Server-Assisted Antimalware Client for Mobile Devices

The patent extracts resource-intensive antimalware processing functions from the host device and relocates them to a remote server. The host device retains only lightweight client functionality for communication and basic operations, while the server handles complex malware detection, analysis, and remediation tasks. This extraction resolves the contradiction by maintaining malware detection capability while eliminating the processing overhead that would otherwise burden the host device.

The patent introduces a thin antimalware client as an intermediary between the host device and the remote server. This client acts as a mediator that communicates with the server, transmitting necessary information and receiving instructions, thereby enabling the host device to leverage remote processing power without requiring full antimalware functionality locally. This intermediary approach maintains detection reliability while minimizing local resource consumption.

The patent extracts the need for frequent local updates by relocating the malware definition database and remediation tools to the remote server. Instead of downloading updates to the host device, the server maintains current malware intelligence and provides it on-demand to clients. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining high detection accuracy through server-side updates while eliminating the network bandwidth consumption and performance impact of frequent local downloads.

The server performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and analyzing malware threats, maintaining an up-to-date database of malware signatures and behaviors. When a client needs detection capabilities, it receives pre-processed information from the server rather than requiring its own update mechanism. This preliminary action on the server side ensures detection accuracy is maintained without requiring frequent updates at the client level, thus reducing network bandwidth consumption.

The patent extracts the heavy remediation functionality from the thin client and places it on the remote server. The client maintains only lightweight communication and coordination capabilities, while the server performs complex remediation operations such as malware removal, system restoration, and deep scanning. This extraction allows the device to maintain high performance while the server provides comprehensive remediation capability, resolving the contradiction between device performance and remediation effectiveness.

The thin client creates simplified copies or representations of malware threats and transmits them to the server for analysis. Rather than attempting full local remediation, the client copies relevant threat information to the server, which then performs the actual remediation work. This copying approach enables the thin client to maintain device performance while still achieving effective malware remediation through server assistance.