Rebranding a portable electronic device while maintaining user data

• US 9,280,483 B1
• Filed: 05/22/2013
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Ghoshal, Jagannath, Sumler, John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shin, Kyung H
• Application Number:
  US13/899,567
• Time in Patent Office: 1,021 Days
• Field of Search: 455/219, 455/432.1, 455/558, 455/405, 455/407, 455/408, 709/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0671 In-line storage system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3816 Mechanical arrangements for accommodating identification devices, e.g. cards or chips; with connectors for programming identification devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/14 including a card reading device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/00 Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal

Abstract

A portable electronic device may be rebranded, this rebranding may cause a plurality of data files in a user memory partition on the portable electronic device to be deleted when the device is returned to factory settings or otherwise wiped during the rebranding. Rebranding may be desirable in order for the user to receive better and/or more cost-effective services from a telecommunications service provider. Therefore, a user may want to rebrand their device without losing the data in the user memory partition. The user may specify or configure the device to copy or move the plurality of data to a carrier memory partition or a system memory partition on the device, or to a remote server, or to a removable memory such as an SD card.

Claims

1. A system for rebranding a portable electronic device comprising:

a portable electronic device associated with a service brand comprising;

a processor;

a removable memory;

a memory comprising;

a system memory partition associated with a manufacturer of the portable electronic device,

a user memory partition comprising a plurality of data, and

a carrier memory partition associated with a telecommunications service provider; and

an application stored in the carrier memory partition, that when executed by the processor;

receives a file comprising a rebranding command,

executes the rebranding command,

in response to executing the rebranding command, moves at least some data of the plurality of data in the user memory partition at least one storage location other than the user memory partition,

subsequent to moving the at least some data to the at least one storage location, rebrands the portable electronic device to a different service brand, wherein the rebranding resets at least the user memory partition, and

in response to rebranding the portable electronic device to the different service brand, receives the at least some data from the at least one storage location and stores the at least some data back in the user memory partition.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a branding server comprising at least one data store for branding information, and a remote server comprising at least one data store, wherein the rebranding command is received from the branding server in response to the branding server receiving a selection of the different service brand.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one storage location comprises the system memory partition, the carrier memory partition, the removable memory, or a remote server.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the selection of the different service brand is made in response to a notification sent to the portable electronic device from the branding server, wherein the notification sent to the portable electronic device is sent as at least one of an email, a voicemail, an MMS message, or an SMS message.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the notification is sent based on a history of use of the portable electronic device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some data of the plurality of data are relocated to at least two storage locations.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the removable memory is one of a SIM card or an SD card.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least some data comprises one or more configuration settings for the service brand that do not directly translate to the different service brand, and wherein the application further remaps the one or more configuration settings to alternate settings or stores the one or more configuration settings without implementing the one or more configuration settings.

9. A method of rebranding a portable electronic device comprising:

receiving, by an application stored in a carrier memory partition in a non-transitory memory of a portable electronic device, a rebranding command;

executing, by the application, the rebranding command;

in response to executing the rebranding command, sending, by the application, at least some data of a plurality of data from a user memory partition in the non-transitory memory of the portable electronic device to at least one storage location other than the user memory partition;

subsequent to sending the at least some data to the at least one storage location, rebranding, by the application, the portable electronic device to a different service brand, wherein the rebranding resets factory default settings to at least the user memory partition; and

in response to rebranding the portable electronic device to the different service brand, receiving, by the application, the at least some data from the at least one storage location, and sending, by the application, the at least some data back to the user memory partition.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the rebranding command is received subsequent to the application receiving a selection of a new phone the different service brand from a notification sent to the portable electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the notification is sent based upon a history of use of the portable electronic device.

12. A method of rebranding a portable electronic device comprising:

receiving, by an application stored in a carrier memory partition of a portable electronic device, a rebranding command, wherein the rebranding command is received in response to a selection of a new service brand from a notification sent to the portable electronic device, and wherein the notification is sent to the portable electronic device based on at least one of a history of service of the portable electronic device or a manual request;

executing, by the application, the rebranding command;

in response to executing the rebranding command, sending, by the application, at least some data of a plurality of data from a user memory partition on the portable electronic device to at least one storage location other than the user memory partition;

subsequent to sending the at least some data to the at least one storage location, rebranding, by the application, the portable electronic device to the new service brand, wherein the rebranding resets at least the user memory partition; and

in response to rebranding the portable electronic device to the new service brand, receiving, by the application, the at least some data from the at least one storage location, and sending, by the application, the at least some data back to the user memory partition.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending the plurality of data to the at least one storage location based upon a predetermined setting.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined setting comprises at least a first storage location and a second storage location.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of data is sent to the second storage location in response to the first storage location being unavailable.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the history of service comprises at least one of a history of use of data services and a history of use of voice services.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data services comprise web browsing, application downloads, and application usage.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one storage location is one of the carrier memory partition, a remote server, the system memory partition, and a removable memory.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the removable memory is one of an SD card or a SIM card.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the manual request is made by one of the portable electronic device or a customer care representative.