Management of mobile applications

• US 8,862,105 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2014
• Issued: 10/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ivanti, Inc. (Ivanti Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MobileIron, Inc.
• Inventors: Lindeman, Jesse Wagner, Wagner, Thomas Edward, Batchu, Suresh Kumar, Rege, Ojas Udayan, Mishra, Ajay Kumar, Tinker, Robert Bates
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, PHUOC HUU
• Application Number:
  US14/181,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20140162614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 242 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 713/176, 705/1.1, 726/6
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/37 Managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

In particular implementations, a mobile device management system allows network administrators to control the distribution and publication of applications to mobile device users in an enterprise network. A user profile is accessed to determine a user attribute. A catalog of applications is filtered based at least in part on the user attribute and an enterprise application availability policy to determine a set of applications to be returned and provided via an enterprise mobile device application management interface.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

responsive to a request for a set of applications available for installation on a mobile device, accessing a user profile associated with the request;

filtering a catalog of applications based on an enterprise application availability policy applied to a user attribute in the user profile to select a set of applications, the catalog comprising a superset of applications made available by the enterprise for installation on mobile devices associated with the enterprise and the enterprise application availability policy identifying one or more applications in the catalog to be included in a set of applications to be made available to users having the user attribute; and

returning the set of applications in response to the request;

wherein the returned set of applications is provided to an enterprise mobile device application management interface configured to display the set of applications to the user via the enterprise application management interface and to provide the ability for the user to select, via the enterprise application management interface, one or more of the displayed applications for installation on the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing a user directory store to retrieve the user profile.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the user profile comprises a role associated with the user, and wherein the enterprise application availability policy associates with the role one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein filtering the catalog of applications comprises including in the set of applications the one or more applications application that the enterprise application availability policy associates with the role.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user profile comprises an enterprise group identifier associated with the user, and wherein the enterprise application availability associates with the enterprise group identifier one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying at least a subset of applications in the set of applications as being required to be installed on the mobile device; and

providing to the user an indication of which applications in the set of applications are required to be installed.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the enterprise mobile device application management interface comprises an enterprise app store interface.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the enterprise mobile device application management interface comprises an enterprise app store interface displayed on the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein filtering a catalog of applications comprises applying a first set of one or more policies to determine a set of applications that are appropriate for the mobile device based on one or more of a hardware attribute and an operating system attribute of the mobile device, and further filtering the resulting set of applications that have been determined to be appropriate for the mobile device based on one or more of a hardware attribute and an operating system attribute of the mobile device based on the enterprise application availability policy and an enterprise organizational attribute of the user to determine the set of applications to be returned in response to the request.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage device configured to store an enterprise application availability policy;

a processor coupled to the storage device and configured to execute computer instructions to;

responsive to a request for a set of applications available for installation on a mobile device, access a user profile associated with the request;

filter a catalog of applications based on the enterprise application availability policy applied to a user attribute in the user profile to select a set of applications, the catalog comprising a superset of applications made available by the enterprise for installation on mobile devices associated with the enterprise and the enterprise application availability policy identifying one or more applications in the catalog to be included in a set of applications to be made available to users having the user attribute; and

return the set of applications in response to the request;

wherein the returned set of applications is provided to an enterprise mobile device application management interface configured to display the set of applications to the user via the enterprise application management interface and to provide the ability for the user to select, via the enterprise application management interface, one or more of the displayed applications for installation on the mobile device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the user profile comprises a role associated with the user, and wherein the enterprise application availability policy associates with the role one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor filters the catalog of applications at least in part by including in the set of applications the one or more applications that the enterprise application availability policy associates with the role.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the user profile comprises an enterprise group identifier associated with the user, and wherein the enterprise application availability associates with the enterprise group identifier one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify at least a subset of applications in the set of applications as being required to be installed on the mobile device; and

provide to the user an indication of which applications in the set of applications are required to be installed.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the enterprise mobile device application management interface comprises an enterprise app store interface.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein filtering a catalog of applications comprises applying a first set of one or more policies to determine a set of applications that are appropriate for the mobile device based on one or more of a hardware attribute and an operating system attribute of the mobile device, and further filtering the resulting set of applications that have been determined to be appropriate for the mobile device based on one or more of a hardware attribute and an operating system attribute of the mobile device based on the enterprise application availability policy and an enterprise organizational attribute of the user to determine the set of applications to be returned in response to the request.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to:

access a user directory store to retrieve the user profile.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the enterprise mobile device application management interface comprises an enterprise app store interface displayed on the mobile device.

19. A non-transitory storage medium comprising computer program code including computer-readable instructions operative, when executed, to cause one or more processors to perform the steps of:

responsive to a request for a set of applications available for installation on a mobile device, accessing a user profile associated with the request;

filtering a catalog of applications based on an enterprise application availability policy applied to a user attribute in the user profile to select a set of applications, the catalog comprising a superset of applications made available by the enterprise for installation on mobile devices associated with the enterprise and the enterprise application availability policy identifying one or more applications in the catalog to be included in a set of applications to be made available to users having the user attribute; and

returning the set of applications in response to the request;

wherein the returned set of applications is provided to an enterprise mobile device application management interface configured to display the set of applications to the user via the enterprise application management interface and to provide the ability for the user to select, via the enterprise application management interface, one or more of the displayed applications for installation on the mobile device.

20. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19 wherein the user profile comprises a role associated with the user, and wherein the enterprise application availability policy associates with the role one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

21. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 20 wherein filtering the catalog of applications comprises including in the set of applications the one or more applications that the enterprise application availability policy associates with the role.

22. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19 wherein filtering a catalog of applications comprises applying a first set of one or more policies to determine a set of applications that are appropriate for the mobile device based on one or more of a hardware attribute and an operating system attribute of the mobile device, and further filtering the resulting set of applications that have been determined to be appropriate for the mobile device based on one or more of a hardware attribute and an operating system attribute of the mobile device based on the enterprise application availability policy and an enterprise organizational attribute of the user to determine the set of applications to be returned in response to the request.

23. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions operative to cause the one or more processors to perform the step of:

accessing a user directory store to retrieve the user profile.

24. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19 wherein the user profile comprises an enterprise group identifier associated with the user, and wherein the enterprise application availability associates with the enterprise group identifier one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

25. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19 wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions operative to cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

identifying at least a subset of applications in the set of applications as being required to be installed on the mobile device; and

providing to the user an indication of which applications in the set of applications are required to be installed.

26. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19 wherein the enterprise mobile device application management interface comprises an enterprise app store interface.

27. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19 wherein the enterprise mobile device application management interface comprises an enterprise app store interface displayed on the mobile device.