Management of mobile applications

• US 9,374,654 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2014
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• 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:
  US14/484,140
• Publication Number:
  US 20150133094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 713/176, 705/1.1, 726/4, 726/6
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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:

receiving from a mobile device a request for a set of applications available for installation on the mobile device;

accessing a user profile associated with the request;

filtering a catalog of applications based on an application availability policy applied to a user attribute in the user profile to select a set of applications, wherein said user attribute includes enterprise organizational information of the user, the 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 mobile device is configured to display the set of applications to the user via an application management interface and to provide the ability for the user to select, via the 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 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 that the application availability policy associates with the role.

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

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying based at least in part on the user attribute 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 application management interface comprises an app store interface.

8. A mobile device management system, comprising:

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

a processor coupled to the storage device and configured to;

receive from a mobile device a request for a set of applications available for installation on the mobile device;

access a user profile associated with the request;

filter a catalog of applications based on the application availability policy applied to a user attribute in the user profile to select a set of applications, wherein said user attribute includes enterprise organizational information of the user, the 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 mobile device is configured to display the set of applications to the user via an application management interface and to provide the ability for the user to select, via the application management interface, one or more of the displayed applications for installation on the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to access a user directory store to retrieve the user profile.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the user profile comprises a role associated with the user, and wherein the application availability policy associates with the role one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein filtering the catalog of applications comprises including in the set of applications the one or more applications that the application availability policy associates with the role.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the user attribute comprises a group identifier associated with the user, and wherein the application availability associates with the group identifier one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify based at least in part on the user attribute 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.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the application management interface comprises an app store interface.

15. A computer program product to manage mobile devices, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving from a mobile device a request for a set of applications available for installation on the mobile device;

accessing a user profile associated with the request;

filtering a catalog of applications based on an application availability policy applied to a user attribute in the user profile to select a set of applications, wherein said user attribute includes enterprise organizational information of the user, the 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 mobile device is configured to display the set of applications to the user via an application management interface and to provide the ability for the user to select, via the application management interface, one or more of the displayed applications for installation on the mobile device.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising computer instructions for accessing a user directory store to retrieve the user profile.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the user profile comprises a role associated with the user, and wherein the application availability policy associates with the role one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein filtering the catalog of applications comprises including in the set of applications the one or more applications that the application availability policy associates with the role.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the user attribute comprises a group identifier associated with the user, and wherein the application availability associates with the group identifier one or more applications in the catalog of applications.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising computer instructions for:

identifying based at least in part on the user attribute 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.