Systems and methods for delivering an application over a mobile communications network

• US 9,160,812 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2009
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Vedagiri, Shreeshah, Kulkarni, Shankar, Gaddam, Venkat, Inapakolla, Veera Venkata
• Primary Examiner(s): Serrao, Ranodhi
• Assistant Examiner(s): RICHARDSON, THOMAS W
• Application Number:
  US12/603,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20110099230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,182 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Systems, methods, and an article of manufacture for delivering an application to a mobile station are shown and described. In some instances, a list of mobiles stations not currently executing a specific application is generated, processed, and used to send a solicitation message to certain mobile station. Various mobile stations receive different versions of the application based on characteristics of the mobile station.

Claims

1. A method comprising steps of:

receiving, at a customer care server, a first file containing a mobile station mobile directory number and a mobile station identifier for each respective one of a plurality of mobile stations that are not operating any version of a particular application;

prior to communicating the received first file to the device management database, reformatting by a customer care server a portion of the first file to correspond to a format acceptable by the device management database;

communicating, by the customer care server, the reformatted first file to a device management database;

receiving a second file, by the customer care server from the device management database, the second file comprising the mobile station identifier for each respective one of the mobile stations that are not operating any version of the particular application and a corresponding platform identifier for each respective one of the mobile stations, the platform identifier corresponding to a make and model number of the respective mobile station;

mapping a respective item identifier to each platform identifier, each respective item identifier corresponding to a respective version of the particular application;

transmitting based on the mobile station mobile directory numbers in the first file a messaging service message through a wireless communications network to each of a plurality of the mobile stations that are not operating any version of the particular application, the message comprising an invitation to download the particular application;

processing a response from at least one of the mobile stations requesting the application;

transmitting another messaging service message to the at least one mobile station that requested the particular application in its response, the another messaging service message comprising the respective item identifier and an instruction to access an application server to download the particular application corresponding to the respective item identifier;

receiving, at a wireless communications network device via the wireless communication network, information generated by the particular application on the at least one mobile station that downloaded the particular application;

associating the received information with a subscriber'"'"'s account;

storing the received information in a database associated with the subscriber'"'"'s account, wherein the stored information is accessible through a data network different than the wireless communications network; and

providing access to the stored information associated with the subscriber'"'"'s account in response to a user request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the another messaging service message further comprises transmitting a Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) wakeup call that includes the item identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each transmitted messaging service message comprises a simple messaging service message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular application is a backup software application for creating a copy of the mobile station'"'"'s address book for storage on a wireless communications network device and the information is the copy of the address book.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving the first file containing a mobile station identifier for each respective one or more mobile stations that are not executing the backup software application occurs periodically.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the first file contains only the mobile station identifiers for each respective one of a plurality of mobile stations that are not executing the backup software application for creating a copy of the mobile station'"'"'s address book for storage on a wireless communications network device.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein in the step of receiving the first file, the first file is received from a database containing information on mobile station identifiers for the plurality of mobile stations that are not executing the backup software application.

8. A mobile communications network, comprising:

a customer care server comprising a processor and memory configured to perform functions, the functions including;

receive, at a customer care server, a first file containing a mobile station mobile directory number and a mobile station identifier for each respective one of a plurality of mobile stations that are not operating any version of a particular application;

prior to communicating the received first file to the device management database, reformat a portion of the first file to correspond to a format acceptable by the device management database;

communicate, by the customer care server, the reformatted first file to a device management database;

receive a second file, by the customer care server from the device management database, the second file comprising the mobile station identifier for each respective one of the mobile stations that are not operating any version of the particular application and a corresponding platform identifier for each respective one of the mobile stations, the platform identifier corresponding to a make and model number of the respective mobile station;

map a respective item identifier to each platform identifier, each respective item identifier corresponding to a respective version of the particular application;

transmit based on the mobile station mobile directory numbers in the first file a messaging service message through a wireless communications network to each of a plurality of the mobile stations that are not operating any version of the particular application, the message comprising an invitation to download the particular application;

process a response from at least one of the mobile stations requesting the application;

transmit another messaging service message to the at least one mobile station that requested the particular application in its response, the another messaging service message comprising the respective item identifier and an instruction to access an application server to download the particular application corresponding to the respective item identifier;

receive, at a wireless communications network device via the wireless communication network, information generated by the particular application from the at least one mobile station that downloaded the particular application;

associate the received information with a subscriber'"'"'s account;

store the received information in a database associated with the subscriber'"'"'s account, wherein the stored information is accessible through a data network different from the wireless communications network; and

provide access to the stored information associated with the subscriber'"'"'s account in response to a user request.

9. The network of claim 8, further comprising a data warehouse, in communication with traffic network, the data warehouse storing the mobile station identifier for each respective one of the plurality of mobile stations that are not operating the particular application.

10. The network of claim 8, further comprising the device management database in communication with the traffic network.

11. The network of claim 8, wherein the application server is configured to store the particular application for downloading.

12. The network of claim 8, wherein the another messaging service message comprises a Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) wakeup call that includes the item identifier.

13. The network of claim 8, wherein each transmitted messaging service message comprises a simple messaging service message.

14. The network of claim 8, wherein the particular application is a backup software application for creating a copy of the mobile station'"'"'s address book for storage on a wireless communications network device and the information is the copy of the address book.

15. The network of claim 14, further comprising a backup server in communication with the traffic network, the backup server storing the copy of the mobile station'"'"'s address book for each mobile station executing the backup software application.

16. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory machine readable storage medium; and

executable program instructions embodied in the non-transitory machine readable storage medium that, when executed by a programmable system of a customer care server, configure the programmable system to perform functions, including functions to;

receive, at a customer care server, a first file containing a mobile station mobile directory number and a mobile station identifier for each respective one of a plurality of mobile stations that are not operating any version of a particular application;

prior to communicating the received first file to the device management database, reformat a portion of the first file to correspond to a format acceptable by the device management database;

communicate, by the customer care server, the reformatted first file to a device management database;

receive a second file, by the customer care server from the device management database, the second file comprising the mobile station identifier for each respective one of the mobile stations that are not operating any version of the particular application and a corresponding platform identifier for each respective one of the mobile stations, the platform identifier corresponding to a make and model number of the respective mobile station;

map a respective item identifier to each platform identifier, each respective item identifier corresponding to a respective version of the particular application;

transmit based on the mobile station mobile directory numbers in the first file a messaging service message through a wireless communications network to each of a plurality of the mobile stations that are not operating any version of the particular application, the message comprising an invitation to download the particular application;

process a response from at least one of the mobile stations requesting the application;

transmit another messaging service message to the at least one mobile station that requested the particular application in its response, the another messaging service message comprising the respective item identifier and an instruction to access an application server to download the particular application corresponding to the respective item identifier;

receive, at a wireless communications network device via the wireless communication network, information generated by the particular application from the at least one mobile station that downloaded the application;

associate the received information with a subscriber'"'"'s account;

store the received information in a database associated with the subscriber'"'"'s account, wherein the stored information is accessible through a data network different from the wireless communications network; and

provide access to the stored information associated with the subscriber'"'"'s account in response to a user request.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the function of transmitting the another messaging service message further comprises the function of transmitting a Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) wakeup call that includes the item identifier.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein each transmitted messaging service messages comprises a simple messaging service message.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the particular application is a backup software application for creating a copy of the mobile station'"'"'s address book for storage on a wireless communications network device and the information is the copy of the address book.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the function of receiving the first file containing a mobile station identifier for each respective one or more mobile stations that are not executing the backup software application occurs periodically.