TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is directed toward the field of mobile communications. In particular, the system and method of the present invention provide for control of configuration settings for hand-held mobile communication devices and communication services. The hand-held mobile communication devices may be associated with an event-driven redirection computer program (“redirector program”) operating at a host system, which, upon sensing a particular user-defined event has occurred, redirects user-selected data items from the host system to the user's mobile communication device. The mobile data communication device may be coupled to the host system via a wireless network and one or more landline networks.

BACKGROUND

Known systems and methods for replicating information from a host system to a user's mobile data communication device are typically “synchronization” systems in which the user's data items are warehoused (or stored) at the host system for an indefinite period of time and then transmitted in bulk only in response to a user request. In these types of systems and methods, when replication of the warehoused data items to the mobile device is desired, the user typically places the mobile device in an interface cradle that is electrically connected to the host system via some form of local, dedicated communication, such as a serial cable or an infrared or other type of wireless link. Software executing on the mobile data communication device then transmits commands via the local communications link to the host system to cause the host to begin transmitting the user's data items for storage in a memory bank of the mobile device. In these synchronization schemes, the mobile unit “pulls” the warehoused information from the host system in a batch each time the user desires to replicate information between the two devices. Therefore, the two systems (host system and device) only maintain the same data items after a user-initiated command sequence that causes the mobile device to download the data items from the host system.

A general problem with these synchronization systems is that the only time that the user data items are replicated between the host system and the mobile data communication device is when the user commands the mobile device to download or pull the user data from the host system. At some later time a new message could be sent to the user, but the user would not receive that message until the next time the user fetches the user data items. Thus, a user may fail to respond to an emergency update or message because the user only periodically synchronizes the system, such as once per day. Other problems with these systems include: (1) the amount of data to be reconciled between the host and the mobile device can become large if the user does not “synchronize” on a daily or hourly basis, leading to bandwidth difficulties, particularly when the mobile device is communicating via a wireless packet-switched network; and (2) reconciling large amounts of data, as can accrue in these batch-mode synchronization systems, can require a great deal of communication between the host and the mobile device, thus leading to a more complex, costly and energy-inefficient system.

In order to address such disadvantages of pull-based data item synchronization systems, the assignee of the instant application has developed a more automated, continuous, efficient and reliable system and method of ensuring that user data items are replicated at a user's mobile communication device. User-selected data items or certain portions of the selected data items stored at a host system are continuously redirected or “pushed” to a user's mobile data communication device upon the occurrence of a user-defined triggering event.

In such an automated and continuous redirection system, a user is preferably able to configure device and redirection settings according to personal preferences. When the host system and device are provided for employee use in a corporate environment and primarily for business purposes however, a corporate information technology (IT) department may wish to set certain guidelines for such settings, for example to require that a password be established by a user to prevent unauthorized use of a device or access to information stored on a device, to enable or disable certain device features, to prevent a user from resetting certain default settings, to control the types of data items that can be selected for redirection from the host system to a mobile communication device, or to limit the conditions under which data items are redirected to a mobile communication device. In known systems, these guidelines tend to be established at initial installation of a redirection system and are difficult to update, modify and enforce. Furthermore, settings for mobile communication devices and services can normally be controlled only by the owners or operators of communication systems in which mobile communication devices are adapted to operate, not by a client or service provider.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the invention, a method for controlling a configuration setting in a mobile data communication device in a communication system, wherein the communication system includes a redirection system that detects a triggering event in a host system and in response to the triggering event continuously redirects data items from the host system over a wireless network to the mobile data communication device, comprises the steps of providing a device configuration for the mobile data communication device that controls one or more functions of the mobile data communication device, receiving a policy setting for the mobile data communication device at a policy generation system, generating an update message that corresponds to the policy setting, transmitting the update message through the redirection system to the wireless network, receiving the update message at the mobile data communication device, and in response to the update message, automatically modifying the device configuration to include the policy setting.

A method for controlling a configuration setting in a group of mobile data communication devices in a communication system in accordance with another aspect of the invention, wherein the communication system includes a redirection system that detects a triggering event in a host system and in response to the triggering event continuously redirects data items from the host system over a wireless network to one or more of the mobile data communication devices, comprises the steps of defining the group of mobile data communication devices, providing a device configuration for each of the mobile data communication devices that controls one or more functions of the mobile data communication device, receiving a policy setting for the group of mobile data communication devices at a policy generation system, generating an update message that corresponds to the policy setting, transmitting the update message through the redirection system to the wireless network, receiving the update message at each mobile data communication device in the group of mobile data communication devices, and in response to the update message, each mobile data communication device in the group of mobile data communication devices automatically modifying the device configuration to include the policy setting.

In another embodiment of the invention, a system for controlling a configuration setting in a mobile communication device comprises a redirection server that detects a triggering event in a host system and in response to the triggering event continuously redirects data items from the host system to a wireless network, a mobile data communication device that receives data items from the wireless network and that includes a device configuration stored in a memory location on the mobile data communication device, wherein the device configuration controls one or more functions of the mobile data communication device, and a policy generation system that receives a policy setting from a user interface and stores the policy setting in a user information record, wherein the redirection server detects the policy setting in the user information record and in response to detecting the policy setting transmits the policy setting over the wireless network to the mobile data communication device, and wherein the mobile data communication device automatically modifies the device configuration to include the policy setting.

