Controlling, filtering, and monitoring of mobile device access to the internet, data, voice, and applications

• US 8,005,913 B1
• Filed: 10/06/2009
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OSRAM GmbH (Ams-Osram AG)
• Original Assignee: Network Protection Sciences, LLC (Innovation Management Sciences, LLC)
• Inventors: Carlander, Carrie
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M
• Application Number:
  US12/574,638
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-203, 709/207, 709217-227, 709/228
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/12 Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol]

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling, filtering, and monitoring mobile device access to the internet are disclosed. According to an embodiment a server is responsible for controlling, filtering and monitoring internet activity. For every request, the server interacts with back-end databases that categorize requests, and based on user/carrier/corporate settings, allow or disallow access to particular content.

Claims

1. A system for managing internet activity of a mobile device associated with a user profile, wherein the mobile device is operable to transmit, receive, and access voice and data information, the system comprising:

a transmission system operable to transmit and receive voice and data information between the mobile device and a wireless application protocol proxy, wherein the wireless application protocol proxy is operable to mediate communication between the mobile device and a network;

a carrier server operable to check user accounts, log user activity, and allow or disallow the mobile device access to the network; and

a mobile device server, including a software stack comprising a plurality of software modules and hardware, operable to control user access to content, wherein the carrier server looks for information related to user accounts and user activity stored in a customer database when allowing or disallowing the mobile device to the internet and the carrier server passes a request for content from the mobile device to the mobile device server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer database contains formatted information comprising user names, profiles, and content identifiers.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device server is operable to control user access to domain names, sub-domain names, websites, and individual files based on information stored in the customer database and a mobile device database.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the mobile device database contains formatted information comprising a categorization of domain names and keywords.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the mobile device database contains formatted information further comprising a complete list of all internet websites with associated categories based on content or meta data describing the website.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the software stack further comprises a filter adaptor operable to monitor and store internet activity associated with the user profile.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device server is further operable to send an error message to the mobile device if a request for content by the mobile device is determined to be not authorized, and to pass the request for content to a firewall if the request for content is determined to be authorized.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the firewall is operable to control access to the internet from within a carrier network and to restrict unauthorized incoming traffic from the internet to the carrier network.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the firewall is further operable to relay the authorized request for content through the internet to a website containing the requested content.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the website is further operable to transfer the requested content to the mobile device by passing the requested content through the firewall, the mobile device server, the carrier server, the WAP proxy, and the transmission system.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device further comprises a mobile browser operable to send a request for content.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the request for content is formatted using a communication protocol comprising a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), a secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS), a user datagram protocol (UDP), and a file transfer protocol (FTP).

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the request for content is received as a uniform resource locator (URL) using HTTP.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the software stack further comprises an application server operable to manage communication amongst the plurality of software modules and hardware.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the software stack further comprises a policy management layer operable to set policies for managing internet activity on the mobile phone.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the policy management layer is further operable to designating internet websites and contents as either authorized or unauthorized for the mobile device associated with the user profile.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the software stack further comprises an application distribution proxy operable to mediate communication between the mobile device and the carrier server to enforce access control and security.

18. A computer-implemented method for managing internet activity of a mobile device associated with a user profile, the method comprising:

transmitting and receiving, by a computing device, voice and data information between the mobile device and a wireless application protocol proxy, including mediating communication between the mobile device and a network;

checking user accounts, log user activity, and allow or disallow the mobile device access to the network, including looking for information related to user accounts and user activity stored in a customer database when allowing or disallowing the mobile device to the Internet;

controlling user access to content with a mobile device server comprising a software stack including a plurality of software modules and hardware; and

passing a request for content from the mobile device to the mobile device server.