Secure Push Notification Intermediary for Mobile Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile push notification systems lack security guarantees for enterprise customers, as they rely on proprietary methods and protocols controlled by third parties, making it challenging to securely push notifications across diverse mobile devices.
Innovation Solution
A universal information framework (UIF) is implemented to provide a secure push notification service through native third-party push services and protocols, using a push service platform that generates and sends secure messages with message IDs, allowing mobile devices to request and retrieve encrypted content independently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If proprietary third-party push notification services (APNS, C2DM, BlackBerry Push Service) are used, then push notification functionality is provided, but security cannot be guaranteed for enterprise customers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component that sits between the enterprise customer and the third-party push notification services. This intermediary acts as a security gateway that receives push notification requests, applies enterprise-defined security policies, and then forwards approved notifications through the appropriate third-party service (APNS, C2DM, or BlackBerry Push Service). This resolves the contradiction by providing security guarantees through the intermediary while maintaining compatibility with diverse mobile devices through multi-service support.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the push notification system into distinct functional layers: an enterprise security layer that handles authentication and policy enforcement, and platform-specific service layers (APNS, C2DM, BlackBerry) that handle device-specific delivery. This segmentation allows each layer to specialize in its function - security in the enterprise layer and device compatibility in the platform layers - thereby resolving the contradiction between security and versatility.
2Reliability
If a universal information framework is implemented to ensure security, then security is enhanced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal information framework that provides security functions across multiple third-party push notification services through a single intermediary component. This framework handles authentication, authorization, and policy enforcement in a unified manner regardless of which underlying service (APNS, C2DM, or BlackBerry) is used. The universality of this framework reduces system complexity by providing consistent security mechanisms across diverse platforms rather than requiring separate security implementations for each service.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by maintaining standardized data structures and message formats that can be replicated across different third-party services. The intermediary uses common authentication tokens and policy enforcement mechanisms that are copied and applied uniformly across APNS, C2DM, and BlackBerry services, reducing the complexity of implementing service-specific security logic for each platform.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for pushing secure notifications to a mobile computing device. For example, a method for pushing secure notifications includes a push service platform receiving a push notification message request from an entity registered with the push service platform, processing the push notification message request to generate a secure push notification message, and sending the secure push notification message to a target mobile computing device through a native third-party push service associated with the target mobile computing device. The secure push notification message includes a message ID (identifier) that corresponds to message content associated with the push notification message request. The method further includes the push service platform receiving a pull message request from the target mobile computing device, the pull message request requesting the message content associated with the push notification message corresponding to the message ID, and sending the requested message content associated with the push notification message to the mobile computing device.