Secure Element Application Version Availability Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
In the context of mobile commerce, there is a risk of cascading failures due to defective application updates in mobile devices, which can render devices malfunctioning or 'bricked,' and existing testing methods cannot guarantee the prevention of such issues, necessitating a solution to quickly and efficiently stop the distribution of defective applications.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for managing the availability states of applications on secure elements, allowing for the receipt and modification of requests to enable or disable application versions, with a central Trusted Service Manager (TSM) maintaining secure element profiles and availability tables to control the rollout of new versions and prevent the distribution of defective ones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If new versions of applications are automatically updated or routinely updated, then application functionality is improved, but the risk of cascading failures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining multiple versions of applications and pre-configuring rollback mechanisms. Before a new version is fully deployed, the system ensures that a stable previous version is preserved and can be quickly restored if issues arise, thus preventing cascading failures while enabling rapid updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of version availability by introducing an availability state that can be dynamically adjusted. Administrators can modify the availability state of application versions to control deployment, allowing rapid switching between versions to prevent failure propagation while maintaining update efficiency.
2Reliability
If extensive testing is performed on new application versions, then reliability is improved, but the time to deploy updates increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining multiple tested versions of applications in advance. Instead of testing and deploying sequentially, the system has multiple pre-tested versions ready, allowing rapid deployment by simply switching to a previously tested version, thus reducing deployment time while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts the testing phase from the deployment process by maintaining a separate repository of pre-tested versions. This allows testing to occur independently and in parallel with deployment activities, eliminating the sequential dependency that causes time delays while ensuring only tested versions are deployed.
3Reliability
If defective application versions are quickly rolled back, then device reliability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies universality by creating a multi-functional version management mechanism that handles both normal updates and rollback operations through the same infrastructure. The availability state mechanism serves multiple purposes: controlling deployment, enabling rollback, and managing version lifecycle, thus reducing overall system complexity despite the added reliability capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and computer readable storage medium for managing applications on a secure element. A request to modify the availability state of a version of a service, the availability state of the service being stored in a memory, is received. The availability state of the version of the service stored in the memory is modified in accordance with the request. More specifically, the availability state is modified to: (i) unavailable in a case where the request includes an instruction to disable the version of the service, and (ii) available in a case where the request includes an instruction to enable the version of the service. The service is associated with a secure element profile.