Interactive control of access to services and capabilities of a mobile device

• US 8,150,371 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2007
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnitracs LLC (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Lopez, Ricardo Jorge, Lauer, Craig, Lane, Richard Doil
• Primary Examiner(s): Gelin, Jean
• Application Number:
  US11/743,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20080274765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,797 Days
• Field of Search: 455/411, 455/403, 455/410, 455/409, 455/449, 455/451, 455/550.1, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/417, 709/225, 709/229, 709/230, 709/237, 705/43, 705/69, 705/67
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A system device and method are provided which determine authorization for access to one or more services grouped together as a package of services without direct intervention of a wireless network provider or wired network access provider. This offers business proprietors, contractors for telecommunication services, service resellers, OEMs and service providers the ability to authorize users, particularly users of mobile communication terminals, hereafter referred to as the “Owner,” access to package services. In this way a large package of features and applications can be available to a mobile device, but access to those features and applications can be controlled by the Owner thus providing the Owner with control over expenses related to accessing those features and applications. It also provides the Owner the ability to secure and prevent unauthorized access to features and applications which could allow an unauthorized user access to sensitive data and equipment.

Claims

1. A method of accessing services at a mobile station comprising:

sending, from the mobile station to an owner entity located remote from the mobile station, an authorization code through a wireless network in order to access features of a package of services provided by the owner entity, wherein the wireless network is coupled to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network;

receiving an indication that the owner entity granted access to the features via an authorization server located remote from the mobile station; and

accessing the features by a feature control daemon coupled to the mobile station, wherein the features are provided via the ATM network.

2. A method of accessing services as recited in claim 1 wherein the features are accessed without routing through a mobile switching center (MSC) under a proprietary ownership of another entity.

3. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein the features are accessed using 802.11 connections.

4. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein the proprietary ownership comprises ownership through being an affiliate, subsidiary, or division of said another entity.

5. A method of accessing services as recited in claim 1 wherein the features are selected from a group consisting of ring back tones, three-way calling, call waiting, voice mail, text messaging or a combination thereof.

6. A method of accessing services as recited in claim 1 wherein the features and the package of services comprise features and services that are not directly tied to phone calls.

7. A mobile communications system comprising:

a wireless communications network;

an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network coupled to said wireless communications network;

an authorization device connected to said ATM network, wherein said authorization device is configured to provide authorization for use of at least one feature of a package of services provided by an owner entity based on directives from the owner entity;

a mobile communication terminal located remote from the owner entity and comprising a feature control daemon configured to authorize access to the at least one feature based on the provided authorization from the authorization device; and

said at least one feature provided by said ATM network, accessible through said authorization device and selected by the owner entity.

8. A mobile communications system as recited in claim 7 wherein said wireless communications network is coupled to a plurality of mobile communications terminals.

9. A system as recited in claim 8 wherein a set of authorized users of said mobile communications terminals are able to access the at least one feature without communications routing through a mobile switching center (MSC) under a proprietary ownership of another entity.

10. A system as recited in claim 9 wherein said proprietary ownership comprises ownership through being an affiliate, subsidiary, or division of said another entity.

11. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said at least one feature is selected from a group consisting of ring back tones, three-way calling, call waiting, voice mail, text messaging, other features or a combination thereof.

12. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network comprises a plurality of routers connected together through the Internet.

13. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network is connected within a packet switched data network.

14. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network is connected within a data switched data network.

15. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said wireless communications network consists of a network selected from CDMA, WCDMA, UMTS, GSM, 802.11, BT, TDMA, or OFDMA networks.

16. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said authorization device provides authorization for use of the at least one feature in connection with criteria controlled by the owner entity and selected from a current location of the mobile communication terminal, a time of day, specific end user rights, download of data, scripts executables source code or a combination thereof.

17. A method of authorizing a set of features, comprising:

receiving, via a wireless network coupled to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, an authorization request from a mobile station for access to the set of features, at an authorization server associated with an owner entity located remote from the mobile station, wherein the set of features is provided by the owner entity;

determining, by the authorization server, to allow access to the set of features based on at least one of, a mobile station user, a mobile station location, or time; and

sending an indication of the determination to the mobile station, wherein a feature control daemon of the mobile station accesses the set of features via the ATM network.