WO2014064708A1

WO2014064708A1 - Portable electronic device and management thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2014064708A1
Application number: PCT/IN2012/000806
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tarun Jain
Original assignee: Kochar Infotech (P) Ltd.
Priority date: 2012-10-23
Filing date: 2012-12-10
Publication date: 2014-05-01

Abstract

A portable electronic device and management of the portable electronic device is disclosed. In an example, a method for managing the portable electronic device is disclosed. The method includes receiving a message on the portable electronic device and the message includes one or more instructions. The method analyzes the message to interpret the one or more instructions and identifies a service application installed on the portable electronic device based on the one or more instructions. The service application provides one or more services to a user. The method further display an interface for the identified service application to the user and the interface allows the user to directly access settings associated with the identified service application.

Description

PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND MANAGEMENT THEREOF

BACKGROUND FIELD

[0001] The invention generally relates to device management and particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention pertains to methods and systems for managing a portable electronic device.

[0002] Wireless portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, and the like often include firmware and service applications that may either be provided by manufacturers of the portable electronic devices, telecommunication carriers, or enterprises. Generally, customer care agents (CCA)/IT helpdesk teams receive numerous calls such as to provide support to users related to the portable electronic device and service applications installed therein. For example, the user may approach the CCA /IT helpdesk team with a request to configure the settings of one or more service applications such as a Bluetooth application, GPS application, SIM Lock, and/or the like. In response to the request, the CCA/IT helpdesk team provides solutions by instructing the user to manually explore or examine the portable electronic device such as to open the service application for the service configurations, which is generally a complex and time-consuming task for users, especially when the user is not familiar with the device options and operations, in other words, even if the CCA guides the user to navigate to access a particular interface on the portable electronic device, the user requires constant interaction with the portable electronic device.

[0003] Another mechanism by which the CCA can provide solutions is by remotely accessing the portable electronic device and resolving technical issues and/or requirements associated with the portable electronic device. The mechanism allows accessing the portable electronic device remotely through an application wherein the CCA/IT helpdesk team controls the device to diagnose and troubleshoot the issues as well as set up new configuration. As this mechanism remotely controls the portable electronic device, the mechanism causes concerns regarding security and privacy of the data stored on the portable electronic device. As a result, the users are reluctant to provide remote access of the portable electronic devices to the CCA.

[0004] Thus, there exists a need for a system and method for efficiently managing the portable electronic device without compromising on the security and privacy issues of the data and providing a user friendly interface to the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] This summary is an overview of some of the teachings of the present application and is not intended to be an exclusive or exhaustive treatment of the present subject matter. Further, details about the present subject matter are found in the detailed description and appended claims. Other aspects will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description and viewing the drawings that form a part thereof, each of which is not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

[0006] A portable electronic device and management of the portable electronic device is disclosed. In an example, a method for managing the portable electronic device is disclosed. The method includes receiving a message on the portable electronic device and the message includes one or more instructions. The method analyzes the message to interpret the one or more instructions and identifies a service application installed on the portable electronic device based on the one or more instructions. The service application provides one or more services to a user. The method further displays an interface for the identified service application to the user and the interface allows the user to directly access settings associated with the identified service application.

[0007] In an example, a system for managing a portable electronic device is disclosed. The system includes a remotely located entity and an agent installed on the portable electronic device. The remotely located entity transmits a message to the portable electronic device and the message includes one or more instructions. The agent is configured to receive the message and analyze the received message to interpret the one or more instructions. The agent is configured to identify a service. application installed on the portable electronic device based on the one or more instructions and to display an interface for the identified service application to the user. The interface allows the user to directly access settings associated with the identified service application.

[0008] In an example, a portable electronic device is disclosed. The portable electronic device includes one or more service applications and an agent. The one or more service applications provide one or more services to a user. The agent is configured to receive a message, including an instruction from a remotely located entity, and analyze the received message to interpret the instruction. The agent is further configured to identify the at least one service application based on the instruction and to display an interface for the identified service application to the user. The interface allows the user to directly access settings associated with the identified service application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0009] In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes represent different instances of substantially similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the present document.

[0010] Fig. 1 is an exemplary system for managing a portable electronic device and an environment in which various embodiments can operate;

[0011] Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram depicting an example of the portable electronic device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0012] Fig. 3 illustrates a sequence diagram depicting an example of a method for managing the portable electronic device;

[0013] Fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method for displaying an interface of a service application on the portable electronic device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure; and [0014] Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method for displaying a configuration settings page of a service application on the portable electronic device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. ■

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and which is shown by way of illustrating specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments, which are also referred to herein as "examples," are described in detai ls to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. And, it is to be understood that the embodiments may be combined, or that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosed invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the disclosed system and method described herein is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0016] In this document, the terms "a" or "an" are used, as common in patent documents, to include one or more than one. In this document, the term "or" is used to refer to a "nonexclusive or" unless otherwise indicated. Furthermore, all publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety as though individually incorporated by reference. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) should be considered supplementary to that of this document; for irreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

[0017] Fig. 1 is an exemplary system 100 in which various embodiments can operate. In an example, the system 100 can include a remotely located entity (RLE) 102 and one or more portable electronic devices (PED) such as PED 104a, PED 104b and PED 104n. The one or more PEDs are associated with the respective one or more users such as user 106a, user 106b , and user 106n. The one or more portable electronic devices can together be referred to as the PED 104 and one or more users can together be referred to as the user 106 for simplicity of the description. Each of the PED 104 can be communicatively coupled to the RLE 102 through a network 108. In an example, the RLE 102 is configured to provide PED 104 related services to the user 106. The RLE 102 may include one or more representatives such as a representative 1 10a, a representative

1 10b , and a representative 1 10η (collectively referred to as a representative 1 10) that may provide solutions to the users. In an example, the RLE 102 may provide diagnostic support for the PED 104 to the user 106.

[0018] In an example, the RLE 102 does not remotely control the operations of the PED 1 04 for providing diagnostic support and/or managing the PED 104. The RLE 102 can assist the user 106 of the PED 104 without remotely debugging, configuring, and managing one or more service applications available on the PED 104. For example, the user may approach the representative 1 10 for providing a diagnostic support for a particular service application. The representative 1 10 may understand the requirements of the user 106 and accordingly, the RLE 102 is configured to transmit one or more messages to the PED 104. The one or more messages may include instructions that can be executed on the PED 104. In an example, the RLE 102 is configured to transmit instructions in the form of a short message service (SMS) message. In an example, the RLE 102 is configured to transmit instructions in the form of an HTTP message. In an example, the RLE 102 is configured to transmit instructions in the form of an internet message.

[0019] Further, the message includes instructions that may include one or more actions to assist the user 106 of the PED 104. In an example, the message includes instructions to display an interface such as to provide an access to the user 106 of the PED 104 to directly modify the configuration settings of the particular service application 132 stored in the PED 104 on execution. As a result, the user 106 of the PED 104 directly controls the operation of the PED 104 and thereby, prevents the RLE 102 from remotely controlling the operations of the PED 104. However, during instances when the user 106 allows the RLE 102 to remotely control the PED 104, the RLE 102 can be configured to provide complete remote diagnostic solutions for the PED 104, where the RLE 102 remotely views information, such as the configuration and status information of the PED 104 so that the RLE 102 can easily debug, configure, and manage the PED 104 without any user intervention.

[0020] The RLE 102 described herein may be any general-purpose computer with sufficient processing power, memory resources, and network throughput capability associated with the representative 1 10. The RLE 102 can be configured to interact with a server 1 12 that is configured to store information related to a configuration settings page of one or more service applications installed on the PED 104. For example, the user may approach the representative 1 10 to update and/or modify configuration settings of a service application such as Bluetooth service installed on the PED 104. In response to this request, the RLE 102 is configured to communicate with the server 1 12 such as to customize the message in accordance with Bluetooth service application. In an example, the RLE 102 is configured to communicate with the server 1 12 such as to customize the message in accordance with a type of the PED 104. The PED 104 described herein may include for example, but not limited to, a cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet, wireless communications device, smart phone, or any other electronic device. The PED 104 may be configured to connect with the network 106 such as to communicate with the RLE 102. The connection to the network 106 may be direct or indirect, wired or wireless, or a combination thereof.

[0021] The network 106 described herein may be configured to enable communicative interconnection among a plurality of devices, such as the PED 104, and the RLE 102. The network 106 may be configured to include wireless or wire l ine network, such as for example, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) network, Personal Communication System (PCS) network, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), proprietary local and long distance network, or any other network. Further, network 106 may include digital data network, such as for example, but not limited to, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), both LAN and WAN, or any other digital data network. In an example, the message described herein may be configured to use a store and forward service such that the short messages may not be sent directly from the sender to the recipient, but always via a messaging center. In an example, the network 106 that supports this service may be configured to include one or more massaging centers such as to handle and manage the messages.

[0022] Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram depicting an example of the PED 104 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. The PED 104 can include, among other things, a processor 122, a memory 124, various support circuits 126, and an I/O interface 128. The processor 122 may include one or more microprocessors known in the art. The support circuits 126 for the processor 122 may include conventional cache, power supplies, clock circuits, data registers, I/O interfaces, and the like. The I/O interface 128 may be directly coupled to the memory 124 or coupled through the processor 122. The I/O interface 128 may also be configured for communication with input devices and/or output devices, such as network devices, various storage devices, mouse, keyboard, display, and the like (not shown). The memory 124 is coupled to the processor 122 and may comprise random access memory, read only memory, removable disk memory, flash memory, optical read/write memory, cache memory, magnetic read/write memory, and various combinations of these types of memory. The memory 124 is sometimes referred to as main memory and may, in part, be used as cache memory or buffer memory. The memory 124 may store an agent 130 and one or more service applications such as a service application

132a, a service application 132b. , and a service application 132. The one or more service applications can be referred to as a service application 1 32 for the simplicity of the description.

[0023] In an example, the service application 132 described herein may include for example, but not limited to, Java based applications, browsers installed, Bluetooth application, wifi application, firewall application, third-party applications, or any other applications installed or configured on the PED 104. The service application 132 may provide one or more services to the user 106 of the PED 104. The services may include, but not limited to, internet services, email services, browser services, entertainment services, network access services, educational services, mobile management services or other customized services. [0024] Generally, these services can be activated and/or deactivated using one or more configuration settings pages of the respective service application 132. in an example, the setting page may include an interface that may allow the user to access Wifi settings, wherein the user may view and/or modify these settings. In another example, the setting page may include an interface that may allow the user to access GPS settings, wherein the user may view, enable or disable the settings associated with the GPS services. In another example, the setting page may include an interface that may allow the user to access a USB tethering feature. The user may view, enable or disable the USB tethering feature on the PED 104. In another example, the setting page may include an interface that may allow the user to access a SIM lock feature. The user may view, enable or disable the SIM lock feature as per requirements.

[0025] In an example, the RLE 102, in communication with the one or more servers 1 12 is configured to send one or more instructions to the PED 104. In an example, the one or more instructions to the PED 104 may be sent using the short message service of the network 106. In an example, the one or more instructions to the PED 104 may be sent using the HTTP message service of the network 106. In an example, the one or more instructions to the PED 104 may be sent using the Internet message of the network 106. in an example, the agent 130 is configured to receive the message including the one or more instructions from the RLE 102. The agent running on the PED 104 is configured to analyze the received message to interpret the instructions. Further, the agent 130 is configured to identify the at least one service application based on the interpreted instructions. On identification of the service application, the agent 130 is configured to display an interface for the identified service application and the interface provides an access to directly modify configuration settings of the identified service application. For example, if an application providing Bluetooth services is identified, the agent 130 can be configured to display the Bluetooth configuration settings page to the user 106. The Bluetooth configurations settings page may allow the user 106 to directly modify the one or more settings corresponding to the Bluetooth services. In an example, the user 106 may not have to navigate to access the Bluetooth configuration settings page like in the prior art. In an example, the agent 130 is further configured to initiate the identified service application on receiving the message from the RLE 1 02. In an example, the agent 130 is further configured to transmit an acknowledgment to the RLE 102 after displaying the interface for the identified service application to the user.

[0026] Fig. 3 illustrates a sequence diagram depicting an example of a method 300 for managing the PED 104. In an example, at 302, the method 300 may allow the user 106 to configure and/or install the agent 130 on the PED 104 such as to communicate with the RLE 102. In an example, the agent 130 may be a pre-embedded module in the PED 104 or may be a standalone application that may be installed by the user 106 on the PED 104. When the user 106 faces any problem with the PED 104 or may require access to a particular service, the user 106 may connect with the RLE 102 such as to seek the support from the representative 1 10 regarding the particular service. For example, the user 1 06 may approach the RLE 102 to enable GPRS services on the PED 104. In an example, at 304, the connection may be established by calling the RLE 102 via the PED 104. For example, the user 106 of the PED 104 may use a support number such as to establish a call with the RLE 102.

[0027] At 306, the method 300 may allow the user 106 to communicate the requirements associated with the PED 104 to the RLE 102 through the network 106. Consequently, at 308, the method 300 may allow the RLE 102 to identify the user 106 with a unique identifier such as a user mobile number or any other unique identifier and thereby, send an authentication request to the PED 104 for managing the PED 104. At 3 10, the method 300 may allow the user 106 to authenticate the RLE 102 and at 3 12, the agent 130 may communicate the authentication response to the RLE 102. Upon receiving a response from the user 106, the RLE 102 sends a request to the one or more servers 1 12 to create a session with the PED 104 such as shown at 314. In an example, at 316, the method 300 may allow the server 1 12 to create the session such that the RLE 102 may remotely manage the PED 104.

[0028] After the session is established, at 318, the method 300 allows the user to communicate the requirements associated with the one or more service applications 132 installed on the PED 104 to the RLE 102 such that a possible solution can be received from the RLE 102. At 320, the method 300 may allow the RLE 102 to send a message including one or more instructions to the PED 104 in accordance with the requirements communicated to the RLE 102. For example, the instruction may include information to identify a particular service application 132 on the PED 104 and display the configuration settings page of the particular service application 132. In an example, the instruction may include information to initiate the service application 132 on the PED 104. In an example, at 322, the method 300 may allow the agent 130 (running on the PED 104) to analyze the message and interpret instructions included therein. In an example, the agent 130 is configured to identify the service application 132 based on the instruction and to display an interface for the identified service application 132 to the user 106. In an example, the agent 130 is configured to display the configuration settings page of the identified service application 132 to the user.

[0029] In an example, at 324, the method 300 may allow the user to access the displayed interface such as to directly modify configuration settings of the identified service application. Although the RLE 102 communicates instructions through the messages to the PED 104 such as to display an interface to the user 106, the present method 300 allows the user 106 to modify the configuration settings of the identified service application 132. As a result, the RLE 102 does not take complete control of the PED 104 and the user 106 may not have to compromise on the privacy issues related to data access. At 326, the method^" may allow the agent 130 to communicate an acknowledgement message to the RLE 102 after displaying the interface for the identified service application to the user.

[0030] It should be understood that the embodiments described herein with respect to the sequence diagram of Fig. 3 is meant to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. For example, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the elements and steps of the illustrated embodiments may be implemented as a software, hardware, or combinations thereof. The sequential steps illustrated .herein may be modified in arrangement, or some of the steps may be skipped or added, performed sequentially, in parallel, in a different order, or a combination thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. [0031] Fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method for displaying an interface of the service application 132 on the PED 104 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In the flow charts, various algorithmic steps are summarized in individual "blocks". The flow charts presented herein provide the basis for a control program that may be used or implemented by a microprocessor or a microcontroller or equivalent to effectuate the desired control of the PED 104. Those skilled in the art may readily implement such a control program based on the flow charts and other description presented herein. At 402, the method 400 may allow a message to be received on the PED 104. In an example, the message is transmitted by the RLE 102 toward the PED 1 04 in response to the requirements communicated by the user 106 of the PED 104. The message may include one or more instructions that may address the requirements of the user 106. At 404, the received message is analyzed. In an example, the agent 130 is configured to analyze the message to interpret the one or more instructions. At 406, the method 400 may identify a service application. In an example, the agent 130 is configured to identify the service application 132 using one or more instructions. At 408, an interface for the identified service application 132 is displayed to the user 106 of the PED 104. The interface provides an access to the user 106 to directly modify configuration settings of the identified service application 132.

[0032] Fig. 5 il lustrates a flow chart of a method 500 for displaying a configuration settings page of the service application 132 on the PED 104 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. At 502, a user is requested to authenticate a remotely located entity to manage a portable electronic device. In an example, the RLE 102 may transmit a message including an authentication request to the user 106 of the PED 104 in response to the requirements communicated by the user 106. At 504, the user authenticates the RLE 102 so that the RLE 102 can transmit the messages including instructions for the PED 104. At 506, a message is received at the PED 1 04. In an example, the message is transmitted by the RLE 102 such as to manage the PED 104. At 508, the message is analyzed. In an example, the message includes one or more instructions and the agent 130 installed on the PED 104 is configured to analyze the message such as to interpret the instructions. In an example, the message can be an SMS message, an HTTP message, or an Internet message. [0033] At step 510, a service application is identified. In an example, the agent 130 is configured to identify the service application 132 from a plurality of service applications available on the PED 104. At step 512, a settings page of the indentified service application is displayed to the user. In an example, the user 106 does not have to navigate to access the settings page of the identified service application 132. For example, if a user has communicated to the RLE 102 a requirement such as to enable the GPRS services on the PED 104, the RLE 102 may transmit a particular message including instructions such as to display the settings page of a GPRS service application that can enable the user 106 to modify the settings associated with the GPRS services and thereby, enable the GPRS services on the PED 104. Without navigating the PED 104, the present method 500 allows the user 106 to directly access the settings page of the identified service application 132. As a result, the method 500 significantly reduces the user interaction time to locate the configuration settings page of the identified service application 132. Since the RLE 102 is not remotely controlling the PED 104, the method 500 can address the privacy and security concerns of the user 106 for the data stored on the PED 104.

[0034] At 5 14, an acknowledgment is sent to the remotely located entity. In an example, the agent 130 is configured to acknowledge the RLE 102 after displaying the configuration settings page of the identified service application 132. At 5 16, the method 500 may allow to determine the RLE 102 whether additional information is required by the user 106 of the PED 104. If it is determined at 516 that the user 106 needs more information, for example, the user 106 may need to configure an emai l account on an Email set-up application, the method 500, as shown at 506, may allow the PED 104 to receive one or more messages that may include instructions in accordance with the additional information requirement of the user 1 06. If it is determined at 516 that the user 106 does not need additional information, then the method at 5 18 terminates the session between the PED 104 and the RLE 102.

[0035] It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. For example, the above-described embodiments may be used in combination with each other. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the literal English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein." Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, i.e., a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following description, the terms "first," and "second," etc., are used merely as labels and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

[0036] The methods described herein may be deployed in part or whole through a machine that executes software programs on a server, client, or other such computer and/or networking hardware on a processor. The processor may be part of a server, client, network infrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computing platform, or other computing platform. The processor may be any kind of computational or processing device capable of executing program instructions, codes, binary instructions, and the like. The processor may be or may include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor, microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math coprocessor, graphic co-processor, communication co-processor, and the like) and the like that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of program code or program instructions stored thereon.

[0037] The software program may be associated with a server that may include a domain server, Internet server, intranet server, and other variants such as secondary server, host server, distributed server, and the like. The server may include one or more memory, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methods, as described in this application, may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associated with the server. [0038] The software program may be associated with a client that may include a domain client, Internet client, intranet client, and other variants such as secondary client, host client, distributed client, and the like. The client may include one or more of memory, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client.

[0039] The server may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers, and the like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of programs across the network. The networking of some or all these devices may faci litate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the invention.

[0040] The client may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, print servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers, and the like. Additionally, this coupl ing and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of program across the network. The networking of some or all these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the invention.

[0041] The methods described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routing devices, and other active and passive devices, modules, and/or components as known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM, and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more elements of the network infrastructure. [0042] The elements described and depicted herein, including flow charts, sequence diagrams, and other example embodiments throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through computer executable media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed methods, no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various steps should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.

[0043] The methods and/or processes described above, and steps thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect or component of a specific computing device.

[0044] While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the system and method disclosed herein is not to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood in the broadest sense allowable by law.

Claims

CLAIMS: What is claimed is:

1 . A method for managing a portable electronic device, the method comprising:

receiving a message on the portable electronic device and the message includes at least one instruction;

analyzing the message to interpret the at least one instruction;

identifying at least one service application installed on the portable electronic device based on the at least one instruction, wherein the at least one service application is configured to provide at least one service to a user;

displaying an interface for the identified service application to the user, wherein the interface allows the user to directly access settings associated with the identified service application.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message includes at least one instruction to display an interface providing an access to at least one setting of the at least one service application on the portable electronic device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the message is at least one of an SMS message, an HTTP message, and an Internet message.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a request on the portable electronic device to authenticate a remotely located entity to transmit the message.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interface allows the user to modify at least one setting of the identified service application.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising transmitting an acknowledgment to the remotely located entity after displaying the interface for the identified service application to the user.

7. A portable electronic device comprising: at least one service application configured to provide at least one service to a user; and

an agent configured to receive a message including at least one instruction from a remotely located entity, analyze the received message to interpret the at least one instruction, identify the at least one service application based on the at least one instruction, and to display an interface for the identified service application to the user, wherein the interface allows the user to directly access settings associated with the identified service application.

8. The portable electronic device of claim 7, wherein the message includes at least one instruction to display an interface providing an access to at least one setting of the at least one service application on the portable electronic device.

9. The portable electronic device of claim 8, wherein the interface does not require the user to navigate to access the interface providing the access to at least one setting of the identified service application.

10. The portable electronic device of claim 7, wherein the agent is further configured to initiate the identified service application on receiving the message from the remotely located entity.

1 1. The portable electronic device of claim 7, wherein the agent is further configured to transmit an acknowledgment to the remotely located entity after displaying the interface for the identified service application to the user.

12. A system for managing a portable electronic device, the system comprising:

a remotely located entity configured to transmit a message to the portable electronic device and the message includes at least one instruction;

an agent installed on the portable electronic device, wherein the agent is configured to receive the message from the remotely located entity, analyze the received message to interpret the at least one instruction, identify at least one service application installed on the portable electronic device based on the at least one instruction, and to display an interface for the identified service application to the user, wherein the interface the interface allows the user to directly access settings associated with the identified service application.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the message is at least one of an SMS message, an HTTP message, and an Internet message.

14. The system of claim 12 further comprising at least one server configured to store information related to the settings of the at least one service application.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the remotely located entity is configured to communicate with the at least one server to customize the message in accordance with the at least one service application.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the remotely located entity is configured to communicate with the at least one server to customize the message in accordance with a type of the portable electronic device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the remotely located entity is configured to transmit a request to the portable electronic device to authenticate the remotely located entity to transmit the message.

1 8. The system of claim 17, wherein the user authenticate the remotely located entity to transmit the message.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the remotely located entity is configured to receive a call from the user and authenticate the user in accordance with a unique identifier associated with the user.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the remotely located entity is configured to provide at least one helpdesk solution to the user.