Management tree management in a mobile handset

• US 7,584,466 B1
• Filed: 06/15/2004
• Issued: 09/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Rao, Bindu Rama
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam; Tuan Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee; Marina
• Application Number:
  US10/868,050
• Time in Patent Office: 1,904 Days
• Field of Search: 717/121, 717/168, 717/177
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment

Abstract

A mobile handset network employs a device management server to manage managed objects that are located in a management tree. Access to the managed objects in the management tree is provided to applications and components that execute in the same environment or in different environments. Special managed objects are employed that are accessible by the DM client as well as by the update agents in the mobile handset.

Claims

1. A mobile device managed by a device management server, the mobile device comprising:

a device management tree comprising a plurality of nodes and leaves from several different environments, wherein the plurality of nodes and leaves represent at least a firmware component and at least a software component including a provisioning parameter and a configuration parameter, and wherein the device management tree is capable of being manipulated by the device management server;

wherein at least one of the firmware component and the software component is resident in the mobile device;

a first mechanism providing access to the device management tree operable via a management client to provide read and/or write synchronization of the plurality of nodes and leaves; and

a second mechanism providing access to the device management tree operable via an agent to provide access to the plurality of nodes and leaves during a compilation of the agent with an associated application interface or component interface of the management tree;

wherein the device management tree being locally accessible by at least a subset of the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device via each of the first and second mechanisms providing access to the device management tree; and

wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes and leaves comprises a special node that is located at a predetermined location in memory that is known and accessible by the at least a subset of the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device.

2. The mobile device according to claim 1 wherein

the at least a subset of the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device is capable of setting values into at least one of the plurality of nodes and leaves.

3. The mobile device according to claim 2 wherein the at least a subset of the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device is capable of setting a status value into at least one of the plurality of nodes and leaves.

4. The mobile device according to claim 1 wherein the at least a subset of the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device is capable of reading values from the at least one of the plurality of nodes and leaves.

5. The mobile device according to claim 1 wherein:

the predetermined location in memory is provisioned into the mobile device;

the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device employs the special node at the predetermined location in memory in order to access the at least one of the plurality of nodes and leaves; and

the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device employs the special node at the predetermined location in memory to set status values in the at least one of the plurality of nodes and leaves.

6. The mobile device according to claim 1 wherein the special node located in the predetermined location in memory is accessible only to a qualified subset of the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile.

7. The mobile device according to claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of special nodes located in a plurality of associated predetermined locations, each of the plurality of associated predetermined locations is known to those of the at least one of a firmware component and a software component resident in the mobile device that have a need to access the information stored in the plurality of special nodes.

8. The mobile device according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of special nodes are located together in a structure at a special location.

9. A mobile device that facilitates the creation and manipulation of a plurality of managed objects in a management tree based upon information received via a communication network, the mobile device comprising:

non-volatile memory including the plurality of management objects from several different environments representing at least firmware and software components including provisioning parameters and configuration parameters, the management tree having a root serving as a gateway or navigation point to the plurality of managed objects in the management tree;

a firmware component comprising update agent code for converting at least a portion of the non-volatile memory from a first version of code to a second version of code;

one or both of an operating system and/or an application;

a management client providing the one or both of an operating system and/or an application with access to at least a subset of the managed objects to provide read and/or write synchronization of the management objects;

an agent providing the one or both of an operating system and/or an application with access to at least a subset of the managed objects during a compilation of the agent with an associated application interface or component interface of the management tree; and

at least a subset of the managed objects being special managed objects each of whose physical location in the non-volatile memory is assigned to a predetermined memory address, wherein the special managed objects are accessed and executed from the predetermined memory address in the non-volatile memory by each of the firmware component and the management client.

10. The mobile device of claim 9 wherein the firmware component comprises code executed during at least one of reboot and startup of the mobile device.

11. The mobile device of claim 9 wherein the special managed objects have the same behavioral semantics as others of the plurality of managed objects that are not special.

12. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein each of the special managed objects is mapped to a physical non-volatile memory address that is an associated fixed and well-known address.

13. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the at least one firmware component comprises at least one sub-component that is accessible using the associated fixed and well-known address of at least one of the special managed objects.

14. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the special managed objects are capable of providing configuration data to associated ones of the at least one firmware component, the configuration data comprising at least one of an address, status information, and security information.

15. The mobile device of claim 14 wherein the configuration data comprises a 4-byte address where an update package is saved in the non-volatile memory, a 4-byte status information capable of indicating the availability of the update package, a 4-byte verification data, and a 4-byte address of a backup memory area for use in fault tolerant updates.

16. The mobile device of claim 14 wherein:

the at least one firmware component comprises update agent code for updating the non-volatile memory;

the update agent code is capable of accessing special managed objects comprising configuration data, when executed during at least one of startup and reboot of the mobile device; and

the update agent code is capable of accessing special managed objects at the associated fixed and well-known address.

17. The mobile device of claim 9 further comprising:

update agent code capable of converting at least a portion of the non-volatile memory from a first version of code to a second version of code;

a special managed object reference table used to save references to addresses of special managed objects in the management tree, the special managed object reference table accessible to the update agent code; and

the update agent code capable of accessing information stored in special managed objects employing references in the special managed object reference table.

18. The mobile device of claim 17 wherein an address of the special managed object reference table is a well-known address known to the update agent code.

19. The mobile device of claim 17 wherein an address of the special managed object reference table is known to the update agent code by a default value that is hard-coded or predefined for the update agent code.