Method of receiving, storing, and providing device management parameters and firmware updates to application programs within a mobile device

Abstract

The present invention is a method for the efficient persistent storage of Device Management (DM) information on a mobile device. More specifically, the present design provides methods for applications to access and update this information consistent with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) DM standard. The present invention provides a method for retrieving firmware update packages, saving the package as specified by the OMA Firmware Update Management Object standard, and triggering the update process to apply the package by an update agent.

1 . A method for securing Device Management (DM) information stored in a mobile device allowing only permitted software applications to access and update this information, said method comprising:
 implementing an Access Control List (ACL) mechanism at each level of the management tree to limit the servers that may access a node and functions they execute;   checking an Access Control List for each node in said data structure ensuring the requested operation is permissible in accordance with the stored permissions; and   checking an AccessType value for each node in said data structure ensuring the requested operation is permissible in accordance with the stored permissions.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said nodes inherit said permissions from a parent node when they have no specific settings of their own. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said securing information stored further comprises extending the access control mechanism to limit the different applications running on the mobile device that may access a node and functions they execute, by requiring an application to specify a pseudo hostname when accessing information. 
     
     
         4 . A method for updating firmware in a mobile device, comprising:
 implementing receiving and storing of one or more update packages in a mobile device's local file store system;   handling the notification of a firmware update from a DM Server;   transferring one or more firmware update packages to the mobile device;   storing one or more firmware update packages in the mobile device, ready for the update agent to apply;   triggering an update agent;   applying the update package, and;   informing the DM server of the update status.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said implementing further comprises providing one or more update nodes within the management tree data structure specifically for calling relevant operations related to firmware download and update of one or more firmware update packages. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said transferring further comprises implementing an in-session download mechanism as defined by the OMA DM standards. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said transferring further comprises an alternate mechanism that employs a URL from which a download descriptor is to be downloaded via the HTTP1.1 protocol, where this descriptor contains information about the URL from which the actual firmware update package should be downloaded. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said storing further comprises saving the update package in the mobile device's local file store system. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said storing further comprises an alternate mechanism to save the update package at a fixed pre-allocated location in the mobile device's flash memory. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said triggering further comprises implementing an integrated update agent. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said applying further comprises decoding the update data and re-flashing the indicated flash blocks. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said informing further comprises the DM server distributing the update package reading back the status from a State node, independent of transfer mechanism. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus for securing Device Management (DM) information stored in a mobile device, said apparatus comprising:
 means for implementing an Access Control List (ACL) mechanism at each level of the management tree to limit the servers that may access a node and functions they execute;   means for checking an Access Control List for each node in said data structure ensuring the requested operation is permissible in accordance with the stored permissions; and   means for checking an AccessType value for each node in said data structure ensuring the requested operation is permissible in accordance with the stored permissions.