Abstract:
An intermediate system ( 20 ) for managing mobile data devices ( 22 ) is disclosed. The intermediate system ( 20 ) for accessing mobile data devices ( 22 ) and the method for implementing thereof, allows data requesters ( 24 ) on a network interconnected with a mobile network ( 21 ) to which are connected mobile data devices ( 22 ) to access content from these mobile data devices ( 22 ) without knowing the MSISDNs or mobile data device identifiers of these mobile data devices ( 22 ) and without individually monitoring the availability of these mobile data devices ( 22 ).

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates to an intermediate system for mobile data devices. Specifically, the invention relates to an improved access methodology and system that enables content requesters, whether on a mobile or fixed network, to access mobile data devices, including mobile cameras, mobile measurement and scanning devices, and other type of mobile content device, by way of an intermediate system.  
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0002]     Recent developments in mobile communication networks have resulted in increasing of bandwidth available to mobile device users. A classic example of such mobile devices are mobile phones which have become an essential implement in our daily lives. With this increase in bandwidth, it is now feasible for mobile device users to use their devices for data transmitting and receiving purposes, such as accessing pictures, sound, and video. PCs and other such communication devices have already been in use to access such data for some time.  
         [0003]     Presently, a new class of mobile data devices are emerging that can operate on a mobile network and can respond to content requests sent over the mobile network. Such mobile data devices could comprise any number of data collection devices which can accommodate data requests such as audio, video, ambient temperature, lighting, the presence or absence of chemicals, other environmental factors, or other forms of data content  
         [0004]     At present, these mobile data devices require a requestor to send their requests to be sent to the mobile data device&#39;s Mobile Station International Subscriber Device Number (MSISDN) or more often referred to as the “mobile phone number”. These mobile data devices then determine whether the requester has authorized access to the content that the mobile data device may deliver. The mobile data device checks the MSISDN of the requestor&#39;s mobile device and compares it with a look up table comprising authorized MSISDNs to determine if the requestor is authorized.  
         [0005]     A drawback of the abovementioned method is that a requester is required to know the MSISDN of each of the mobile data devices. This problem may be overcome by the requester storing the MSISDN of the mobile data device on his own mobile device (such as in a mobile-phone&#39;s phonebook/addressbook). However, this is a sub-optimal solution if a large number of mobile data devices are available, in which case the requester must store the MSISDN of each of those mobile data devices that he is interested in and must assign meaningful names to each mobile data device MSISDN so stored. Furthermore, he will need to continuously update this record as additional mobile data devices of interest become available to him, or as mobile data devices are removed, or if a mobile data device&#39;s MSISDN is changed for any reason.  
         [0006]     Another drawback of this system is that the requester currently sends a request to the mobile data device by using a Short Messaging Service (SMS) message. This becomes a concern if the requestor is not a mobile network user but is a fixed-line user.  
         [0007]     Another drawback of the aforementioned method is that there is no practical method provided for the requester to determine whether the mobile data device is actually available at the time of request. As a consequence, the user has no way of knowing whether his content requests can be responded to.  
         [0008]     Still another drawback of the aforementioned method is that memory capacity of these mobile data devices have so far been limited. This results in the mobile data device being able to store only a limited number of authorized requester MSISDNs. So, by way of example, if the mobile data device has a capacity of 20 authorized requester MSISDNs, then the mobile data device may not be able to support any additional requester MSISDNs, resulting in the mobile data device being usable by only the 20 permitted requesters.  
         [0009]     As an alternative, the mobile data device may be accessible by all requesters, with no restrictions at all. This either-or scenario becomes a serious limitation, especially if the owner of the mobile data device intends to use the device for commercial purposes where, by way of example, he proposes to charge requesters for the right to access the mobile data device and where he proposes to limit access to a specific mobile data device to only those requesters who have paid or have indicated a willingness to pay for the right to access the mobile data device. This is an inherent limitation of such an approach and, despite falling memory prices and continuing memory miniaturization, will continue to be a drawback due to inherent size/storage/power trade-offs in a mobile data device.  
         [0010]     Yet another drawback of the aforementioned approach is that as the MSISDN of the mobile data device must be known to a potential requester, the said requester may attempt to use this MSISDN for malicious purposes, such as continuous transmission of requests to the MSISDN of the mobile data device, thus making the mobile data device unavailable to other potential requesters, or making voice-calls to the MSISDN of the mobile data device and potentially similarly making the mobile data device unavailable to other potential legitimate users, and other forms of denial of service to other legitimate users, and also other forms of potential fraud.  
         [0011]     Another drawback of the aforementioned approach is that as the mobile data device responds directly to the requester, through the mobile network, there is no specific provision for centralized logging of use for administrative analysis, marketing analysis, and the prevention or discouragement of immoral/improper use of a mobile data device.  
         [0012]     Finally, another drawback of the aforementioned approach is that typical network configurations either do not permit mobile data requesters on one network to request data from mobile data devices on another network or do not permit the responses from the mobile data devices on one network to be sent back to mobile data requesters on another network.  
         [0013]     Hence, this clearly affirms a need for an improved access methodology, using an intermediate system for accessing mobile data devices, to address the foregoing disadvantages of conventional access methodologies and systems.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     The present invention relates to managing access of a plurality of mobile data devices connected to a network using an intermediate system.  
         [0015]     Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention provides a method for managing access to a plurality of mobile data devices connected to a network using an intermediate system; the method comprising the steps: registering a plurality of mobile data devices, each of the plurality of mobile data devices for provision of data therefrom, and being in communication with the intermediate system; generating a list of available mobile data devices in the intermediate system; receiving a data request from a data requestor; and providing a data response;  
         [0016]     In another aspect of the invention, an intermediate system for managing access to a plurality of mobile data devices connected to a network, the intermediate system comprising: a registering means for registering the plurality of mobile data devices, each of the plurality of mobile data devices for provision of data therefrom, and being in communication with the intermediate system via the network; a generating means for generating a list of available mobile data devices in the intermediate system; a receiving means for receiving a data request from a data requestor; and a means for providing a data response.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]     Embodiments of the invention are described hereinafter with reference to the following drawings, in which:  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a flow diagram of a method for managing access for mobile data devices in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  shows a system layout diagram for managing access for mobile data devices in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  shows the steps of registering mobile data devices of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  shows the steps of generating a list of available mobile data devices of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0022]      FIG. 5  shows the steps of receiving a data request of  FIG. 1 ; and  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  shows the steps of an alternative embodiment of receiving a data request of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0024]     A system and method for managing access to a plurality of Mobile Data Devices connected to a network using an intermediate system for addressing the foregoing problems is described hereinafter.  
         [0025]     According to an embodiment of the invention, a system for managing in accordance with the present invention, as shown in  FIG. 2 , for implementing method  100  in accordance with the present invention is described with reference to  FIG. 1 .  
         [0026]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a system in accordance with the present invention comprises a first Network  21 , a intermediate system  20 , a plurality of data requestors  24 , and a plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22 .  
         [0027]     The plurality of data requesters  24 , the plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22  and the intermediate system  20  are interconnected over a Network  21 . The Network  21  is a mobile cellular network which may operate on any of several known mobile cellular systems, non limiting examples of which are: GSM, GPRS, UMTS, and WCDMA.  
         [0028]     There may be more than one Network, a non limiting illustration being an alternate Network  31  which similarly interconnects a plurality of alternate data requestors  34 , a plurality of alternate Mobile Data Devices  24  and an alternate intermediate system  30 . The present invention is not limited by number and different telecommunication providers using a variety of different protocols or transmission methods.  
         [0029]     The alternate Network System  31  may be in direct communication with the Network System  21  or may communicate over a shared network such as the Internet. The alternate Network System  31  may also be in communication with the Network System  21  via their respective Intermediate systems  20 ,  30 . The alternate Intermediate system  30  may be in direct communication with the Network System  20  or may communicate over a shared network such as the Internet.  
         [0030]     Interaction between the plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22 , the first plurality of data requestors  24 , the intermediate system  20  and the network  21  are also similarly applicable to the alternate Network  31  and its interconnected devices.  
         [0031]     The plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22  are wherefrom data originates. These Mobile Data Devices  22  may operate independently or under the control of the Intermediate System  20  which is connected to the Network  21 . The plurality of data requestors  24  would only access data from the first plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22  through the Intermediate System  20 .  
         [0032]     The plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22  may send and receive signals over the Network  21 . The Mobile Data Devices  22  may require specific software or other customisation to enable the Mobile Data Devices  22  to communicate with the Intermediate System  20 .  
         [0033]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the method  100  in accordance with the present invention is for managing access to the plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22  by the plurality of data requesters  24 . The method  100  starts with step  102  where the plurality of Mobile Data Devices  22  are first registered with the Intermediate System  20 .  
         [0034]     Next, a list of available Mobile Data Devices  22  is generated by the first Intermediate System  20  in step  104 . The Mobile Data Devices  22  contained in the list of available Mobile Data Devices  22  are for the provision of data therefrom.  
         [0035]     Following step  104 , the receiving of a data request by the Intermediate System  20  occurs in step  106 . In response to the data request, the Intermediate System  20  provides a data response to the data requestor  24  in step  108 . The data request may be initiated by the data requestor  24  or may be initiated by an event, an example of which is a timer-based event. The data request may also be initiated by other external stimulus, non limiting examples of which are: motion detection, change in temperature, change in humidity, change in count, and input triggers from instruments or controllers.  
         [0036]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the step  102  for registering the Mobile Data Devices further starts with the entering of registration data of the Mobile Data Devices  22  in step  120 . This registration may be performed over the Internet by having an online form filled up where a unique name is assigned to each Mobile Data Device  22  and whereby a Mobile Data Device identifier, a non limiting example being the Mobile Data Device&#39;s MSISDN is assigned to this unique name. The Mobile Data Device&#39;s MSISDN is used as a non limiting example of the Mobile Data Device identifier throughout the description. Alternatively, the registration may further be performed via WAP or by entry by a system administrator or authorized officer via a client-sever network. Yet in a further alternative, the Mobile Data Device identifier assigned to the Mobile Data Device  22  may be an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI) number or an IP address of the Mobile Data Device  22 .  
         [0037]     Upon the entry of the Mobile Data Device&#39;s  22  registration data, the Intermediate System  20  may conduct a verification of the registration data by performing a test to establish communication with the Mobile Data Device  22  using the registration data in a step  122 . The verification may further comprise of determining if the Mobile Data Device&#39;s  22  MSISDN or IMEI or IP address are valid numbers or in a valid format.  
         [0038]     Once the registration data has been verified as in step  122 , the Mobile Data Device  22  is added to the list of available Mobile Data Devices  22  in step  124  and the registration data of the Mobile Data Device  22  stored in a database in the Intermediate System  20 . In circumstances where verification of data as in step  122 , may not be possible, the verification may be optionally skipped and the Mobile Data Device  22  added into the list of available Mobile Data Devices  22  as in step  124 .  
         [0039]     When entering the registration data of the Mobile Data Devices  22  in step  120 , content description and content category of the data provided by the Mobile Data Devices  22  may also be registered. The content category can then be used to identify the type of data provided by each of the Mobile Data Devices.  
         [0040]     The registration data can further comprise an access list which contains a list of authorized data requestors  24  who have access rights to specific Mobile Data Device  22 . The access list may contain MSISDNs, email addresses or unique data requestor identifiers of the authorized data requestors  24 . The data requester identifiers may also comprise of IP addresses of the data requesters  24 .  
         [0041]     The list of available Mobile Data Devices is updated on the registration of a new Mobile Data Device  22  or on the modification of registration data of a previously registered Mobile Data Device  22 . In the step  104 , the generation of the list of available Mobile Data Devices  22  may also include checking for the availability of Mobile Data Devices  22  as shown in step  130  of  FIG. 4 . In step  130 , the Intermediate System  20  periodically checks the accessibility of the Mobile Data Devices  22 , and based on the response, updates the list of available Mobile Data Devices in step  132 .  
         [0042]     The Intermediate System  20  provides a mechanism for requesters  24  to determine the list of Mobile Data Devices  22  available to them. The Intermediate System  20  receives the data request in step  106  which may be a request for the list of Available Mobile Devices  20  as in step  140  of  FIG. 5 .  
         [0043]     On receiving the request in step  140 , the Intermediate System  20  determines the access rights of the data requester  24  by checking the data requester&#39;s  24  MSISDN or data requestor identifier and then looking up a list of Mobile Data Devices  22  available to the relevant data requester  24  in step  144 . This list may also include some alternate Mobile Data Devices  32  that are available to the data requester  24  by way of the alternate Intermediate System  30 . The Intermediate System  20  may then respond to the data requester  24  by sending a list of relevant Mobile Data Devices  22  to the data requestor in step  146  in a variety of ways, one of which could be via SMS.  
         [0044]     The Intermediate System  20  may also receive requests from data requesters  24  for content from specific Mobile Data Devices  22  or alternate Mobile Data Devices  32  in step  106 . Referring to  FIG. 6 , the Intermediate System  20  receives a request for Mobile Data Device  22  content as in step  150 , where the request may be made via SMS and contains the unique name assigned to the Mobile Data Device  20  wherefrom the content is desired. The Intermediate System  20  then proceeds to determine the MSISDN or the Mobile Data Device identifier of the specific Mobile Data Device  22  assigned the unique name.  
         [0045]     In step  152 , the Intermediate System  20  verifies whether the access rights of the data requester  24  to access content from the specified Mobile Data Device  22  and may also determine availability of the specified Mobile Data Device  22 .  
         [0046]     If the data requester  24  is authorized to access content from the specified Mobile Data Device  22  and if the specified Mobile Data Device  22  is available to transmit content, the Intermediate System  20  logs the request and instructs the specified Mobile Data Device  22  to acquire the required data and to send the required data to the data requestor  24  as in step  153 . The format and the nature of the required data sent will depend on the specified Mobile Data Device&#39;s  22  capabilities, the nature of content, and the time-sensitivity required.  
         [0047]     The Intermediate System  20  may further instruct the Mobile Data Device  22  to send the required data back to the Intermediate System  20  in step  154 , and, in such a case, may also update the availability of the Mobile Data Device  22 . In step  155 , the Intermediate System  20  can then log the response of the Mobile Data Device  22  for administrative analysis or other purposes and may then forward the required data to the requester  24  using means most appropriate depending on the nature of content and the device capabilities of the requester  24 . Any instructions pertaining to the specific content delivery mechanism may have been sent by the data requester  24  in the original request or stored in a requester profile in the Intermediate System  20 .  
         [0048]     If the Intermediate System  20  does not receive the response from the specified Mobile Data Device  22  within a predetermined period, the Intermediate System  20  may determine that the specified Mobile Data Device  22  is no longer available to receive data requests and may temporarily or permanently remove the specified Mobile Data Device  22  from the available Mobile Data Device list and may inform the data requester  24  regarding this lack of availability.  
         [0049]     The Intermediate System for Mobile Data Devices  20  may instruct the specified Mobile Data Device  22  to directly transmit content to the requester  24 , in which case no content will be received by the Intermediate System  20  from the specified Mobile Data Device  22 , no data from the specified Mobile Data Device  22  will be logged, and no update of the Mobile Data Device availability list will be performed.  
         [0050]     The Intermediate System for Mobile Data Device  20  may instruct the specified Mobile Data Device  22  to transmit the requested content directly to the specified requester  24  and also to transmit the requested content back to the Intermediate System for Mobile Data Devices  20  for administrative analysis or other purposes.  
         [0051]     The data requester  24  may request data of a particular content category or based on description keywords, without specifying any specific Mobile Data Device  22 . The Intermediate System  20  will determine whether the requester  24  has access rights to content of the category or description specified.  
         [0052]     Once the Intermediate System  20  determines that the specific requester  24  has the required rights, the Intermediate System  20  will then select any of the Mobile Data Devices  22  that offer content of the category or description requested by the requester  24  and are currently available to the requester  24 , and may then follow steps  153 ,  154 , and  155  as described earlier. If access is required from the alternate Mobile Data Device  32  on an alternate network  31 , the Intermediate System  20  must first establish communication with the alternate Intermediate System  30  and will thence follow the method as described earlier. The alternate Intermediate System  30  will handle requests on behalf of the Intermediate System  20  to which the original requester  24  is connected.  
         [0053]     The requester  24  may also request content from any one of a number of Mobile Data Devices  22  leaving the decision of the specific Mobile Data Device  22  to the Intermediate System  20 . The Intermediate System  20  will select one of any of the Mobile Data Devices  22  that are currently available to the requester  24  and may then follow steps  153 ,  154 , and  155  as described earlier. This selection process could be random or based on an alternative algorithm.  
         [0054]     In all cases, the Mobile Data Devices  22  may send requested content to the Intermediate System  20  or to the data requester  24  via email. Alternatively, the Mobile Data Device  22  may send requested content to the Intermediate System  20  or to the data requester  24  via SMS or over WAP or other forms of data transfer.  
         [0055]     The Mobile Data Device  22  may further make use of MMS (multimedia message service) to send requested content to the Intermediate System  20  or to the data requester  24 . The precise mode used by the Mobile Data Devices  22  to send data either to the Intermediate System  20  or to the data requester  24  is dependent on the data transfer modes available to the specific Mobile Data Device  22  and the Intermediate System  20 . It is also dependent on the capabilities of the specific Mobile Data Device  22  and the specific data requester  24 .  
         [0056]     The interaction between the alternate requesters  34 , alternate Mobile Data Devices  32 , and the alternate Intermediate System  30  is similar to the description above. If access is required from the alternate Mobile Data Device  32  on an alternate network  31 , the Intermediate System  20  must first establish communication with the alternate Intermediate System  30  and will thence follow the method as described earlier. The alternate Intermediate System  30  will handle requests on behalf of the Intermediate System  20  to which the original requester  24  is connected.  
         [0057]     In the foregoing manner, a system and method for managing access to a plurality of Mobile Data Devices connected to a network using an intermediate system is described in accordance to the present invention for addressing the foregoing disadvantages of conventional Mobile Data Device access methods. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art in view of this disclosure that numerous changes and/or modification can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.