Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Security or fraud prevention
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-13
2001-09-18
Trost, William (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Security or fraud prevention
C455S419000, C455S039000, C709S219000, C709S225000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292657
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to management of wireless mobile stations and more particularly relates to a method and architecture for managing a selective set of mobile devices or stations via secure communication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two-way interactive communication mobile devices are among the fastest emerging communication devices that enable users to receive, collect, analyze, review and disseminate information as they travel or move about. The new mobile devices combine voice, data, and personal digital assistant (PDA) functionalities into a single portable device that provides not only the convenience of making phone calls but also the capability of accessing a myriad of public and enterprise information services on the Internet from anywhere at anytime. It is evident that the evolution of the mobile devices has been fueled by the demand for immediate access to information and made possible by the convergence of computing and communications technologies.
The essence of the services to the mobile devices provided by service providers (carriers) is the production and dissemination of mobile data including voice and messages over wireless communication networks. Many service providers offer various services through the devices, such as timed delivery of subscribed information, user accessible customer cares and customized group communications. To facilitate convenient uses of the services, the service providers need to set up human-staffed call centers or interactive response systems, allowing users to call in, for example, to inquire account information, request service changes or send specific information to a particular group of users. In a wireless environment, however, the call-in requests and facilities incur tremendous overhead costs to the service providers.
There is, therefore, a great need for a generic solution that provides the convenience of the services but without incurring substantial costs to the service providers. For example, an entity that may be a user or a corporation wants to update a call list to a selective group of the mobile devices so that a group call can be made within the group. Rather than asking a service provider to update the call list every time there is a change to the list, it is desirable for the entity to update and disseminate the list to a selective group of mobile devices through a secure communication means whenever the entity desires. There is a more practical example; a corporation wants to propagate an urgent proprietary message to its sale team on customer sites provided that the team members each have such mobile device. From the business perspective of the corporation, it is preferable or more secure for the corporation to directly broadcast the message to its sales team rather than forwarding the message to the service provider for further distribution. This leads to the need of secure management of mobile devices by an authorized entity over a secure communication means through which the authorized entity can disseminate or push mobile data to a selected group of mobile devices via the infrastructure of a service provider.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above described problems and has particular applications to secure management of mobile devices or stations by an authorized entity that may be a carrier, a business, a corporation or an individual. Practically there are many applications that need to immediately distribute information to a number of selective users through the mobile devices. The information, collectively referred to as mobile data or fleet data, may include, but not be limited to, commercial information, proprietary message and group call lists and typically is concerned to certain users. Distinct from existing fleet managing systems for mobile stations, the present invention provides secure means for an authorized entity to control the dissemination of mobile data to a specified group of mobile stations via a carrier infrastructure but without incurring substantial costs to the carrier. Further, by virtue of the present invention, the authorized entity can access the fleet managing systems from anywhere at anytime.
To ensure authorized and authenticated access to the mobile station managing system, according to one aspect of the present invention, the mobile station managing system relies on a series of consecutive transitive trust between pairs of components therein so that the access to the system and data management are always secure. This is provided by using secure communication protocols and multiple verifications and authentication among all the components.
According to one embodiment, the present invention is an architecture for securely managing a plurality of mobile stations, the architecture comprising:
a carrier infrastructure providing a radio link to the plurality of the mobile stations over a wireless data network using a first communication protocol;
a fleet managing system coupled to the carrier infrastructure, the fleet managing system comprising a proxy server, the proxy server further comprising
an account manager managing a plurality of user accounts, each corresponding to one of the mobile stations; and
a proxy server module;
a memory receiving fleet data;
a provisioning interface providing secure access to the memory;
wherein the provisioning interface receives a request to push the fleet data in the memory to the plurality of the mobile stations, and
wherein the proxy server module pushes the fleet data, via the carrier infrastructure, to the plurality of the mobile stations over the wireless data network after the request is authenticated by the provisioning interface and verified by the account manager.
According to another embodiment, the present invention is a method for securely managing a plurality of mobile stations serviced by a carrier infrastructure, the method comprising:
sending a request from a provisioning entity to push fleet data to the plurality of the mobile stations;
receiving a challenge response from a fleet managing system in response to the request;
accessing the fleet managing system by supplying correct credential information to the challenge response; wherein the fleet managing system comprises:
an account manager managing a plurality of user accounts, each corresponding to one of the mobile stations;
a proxy server module;
a memory; and
a provisioning interface providing secure access to the memory;
preparing the fleet data to be received in the memory;
determining the plurality of the mobile stations verified by the account manager with the plurality of the user accounts; and
executing the request to cause the fleet data pushed by the proxy server module to the plurality of the mobile stations.
Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide secure means for an authorized entity to control the dissemination of mobile data to a specified group of mobile stations from anywhere at any time.
Other objects, together with the foregoing are attained in the exercise of the invention in the following description and resulting in the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5450071 (1995-09-01), DeLuca et al.
patent: 5524135 (1996-06-01), Mizikovsky et al.
patent: 5872926 (1999-02-01), Levac et al.
patent: 5890075 (1999-03-01), Cyr et al.
patent: 6040784 (2000-03-01), Miller
patent: 6078820 (2000-06-01), Wells et al.
“HDTP Specification,”Unwired Planet, Inc., Version 1.1, Part No. HDTP-SPEC-DOC-101, Jul. 15, 1997, pp. 1-40.
“HDML 2.0 Language Reference,”Unwired Planet, Inc., Version 2.0, Part No. HDMLREF-DOC-200, Revision D, Jul. 1997, pp. 1-56.
HDTP Specifiation Version 1.1, Jul. 15, 1997; Unwired Planet, 40 pages.
HDML Specifiation Version 2.0, Jul. 1997; Unwired Planet, 56 pages.
Jeffery Maurice A.
Laursen Andrew L.
Becker Jordan M.
Blakely , Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman LLP
Openwave Systems Inc.
Sobutka Philip J.
Trost William
LandOfFree
Method and architecture for managing a fleet of mobile... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and architecture for managing a fleet of mobile..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and architecture for managing a fleet of mobile... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2474872