System and method for enabling control of mobile device functional components

• US 8,738,688 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2011
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Wavemarket Incorporated (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Myers, Jesse, Hotes, Scott, Fromm, Richard Michael, Anakata, Joseph, Polito, Anthony, Bishop, Eli Reese
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Hee Soo
• Application Number:
  US13/217,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,007 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/220, 709/224, 709/248
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A system is provided including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that causes a mobile device to store client states indicating statuses of mobile device functional components. Each client state corresponds to a functional component. A client digest of the client state is stored. A server digest corresponding to a server state and the client digest is received from a server. The server state indicates a status of a mobile device functional component. The server digest is compared with the client digest. A state request is transmitted to the server responsive to a determination of a difference between the server digest and client digest. The server state is received from the server. The functional component is enabled or disabled as indicated by the server state. The server state and digest are stored as the client state and digest respectively. Methods for control of mobile device functional components are also provided.

Claims

1. A system comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon instructions that, when executed on a processor of a mobile device, cause the mobile device to perform the following:

store a plurality of client states indicating statuses of functional components of the mobile device, wherein each of the plurality of client states corresponds to at least one of the functional components;

for each of the plurality of client states, store a client digest of the client state on the mobile device;

receive via a network from a server periodic transmissions of a particular server digest corresponding to a particular one of a plurality of server states maintained by the server, which server states indicate statuses of functional components of the mobile device, wherein the particular server digest further corresponds to one of the plurality of client digests;

compare the particular server digest with the corresponding client digest;

transmit to the server via the network a state request corresponding to the particular one of a plurality of server states responsive to a determination of a difference between the particular server digest and the corresponding client digest;

receive from the server via the network the particular one of the plurality of server states;

enable or disable at least one of the functional components as indicated by the received particular one of the plurality of server states;

store the received particular one of the plurality of server states as the corresponding client state; and

store the received particular server digest as the corresponding client digest.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the mobile device to transmit mobile device use data to the server responsive to enabling the at least one of the functional components.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the mobile device to perform the following:

receive from the server via the network the particular one of the plurality of server states with the particular server digest.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions further cause the mobile device to perform the following:

receive from the server an updated server digest corresponding to an updated server state;

compare the updated server digest with the corresponding client digest;

transmit to the server via a network a state request responsive to a determination of a difference between the updated server digest and the corresponding client digest; and

receive from the server via the network a re-updated server state and a corresponding re-updated server digest responsive to the state request, wherein the re-updated server state was re-updated after transmission from the server of the updated server digest.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the instructions further cause the mobile device to perform the following:

receive from the server the updated server digest in an asynchronous transmission;

receive from the server the re-updated server state and the re-updated server digest in a synchronous transmission;

store the re-updated server digest received in the synchronous transmission as the corresponding client digest;

receive the re-updated server digest in an asynchronous transmission after receiving the re-updated server state and the re-updated server digest in the synchronous transmission, wherein the asynchronous transmission of the re-updated server digest was initiated by the server prior to initiation of the synchronous transmission; and

compare the re-updated server digest received in the asynchronous transmission with the corresponding client digest;

refrain from transmitting to the server a state request responsive to a determination that the re-updated server digest received in the asynchronous transmission and the corresponding client digest are the same.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular server digest is determined by the corresponding server state and a hash function.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the statuses of the functional components of the mobile device comprise an indication of whether a particular functional component is enabled or disabled.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the statuses of the functional components of the mobile device comprise an indication of at least one scheduled time period when a particular functional component is enabled or disabled.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising the server which is configured to:

for a particular mobile device encoded with the instructions store a plurality of server states and a plurality of server digests respectively corresponding to the plurality of server states;

receive from an application a request to modify the status of at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device;

update at least one server state and at least one server digest corresponding to the at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device responsive to the request from the application to modify the status of the at least one of the functional components;

transmit the at least one updated server digest to the particular mobile device;

receive the state request corresponding to the at least one updated server state from the particular mobile device; and

transmit the at least one updated server state to the particular mobile device responsive to the state request.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is further configured to:

render a plurality of the functional components controllable by the application through a network, wherein each of the functional components corresponds to an application program interface (“

API”

) accessible to the application;

store an indication of which of the plurality of functional components are controllable by the application;

receive from the application a credential and identify the application via the received credential; and

provide the application access to a particular API responsive to the credential identifying the application as an application authorized to access the functional component corresponding to the particular API.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is further configured to:

receive from the application an indication of a mobile device user consent, which user consent comprises a consent to modify the status of the at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device; and

update the at least one server state and the at least one server digest corresponding to the at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device responsive to the user consent.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is further configured to:

receive from the application a request to provide identifiers of mobile devices encoded with the instructions; and

transmit the identifiers to the application responsive to the request to provide the identifiers.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is configured to receive the request to modify the status of at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device from an application executed on the particular mobile device.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is configured to receive the request to modify the status of at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device from an application executed on a computer in communication with the server via a network.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is further configured to transmit the at least one updated server digest to the mobile device in an asynchronous communication and transmit the at least one updated server state to the mobile device in a synchronous communication.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the server is further configured to transmit the at least one updated server digest using Short Message Service (“

SMS”

) protocol.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the server is further configured to transmit the at least one updated server state using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (“

HTTPS”

).

18. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is further configured to:

transmit, responsive to the state request from the particular mobile device corresponding to the at least one updated server state corresponding to the at least one of the functional components, at least one other updated digest corresponding to at least one other updated state corresponding to at least one other functional component;

receive another state request from the particular mobile device corresponding to the at least one other updated server state; and

transmit the at least one other updated server state to the particular mobile device responsive to the another state request.

19. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is further configured to:

receive from an application a request to modify the status of a first functional component of the particular mobile device;

update the server state and the server digest corresponding to the first functional component of the particular mobile device responsive to the request from the application to modify the status of the first functional component;

update the server state and the server digest corresponding to a second functional component of the particular mobile device related to the first functional component responsive to the request from the application to modify the status of the first functional component;

transmit to the particular mobile device the updated server digest corresponding to the first functional component;

receive a first state request from the particular mobile device responsive to the transmission of the updated server digest corresponding to the first functional component;

transmit to the particular mobile device the updated server state corresponding to the first functional component responsive to the first state request;

transmit to the particular mobile device the updated server digest corresponding to the second functional component responsive to the first state request;

receive a second state request from the particular mobile device responsive to the transmission of the updated server digest corresponding to the second functional component; and

transmit to the particular mobile device the updated server state corresponding to the second functional component responsive to the second state request.

20. The system of claim 9, wherein a plurality of the functional components comprise capabilities and another plurality of the functional components comprise features, wherein the server is further configured to:

group the capabilities into a plurality of capability groups, wherein each of the capability groups enables a feature, wherein at least one of the plurality of capability groups includes a plurality of the capabilities;

receive from the application a request to modify a status of a feature;

update the server state and server digest of the feature consistent with the request to modify the status of the feature; and

for each capability grouped with the feature and requiring change to effect the modified status of the feature, update the server state and server digest corresponding to the capability.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the status of the feature comprises an indication of whether the feature is enabled or disabled.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the status of the feature comprises an indication of a scheduled time period when the feature is enabled or disabled.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the feature is a location feature and the server is configured to enable and disable the location feature and corresponding capabilities for controlling dissemination of location information of the mobile device to the application, wherein the location feature comprises the following capabilities:

mobile device location streaming to the application from the server; and

on demand location requests to the mobile device from the application from the server.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the feature is a messaging feature and the server is configured to enable and disable the messaging feature and corresponding capabilities for controlling dissemination of messaging information of the mobile device to the application, wherein the messaging feature comprises the following capabilities:

gathering by the application of mobile device incoming messaging activity from the server; and

gathering by the application of mobile device outgoing messaging activity from the server.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the feature is a call activity feature and the server is configured to enable and disable the call activity feature and corresponding capabilities for controlling dissemination of call activity information of the mobile device to the application, wherein the call activity feature comprises the following capabilities:

gathering by the application of mobile device incoming call activity from the server; and

gathering by the application of mobile device outgoing call activity from the server.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the feature is a contact database feature and the server is configured to enable and disable the contact database feature and a corresponding capability for controlling dissemination of contact information of the mobile device to the application, wherein the contact database feature comprises the following capability:

gathering by the application of mobile device user contact information from the server.

27. The system of claim 20, wherein the feature is a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) feature and the server is configured to enable and disable the GPS feature and corresponding capabilities, wherein the GPS feature comprises the following capabilities;

detecting by the application via the server whether GPS functionality is enabled or disabled on the mobile device; and

enabling and disabling by the application via the server GPS functionality on the mobile device.

28. The system of claim 20, wherein the server is further configured to:

render a plurality of features accessible through a network, wherein each of the features corresponds to an application program interface (“

API”

);

store an indication of which of the plurality of features are available to the application;

receive from the application a credential and identify the application via the received credential; and

provide the application access to a particular API responsive to the credential identifying the application as an application authorized to access the feature corresponding to the particular API.

29. The system of claim 9, wherein a plurality of the functional components comprise capabilities and another plurality of the functional components comprise features, wherein the server is further configured to:

group the capabilities into a plurality of capability groups, wherein each of the capability groups enables a feature, wherein at least one of the plurality of capability groups includes a plurality of the capabilities;

receive from the application a request to modify a status of a capability;

update the server state and the server digest of the capability consistent with the request to modify the status of the capability; and

update the server state and the server digest corresponding to the feature enabled by the capability group corresponding to the capability for which the request to modify status was received.

30. A method for enabling control of mobile device functional components comprising:

storing with a server within the network a plurality of server states and a plurality of server digests respectively corresponding to the plurality of server states, wherein the server states and the server digests correspond to a particular mobile device;

storing with the mobile device a plurality of client states indicating statuses of functional components of the mobile device, wherein each of the plurality of client states corresponds to at least one of the functional components;

for each of the plurality of client states, storing with the mobile device a client digest of the client state on the mobile device;

receiving with the server from an application via the network a request to modify the status of at least one of the functional components of the mobile device;

updating with the server at least one of the server states and at least one of the server digests corresponding to the at least one of the functional components of the mobile device responsive to the request from the application to modify the status of the at least one of the functional components;

transmitting from the server the at least one updated server digest to the mobile device via the network;

receiving with the mobile device via the network from the server the at least one updated server digest, wherein the at least one updated server digest corresponds to at least one of the client digests;

comparing with the mobile device the at least one updated server digest with the corresponding at least one client digest;

transmitting from the mobile device to the server via the network a state request corresponding to the at least one updated server state responsive to a determination of a difference between the at least one updated server digest and the corresponding at least one client digest;

receiving with the server the state request from the mobile device;

transmitting from the server the at least one updated server state to the mobile device;

receiving with the mobile device from the server via the network the at least one updated server state;

enabling or disabling with the mobile device at least one of the functional components as indicated by the received at least one updated server state;

storing with the mobile device the received at least one updated server state as the corresponding at least one client state; and

storing with the mobile device the received at least one updated server digest as the corresponding at least one client digest.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising

after transmitting the at least one updated server digest with the server to the mobile device, receiving with the server from an application via the network an additional request to modify the status of at least one of the functional components of the mobile device;

re-updating with the server the at least one of the server states and the at least one of the server digests corresponding to the at least one of the functional components of the mobile device responsive to the additional request from the application;

transmitting from the server the at least one re-updated server state and the at least one re-updated server digest responsive to the state request; and

receiving with the mobile device from the server via the network the re-updated server state and the re-updated server digest.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

transmitting from the server the at least one re-updated server digest in an asynchronous transmission;

receiving with the server the state request from the mobile device after transmitting from the server the at least one re-updated server digest in the asynchronous transmission;

transmitting from the server the at least one re-updated server state and the at least one re-updated server digest in a synchronous transmission responsive to the state request;

receiving with the mobile device from the server the at least one re-updated server state and the at least one re-updated server digest in the synchronous transmission;

storing with the mobile device the at least one re-updated server digest received in the synchronous transmission as the corresponding client digest;

receiving with the mobile device the at least one re-updated server digest in the asynchronous transmission after receiving the at least one re-updated server state and the at least one re-updated server digest in the synchronous transmission, wherein the asynchronous transmission of the re-updated server digest was initiated by the server prior to initiation of the synchronous transmission;

comparing with the mobile device the re-updated server digest received in the asynchronous transmission with the corresponding client digest; and

refraining from transmitting with the mobile device to the server a state request responsive to a determination that the re-updated server digest received in the asynchronous transmission and the corresponding client digest are the same.

33. A method for enabling control of mobile device functional components comprising:

providing a server within a network, wherein the server comprises at least one computing system within the network;

storing with the server a plurality of server states and a plurality of server digests respectively corresponding to the plurality of server states corresponding to functional components of a particular mobile device;

receiving with the server from an application via the network a request to modify the status of at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device;

updating with the server at least one server state and at least one server digest corresponding to the at least one of the functional components of the particular mobile device responsive to the request from the application to modify the status of the at least one of the functional components;

transmit with the server the at least one updated server digest to the particular mobile device;

receive with the server a state request corresponding to the at least one updated server state from the particular mobile device; and

transmit the at least one updated server state to the particular mobile device responsive to the state request.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the request to modify the status of the at least one functional component comprises a request to enable the at least one functional component, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, with the server, mobile device use data corresponding to the at least one functional component enabled on the mobile device; and

transmitting with the server to the application the mobile device use data corresponding to the at least one functional component.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the request to modify the status of the at least one functional component comprises a request to modify at least one of a plurality of parameters of the functional components.