Client device connectivity with integrated business rules and multiple network types

• US 8,806,041 B1
• Filed: 12/15/2010
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hill, Peter F., Willhoit, Donald Ryan, Lopez Suarez, Xavier Federico, Millwood, Lorne A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nawaz, Asad
• Assistant Examiner(s): BELETE, BERHANU D
• Application Number:
  US12/969,260
• Time in Patent Office: 1,336 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/218, 709220-222, 709223-226, 709227-237, 713/201, 713/155, 370/352, 370/392, 455/456.1, 726/4
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

Applications executing on mobile client devices may access remote resources via network connections. Operational capabilities and financial costs of these connections may differ. Developers, network administrators, and other parties may wish to moderate usage of various available conditions to conform to business rules. Connectivity information including one or more network grants are integrated into an application received from a developer at ingestion by an application management server, which accesses those business rules. The client devices may coordinate with a proxy server to provide additional controls. Networking public interfaces provide the developer with a simplified pathway for development of applications which use network connections, particularly on mobile devices.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed on a client device, instruct a processor of the client device to perform acts comprising:

receiving from an active content module a request to connect to a communication resource accessible via a particular network of a plurality of networks;

determining whether the client device is registered with a server;

when the client device is not registered with the server, denying the request to connect to the communication resource;

when the client device is registered with the server, determining whether a business rule associated with the active content module is present;

when the business rule is not present, denying the request to connect to the communication resource;

when the business rule is present, determining whether a network grant permits communication, wherein the network grant defines one or more constraints within which the active content module is permitted to communicate via the particular network of the plurality of networks;

when the network grant disallows the request, denying the request to connect to the communication resource; and

when the network grant allows the request to connect to the communication resource, attempting to connect to the communication resource accessible via the particular network.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the server comprises a proxy server accessing a business rules database.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising modifying the business rule at least in part due to an interaction with the server.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the attempting to connect to the communication resource comprises:

when the particular network requested by the active content module is determined to be unavailable, determining whether a network interface is active;

when the network interface is inactive, prompting a user of the client device to activate the network interface;

when the network interface is active, generating a network unavailable error message;

when the particular network is available, determining whether data transfer is operable;

when the data transfer is inoperable, determining whether the data transfer is restricted at the server;

when the data transfer is unrestricted at the server, generating a message indicating that a data transfer error has occurred,

when the data transfer is restricted at the server, generating a message indicating that data transfer is disallowed;

when the data transfer is operable, determining whether the communication resource is responsive;

when the communication resource is unresponsive, generating a message indicating that the communication resource is unresponsive; and

when the communication resource is responsive, establishing communication with the communication resource via the particular network.

5. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed on a client device, instruct a processor of the client device to perform acts comprising:

receiving, from an active content module a request for communication with a remote device via a particular network of a plurality of networks;

determining whether a business rule associated with the active content module is present;

when the business rule is not present, denying the requested communication via the particular network of a plurality of networks;

when the business rule is present, determining whether a network grant encapsulated within the active content module permits the communication, wherein the network grant defines one or more constraints within which the active content module is permitted to communicate via the particular network of the plurality of networks;

when the network grant disallows the requested communication, denying the requested communication via the particular network of a plurality of networks; and

when the network grant allows the requested communication, attempting to communicate with the remote device via the particular network.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 5, wherein the network grant is defined at least in part before storage on the client device.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the client device is registered with a proxy server;

when the client device is unregistered with the proxy server, denying the requested communication; and

when the client device is registered with the proxy server, permitting the requested communication.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 5, wherein:

the requested communication with the remote device is associated with a particular network bandwidth;

when the particular network bandwidth is within a threshold network bandwidth capability associated with a wireless wide area network (WWAN) connection, the active content module is permitted to communicate via a WWAN interface; and

when the particular network bandwidth exceeds the threshold network bandwidth capability associated with the WWAN connection, the active content module is permitted to communicate via a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface but is not permitted to communicate via the WWAN interface.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed on a portable electronic device, instruct a processor of the portable electronic device to perform acts comprising:

providing, to an active content module configured to communicate with a remote device via one or more networks in accordance with one or more network communication constraints, a connectivity network public interface configured to establish communication with the remote device, wherein the one or more network communication constraints associated with a particular network define one or more constraints within which the active content module is permitted to communicate with the remote device via the particular network wherein the one or more constraints includes denying a connection between the portable electronic device and a communication resource when the portable electronic device is not registered with the remote device;

providing, to the active content module, a connectivity handler network public interface configured to receive network availability data pertinent to the communication with the remote device; and

providing, to the active content module, a network disabled details network public interface configured to return error messages pertinent to the communication with the remote device.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein each of the public interfaces comprises an application programming interface (API).

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the connectivity handler network public interface is configured to provide hyper-text transport protocol (HTTP) connection, HTTP secured (HTTPS) connection, or both between the portable electronic device and the remote device via a network component.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the network component comprises at least one of a wireless wide area network (WWAN) interface or a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the connectivity handler network public interface is configured to execute requests for connectivity from the active content module in one or more threads separate from other events.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the connectivity handler network public interface is further configured to synchronously request connectivity to the remote device such that a failure to establish connectivity results in a call to a network disabled exception network public interface configured to generate a network-disabled error.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the connectivity handler network public interface is further configured to asynchronously request connectivity to the remote device such that a failure to establish connectivity results in a call to the network disabled details network public interface.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the connectivity handler network public interface is further configured to asynchronously request connectivity to the remote device as a callback.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the connectivity handler network public interface is further configured to synchronously request connectivity to the remote device.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the connectivity handler network public interface is configured to call once per submission by the active content module when a particular network of the one or more networks is available for connectivity and receive a notification when the particular network has become available or is determined to be unavailable.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the active content module is permitted to communicate with the remote device via a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface but is not permitted to communicate with the remote device via a wireless wide area network (WWAN) interface.

20. A device comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

an active content module maintained on the memory and executable by the processor to generate a request to connect to a communication resource accessible via a particular network of a plurality of networks; and

a connectivity module maintained on the memory and executable by the processor to;

receive, from the active content module, the request to connect to the communication resource via the particular network of the plurality of networks; and

attempt to connect to the communication resource via the particular network based at least in part on determining;

the device is registered with a server;

a business rule associated with the active content module is present; and

a network grant permits communication via the particular network, wherein the network grant defines one or more constraints within which the active content module is permitted to communicate via the particular network of the plurality of networks.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein:

the network grant is stored in the memory of the device; and

the network grant is defined at least in part before storage in the memory of the device.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein the server comprises a proxy server accessing a business rules database.

23. The device of claim 20, further comprising modifying the business rule at least in part due to an interaction with the server.

24. The device of claim 20, wherein the connectivity module is further executable to send a communication in compliance with the business rule and the network grant via at least one of a wireless local area network or a wireless wide area network.

25. The device of claim 20, wherein the determining the device is registered with the server further includes retrieving from the memory at least one of a registration status flag or a registration code.