KR20060057542A - Method for obtaining communication settings using an application descriptor - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of communicating in connection with MIDIet comprising the steps of: obtaining t least one communication setting from a provisioning document associated with the MIDIet; and communicating, in connection with the MIDIet, using the at least one setting.

Description

Method for obtaining communication settings using an application descriptor

Embodiments of the present invention relate to communication associated with software applications. Such embodiments relate to communication associated with software applications of mobile phones.

At present, it is possible for mobile phones to run downloaded external applications as well as pre-installed embedded applications. The external application may be a platform independent application running through a resident virtual machine in the mobile phone. Java ^TM applications are a preferred form of platform independent applications.

Java2 Micro Edition (J2ME) is a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) for mobile phones and similar handheld devices with constraints on their user interfaces and system components such as processing power and memory size. ). Software applications that match the MIDP are referred to as MIDlets and are downloaded as part of the MIDlet suite.

The MIDlet chute has two separate parts. The first part, the Java Application Descriptor (JAD), describes the applications inherent in the suite and is identified by a data file name with a ".jad" extension. The second part, Java Application Resource (JAR), contains the actual application (s) (MIDlet (s)) and is identified by a data file name with a ".jar" extension. JAD allows the suitability of the application to be reviewed by the downloading device or by the user of the device itself before the complete JAR file is downloaded.

JAD includes a set of attributes that enable the download device to identify, retrieve, and install the MIDlet (s). The format of the application descriptor (JAD) is a sequence of lines consisting of a colon, the value of the attribute, and an attribute name followed by a carriage return. White space is ignored before and after the attributes, and the order of the attributes is arbitrary.

The Java Application Descriptor (JAD) for the MIDlet suite is:

MIDlet-Name:

MlDlet-Version:

MiDlet-Vendor:

MlDlet-Jar-URL:

It must be accompanied by a set of attributes such as MIDlet-Jar-Size :.

The mobile information device profile (MIDP) cannot be controlled beyond the manner in which the mobile device performs over the air (OTA) communication. Assume that OTA access is available. However, in some cases access may not be available or the MIDlet may require access to a particular point in the network or through a particular server. Furthermore, access may need to be in accordance with certain protocols.

It is desirable to be able to control more than the manner in which the mobile device performs OTA communication with respect to the MIDlet.

The inventors have found it difficult to change the MIDP to achieve this. The inventors have found that the problem can be solved and overcome by using a mechanism devised for the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is currently controlling the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). A number of specification documents have been published that define how WAP should work. These specifications include the Provisioning Content Specification V1.1 (Draft Version 20-Sept-2002) and WAÅ- (WAP) 189-PushOTA.

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) networks include multiple clients, servers, and proxy gateways that mediate between clients and servers.

WAP supports "pul" and "push" techniques. In the "pull" technique, a client requests a service or information from a server, and the server responds by sending the information to the client. World Wide Web browsing is a classic example of a pull technique. In the "push" technique, a server sends information to a client without an explicit request. That is, such a server is a started server.

Provisioning is a process in which a WAP client is configured to perform a service with minimal user conversation upon receipt of a provisioning document.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of performing communication related to a MIDlet, and the method of performing communication related to the MIDlet includes: obtaining at least one communication setting information from a provisioning document associated with the MIDlet; ; And performing communication related to the MIDlet by using the at least one configuration information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of performing Over The Air (OTA) communication associated with an application, the method of performing OTA communication associated with the application comprising: obtaining an identifier from an application descriptor; Obtaining at least one communication setting information from a provisioning document including the identifier; And using the at least one communication setting information, performing communication related to an application referenced by the application descriptor by using the at least one communication setting information.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling communication associated with a MIDlet, and the method of controlling communication related to the MIDlet includes: a provisioning document including an identifier from a JAD of the MIDlet; And providing at least one setting information for controlling the associated communication.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile telephone device, comprising: means for obtaining an identifier from an application descriptor; Means for obtaining at least one configuration information from a provisioning document that includes the identifier to perform over the air (OTA) communication; And transceiver means for performing OTA communication associated with an application referenced by the application descriptor using the at least one configuration information.

Embodiments of the present invention combine the JAD and provisioning document of a MIDlet suite. The content of the provisioning document controls how OTA communication with the MIDlet is performed. For example, the content of a provisioning document can specify one or more of an application protocol, proxy, and network access point.

For a better understanding of the invention and to understand how the invention may be practiced, refer to the accompanying drawings of embodiments of the invention, for example only as follows.

1 is a diagram illustrating a hand-portable device operable in accordance with the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a process according to one embodiment of the invention.

Embodiments of the present invention are provided with a provisioning document that allows control over how an MIDlet inherent in a MIDlet suite incorporating JAD performs over the air (OTA) communication. It's about JAD joining. The manner in which the communication is made is controlled through the content of the provisioning document. The content of the provisioning document may specify one or more of, for example, an application protocol, proxy and network access point.

1 schematically illustrates one form of a suitable hand-portable device 10 for downloading and executing an application via a MIDlet suite. The hand-portable device includes a microprocessor 12 that receives an input from clock 14 and an input from input device 16. Microprocessor 12 provides an output via display 18 and is connected for writing to and reading from non-volatile memory 20. The microprocessor is also capable of communicating with the server and storing of the MIDlet suite via the wireless transceiver 22.

The input device 16 may be a one-handed input keyboard such as an ITU-T telephone keyboard, a two-handed input keyboard such as a QWERTY keyboard, or a touch input device. The wireless transceiver 22 may be any suitable telecommunication means. The radio transceiver may be a cellular radio telephone transceiver for operation in a cellular radio telephone network, a Bluetooth ^TM transceiver, or an IR transceiver. The hand-portable device 10 may be a WAP based cellular mobile phone configured to download MIDlet suites using the WAP protocol.

Non-volatile memory 20 stores software that supports the Java Virtual Machine. The Java virtual machine is capable of downloading a MIDlet suite via the transceiver 22, storing the MIDlet suite in the memory 20 and executing applications (MIDlets) inherent in the MIDlet suite.

The MIDlet chute has two separate parts. The first part, the Java Application Descriptor (JAD), describes the applications inherent in the suite and is identified by a data file name with a ".jad" extension. The second part, Java Application Resource (JAR), contains the actual application (s) (MIDlet (s)) and is identified by a data file name with a ".jar" extension. JAD allows the suitability of the application to be reviewed by the downloading device or by the user of the device itself before the complete JAR is downloaded.

JAD includes a set of attributes that enable the download device to identify, retrieve, and install the MIDlet (s). The Java Application Descriptor (JAD) for the MIDlet suite is:

MIDlet-Name:

MlDlet-Version:

MIDlet-Vendor:

MlDlet-Jar-URL:

It carries the same set of attributes as MIDlet-Jar-Size :.

MIDlet-Name provides the name by which the MIDlet suite is identified to the user prior to download. The MIDlet-Jar-URL provides the URI from which the JAR can be downloaded.

The JAR may be preinstalled or loaded in the mobile phone. When a JAR is loaded into a mobile phone, it is a physical device such as an over-the-air or smart card, for example via the transceiver 22, for example using a Short Message Service (SMS). It can be done through.

Appropriate provisioning documents are provisioned in the device 10. Provisioning is a process in which the device 10 consists of minimal user conversations. The term includes both OTA provisioning and provisioning via smart cards, for example. The device 10 may be provisioned with connectivity information and application information, for example, by pushing configuration parameters inherent in a provisioning document from the server to the device 10 via OTA. .

A suitable provisioning document is a binary coded XML document with a special MIME type that is interpreted at the application layer of the device 10. The XML Document Type Definition (DTD) for a provisioning document may include a palm element used to provide values for individual parameters; And characteristic elements used to group parameters into logical entities.

For example, a suitable provisioning document is

<wap-provisioningdoc version = "1.1">

<characteristic type = "APPLICATION">

   <parm name = "APPID" value = "[MIDlet-Name]" />

   <parm name = "TO-NAPID" value = "NAP1" />

   <parm name = "TO-PROXY" value = "www.operator.com" />

   </ characteristic>

<characteristic type = "NAPDEF">

      <parm name = "NAPID" value = "NAP1" />

       .....

</ characteristic>

</ wap-provisioningdoc>.

Such a suitable provisioning document is associated with a particular MIDlet suite, which specifies how the MIDlets for that MIDlet suite perform OTA communication. The association in this example is done by setting the value of APPID in JAD's MIDlet-Name.

In the provisioning document, an APPLICATION feature is used to define application protocol parameters and the device 10 is used to provide application specific parameters necessary for accessing a particular application service access point, e. .

In the 'general' provisioning document, the APPID element identifies the type of application service available at the described application service access point, but in this suitable example, the APPID element is used in conjunction with JAD. The association in this example is accomplished by setting the value of APPID in the MIDlet-Name of JAD, but the association can alternatively be set in the MIDlet-Jar-URL.

The TO-PROXY parameter refers to a logical proxy with a matching PROXY-ID that should be used to access the MIDlet-Jar-URL. In this example, the TO-PROXY parameter is a proxy of the network operator. This may, for example, cost the download service.

The TO-NAPID parameter refers to the network access point definition for the matching NAPID parameter. The NAPDEF feature contains a NAPID parameter, whose value is linked to the value of the TO-NAPID of the APPLICATION feature. The NAPDEF feature includes all parameters required to access a data network, such as a bearer, such as a NAP address, such as a telephone number and the like. NAP (Network Access Point) specifies a particular interface between a wired network and a wireless network.

The provisioning document may be downloaded via a MGMT server or a bootstrap process may be performed.

The device 10 operates according to the process illustrated in FIG.

In step 30, the device 10 parses the JAR to determine the value of the MIDlet-Name. This is the identifier of the MIDlet.

In step 32, the device finds a suitable provisioning document combined via a value of the same APPID as the identifier of the MIDlet, in this case the value of MIDlet-Name.

If the device cannot find a combined provisioning document, the device attempts to perform OTA communication using the same mechanism and configuration information as used to download the MIDlet suite (if present) in step 33. .

In step 34, the device parses the provisioning document to determine proxy configuration information and / or application protocols and / or network access points for downloading the JARs mentioned by JAD.

In step 36, the device sets the network access point and / or application protocol and / or proxy configuration information to the value (s) specified in the appropriate provisioning document.

In step 38, the OTA communication is performed using the setting information from step 36 or step 33 when the device is suitable.

The method may be performed by a computer program comprising executable instructions. The computer program may be stored on a data storage medium or downloaded via an OTA. The computer program can be used to upgrade an existing mobile phone to carry out the above mentioned method.

While embodiments of the invention have been described above with reference to various forms of examples, it is to be understood that modifications can be made to the given examples without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed. For example, while the present invention has been described so far in connection with downloading an application to a hand-portable device, the invention can also be used to download applications to other devices, such as a desktop computer.

While an effort has been made to point out such features of the invention that are of particular importance in the above specification, it should be understood that the present application has been mentioned in the above specification and / or attached, whether or not the applicant has specifically emphasized the above specification. It is intended to be protected against any patentable feature or combination of features shown in the figures.

Claims (17)

In the method for performing communication related to the MIDlet, Obtaining at least one communication configuration information from a provisioning document associated with the MIDlet; And And performing communication related to the MIDlet by using the at least one configuration information. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning document is associated with the MIDlet by including an identifier of the MIDlet in the provisioning document. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the provisioning document includes the identifier as a value of APPID. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the identifier comprises a value of MIDlet-Jar-URL and / or a value of MIDlet-Name of a JAD of the MIDlet. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the method for performing communication related to the MIDlet further comprises obtaining an identifier of the MIDlet from the JAD. Way. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the method for performing communication related to the MIDlet is configured to perform communication related to the MIDlet using the at least one configuration information to perform over the air (OTA) communication. Further comprising performing. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein performing the OTA communication occurs after the JAR of the MIDlet is received. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein performing OTA communication occurs in association with an application provided by the MIDlet. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the at least one configuration information identifies at least one application protocol. 10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the at least one configuration information identifies at least one network access point. In the method of performing Over The Air (OTA) communication associated with the application, Obtaining an identifier from an application descriptor; Obtaining at least one communication setting information from a provisioning document including the identifier; And Using the at least one communication setting information, comprising performing communication related to an application referenced by the application descriptor by using the at least one communication setting information. How to do the. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein said at least one configuration information identifies at least one application protocol. 13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein said at least one configuration information identifies at least one network access point. A computer program for performing the method of claim 11. In the method for controlling communication associated with a MIDlet, Providing a provisioning document comprising an identifier from a JAD of the MIDlet and at least one configuration information for controlling communication associated with the MIDlet. In the mobile telephone device, Means for obtaining an identifier from an application descriptor; Means for obtaining at least one configuration information from a provisioning document that includes the identifier for performing Over Ther Air (OTA) communication; And And transceiver means for performing OTA communication associated with an application referenced by the application descriptor using the at least one configuration information. A method or mobile phone substantially as described herein and / or as shown in the accompanying drawings.

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