Patent Publication Number: US-8527644-B2

Title: Apparatus and method for provisioning wireless data communication devices

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/041,060, filed on Mar. 4, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/717,851, filed on Mar. 14, 2007, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,917,641, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/782,152, filed on Mar. 14, 2006. The content of all prior applications is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to system and method for provisioning wireless data communication devices. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The use of wireless communication devices, such as a Blackberry device, a j2ME device or any windows mobile device, has increased dramatically during recent years. The use of such devices allows a person to access their email anywhere as long as they are within proximity of ail antennae in communication with the wireless host service for which the wireless communication device is configured. Since the use of these devices has increased dramatically, providers must make accommodations to have these wireless devices provisioned, which includes configuring the wireless device to communicate with the wireless host service. A large company that provides such devices to their employees must typically maintain an information technology (IT) department to manually provision each of their employees devices. Such a process dramatically increases the cost of using the devices since an IT department may need several employees to assist in manually configuring the devices. 
     To overcome the added expense in manually provisioning wireless communication devices, systems and methods for self provisioning these devices have been developed. Once such system for self provisioning a wireless communication device includes an Internet interface through which a user can access an interface of the wireless host server to provision their own device. This system also includes an authorization program to authorize that a particular user has the authorization to provision a wireless communication device with the wireless host server. A user that has the authorization to provision the device can then provision their wireless communication device to remotely send and receive email from a specific email exchange through the  10  wireless host service. One drawback of this prior art system is that a user can only provision the wireless communication device with one wireless host service. Thus, this system does not provide any flexibility to the user or a company in choosing the services that the system can provide for the wireless communication device. Another drawback of this prior art system is that it cannot perform auxiliary services such as creating user email accounts or installing other software on a user&#39;s wireless communication device. 
     Other problems may result from the manual provisioning and self provisioning of wireless communication devices, especially if a company uses these methods to provision a large number of devices to communicate through several wireless host services. With prior systems, each wireless host server may have to communicate with every email or messaging server that the company maintains, which can greatly reduce the amount of email that a system can process. Moreover, the more complicated the system, the more resources a company will have to devote in managing the wireless host servers and email servers. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved system and method for provisioning a plurality of wireless mobile communication devices. 
     It is a further object of this invention to provide such a system and method which provisions the wireless communication devices for one of a plurality of wireless host services. 
     It is a further object of this invention to provide such a system and method that optimizes communication between a plurality of wireless host servers and a plurality of email servers. 
     It is a further object of this invention to provide such a system and method that can provide auxiliary services such as installing software programs on the wireless communication devices. 
     The subject invention results from the realization that a more effective system and method for provisioning wireless communication devices is effected by a configuration manager program accessed through a network portal to allow a plurality of users to each provision a wireless mobile communication device to communicate with one of a plurality of wireless host servers to obtain email from one of a plurality of messaging servers. 
     This invention features a system for provisioning wireless data communication devices for a plurality of users, the system comprising: a configuration server connectable to a network for providing a network portal for the plurality of users to allow each of them to have a wireless data communication device provisioned, the configuration server including: an authorization program for validating which one of a plurality of wireless host servers a user is authorized to use, and a configuration program configured to provision the wireless data communication device to communicate with the one of a plurality of wireless host servers to obtain email from one of a plurality of messaging servers; and a database in communication with the configuration server for storing configurations for each of the plurality of wireless host servers. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the database may further include rules for each of the wireless host servers and the software code further includes a rules manager program for determining which wireless host server and which messaging server the wireless data communication device is to be provisioned for. There may be a plurality of wireless communication devices and each of the devices is configured to communicate with the same email server through one of the plurality of wireless host servers. The software may further include software configured to create and manage email accounts. The system may further include a plurality of remote terminals connected to the network for allowing administrators and the plurality of users to access the configuration manager. The system may further include the plurality of wireless host servers. The system may further include the plurality of messaging servers. The system may further include a plurality of interface modules, one associated with each of the wireless host servers, for interfacing the configuration server with each of the wireless host servers. The configuration manager program may configure the wireless data communication device to communicate with only one of a plurality of wireless host servers to obtain email from only one of a plurality of messaging servers. The plurality of messaging servers may each include an email server. 
     This invention also features a system for provisioning wireless data communication devices for a plurality of users, the system comprising: a configuration server connectable to a network for providing a network portal for the plurality of users to allow each of them to have a wireless data communication device provisioned, the configuration server including: a configuration program configured to provision the wireless data communication device to communicate with one of a plurality of wireless host servers to obtain email from one of a plurality of messaging servers, a rules manager program for determining which wireless host server and which messaging server the wireless data communication device is to be provisioned for; a plurality of interface module programs, one associated with each of the wireless host servers, for interfacing the configuration server with each of the wireless host servers; and a database in communication with the configuration server for storing configurations and rules for each of the plurality of wireless host servers. The plurality of messaging servers may each include an email server. 
     This invention also features a method for provisioning wireless data communication devices for a plurality of users, the system comprising: authenticating a user; authorizing the user to provision a wireless data communication device; determining which predetermined email server among a plurality of email servers for which the wireless data communication device should be provisioned; determining which wireless host server among a plurality of wireless host servers for which the wireless data communication device should be configured; and provisioning the wireless data communication device to communicate with the wireless host server to obtain email from the email server. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the step of determining which wireless host server includes applying rules to determine which wireless host server among a plurality of wireless host servers for which the wireless data communication device should be configured. The step of determining which wireless host server may include evaluating  5  the performance of the plurality of wireless host servers and the plurality of email servers. The method may further include the step of installing software on the wireless data communication devices. For example, the installed software might be selected from the group consisting of a global positioning system program, a dictionary program, a time sheets program, an expense reporting program; and a stock quotes program. The method may further include the step of monitoring the licenses of the software installed on the wireless data communication devices. The method may further include the step of obtaining Internet domain names for the users. The method may further include the step of emailing a user with instructions about how to configure a specific wireless data communication device. The method may further include configuring the wireless data  15  communication device to communicate using voice-over-Internet protocol. The method may further include allowing a user to change or reset a password. The method may further include allowing a user to erase software from the device. The method may further include allowing an administrator to access the configuration server through the network portal. 
     This invention also features an article of manufacture, comprising: a computer readable medium having computer readable program code for provisioning wireless data communication devices for a plurality of users, the computer readable program code executable on a computer system and including instructions for: causing the computer system to authenticate a user; causing the computer system to authorize the user to provision a wireless data communication device; causing the computer system to determine which predetermined email server among a plurality of email servers for which the wireless data communication device should be provisioned; causing the computer system to determine which wireless host server among a plurality of wireless host servers for which the wireless data communication device should be configured; and causing the computer system to provision the wireless data communication device to communicate with the wireless host server to obtain email from the email server. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the computer readable program code for causing the computer system to determine which wireless host server includes computer readable program code for causing the computer system to apply rules to determine which wireless host server among a plurality of wireless host servers for which the wireless data communication device should be configured. The computer readable program code for causing the computer system to determine which wireless host server may include computer readable program code for causing the computer system to evaluate the performance of the plurality of wireless host servers and the plurality of email servers. The computer readable program code may further include instructions for causing the computer system to email a user with instructions about how to configure a specific wireless data communication device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of a prior art self provisioning system; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic block diagram of a prior art system that includes multiple wireless host servers and multiple email servers; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of the primary components associated with an example of a system for provisioning wireless data communication devices in accordance with the subject invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic block diagram of a system that includes multiple wireless host servers and multiple email servers that have been optimized by the subject invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a more detailed block diagram of the system shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 6  is another block diagram of the system shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a view of an exemplary software interface for a software program used on the configuration server of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a view of an exemplary software program interface that shows a screen for adding a user for the program of  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a view of an exemplary software program interface that shows information about adding bulk users for the program of  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a view of a sample file format for adding bulk users as shown in  FIG. 9 ; 
         FIG. 11  is a view of a software program interface that shows information about creating an account for the program of  FIG. 7 ; and 
         FIG. 12  is a flowchart including the primary steps associated with an example of a method of provisioning wireless data communication devices for a plurality of users in accordance with another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Aside from the preferred embodiment or embodiments disclosed below, this invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Thus, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. 
     There is shown in  FIG. 1  a prior art self provisioning system  10  that includes an Internet interface server  12  a wireless host server  14  and email exchange server  16 . The  10  Internet interface server includes software thereon, such as an authorization program  18 , for allowing a user to access the Internet interface providing the user has authority to self provision a wireless data communication device. Wireless host server  14  may be, for example, a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) and may include a Blackberry Resource Kit (BRK) programming interface  20  for allowing Internet interface server  12  to access wireless host server  14 . When a user accesses an Internet interface  12  to self provision a wireless data communication device, interface  12  will communicate with BRK  20  on server  14  to configure the user&#39;s device  15  to access Blackberry server  14  and email exchange  16  by communicating wirelessly through an antennae  22  and a server  24 . As described above, a disadvantage of this prior art self provisioning system is that a user can only provision a wireless device for a single host server  14 . Moreover, prior art system  10  does not provide other functions such as creating email accounts or obtaining Internet domain addresses for the user. 
     Another drawback of the system of  FIG. 1  is that if a company uses multiple wireless providers using multiple host servers  14   a - 14   n  as shown in  FIG. 2 , the multiple wireless servers may be configured to communicate with multiple email servers  16   a - 16   n  in a highly unorganized manner. Each of wireless host servers  14   a - 14   n  may need to obtain email from each of email servers  16   a - 16   n  which can dramatically reduce the amount of email that the system can process. 
     To overcome the disadvantages associated with the prior art, one system in accordance with the subject invention is shown in  FIG. 3  for provisioning wireless data communication devices for a plurality of users. System  100  allows a plurality of users at remote terminals  102   a - 102   n  to access a configuration server  106  through a network  104  such as the Internet, an intranet or a computer network. Configuration server  106  provides a network portal for the plurality of users  102   a - 102   n  to allow each of them to provision a wireless communication device  107 . Configuration server  106  includes software code executable thereon that includes authorization program  108  and configuration manager program  110 . Configuration server  106  is also coupled to a database  112  that stores the configurations of each of a plurality of wireless host servers  114   a - 114   n . Authorization program  108  provides a function of validating for each user which of the plurality of wireless host servers  114   a - 114   n  the user is authorized to use and have their wireless data communication device provisioned. After authorization, program  108  determines that a user is authorized to have their device provisioned for a host server, such as host server  114   a , and configuration program  110  is configured to provision the wireless communication device  107  to communicate with wireless host server  114   a  to obtain email from one of a plurality of messaging or email servers. For example, configuration program  110  may configure wireless communication device  107  to communicate with wireless host server  114   b  to obtain email from messaging server  116 . Messaging server  116  may be or include an email server. 
     Thus, after a user provisions a wireless data communication device  107 , the user will be able to access a host server such as host server  114   b  and messaging server  116  by wirelessly communicating through remote antennae  118 . Antennae  118  communicates with server  119  to access host server  114   b,  which in turn obtains email from email server  116 . 
     One advantage of subject invention is that when system  100  is used to configure a plurality of wireless data communication devices  107  such that they communicate with one of wireless host servers  114   a - 114   n  to obtain email from a specific messaging server  116   a - 116   n  as shown in  FIG. 4 , communication is greatly optimized. Each wireless host server  114   a - 114   n  obtains email from a specific messaging server  116   a - 116   n . This optimized configuration, which can be obtained by using the subject invention, allows each wireless server  114   a - 114   n  to have a high capacity for both the number of users on each of these servers and the communication data throughput. 
     A more detailed embodiment of the system  100   a  for provisioning a wireless data communication device is shown in  FIG. 5 . The host servers of system  100   a  may be configured to operate wireless host services such as the Blackberry service observer  114   a ′, the Visto wireless service on server  114   b ′ or the Windows Mobile service on server  114   c ′. Servers  114   a ′- c ′ may be at the same location as server  106  or may each be at a remote location. Although servers  114   a ′- c ′ are shown as being connected to configuration server  106 , it is not a necessary limitation of this invention that servers  114   a ′- c ′ be connected to server  106  to provision a wireless communication device since any necessary information required to provision such a device may be stored on server  106  or database  112   a  coupled to server  106 . Server  106  includes interfaces  130   a - c  to interface with servers  114   a ′- c ′. Servers  114   a ′- c ′ may each have thereon an interface program  132   a - c , respectively, for interfacing with server  106 . For example, server  114   a ′ includes interface program  132   a  that is configured to use a Blackberry Resource Kit (BRK). Messaging server  116   a , which may be an email server, may be configured to operate using Microsoft Exchange. Email platform  117  communicates with each of wireless host servers  114   a ′- c ′. 
     Configuration server  106  also includes a rules manager program for determining which wireless host server and which messaging server the wireless data communication device is to be provisioned for. The rules for each of the wireless host servers and the messaging servers will be stored on database  112   a  Database  112   a  may reside on server  106  or maybe located external to it. Configuration server  106  also includes software configured to create and manage email accounts. 
     Another embodiment of the system  100   b ,  FIG. 6 , for provisioning a wireless data communication device illustrates some of the functions of the system. System  100   b  includes network portal  104   b  that includes user management program  140  that manages the personal and contact information of each of the users and account management program  142  that manages the account information of each of the users. Configuration server  106   b  includes user information management program  144 , messaging and wireless connectors program  146 ,resource management program  148 , and reporting management program  149 . Resource management program  148  manages and allocates the resources of the wireless host servers and email servers. For example, resource management program  148  may evaluate the performance of the plurality of wireless host servers and the plurality of email servers to determine how to allocate resources. Reporting management program  149  generates and provides reports to the user or administrator. 
     Server  106   b  may also communicate with the customer hardware  150  such as wireless host server  152 , email server  154 , also referred to as a messaging system server, configuration management server  156 , Intranet server  158  and server  160  for third party software applications. Configuration server  106   b  may include software configured to install the third party software from server  160  on the wireless data communication devices. The third party software may include, for example, global positioning system program, a dictionary program, a time sheets program, an expense reporting program, and/or a stock quotes program. Configuration server  106   b  may provide to the users the service of monitoring the licenses of the third party software installed on the wireless data communication devices. 
     Configuration server  106   b  may also provide other services to the users including obtaining Internet domain names for the users, configuring the wireless data communication device to communicate using voice-over-Internet protocol, allowing a user to change or reset a password, or a user to erase or “wipe” software from the device. 
     Through the use of the subject invention, system  100   b  may provide such functions to a company such as user interface customization  172 , authorization integration  174 , authentication integration  176 , service reporting  178  and support integration  180 . A company can customize each of these services to meet its needs. 
     The software on configuration server  106  may include an exemplary software interface  300  such in  FIG.8 . Software interface  300  provides a network portal to administrators  103  at a remote terminal and also to users  102   a - 102   n . Using software interface  300 , an administrator will be able to add a user to their account using link  302 , can add a plurality of users using link  304  entitled “Add Bulk Users”, or can view a list of all users in the account using link  306 . Also using software interface  300 , an administrator may make and view changes by selecting link  308 , may be able to view a report having information about the users using link  310 , will be able to create an account for a new customer using link  312  or will be able to view any number of different accounts using link  314 . Users  102   a - 102   n  of system  100 ,  FIG. 3 , may also be provided with software interface  300 , but some or all of the links or fields may be hidden from the user to provide security for system  100 . 
     If a user or administrator selects link  302  to add a user, the user or administrator is directed to software program interface  320 ,  FIG. 8 . Software interface  320  includes personal information  321  about each user such as name account number, phone numbers, email addresses and address. Software interface  320  also includes user information such as login password  322 , other passwords  323  such as a BES password, check box  324  indicating whether a wireless host service, such as a Blackberry account service has been activated, check box  326  indicating whether a wireless host service has been enabled, and check box  328  indicating whether Internet/Intranet access has been enabled has been enabled. A user or administrator can select link  330  to save the user information. An administrator can select link  332  to make another user an administrator and provide them with system and administration privileges. 
     By selecting link  304 ,  FIG. 7 , a user will be directed to software program interface  340 ,  FIG. 9 , which will allow an administrator to add a plurality of users at one time. With interface  340 , an administrator will have access to drop down window  342  to select to which account he wishes to add the bulk users. The computer file path can be input at location  344  or link  345  can be selected to browse for a comma separated value (CSV) file on their computer. The CSV file includes the names of all bulk users that the administrator desires to add. After selecting the CSV file at location  344 , an administrator can select upload link  346  to send the file to configuration server  106  for validation and creation. Also when link  346  is selected, the system checks the format of each of the users to ensure that there are no errors in the format of the CSV file. If there are no errors in the CSV file then each user will be populated in a user table. 
     A sample format for the CSV file is shown in list  350 ,  FIG. 10 . List  350  includes delineated information such as a user&#39;s first name  352 , last name  354 , telephone number  356 , user name  358 , and password  360 . 
     If an administrator selects link  312  in  FIG. 7  to create an account, the administrator is provided with software program interface  370 ,  FIG. 11 . Program interface  370  allows an administrator to provide information to create an account. This information can include the account name  372 , the company name  374 , and the organizational unit  376 , the account domain  378 , the domain extension  380 , directory servers  382 , exchange servers  384 , BES servers  386  and a checkbox  388  to indicate whether users have the authorization to provision a device themselves. After an administrator has input the preceding information into interface  370 , the administrator can select link  390  to perform a check to verify that a new account has been created. During the entry of information on interface  370 , the administrator can select link  392  to save the information that the administrator has input. 
     One method  400 ,  FIG. 12  for provisioning wireless data communication devices for a plurality of users begins at step  402  with authenticating a user. This can be accomplished by having the user logon to the system and provide a username and password for the system to authenticate. At step  404 , the system determines if the user is authorized to provision a wireless data communication device. The system can determine this by checking the username against a database of users to determine if the user is authorized to provision one or more wireless devices. At step  406 , the system determines which predetermined email server among a plurality of email servers to which the wireless data communication device should be provisioned. The system can determine this by checking a database to determine which email host server, if any, the user is authorized to provision a wireless device for. At step  408 , the system determines which wireless host server among a plurality of wireless host servers to which the wireless data communication device should be configured. The system can determine this by checking which wireless host server is associated to the selected email server. At step  410 , the system provisions the wireless data communication device to communicate with the wireless host server to obtain email from the email server. 
     The methods of the present invention can be performed with a server or computer and computer software installed thereon that has instructions to perform the steps of the invention. Alternatively, methods of the present invention can be performed with equipment that has installed hardware or firmware having instructions to perform the steps of the invention. Software used with embodiments of the present invention can be stored on computer readable medium for storing data, such as, for example, but not limited to, floppy disks, magnetic tape, zip disks, hard drives, CD-ROM, optical disks, or a combination of these. 
     Although specific features of the invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the invention. The words “including”, “comprising”, “having”, and “with” as used herein are to be interpreted broadly and comprehensively and are not limited to any physical interconnection. Moreover, any embodiments disclosed in the subject application are not to be taken as the only possible embodiments. Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the following claims: