System and methods for remotely recovering and purging data from a wireless device in a communications network

• US 7,849,161 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Issued: 12/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Andres, Robert, Koch, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): BATES, KEVIN T
• Application Number:
  US10/881,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,351 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 726/35, 726/26, 455/411, 455/410, 455/456.1, 455/456.2
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• 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 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer

Abstract

A system and methods are provided for remotely recovering and purging data from a wireless device in a communications network. The system includes a wireless device capable of executing a data recovery/purge application program for receiving a message from a communications device in the network. The application program retrieves the data in the wireless device, purges the data from the wireless device, and sends a return message, including the data retrieved from the wireless device, to the communications device.

Claims

1. A method for remote recovery for use with a wireless device in a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving a message from an invoking party;

parsing the message for request data, the request data including;

received identification data,

a request to lock the wireless device including a numerical code,

a request to purge device data from the wireless device following retrieval of the device data, and

at least one data recovery address;

determining whether the received identification data in the received message matches resident identification data in the wireless device;

determining that the received identification data matches the resident identification data in the wireless device processing the request data, wherein processing the request data includes

retrieving the device data previously stored by a user in the wireless device, the device data including at least one of the following;

personal data, address data, calendar data, password data, and account data, wherein retrieving the device data includes copying the retrieved device data into a data file,

locking the wireless device by accessing a menu on the wireless device and entering the numerical code to lock the device,

purging the device data from the wireless device by accessing a delete command from the menu; and

sending a return message to the invoking party and each data recovery address, the return message including an attachment of the data file comprising the device data retrieved from the wireless device and an acknowledgement that the device data is purged from the wireless device;

wherein each data recovery address is accessed from a customer profile database in the communications network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the return message further includes an acknowledgement that the wireless device is locked.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message further includes a request for location information from the wireless device and wherein the return message further includes the location information for the wireless device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the message from the invoking party comprises:

receiving a voice call in the communications network;

receiving a wireless device ID associated with the wireless device;

accessing a database in the data network to map the wireless device ID with a first address associated with the wireless device and a second address associated with the invoking party; and

receiving the message at the second address associated with the invoking party.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first and second addresses are electronic mail addresses.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the message and the return messages are electronic mail messages.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the message and the return messages are text messages.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the text messages are short message service (SMS) messages.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to perform a method for remote recovery for use with a wireless device in a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving a message from an invoking party;

parsing the message for request data, the request data including;

received identification data,

a request to lock the wireless device including a numerical code,

a request to purge device data from the wireless device following retrieval of the device data, and

at least one data recovery address;

determining whether the received identification data in the received message matches resident identification data in the wireless device;

determining that the received identification data matches the resident identification data in the wireless device;

processing the request data, wherein processing the request data includes

retrieving the device data previously stored by a user in the wireless device, the device data including at least one of the following;

personal data, address data, calendar data, password data, and account data, wherein retrieving the device data includes copying the retrieved device data into a data file,

locking the wireless device by accessing a menu on the wireless device and entering the numerical code to lock the device,

purging the device data from the wireless device by accessing a delete command from the menu, and

sending a return message to the invoking party and each data recovery address, the return message including an attachment of the data file comprising the device data retrieved from the wireless device and an acknowledgement that the device data is purged from the wireless device;

wherein each data recovery address is accessed from a customer profile database in the communications network.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the return message further includes an acknowledgement that the wireless device is locked.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the message further includes a request for location information from the wireless device and wherein the return message further includes the location information for the wireless device.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein receiving the message from the invoking party comprises:

receiving a voice call in the communications network;

receiving a wireless device ID associated with the wireless device;

accessing a database in the data network to map the wireless device ID with a first address associated with the wireless device and a second address associated with the request for data recovery; and

receiving the message at the second address associated with the request for data recovery.

13. A system for remote recovery for use with a wireless device in a communications network, the system comprising:

a communications device for sending a message to the wireless device; and

a data recovery application resident in the wireless device for;

receiving the message from the communications device;

parsing the message for request data, the request data including;

received identification data,

a request to lock the wireless device including a numerical code,

a request to recover device data from the wireless device,

a request to purge the device data from the wireless device following retrieval of the device data, and

at least one data recovery address;

determining whether the received identification data in the received message matches resident identification data in the wireless device;

determining that the received identification data matches the resident identification data in the wireless device;

processing the request data, wherein processing the request data includes

retrieving the resident data previously stored by a user in the wireless device, the resident data including at least one of the following;

personal data, address data, calendar data, password data, and account data, wherein retrieving the resident data includes copying the retrieved data into a data file,

locking the wireless device by accessing a menu on the wireless device and entering the numerical code to lock the device,

purging the resident data from the wireless device by accessing a delete command from the menu, and

sending a return message to the invoking party and each data recovery address, the return message including an attachment of the data file comprising the resident data retrieved from the wireless device and an acknowledgement that the resident data is purged from the wireless device;

wherein each data recovery address is accessed from a customer profile database in the communications network.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising a data node in communication with the communications device and the wireless device which is operative to:

receive a voice call in the communications network from the communications device;

receive a wireless device ID associated with the wireless device from the communications device;

access a database in communication with the data node to map the wireless device ID with a first address associated with the wireless device and a second address; and

receive the return message at the second address.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first and second addresses are electronic mail addresses.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the message and the return messages are electronic mail messages.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the message and the return messages are text messages.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the text messages are short message service (SMS) messages.

19. An apparatus for remotely requesting an action to be performed on a wireless device in a communications network, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a message from an invoking party;

means for parsing the message for request data, the request data including received identification data, a request to lock the wireless device including a numerical code, a request for an action to be performed on the wireless device, the requested action including a request to retrieve device data from the wireless device, and at least one data recovery address;

means for determining whether the received identification data in the received message matches resident identification data in the wireless device;

means for determining that the received identification data matches the resident identification data in the wireless device,

means for performing the requested action, wherein performing the requested action includes

retrieving the device data previously stored by a user from the wireless device, the device data including at least one of the following;

personal data, address data, calendar data, password data, and account data, wherein retrieving the device data from the wireless device includes copying the retrieved device data into a data file, and

purging the device data resident in the wireless device;

means for locking the wireless device, wherein locking the wireless device comprises accessing a menu on the wireless device and entering the numerical code to lock the device, and

means for sending a return message acknowledging that the requested action was performed to the invoking party and each data recovery address, the return message including of the data file comprising the device data retrieved from the wireless device;

wherein each data recovery address is accessed from a customer profile database in the communications network.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the requested action comprises a request for location information for the wireless device.

21. A method for remotely securing a wireless device in a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving a message including request data in the wireless device;

parsing the message for the request data, the request data including received identification data, a request to lock the wireless device including a numerical code, a request to retrieve device data in the wireless device, a request to purge the data from the wireless device, and

at least one data recovery address;

determining whether the received identification data in the received message matches resident identification data in the wireless device;

determining that the received identification data matches the resident identification data in the wireless device;

locking the wireless device by accessing a menu on the wireless device and entering the numerical code to lock the device,

securing the device data in the wireless device, wherein securing the device data includes retrieving the device data previously stored by a user in the wireless device and purging the device data from the wireless device based on the request data by accessing a delete command from the menu, the device data including at least one of the following;

personal data, address data, calendar data, password data, and account data, and

sending a return message to the invoking party and each data recovery address, the return message including an acknowledgement that the device data is purged from the wireless device and an attachment of a data file comprising the retrieved device data;

wherein each data recovery address is accessed from a customer profile database in the communications network.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising retrieving location information for the wireless device based on the request data, and wherein the return message further includes the retrieved location information for the wireless device.