, a maximum number of bytes of information contained in the output buffer, and an actual number of bytes received from the radio receiver;

wherein the driver component includes a function library of functions performed by the driver in executing the specified control operation, wherein the function library includes a decryption and validation component for decrypting and validating information provided to the driver component in the control call, the driver component utilizing the decryption and validation component to decrypt and validate the information and returning a value to the message processing component indicative of whether the information is valid; and

wherein the driver component is configured to receive the control call from the message processing component and execute the specified control operation.