System And Method Of Operation Control On An Electronic Device

Abstract

Systems and methods of application control for use on an electronic device. A device can be configured to receive an operation request from an application. The device can determine whether the requested operation is allowed to be performed by the application based upon a stored authorization record and an application identifier associated with the application. The application is allowed to perform the requested operation based upon whether the requested operation is determined to be allowed to be performed by the application.

1 . A method of application control for use on an electronic device, the method comprising:
 receiving an operation request from an application;   determining whether the requested operation is allowed to be performed by the application based upon a stored authorization record and an application identifier associated with the application; and   allowing the application to perform the requested operation based upon whether the requested operation is determined to be allowed to be performed by the application.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application is allowed to perform the requested operation only if the requested operation is determined to be allowed to be performed by the application. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the authorization record and the application identifier are provided by an external source for storage on the electronic device. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the authorization record and the application identifier are provided by the external source to the electronic device through a wireless communication channel. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the authorization record related to determining whether the requested operation is to be allowed is provided by an external computer that is used to enforce policies for operating electronic devices within an organization. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an update to the authorization record is provided by an external source for storage on the electronic device. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of authorization records associated with a plurality of application identifiers are stored on the electronic device, said method further comprising:
 receiving operation requests from a plurality of applications operating on the electronic device;   determining whether the requested operations are allowed to be performed by their respective applications based upon the stored authorization records and the application identifiers that are respectively associated with the plurality of applications; and   allowing the plurality of applications to perform their respective requested operations based upon whether the requested operations are determined to be allowed to be performed.   
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein a group containing two or more of the applications is associated with one of the authorization records. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the requested operation is selected from the group consisting of: opening a connection; accessing a telephone API; accessing local memory; or communicating with another executing application. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the requested operation is selected from the group consisting of: opening network connections inside a firewall; opening network connections outside the firewall; opening local connections; interacting with other processes; accessing a runtime store or a persistent store; or accessing a telephone API in order to make a phone call through the electronic device. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stored authorization record is associated with data indicative of whether the application is required, allowed, or excluded. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the authorization record is stored in a protected data store thereby preventing alteration or deletion to the authorization record unless permitted. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is a wireless mobile communications device or a personal digital assistant (PDA). 
   
   
       14 . One or more computer readable media storing instructions that upon execution by the electronic device cause the electronic device perform the steps of  claim 1 . 
   
   
       15 . A data signal that is transmitted using a communication channel, wherein the data signal includes the authorization record of  claim 1  for use by the electronic device for determining whether a requested operation is allowed to be performed. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application operates upon the electronic device. 
   
   
       17 . A system of application control for use on an electronic device, comprising:
 an authorization record store configured to store operation authorization data records and application identifiers that are associated with the operation authorization data records;   software instructions that are configured to consult the operation authorization data in the authorization record store in order to determine whether an operation requested by an application operating on the electronic device is allowed to be performed by the application;   wherein the application identifiers associated with the operation authorization data records are used to determine which of the operation authorization data records is to be used by the software instructions in determining whether to permit the requested operation.   
   
   
       18 . A system of application control for use on wireless mobile communications device, comprising:
 means for receiving an operation request from an application;   wherein the requested operation is selected from the group consisting of: opening a connection, accessing a telephone API, accessing local memory and communicating with another executing application;   means for determining whether the requested operation is allowed to be performed by the application based upon a stored authorization record and an application identifier associated with the application;   wherein the stored authorization record is associated with data indicative of whether the application is required, allowed, or excluded;   wherein the authorization record related to determining whether the requested operation is to be allowed is provided by an external computer that is used to enforce policies for operating electronic devices within an organization;   means for allowing the application to perform the requested operation based upon whether the requested operation is determined to be allowed to be performed by the application.