System and Method for Restricting System and Application Software Available for Installation on a Managed Mobile Device

Abstract

A method for managing software on a device is provided. The method comprises: receiving, from a third party associated with the device, by a software administrator of an organization different from the third party, release information regarding software versions for the device; creating, by the software administrator, a profile that specifies whether or not at least one of the software versions is allowed on the device; and transmitting the profile, by the software administrator to a server computer associated with the third or other parties, to promote enforcement of the profile for the device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a server computer from a software loading service of a software management entity, release information regarding a plurality of software versions for a target device, wherein the software loading service controls an installation of software;   sending, from the server computer over a network to an administrative device of a software administrator, the release information to cause creation, at the administrative device, of a profile that specifies whether or not at least one software version of the plurality of software versions is allowed on the target device, wherein the creation of the profile comprises including, in the profile, a range of software versions of the plurality of software versions and conditions under which the software versions of the range of software versions included in the profile are to be applied to the target device, the conditions included in the profile comprising a roaming condition and a further condition selected from among a time condition and a location condition, wherein the roaming condition controls installation of a software version based on a roaming status of the target device, and wherein the range of software versions comprise different versions of a particular unit of software;   receiving, at the server computer over the network from the administrative device, the profile comprising the range of software versions, the roaming condition, and the further condition, to enforce installation, on the target device, of one or more software versions of the range of software versions based on the conditions in the profile; and   sending, from the server computer to the target device, information of the profile, the target device to act as a pass-through for the information of the profile and send the information of the profile to the software loading service, the software loading service to use the information of the profile for determining a software version of the range of software versions to be installed on the target device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 receiving, at the target device from the software loading service, the particular unit of software according to the determined software version of the range of software versions to be installed on the target device.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the target device sends to the software loading service the information of the profile that includes device-specific policy information pertaining to the range of software versions that are specific for the target device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the software loading service enforces the profile on the target device based on the roaming condition and the further condition. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the enforcement comprises at least one of:
 allowing installation of at least one software version on the target device;   preventing installation of at least one software version on the target device;   providing an alert on the target device that at least one software version is available for installation on the target device; or   providing an alert on the target device that at least one software version is not available for installation on the target device.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the server computer belongs to an organization that is different from a provider associated with the software management entity. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the software administrator has no control or input regarding which software versions are made available by the software loading service in the release information, and wherein the creation of the profile at the administrative device selects the at least one software version allowed on the target device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the server computer is separated from the administrative device by a firewall. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the conditions included in the profile further comprise a memory available condition that controls installation of a software version based on an amount of memory available on the target device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein including the range of software versions in the profile comprises adding, to the profile, information of a minimum release number of the particular unit of software and a maximum release number of the particular unit of software. 
     
     
         11 . A target device comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to:
 receive, at the target device from a server computer, a payload including information of a profile comprising a range of software versions of a plurality of software versions for the target device, the information of the profile further comprising conditions under which the software versions of the range of software versions are to be applied to the target device, the conditions comprising a roaming condition and a further condition for enforcement by a software loading service in installing a given software version of the range of software versions on the target device, wherein the roaming condition controls installation of a software version based on a roaming status of the target device, and wherein the range of software versions comprise different versions of a particular unit of software, wherein the profile from the server computer is created by an administrative device separate from the server computer based on release information regarding the plurality of software versions for the target device, the release information provided by the software loading service; 
 send, from the target device acting as a pass-through to the software loading service, the information of the profile comprising the range of software versions and the conditions; 
 receive, at the target device from the software loading service, software according to the given software version determined by the software loading service based on the conditions; and 
 install, at the target device, the software according to the given software version. 
   
     
     
         12 . The target device of  claim 11 , wherein the server computer is separated from the administrative device by a firewall. 
     
     
         13 . The target device of  claim 11 , wherein the conditions further comprise a memory available condition that controls installation of a software version based on an amount of memory available on the target device. 
     
     
         14 . The target device of  claim 11 , wherein the range of software versions includes a minimum release number of the software and a maximum release number of the software. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that upon execution cause a server computer to:
 receive, at the server computer from a software loading service, release information regarding a plurality of software versions for a target device, wherein the software loading service controls an installation of software;   transmit, from the server computer over a network to an administrative device of an organization different from a third party that controls the server computer, the release information;   receive, at the server computer over the network from the administrative device, a profile that specifies whether at least one software version of the plurality of software versions is allowed on the target device or is prohibited on the target device, wherein the profile received by the server computer from the administrative device includes a range of software versions of the plurality of software versions and conditions under which the software versions of the range of software versions included in the profile are to be applied to the target device, the conditions included in the profile comprising a roaming condition and a further condition selected from among a time condition and a location condition, wherein the roaming condition controls installation of a software version based on a roaming status of the target device, and wherein the range of software versions comprise different versions of a particular unit of software; and   transmit, from the server computer to the target device, information of the profile, the target device to act as a pass-through for the information of the profile and send the information of the profile to the software loading service, the software loading service to use the information of the profile for determining a software version of the range of software versions to be installed on the target device based on the conditions.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the software loading service enforces the profile on the target device based on the roaming condition and the further condition. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions upon execution cause the server computer to receive a plurality of profiles for the target device; and
 perform a reconciliation procedure to determine which of the plurality of profiles is to be enforced on the target device.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions upon execution cause the server computer to:
 compare software installed on the target device to the software versions of the range of software versions; and   in response to the comparing indicating that the software installed on the target device does not correspond to the software versions of the range of software versions in the profile, take an action to impair a functioning of the target device.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the conditions included in the profile further comprise a memory available condition that controls installation of a software version based on an amount of memory available on the target device. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the profile includes a minimum release number of the particular unit of software and a maximum release number of the particular unit of software.