Data card and method and system for customizing its application service

• US 8,984,052 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2011
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Shang, Jiangfeng, Chen, Yuanyuan, Lu, Daming
• Primary Examiner(s): SALL, EL HADJI MALICK
• Application Number:
  US13/641,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20130036161A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,432 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/200, 709/220, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/203
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for customizing application services of a data card. The system comprises a data card and an over-the-air server. The method comprises: the data card sending an application service customization request to the over-the-air server when an application service is required to be customized; and the over-the-air server receiving the application service customization request, and then returning a configuration command corresponding to configuration information to the data card if it is determined that an operation of the data card to request customization of the application service is valid according to the stored and managed configuration information of all application services supported by the data card.

Claims

1. A system for customizing application services of a data card comprising the data card and an over-the-air server, wherein

the data card is configured to send an application service customization request to the over-the-air server, and customize a corresponding application service according to a configuration command returned by the over-the-air server;

and

the over-the-air server is configured to return the predefined configuration command to the data card if it is determined that an operation of the data card is valid according to the application service customization request sent by the data card;

wherein the data card is further configured to customize or update the corresponding application service according to the received configuration command, and return an acknowledgment message to the over-the-air server;

the system further comprises a customization proxy database connected to the over-the-air server, the data card comprising an over-the-air proxy module and a service database which are connected to each other;

the over-the-air proxy module is configured to query information of all supported application services from the service database, construct a data packet containing configuration information of the application service, which is requested to be customized, to send to the over-the-air server, customize the application service according to the configuration command returned by the over-the-air server, and return the acknowledgment message;

the service database is configured to store and manage a configuration file controlling service customization and information of all application services supported by the data card, including service types of the application services and their corresponding service customization request codes;

the customization proxy database is configured to store and manage configuration information and its corresponding configuration command of all application services supported by the data card, the configuration information including an application service customization request code, a model number and version number of the data card, and an international mobile equipment identity of the data card; and

the over-the-air server is configured to receive the data packet, then compare the configuration information of the application service contained in the data packet with the configuration information of the corresponding application service queried from the customization proxy database, determine that the operation of the data card to request customization of the application service is valid if the configuration information of the application service contained in the data packet is consistent with the configuration information of the corresponding application service queried from the customization proxy database and it is determined that the data card has not requested customization of the same application service according to configuration records of the customization of the application service of the data card, and return the configuration command to the data card while recording the configuration of the application service of the data card.

2. The system according claim 1 wherein

the over-the-air server is further configured to send an application service update request to the data card, and return the predefined configuration command to the data card if it is determined that the current configuration of the data card meets the service update requirement according to query information returned by the data card;

and

the data card is further configured to receive the application service update request and then return the query information to the over-the-air server if it is determined that the current configuration meets the service update requirement.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein the over-the-air proxy module is configured to receive the application service update request sent by the over-the-air server, and then return the query information to the over-the-air server if it is determined from the service database that the current configuration meets the application service update requirement, update the application service according to the configuration command received from the over-the-air server, and send the acknowledgment message to the over-the-air server;

and

the over-the-air server is configured to return the configuration command to the data card if it is determined that the current configuration of the data card meets the service update requirement according to the query information returned by the data card, and record the configuration of the corresponding application service update of the data card.

4. A method for customizing application services of a data card, the method involving the data card and an over-the-air server and comprising:

the data card sending an application service customization request to the over-the-air server when an application service is required to be customized; and

the over-the-air server receiving the application service customization request, and then returning a configuration command corresponding to configuration information to the data card if it is determined that an operation of the data card to request customization of the application service is valid according to the stored and managed configuration information of all application services supported by the data card;

the method further comprising;

the over-the-air server recording the configuration of the application service customization or update of the data card while sending the corresponding configuration command; and

the data card customizing or updating the corresponding application service according to the received corresponding configuration command, and sending an acknowledgment message to the over-the-air server;

wherein the step of the over-the-air server returning the configuration command corresponding to the configuration information to the data card if it is determined that the operation of the data card to request customization of the application service is valid comprises;

the over-the-air server receiving a data packet, then comparing the configuration information of the application service contained in the data packet with the configuration information of the corresponding application service queried from a customization proxy database, and determining that the data card is legal if the configuration information of the application service contained in the data packet is consistent with the configuration information of the corresponding application service queried from the customization proxy database; and

determining whether the data card has requested customization of the same application service according to configuration records of the customization of the application service of the data card, and if not, determining that the operation of the data card to request the customization of the application service is valid, and returning the configuration command to the data card, if yes, returning information indicating the application service has been customized to the data card.

5. The method according to claim 4 further comprising:

the over-the-air server sending an application service update request to the data card which requires service update;

the data card receiving the application service update request, and then returning query information to the over-the-air server if it is determined that the current configuration meets the service update requirement; and

the over-the-air server sending the predefined configuration command to the data card if it is determined that the current configuration of the data card meets the service update requirement according to the received query information.

6. The method according to claim 4 wherein the step of the data card sending the application service customization request to the over-the-air server when the application service is required to be customized comprises:

the data card accessing to a built-in service database, querying service types and service request codes of all supported application services, constructing a data packet containing the configuration information of an application service, which is requested to be customized, to send to the over-the-air server, the configuration information contained in the data packet including an application service customization request code, a model number and version number of the data card, and an international mobile equipment identity of the data card.