Patent Application
20140282839
An enterprise application is the term used to describe software applications that businesses use to assist in solving problems. In today's corporate environment, enterprise applications are complex, scalable, distributed, component-based, and mission-critical. They may be deployed on a variety of platforms, across corporate networks, intranets, or the Internet. They are often data-centric, user-friendly, and must meet stringent requirements for security, administration, and maintenance. Examples of enterprise applications can include a sales applications, marketing applications, business intelligence tools, project management applications, etc. In short, enterprise applications can be directed to applications that a business wants its employees to use.
As mobile devices become more prevalent, users want to use their personal devices in conjunction with business. For example, rather than users owning a business phone and a separate personal phone, users own a single phone with integrated business applications and data and personal applications and data.
When enrolling applications or policies on the user's phone, different enterprise source types can cause authentication problems. For example, some enterprise sources have an on-premise management server, while other enterprise sources have a hosted, cloud-based solution. The different enterprise source types make enrollment difficult.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
A unified enrollment client is described that allows authentication and communication with disparate enterprise management source types. A first enterprise management source type can have an on-premise authority, which is a server computer on the premises of the corporation. A second enterprise management source type can have a cloud-based management server in which a federation authority is used to communicate with a cloud-based management source. Authentication can be handled regardless of the source type through the use of a discovery request which identifies the source type so that the enrollment client knows how to tailor the authentication to the particular enterprise management source.
In one embodiment, an enrollment client can transmit a discovery request to an enterprise management source in order to determine a source type. The source type can be a on-premise management server or a cloud-based management server. In any event, the enterprise management source can respond to the discovery request with a response that identifies its' type. The type relates to the network structure at the enterprise management source. For the on-premise management server, credentials are sent by an enrollment client without the need for authentication. However, for the cloud-based management server, an authentication client is used to perform an authentication.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying figures.
The illustrated mobile device 100 can include a controller or processor 110 (e.g., signal processor, microprocessor, ASIC, or other control and processing logic circuitry) for performing such tasks as signal coding, data processing, input/output processing, power control, and/or other functions. An operating system 112 can control the allocation and usage of the components 102 and support for one or more application programs that are separately stored in application containers 114. The application programs can include common mobile computing applications (e.g., email applications, calendars, contact managers, web browsers, messaging applications), or any other computing application. A particular application program 115 can be used for policy and application enrolling an enterprise management source. The application 115 can make discovery requests to determine a network configuration of an enterprise management source, as further described below.
The illustrated mobile device 100 can include memory 120. Memory 120 can include non-removable memory 122 and/or removable memory 124. The non-removable memory 122 can include RAM, ROM, flash memory, a hard disk, or other well-known memory storage technologies. The removable memory 124 can include flash memory or a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, which is well known in GSM communication systems, or other well-known memory storage technologies, such as “smart cards.” The memory 120 can be used for storing data and/or code for running the operating system 112 and the applications. Example data can include web pages, text, images, sound files, video data, or other data sets to be sent to and/or received from one or more network servers or other devices via one or more wired or wireless networks. The memory 120 can be used to store a subscriber identifier, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and an equipment identifier, such as an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI). Such identifiers can be transmitted to a network server to identify users and equipment.
The mobile device 100 can support one or more input devices 130, such as a touchscreen 132, microphone 134, camera 136, physical keyboard 138 and/or trackball 140 and one or more output devices 150, such as a speaker 152 and a display 154. Other possible output devices (not shown) can include piezoelectric or other haptic output devices. Some devices can serve more than one input/output function. For example, touchscreen 132 and display 154 can be combined in a single input/output device. The input devices 130 can include a Natural User Interface (NUI). An NUI is any interface technology that enables a user to interact with a device in a “natural” manner, free from artificial constraints imposed by input devices such as mice, keyboards, remote controls, and the like. Examples of NUI methods include those relying on speech recognition, touch and stylus recognition, gesture recognition both on screen and adjacent to the screen, air gestures, head and eye tracking, voice and speech, vision, touch, gestures, and machine intelligence. Other examples of a NUI include motion gesture detection using accelerometers/gyroscopes, facial recognition, 3D displays, head, eye, and gaze tracking, immersive augmented reality and virtual reality systems, all of which provide a more natural interface, as well as technologies for sensing brain activity using electric field sensing electrodes (EEG and related methods). Thus, in one specific example, the operating system 112 or applications can comprise speech-recognition software as part of a voice user interface that allows a user to operate the device 100 via voice commands. Further, the device 100 can comprise input devices and software that allows for user interaction via a user's spatial gestures, such as detecting and interpreting gestures to provide input to a gaming application.
A wireless modem 160 can be coupled to an antenna (not shown) and can support two-way communications between the processor 110 and external devices, as is well understood in the art. The modem 160 is shown generically and can include a cellular modem for communicating with the mobile communication network 104 and/or other radio-based modems (e.g., Bluetooth 164 or Wi-Fi 162). The wireless modem 160 is typically configured for communication with one or more cellular networks, such as a GSM network for data and voice communications within a single cellular network, between cellular networks, or between the mobile device and a public switched telephone network (PSTN).
The mobile device can further include at least one input/output port 180, a power supply 182, a satellite navigation system receiver 184, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, an accelerometer 186, and/or a physical connector 190, which can be a USB port, IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port, and/or RS-232 port. The illustrated components 102 are not required or all-inclusive, as any components can be deleted and other components can be added.
The enterprise management sources 210, 212 can have different network structures. For example, enterprise management source 210 can include an on-premise authority. Consequently, it can be a corporate network based management server. Thus, for such a server computer, a federated authority is not needed, nor is an organization identifier needed for use by the federated authority. Enterprise management source 212, by contrast, has a different network structure. In particular, the management source 212 communicates with the enrollment client 220 through a federated authority 270. Such communication does require authentication that is not needed with the on-premise authority 210. Both the management source 210 and the cloud-based management source 212 have a discovery service shown at 278, 280, respectively. The federated authority is a known structure in the art. Federation refers to the underlying trust infrastructure that supports federated sharing, an easy method for sharing information with recipients in other external federated organizations. The federated authority 270 is a cloud-based service that acts as a trust broker between an on-premise organization and other federated organizations. To configure federation in an on-premise organization, a one-time federation trust can be established. With this trust in place, users that are authenticated are issued Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) delegation tokens by the federated authority 270. These delegation tokens allow users from one federated organization to be trusted by another federated organization. With the federated authority 270 acting as the trust broker, organizations are not required to establish multiple individual trust relationships with other organizations, and users can access external resources using a single sign-on experience. A federated organization identifier (OrgID) defines which of the authoritative accepted domains configured in an organization are enabled for federation. Recipients that have e-mail addresses with accepted domains configured in the OrgID are recognized by the federation gateway and are able to use federated sharing features. The OrgID is a combination of a pre-defined string and the accepted domain selected as the primary shared domain.
In example environment 600, various types of services (e.g., computing services) are provided by a cloud 610. For example, the cloud 610 can comprise a collection of computing devices, which may be located centrally or distributed, that provide cloud-based services to various types of users and devices connected via a network such as the Internet. The implementation environment 600 can be used in different ways to accomplish computing tasks. For example, some tasks (e.g., processing user input and presenting a user interface) can be performed on local computing devices (e.g., connected devices 630, 640, 650) while other tasks (e.g., storage of data to be used in subsequent processing) can be performed in the cloud 610.
In example environment 600, the cloud 610 provides services for connected devices 630, 640, 650 with a variety of screen capabilities. Connected device 630 represents a device with a computer screen 635 (e.g., a mid-size screen). For example, connected device 630 could be a personal computer such as desktop computer, laptop, notebook, netbook, or the like. Connected device 640 represents a device with a mobile device screen 645 (e.g., a small size screen). For example, connected device 640 could be a mobile phone, smart phone, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, or the like. Connected device 650 represents a device with a large screen 655. For example, connected device 650 could be a television screen (e.g., a smart television) or another device connected to a television (e.g., a set-top box or gaming console) or the like. One or more of the connected devices 630, 640, 650 can include touchscreen capabilities. Touchscreens can accept input in different ways. For example, capacitive touchscreens detect touch input when an object (e.g., a fingertip or stylus) distorts or interrupts an electrical current running across the surface. As another example, touchscreens can use optical sensors to detect touch input when beams from the optical sensors are interrupted. Physical contact with the surface of the screen is not necessary for input to be detected by some touchscreens. Devices without screen capabilities also can be used in example environment 600. For example, the cloud 610 can provide services for one or more computers (e.g., server computers) without displays.
Services can be provided by the cloud 610 through service providers 620, or through other providers of online services (not depicted). For example, the service providers 620 can provide a centralized solution for various cloud-based services. In one embodiment, an enrollment client 622 can be available to enroll an enterprise with connected devices 630, 640, 650. The enrollment client 622 can be a server computer with a list of all user devices associated with a common user account. If the server 622 enrolls a new enterprise to one of the devices, the method described herein can be applied to all of the devices.
With reference to
A computing system may have additional features. For example, the computing environment 700 includes storage 740, one or more input devices 750, one or more output devices 760, and one or more communication connections 770. An interconnection mechanism (not shown) such as a bus, controller, or network interconnects the components of the computing environment 700. Typically, operating system software (not shown) provides an operating environment for other software executing in the computing environment 700, and coordinates activities of the components of the computing environment 700.
The tangible storage 740 may be removable or non-removable, and includes magnetic disks, magnetic tapes or cassettes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, or any other medium which can be used to store information and which can be accessed within the computing environment 700. The storage 740 stores instructions for the software 780 implementing one or more innovations described herein.
The input device(s) 750 may be a touch input device such as a keyboard, mouse, pen, or trackball, a voice input device, a scanning device, or another device that provides input to the computing environment 700. For video encoding, the input device(s) 750 may be a camera, video card, TV tuner card, or similar device that accepts video input in analog or digital form, or a CD-ROM or CD-RW that reads video samples into the computing environment 700. The output device(s) 760 may be a display, printer, speaker, CD-writer, or another device that provides output from the computing environment 700.
The communication connection(s) 770 enable communication over a communication medium to another computing entity. The communication medium conveys information such as computer-executable instructions, audio or video input or output, or other data in a modulated data signal. A modulated data signal is a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media can use an electrical, optical, RF, or other carrier.
Although the operations of some of the disclosed methods are described in a particular, sequential order for convenient presentation, it should be understood that this manner of description encompasses rearrangement, unless a particular ordering is required by specific language set forth below. For example, operations described sequentially may in some cases be rearranged or performed concurrently. Moreover, for the sake of simplicity, the attached figures may not show the various ways in which the disclosed methods can be used in conjunction with other methods.
Any of the disclosed methods can be implemented as computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable storage media (e.g., optical media discs, volatile memory components (such as DRAM or SRAM), or nonvolatile memory components (such as flash memory or hard drives)) and executed on a computer (e.g., any commercially available computer, including smart phones or other mobile devices that include computing hardware). Any of the computer-executable instructions for implementing the disclosed techniques as well as any data created and used during implementation of the disclosed embodiments can be stored on one or more computer-readable media. The computer-executable instructions can be part of, for example, a dedicated software application or a software application that is accessed or downloaded via a web browser or other software application (such as a remote computing application). Such software can be executed, for example, on a single local computer (e.g., any suitable commercially available computer) or in a network environment (e.g., via the Internet, a wide-area network, a local-area network, a client-server network (such as a cloud computing network), or other such network) using one or more network computers.
For clarity, only certain selected aspects of the software-based implementations are described. Other details that are well known in the art are omitted. For example, it should be understood that the disclosed technology is not limited to any specific computer language or program. For instance, the disclosed technology can be implemented by software written in C++, Java, Perl, JavaScript, Adobe Flash, or any other suitable programming language. Likewise, the disclosed technology is not limited to any particular computer or type of hardware. Certain details of suitable computers and hardware are well known and need not be set forth in detail in this disclosure.
It should also be well understood that any functionality described herein can be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components, instead of software. For example, and without limitation, illustrative types of hardware logic components that can be used include Field-programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Program-specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Program-specific Standard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-chip systems (SOCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), etc.
Furthermore, any of the software-based embodiments (comprising, for example, computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform any of the disclosed methods) can be uploaded, downloaded, or remotely accessed through a suitable communication means. Such suitable communication means include, for example, the Internet, the World Wide Web, an intranet, software applications, cable (including fiber optic cable), magnetic communications, electromagnetic communications (including RF, microwave, and infrared communications), electronic communications, or other such communication means.
The disclosed methods, apparatus, and systems should not be construed as limiting in any way. Instead, the present disclosure is directed toward all novel and nonobvious features and aspects of the various disclosed embodiments, alone and in various combinations and subcombinations with one another. The disclosed methods, apparatus, and systems are not limited to any specific aspect or feature or combination thereof, nor do the disclosed embodiments require that any one or more specific advantages be present or problems be solved.
In view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles of the disclosed invention may be applied, it should be recognized that the illustrated embodiments are only preferred examples of the invention and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is defined by the following claims. We therefore claim as our invention all that comes within the scope of these claims.
