Provisioning system and methods for interfaceless phone

• US 8,838,087 B1
• Filed: 09/06/2010
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Delker, Jason R., Ng, Sei Y., Stone, Jeffrey M., Syromiatnikov, Peter S.
• Primary Examiner(s): MILLER, BRANDON J
• Application Number:
  US12/876,220
• Time in Patent Office: 1,471 Days
• Field of Search: 455418-420, 455/566
• US Class Current: 455/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading

Abstract

A portable electronic device is provided comprising a processor, a memory, and a provisioning application that detects that the portable electronic device has powered on and received activation for wireless services. The portable electronic device receives a first input selecting installation of an interface pack on the portable electronic device. The portable electronic device receives the interface pack from a remote software distribution site, wherein the interface pack comprises a software installer, a first user application, and a second user application. The portable electronic device also executes the software installer wherein the software installer installs the first user application and installs the second user application on the portable electronic device.

Claims

1. An initially interfaceless portable electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory; and

a provisioning application, that, when executed on the initially interfaceless portable electronic device,

detects that the initially interfaceless portable electronic device has powered on and received activation for at least one of voice and data wireless services,

in response to the detection, displays a graphical interface on the initially interfaceless portable electronic device providing an option to install an interface pack on the initially interfaceless portable electronic device,

receives an input selecting the option to install the interface pack on the initially interfaceless portable electronic device,

receives the interface pack as a single bundle from a remote software distribution site, wherein the interface pack comprises a software installer, a first user application, and a second user application, and

executes the software installer, wherein the software installer installs the first user application and installs the second user application on the initially interfaceless portable electronic device, and wherein installation of the first user application and the second user application provides an initial user interface to the initially interfaceless portable electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the provisioning application detects that the initially interfaceless portable electronic device has received activation for at least one of voice and data wireless services after the initially interfaceless portable electronic device is initially powered on, activates with a provider of at least one of voice and data wireless services, and reboots.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the provisioning application executes a second input to uninstall the second user application from the initially interfaceless portable electronic device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first user application and the second user application comprise the user interface for the initially interfaceless portable electronic device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote software distribution site is associated with at least one of a content provider and a telecommunications service provider.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first user application and the second user application comprise at least one of web widgets, really simple syndication (RSS) feed icons, media players, wallpapers, network services, ring tones, and listings of links.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the initially interfaceless portable electronic device is one of a mobile telephone, a media player, and a personal digital assistant (PDA).

8. A processor-implemented method of provisioning an initially interfaceless mobile device with an interface pack, comprising:

after initial power on, activation, and reboot, displaying, by an initially interfaceless mobile device, a graphical interface providing an option to install one of a plurality of available interface packs;

receiving, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, a first input, the first input selecting the option;

accessing, by a client module executing on the initially interfaceless mobile device, a remote software distribution site in response to the selection of the option;

displaying, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, information about a subset of the plurality of available interface packs selected from the plurality of available interface packs, wherein the subset of the plurality of available interface packs is selected based on a profile associated with the initially interfaceless mobile device, and wherein the subset of the plurality of available interface packs is available for downloading from the remote software distribution site;

receiving, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, a second input, the second input selecting one of the subset of the plurality of available interface packs;

receiving, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, the selected one of the subset of the plurality of available interface packs as a single bundle from the remote software distribution site; and

installing, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, the selected one of the subset of the plurality of available interface packs in response to receiving a third input, wherein installation of the selected one of the subset of the plurality of available interface packs provides an initial user interface to the initially interfaceless mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the selected one of the subset of the plurality of available interface packs is downloaded in a compressed format.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a software installer application uncompresses the selected one of the subset of the plurality of available interface packs, the uncompressed interface pack containing at least one user application.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the software installer application installs the at least one user application on the initially mobile device.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the software installer application is included in the selected one of the subset of the plurality of available interface packs downloaded from the remote distribution site.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the client module accesses a web browser.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the remote distribution site is a web site providing a plurality of trusted user applications associated with at least one of a content provider and a telecommunications service provider.

15. A processor-implemented method of provisioning an initially interfaceless mobile device with an interface pack, comprising:

after initial power on and activation, displaying, by an initially interfaceless mobile device, a graphical interface providing an option to install an interface pack, the interface pack comprising a first application, a second application, and a third application;

receiving, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, an input selecting the option to install the interface pack on the initially interfaceless mobile device;

executing, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, a software installer, the software installer downloaded as part of the interface pack from a remote distribution site;

accessing, by the software installer, the interface pack downloaded from the remote software distribution site to the initially interfaceless mobile device;

installing, by the software installer, the first application, the second application, and the third application on the initially interfaceless mobile device, wherein installation of the first application, the second application, and the third application provides an initial user interface to the initially interfaceless mobile device; and

activating, by the initially interfaceless mobile device, a style guide downloaded from the remote software distribution site, wherein the style guide promotes configuration of at least one of the first application, the second application, and the third application.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the style guide further promotes configuration of a banner displaying content on the initially interfaceless mobile device and further promotes the display of messages on the initially interfaceless mobile device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the style guide additionally promotes placement of at least one of shortcuts and widgets in the display of the initially interfaceless mobile device.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the software installer by default installs each application contained in the interface pack.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the software installer provides an option to uninstall at least one of all applications provided by the interface pack and individual applications provided by the interface pack.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the applications provided by the interface pack are trusted by the initially interfaceless mobile device.