Method and system for automatic data transfer on a network-connected device

• US 8,325,625 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2005
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Inventors: Nair, Biju, Boxall, Robert, Heistad, Chris, Samsalovic, Vojislav
• Primary Examiner(s): Mered, Habte
• Application Number:
  US11/088,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20060047830A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,813 Days
• Field of Search: 370/464, 370/466, 370/355, 370/238, 370/328, 3703952-3953, 370/400, 709223-232, 709/238, 709/242, 709217-218, 709/220, 726 1- 21, 726/26, 455/452.2
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/507 Filtering out customers affected by service problems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/091 Measuring contribution of individual network components to actual service level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/162 at the data link layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• 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 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/062 Pre-authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 : Connection setup

Abstract

A service provider interface protocol, when embedded into a network-capable device, can automatically connect the device to a wired or wireless network. This automatic device connectivity can include automatic logging on, automatic authentication and seamless, automatic data upload to, or download from, another location on the network. Configuration parameters for the automatic authentication, upload and download locations and other related device configurations can be stored within the network server-side management system.

Claims

1. A system for automatically connecting devices to a network for management of data transfer between an end-user device enabled with a service provider interface (SPI) protocol and a network operations center (NOC), the system comprising:

a central configuration device for connecting said NOC with said SPI enabled end-user device said central configuration device including a service provider interface (SPI) that provides a client/server communication protocol, wherein the central configuration device is capable of initiating automatic device connectivity including automatic logging on, automatic authentication and seamless, automatic device configuration and automatic data transfer between said central configuration device, at least one SPI server component of said NOC and said SPI enabled end-user device based on user defined parameters using the client/server communication protocol, and wherein said central configuration device stores configuration parameters for client-side automatic authentication, upload and download locations and other related device configurations;

whereby said at least one SPI server component of the NOC includes a storage medium associated therewith that stores the data automatically transferred from said SPI-enabled end-user device and the central communication device provides instructions between said SPI-enabled end-user device and said SPI server component of the NOC to access the data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said central configuration device further comprises:

a central configuration server (CCS) for managing the storage and flow of updates and upgrades to clients from a single location;

a service level assurance (SLA) module which sends queries through said SPI and said central configuration server to said SPI-enabled end-user device and said SPI-enabled end-user device which in turn respond to the queries and provides appropriate information regarding location, contact attempts, failures, signal strength, available and effective data rates, and any other status or location information, wherein the information stores in at least one SPI server component of NOC;

a remote management console (RMC) which allows a network administrator to remotely administer the central configuration device; and

a selected operating system that communicates with an operating system layer embedded in said central configuration server and which controls said central configuration server, said service level assurance module, and said remote management console.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said SPI protocol enabled in the end-user device allows a roaming client to communicate to said NOC before and after login into local hotspots.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein when the SPI-enabled end-user device contacts the service level assurance module (SLA), the service level assurance module sends queries through the at least one SPI server component and the central configuration server to the SPI-enabled end-user device for retrieving data upon authentication of the roaming client.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the SPI-enabled end-user device provides appropriate data to the SLA module based on network policies and parameters for management of network resources.

6. A method of management of data transfer over a wireless network between at least one SPI server component of a network operations center (NOC) and a roaming client residing on an SPI-enabled end-user device, the method comprising the steps of:

automatically initiating a wireless communication session from the roaming client through a central configuration device to access content and information on said at least one SPI server component of the NOC;

redirecting the roaming client to communicate with a local network authentication server (NAS);

allowing said NOC to push back to the client at least one pre-authentication action for the client to execute to verify the client;

providing client identification information to the at least one SPI server component of the NOC after authentication;

allowing the client to execute post-authentication actions; and

disconnecting the SPI-enabled end-user device residing by the client and sending final message related to disconnection from the network to said NOC.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the pre-authentication actions pushed back by the at least one SPI server component of the NOC include one or more of:

provisioning a new user, pushing surcharge information to a client, requesting statistics from the client, and prompting a user for a password.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein when the at least one SPI server component of the NOC is not in a service providers network list the pre-authentication actions cannot be executed by both the at least one SPI server component of the NOC and the central configuration device until the roaming client has been authenticated to the network list.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of:

automatically sending queries through a service provider interface (SPI) and a central configuration server (CCS) to the SPI-enabled end-user device for retrieving data upon authentication of the roaming client by a service level assurance module (SLA) when the SLA module contacts the roaming client.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of:

providing appropriate data to the SLA module by the client based on network policies and parameters for management of network resources.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the post-authentication actions executed by the client residing on the SPI-enabled end-user device include one or more of:

pushing time remaining, pushing advertising, pushing a custom skin and pushing a message.

12. A method of managing service provider interface message exchange between a SPI-enabled end-user device and at least one SPI (Service Provider Interface) server component of network operations center (NOC), the method comprising the steps of:

(a) attempting to go to a secure website by a user utilizing an SPI component embedded in a multimedia domain (MMD);

(b) redirecting to a local network authentication server (NAS) when the MMD is not authenticated;

(c) providing information from said SPI-enabled end-user device to a central configuration device;

(d) making a request to said at least one SPI server component of the NOC by said SPI client component in the MMD utilizing the provided information;

(e) responding with an action message with login message containing a URL to said authentication server in the form of a parameter name/value pair in the login message by said at least one SPI server component of the NOC;

(f) analyzing the action message and responding with a post request to said authentication server URL by providing the user name and password or a single unique device code embedded in the SPI-enabled end-user device by the SPI-enabled end-user device;

(g) responding with a successful login message by said authentication server;

(h) sending a start upload request by the SPI-enabled end-user device;

(i) responding with a start upload command and sending the upload location URL as a parameter by the SPI-enabled end-user device;

(j) analyzing the location URL and beginning upload to that location by the MMD; and

(k) responding with an affirmative on upload complete by said at least one SPI server component of the NOC.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said service provider interface message renders an idealized login scenario for the client who has an already-existing subscription and has successfully logged in at a particular service provider'"'"'s hotspot and completed the upload successfully.