Mobile communication device provisioning and management

• US 8,700,022 B1
• Filed: 07/10/2013
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Gilbert, Deborah L., Persson, Carl J., Wilson, Thomas H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez-Gutierrez, Rafael
• Application Number:
  US13/939,173
• Time in Patent Office: 279 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/38 Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections queuing arrangements H04Q3/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42144 by service provider

Abstract

A mobile communication device provisioning and management system is provided. The system comprises a computer system and an application, that when executed on the computer system, receives instructions for provisioning a set of mobile communication devices, the instructions comprising a range of unique identifiers and user roles associated with the set. The system also receives a first message from a first mobile communication device, the first message containing a request for provisioning, a first unique identifier, a first user role, and a first user identifier. The system also matches the first unique identifier embedded in the first message with a unique identifier contained in the instructions. The system also matches the user role received in the first message with a user role specified in the instructions and sends a second message to the first mobile communication device, the second message containing provisioning information. The system also stores a record associating the first unique identifier, the first user role, and the first user identifier.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method of mobile communication device provisioning and management, comprising:

receiving, by a provisioning server, at least one provisioning request message from one or more mobile communication mobile devices, the at least one provisioning request message from each of the one or more mobile communication devices containing a unique identifier of the corresponding mobile communication device and a user identifier associated with a user of the corresponding mobile communication device;

identifying, by the provisioning server, provisioning information for each of the one or more mobile communication devices based on a combination of a stored user role and a stored unique identifier that correspond to the received unique identifier and the received user identifier;

provisioning, by the provisioning server, the one or more mobile communication devices at the beginning of a first time period with a service associated with the stored user role based on the identified provisioning information;

tracking, by the provisioning server, usage of the service during the duration of the first time period;

de-provisioning, by the provisioning server, the one or more mobile communication devices at the end of the first time period; and

re-provisioning, by the provisioning server, the one or more mobile communication devices at the beginning of a second time period with a different service associated with a different user role.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time period and the second time period are each one of one week, two weeks, or four weeks in duration.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored user role and the different user role are associated with different responsibilities, and wherein the service and the different service provide access to different applications and communications services.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a set of mobile communication devices including the one or more mobile communication devices at the beginning of a time period is partitioned into at least two subsets, wherein each subset is associated with a role, and wherein mobile communication devices of the set of mobile communication devices assigned to each role are provisioned with services associated with their role.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning, the de-provisioning, and the re-provisioning is accomplished partly by exchanging subscriber identity module (SIM) cards associated with the one or more mobile communication devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the provisioned first and second services comprise at least one of voice only, voice and data, direct connect only, direct connect, and push-to-talk with particular groups.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a first plurality of software applications and communications services and the different service comprises a second plurality of software applications and communication services, and wherein at least some of the first plurality of software applications and communications services differ from the second plurality of software applications and communications services.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the provisioning one or more mobile communication devices comprises installing the first plurality of software applications and communications services on the one or more mobile communication devices, wherein the de-provisioning the one or more mobile communication devices comprises deleting the first plurality of software applications and communications services from the one or more mobile communication devices, and wherein the re-provisioning the one or more mobile communication devices comprises installing the second plurality of software applications and communications services on the one or more mobile communication devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier contained in the at least one provisioning request message is in a header of the at least one provisioning request message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one provisioning request message is sent by each of the one or more mobile communication devices when the user of the corresponding mobile communication device powers on the corresponding mobile communication device or makes a key or voice entry into the corresponding mobile communication device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning information further comprises instructions describing applications and communications services associated with the stored user role to be installed on the one or more mobile communication devices and instructions for invoking a provisioning method associated with the stored user role.