System for providing an adaptive wireless ambient service to a mobile device

• US 9,225,797 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2015
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G., Rightmyer, Rob, Kudelin, Vladislav
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US14/682,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20150215946A1
• Time in Patent Office: 264 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/351, 370/259, 370/329, 705/28, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/229, 709/238, 455405-409, 455/414.1, 455/432.1, 455/432.3, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5045 Making service definitions prior to deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User 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: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 : using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/29 : between an access point and the access point controlling device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 : based on regulatory allocation policies
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 : Transfer of terminal data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 : Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

A system is described for providing a wireless ambient service to a mobile end-user device operating on a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN). An ambient service has a primary policy that allows a user to directly access primary ambient content, but not other content, through the service. A secondary policy allows the user to access, as ambient content, content outside of the primary policy. The secondary policy allows the access of the content outside of the primary policy based on a dynamic association with primary content. The system includes one or more device agents and an ambient service proxy server that cooperate to implement the service. Policy control elements can be implemented, for example, either by the device agents or by the proxy server.

Claims

1. A system for providing a wireless ambient service to a mobile end-user device operating on a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), the system comprising:

one or more device agents on a mobile end-user device configured for communication over a WWAN connection, at a time that the WWAN connection is available, the agents to

process wireless ambient service Internet access requests generated by at least one application on the device interfacing with a device user, and

communicate with an ambient service proxy server, to

send to the proxy server at least some of the wireless ambient service Internet access requests, and

receive from the proxy server, responsive to at least some of the sent requests, Internet data sourced from a plurality of Internet destinations other than the proxy server;

the ambient service proxy server, configured to respond to at least some of the sent Internet access requests, when received from the one or more device agents, by communicating responsive Internet data, including Internet data sourced from one or more Internet destinations other than the proxy server, to the one or more device agents;

an ambient service policy comprising a primary policy and at least one secondary policy, the primary policy specifying allowable initial ambient service device access behaviors, the at least one secondary policy specifying conditional ambient service device access behaviors, for access behaviors not allowed by the primary policy; and

one or more policy control elements to apply the ambient service policy to the wireless ambient service Internet access requests generated by the at least one application, such that a first one of the Internet access requests is allowed as within the primary policy, and a second one of the Internet access requests, not allowable by the primary policy, is allowed based on the at least one secondary policy and an association with the first one of the Internet access requests.

2. The system of claim 1, the one or more device agents further to communicate side information to the proxy server, the side information identifying one or more traffic flows associated with the Internet access requests and responsive Internet data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more device agents are integrated with the one or more policy control elements, such that the ambient service policy is applied to each of the generated Internet access requests, and a particular one of the generated Internet access requests is not sent to the proxy server when not allowable by the ambient service policy.

4. The system of claim 3, the one or more device agents further to, when the particular one of the generated Internet access requests is not allowable by the ambient service policy, cause a notification result to be presented to the device user.

5. The system of claim 1, the one or more device agents comprising a portal min-browser on the device to communicate with the ambient service proxy server.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the notification result comprises a service activation page.

7. The system of claim 1, the proxy server further to measure an amount of data transferred between the mobile end-user device and the proxy server for the sent Internet access requests and the responsive Internet data.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the initial ambient service device access behaviors include access to content sourced from a plurality of ambient service partners:

the policy control agents further to associate each of the sent Internet access requests and the responsive Internet data for that request with a particular one of the partners; and

the proxy server further to allocate the measured amount of data among the ambient service partners according to a particular one of the partners associated by the policy control agents with each of the sent Internet access requests and the responsive Internet data.

9. The system of claim 8, the policy control agents further to associate comprising to attribute, to a same one of the ambient service partners, the measured amount of data transferred between the mobile end-user device and the proxy server for the first one of the Internet access requests, the second one of the Internet access requests, and the responsive Internet data for the first and second requests.

10. The system of claim 8, the proxy server further to generate one or more reports indicating the allocation of the measured amount of data for each of the ambient service partners.

11. The system of claim 8,

the proxy server further to transmit information, indicating the allocation of the measured amount of data for each of the ambient service partners, to the one or more device agents, and

the one or more device agents to provide the information for display to a device user.

12. The system of claim 1, the one or more policy elements further to limit the use of the ambient service by the mobile end-user device to access content allowed by the at least one secondary policy but not allowed by the primary policy.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein to limit the use of the ambient service comprises to limit a total time allowed for the mobile end-user device to access content allowed by the at least one secondary policy but not allowed by the primary policy.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein to limit the use of the ambient service comprises to limit an amount of wireless data that the mobile end-user device can use to access content allowed by the at least one secondary policy but not allowed by the primary policy.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein to limit the use of the ambient service comprises to limit a number of new user actions, new web pages, new uniform resource locators, new domains, new sub-domains, and/or new addresses that the mobile end-user device can utilize to access content allowed by the at least one secondary policy but not allowed by the primary policy.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein to limit the use of the ambient service further comprises to reset a policy limit when the mobile end-user device initiates a third one of the Internet access requests for an ambient service allowed as within the primary policy.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the association with the first one of the Internet access requests comprises an association between the second one of the Internet access requests and a device application associated with the ambient service.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the association with the first one of the Internet access requests comprises a condition of the first one of the Internet access requests and the second one of the Internet access requests both associated with a common Transmission Control Protocol session.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the association with the first one of the Internet access requests comprises the second one of the Internet access requests based on a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) referral from a URL allowed by the primary policy.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the association with the first one of the Internet access requests comprises:

the Internet data received responsive to the first one of the Internet access requests contains a user-selectable reference, and

the second one of the Internet access requests is generated based on the user selecting the user-selectable reference.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the allowable initial ambient service access behaviors comprises a list of addresses and/or applications.

22. The system of claim 1, the one or more policy control elements further to apply the ambient service policy such that a third one of the Internet access requests, not allowable by the primary policy, is allowed based on the at least one secondary policy and an association with the second one of the Internet access requests.

23. The system of claim 1, the mobile end-user device having a service processor, the one or more device agents implemented by the service processor.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the first one of the Internet access requests comprises a web search, the Internet data received responsive to the first one of the Internet access requests comprises results of the web search, and the second one of the Internet access requests is generated based on the user selecting one of the results of the web search.

25. The system of claim 1, further comprising a service processor to maintain a non-transitory copy of the ambient service policy.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more policy control elements are implemented on the mobile end-user device, the service processor and the one or more policy control elements to communicate such that the mobile end-user device receives the ambient service policy from the service processor.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more policy control elements are implemented on the proxy server, the service processor and the one or more policy control elements to communicate such that the proxy server receives the ambient service policy from the service processor.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more policy control elements are implemented on the proxy server, such that the ambient service policy is applied to each of the generated Internet access requests at the proxy server.

29. The system of claim 1, further comprising the at least one application.

30. The system of claim 29, the at least one application integrated with at least one of the one or more device agents.