Mobile device data archiving

• US 8,751,457 B2
• Filed: 01/01/2012
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Grigg, David M., Tuders, John Franklin, Bertanzetti, Peter John, England, Tony
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, BINH VAN
• Application Number:
  US13/342,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20130173556A1
• Time in Patent Office: 891 Days
• Field of Search: 707/667
• US Class Current: 707/667
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Mobile devices such as cell phones, “smart” phones, personal data assistants (PDA'"'"'s) and the like are equipped for accessing and storing all types of media, including movies, music, software applications, as well as copious amounts of associated data. Accordingly, a need exists for methods, apparatuses and computer program products that assist mobile device users in archiving data, configuring the data, and restoring the data to the same device, or a new mobile device running the same or different operating system. Embodiments of the claimed invention address the above needs and/or achieve other advantages by providing systems for archiving data on a mobile electronic device on a plurality of data storage media, and by providing similar means of restoring the archived data to the same or different mobile device.

Claims

1. A method for archiving information residing on a mobile device of a user, the method comprising:

identifying, using a processing device, one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device for archiving information residing on the mobile device;

presenting, via a user interface of the mobile device, the one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device;

receiving a selection, from the user, of at least one of the one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device;

identifying, using a processing device, information residing on the mobile device, wherein identifying information residing on the mobile device comprises identifying information that identifies the operating system of the mobile device;

receiving a selection, from the user, of some or all of the identified information to archive to the user-selected one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device, wherein the identified information to archive comprises information that identifies the operating system of the mobile device;

in response to receiving the selection of the identified information to archive, automatically generating by a processing device of the mobile device both;

a first computer-executable program code comprising instructions for remotely restoring the user-selected identified information from the user-selected one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device to any remote computing device of the user, and

a second computer-executable program code comprising instructions for restoring the user-selected identified information from the user-selected one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device back onto a memory of the mobile device;

transmitting the first computer-executable program comprising instructions for restoring to the user-selected one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device;

storing both;

the first computer-executable program code onto each of the user-selected one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device, and

the user-selected identified information to archive onto the user-selected one or more storage mediums external to the mobile device;

storing the second computer-executable program code onto the memory of the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the program code on the mobile device to restore the archived information from the storage medium to the mobile device in response to receiving user input; and

receiving a transmission comprising some or all the archived information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein restoring the archived information from the storage medium further comprises restoring information comprising one or more of one or more applications, one or more programs, application data, music, movies, videos, user settings, or user preferences.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first computer-executable program code is identical to the second computer-executable program code.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

archiving, on a storage medium, second computer-executable program code configured to, when executed, restore the archived information from the storage medium to the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device comprises communicating a request for user input indicating which of a plurality of storage media external to the mobile device should receive the identified information for archiving.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device comprises receiving user input indicating which of a plurality of storage media external to the mobile device should receive the identified information for archiving.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device for archiving information comprises determining two or more storage media external to the mobile device for archiving information, the two or more storage media capable of being operatively connected with the mobile device and configured to receive information for archiving.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device for archiving information further comprises selecting one of the two or more storage media based at least in part on one or more media archiving preferences.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more media archiving preferences comprise one or more user-selected preferences comprising a hierarchy of available storage media for archiving information.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device for archiving information further comprises:

communicating a prompt to the user requesting a hierarchy of available storage media; and

receiving user input comprising the hierarchy of available storage media.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the media archiving preferences comprise a user-defined criteria for selecting the storage medium external to the mobile device for archiving information.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the media archiving preferences comprise an available capacity preference indicating that the storage media should be selected based on the greatest available storage capacity among the two or more storage media.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the media archiving preferences comprise an available data transfer rate preference indicating that the storage media should be selected based on the greatest available data transfer rate among the two or more storage media.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device for archiving information comprises determining one or more storage media external to the mobile device for archiving information, the one or more storage media capable of being operatively connected with the mobile device and configured to receive information for archiving.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device for archiving information comprises recognizing that one or more storage media have been operatively connected with the mobile device and determining that the one or more storage media for archiving information are capable of receiving information for archiving.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage medium external to the mobile device comprises one or more of a smartphone, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, an secure digital (SD) card, a micro-secure digital (SD) card, an universal serial bus (USB) device, an external disk drive, an internal disk drive, one or more remote computers, one or more remote servers, or one or more remote databases.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified information residing on the mobile device comprises any data stored on the memory of the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting some or all the identified information to archive further comprises one or more user-selected preferences comprising a selectable hierarchy of available information for archiving.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more user-selected preferences comprise archiving options that, when selected by the user, archive the selected hierarchy of available information without further user input at a user-selected interval of time.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein some or all the identified information to archive comprises one or more of:

information that has been added since a previous archiving event at a preceding user-selected interval of time, or

information that has been modified since a previous archiving event at a preceding user-selected interval of time.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein some or all the available information to archive comprises substantially all information stored on the mobile device.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the instructions for storing the selected information to the identified storage medium further comprise instructions for retrieving the selected information from the identified storage medium.

24. A method for retrieving archived information from a medium external to a target mobile device of a user, the method comprising:

executing a first computer-executable program code in response to receiving user input, wherein the first computer-executable program code is generated based at least partially on an historical occurrence of an archiving event involving a mobile device of the user and a user-selected storage medium that is external to the mobile device, and wherein the first computer-executable program code comprises instructions for remotely restoring onto a target mobile device the user-selected information from the user-selected storage medium, wherein the user-selected information comprises identifying information that identifies an operating system of the mobile device, and wherein the first computer-executable program code, when executed, causes one or more processing devices to;

identify the user-selected storage medium external to the target mobile device on which user-selected information previously residing on the mobile device of the user is archived;

identify the target mobile device to which archived user-selected information is to be restored;

identify an operating system associated with the target mobile device based on the user-selected information;

identify user-selected information archived on the user-selected storage medium;

identify an operating system associated with the information archived on the user-selected storage medium;

compare the operating system associated with the target mobile device to the operating system associated with the information archived on the user-selected storage medium;

configure the information archived on the user-selected storage medium to the operating system associated with the target mobile device when it is determined based at least partially on the comparison that the operating system associated with the target mobile device is different from the operating system associated with the user-selected storage medium;

receive a selection of some or all of the archived user-selected information to restore to the target mobile device; and

transmit to the target mobile device from the user-selected storage medium external to the target mobile device the user-selected information and first computer-executable program code comprising instructions for restoring the user-selected information to the target mobile device.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

receiving a transmission comprising some or all the archived information.

26. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

executing a second computer-executable program code configured to, when executed, restore the archived information from the storage medium to the target mobile device.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein a first computer-executable program code recorded on the target mobile device is identical to the second computer-executable program code.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein restoring the archived information further comprises restoring a plurality of information comprising one or more of one or more applications, one or more programs, application data, digital photographs, music, movies, videos, user settings, or user preferences.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

executing the second computer-executable program code using a host device, wherein the second program code causes the host device to communicate to the user that the archived information is available for retrieval.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

executing the second computer-executable program code using a host device, wherein the second program code, when executed, is configured to cause the host device to;

retrieve some or all the archived information from the identified storage medium;

identify the operating system of the target mobile device;

restore the archived information from the identified storage medium to the target mobile device; and

communicate to the user that archived information has been retrieved from the identified storage medium and restored to the target mobile device.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the target mobile device is different from the mobile device from which the information is archived.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the operating system of the target mobile device is different from the operating system of the mobile device from which the information is archived.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the second computer-executable program code is further configured to, when executed, configure the archived information for the operating system of the mobile device to which information is restored.

34. The method of claim 24, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the mobile device comprises communicating a request for user input indicating from which of a plurality of storage media external to the mobile device the selected information should be retrieved.

35. The method of claim 24, wherein identifying a storage medium external to the target mobile device on which information previously residing on the mobile device is archived comprises receiving user input indicating on which of a plurality of storage media external to the mobile device the identified information is archived.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the target mobile device on which information previously residing on the mobile device is archived further comprises selecting one of the two or more storage media based at least in part on one or more media archiving preferences.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the one or more media archiving preferences comprise one or more user-selected preferences comprising a hierarchy of available storage media for retrieving archived information.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the target mobile device on which information previously residing on the mobile device is archived further comprises:

communicating a prompt to the user requesting a hierarchy of available storage media; and

receiving user input comprising the hierarchy of available storage media.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the media archiving preferences comprise a user-defined criteria for selecting the storage medium external to the mobile device on which information previously residing on the mobile device is archived.

40. The method of claim 24, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the target mobile device on which information previously residing on the mobile device is archived comprises determining which one or more storage media external to the target mobile device for archiving information is operatively connected with the target mobile device and configured to transmit archived information.

41. The method of claim 24, wherein identifying the storage medium external to the target mobile device on which information previously residing on the mobile device is archived comprises:

recognizing that one or more storage media have been operatively connected with the mobile device; and

determining that the one or more storage media for archiving information are capable of restoring the selected information to the target mobile device.

42. The method of claim 24, wherein the storage medium external to the target mobile device on which information previously residing on the mobile device is archived comprises one or more of a smartphone, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, an secure digital (SD) card, a micro-secure digital (SD) card, an universal serial bus (USB) device, an external disk drive, an internal disk drive, one or more remote computers, one or more remote servers, or one or more remote databases.

43. The method of claim 24, wherein selecting some or all the archived information to restore to the target mobile device comprises communicating a request for user input indicating the portion of archived information residing on the storage medium external to the target mobile device should be selected to restore.

44. The method of claim 24, wherein selecting some or all the archived information to restore to the target mobile device comprises receiving user input indicating the portion of archived information residing on the storage medium external to the target mobile device that is selected for restoring to the target mobile device.

45. The method of claim 24, wherein selecting some or all the archived information to restore to the target mobile device comprises:

determining that some or all of the archived information does not reside on the target mobile device; and

selecting some or all of the archived information that does not reside on the target mobile device.