System and method for providing an application to a device

• US 7,844,658 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2007
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Holdings LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Bongoni, Srinivas, Chaudhari, Manoj, Datla, Raju, Woundy, Richard M., Lee, Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough; Hyung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wathen; Brian
• Application Number:
  US11/625,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20080178175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,408 Days
• Field of Search: 719/313
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments include a system and method for providing at least one electronic application to at least one device. In one embodiment, the method includes acquiring device information that relates to the device and determining whether the device supports the at least one application based on the device information. The method may further include generating an electronic message for the device wherein the message contains at least one link for acquiring the at least one application when the device supports the application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

acquiring device information that relates to at least one device;

determining whether the at least one device supports an at least one electronic application based on the device information;

generating an electronic message at a provisioning services layer on a server for the at least one device, wherein the message contains at least one link for acquiring the at least one application when the at least one device supports the at least one application;

acquiring account information associated with the at least one device;

determining that the acquired account information indicates that a service provider associated with the at least one device has been terminated;

responsive to determining that the acquired account information indicates that a service provider associated with the at least one device has been terminated, batching the electronic message; and

transmitting the batched message after a predetermined delay period.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising downloading the at least one application when the link is selected via the at least one device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the electronic message for the at least one device includes:

receiving the electronic message at a wireless service provider; and

transmitting the electronic message to the at least one device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the electronic message for the at least one device includes generating a short message service (SMS) message that is transmitted utilizing a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) protocol or a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the link includes a uniform resource locator (URL) link.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the account information when the at least one device is configured for the at least one application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application includes at least one of an email client application, a client application configured to display a program, and a theme client application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the email client application and the client application configured to display a program are automatically downloaded through the use of the theme client application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the electronic message for the at least one device includes generating a plurality of messages that are transmitted to a plurality of devices after a delay period.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, acquiring device information that relates to the at least one device and generating the electronic message for the at least one device occurs through the use of a graphical user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the at least one device supports the at least one application based on the device information includes determining whether the at least one device is configured for the at least one application based upon a make of the at least one device or a model of the at least one device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one device is at least one of a mobile telephone and a personal digital assistant (PDA).

13. A system for providing at least one electronic application to at least one device, wherein the at least one device has device information relating to the at least one device'"'"'s capabilities, the system comprising:

a provisioning services layer having at least one server with a memory, wherein the device information is stored within the memory, the provisioning services layer being configured to;

determine whether the at least one device supports the at least one application based on the device information, and

generate electronic messages for the at least one device that contain at least one link for acquiring the at least one application; and

a user interface being in communication with the provisioning services layer, the user interface configured to acquire the device information and cause the provisioning services layer to generate the electronic messages when the at least one device supports the at least one application,

wherein generating the electronic messages for the at least one device includes generating a plurality of messages that are transmitted to a plurality of devices, the at least one device and the plurality of devices being associated with one another via account information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the provisioning services layer includes:

a subscriber services component being configured to identify an account that is associated with the at least one device, wherein the subscriber services component identifies the account information that relates to the account and provides the account information for the user interface;

a device services component that provides the device information including the at least one device'"'"'s capabilities and product information for the at least one device; and

a messaging services component for generating the electronic messages containing the at least one link for acquiring the at least one application.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein generating the electronic messages containing the at least one link for acquiring the at least one application includes generating a short message service (SMS) message that is transmitted utilizing a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) protocol or a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP).

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one link includes a uniform resource locator (URL) link.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one application includes at least one of an email client application, a client application configured to display a program, and a theme client application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the email client application and the client application configured to display a program are automatically downloaded through the use of the theme client application.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of messages are transmitted to the plurality of devices after a delay period.

20. A method for providing at least one electronic application to at least one mobile device, the method comprising:

acquiring device information that relates to the at least one mobile device through the use of a provisioning services layer on a server and a user interface;

determining whether the at least one mobile device supports the at least one application based on the device information through the use of the provisioning services layer on the server;

transmitting a short message service (SMS) message to the at least one mobile device in response to a request submitted via the user interface when the at least one mobile device supports the at least one application, wherein the SMS message contains at least one uniform resource locator (URL) link for acquiring the at least one application;

batching the SMS message for a second transmission at the provisioning services layer on the server responsive to determining that the transmitted SMS message has not been received by the at least one mobile device;

transmitting the batched SMS message;

displaying a message received indication when the batched SMS message is received by the at least one mobile device; and

downloading the application responsive to the selection of the link through the use of the at least one mobile device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one application includes at least one of an email client application, a client application configured to display a program, and a theme client application.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the email client application and the client application configured to display a program are automatically downloaded through the use of the theme client application.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein transmitting the batched SMS message includes transmitting a batch file containing a telephone number of the at least one mobile device, a make and model of the at least one mobile device, an email support flag, a television (TV) support flag, and a theme support flag.