Pushing secure notifications to mobile computing devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9253644-B2
Application number	US-201314051779-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2013
Priority date	Sep 29, 2011
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Techniques are provided for pushing secure notifications to a mobile computing device. For example, a method for pushing secure notifications includes a push service platform receiving a push notification message request from an entity registered with the push service platform, processing the push notification message request to generate a secure push notification message, and sending the secure push notification message to a target mobile computing device through a native third-party push service associated with the target mobile computing device. The secure push notification message includes a message ID (identifier) that corresponds to message content associated with the push notification message request. The method further includes the push service platform receiving a pull message request from the target mobile computing device, the pull message request requesting the message content associated with the push notification message corresponding to the message ID, and sending the requested message content associated with the push notification message to the mobile computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented by a push service platform for pushing secure notifications to a mobile computing device, comprising:
receiving, by the push service platform, a push notification message request from an entity registered with the push service platform, wherein the push notification message comprises message content and a security level indicator that specifies a level of security by which the push service platform is to store the message content in an encrypted or non-encrypted format;
processing, by the push service platform, the push notification message request to generate a secure push notification message, wherein the secure push notification message comprises a message ID (identifier) that corresponds to message content associated with the push notification message request, but wherein the message content is not included in the secure push notification message, wherein processing the push notification message request further comprises storing the message content in an encrypted or non-encrypted format according to the security level indicator of the push notification message request;
sending, by the push service platform, the secure push notification message to a native third-party push service associated with a target mobile computing device wherein the native third-party push service forwards the secure push notification message to the target mobile computing device;
receiving, by the push service platform, a pull message request from the target mobile computing device, the pull message request requesting the stored message content corresponding to the message ID; and
sending, by the push service platform, the requested message content to the target mobile computing device in response to the pull message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the push notification message request to generate a secure push notification message comprises:
encrypting the message content associated with the push notification message request according to the security level indicator; and
storing the encrypted message content in a secure data store managed by the push service platform.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the push notification message request to generate a secure push notification message comprises:
generating a push notification message based on the push notification message request received from the registered entity;
securely storing the push notification message in a data store managed by the push service platform; and
encoding information contained in the securely stored push notification message in a message structure of the native third-party push service associated with the target mobile computing device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the securely stored push notification message comprises the message ID, a target device ID, a message title, and encrypted message content, wherein the target device ID comprise a unique, random ID that is assigned to the target mobile computing device by the push service platform, wherein the message title is a title of the push notification message as provided by the registered entity, and wherein the encrypted message content comprise the message content in encrypted or non-encrypted form.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the push notification message request received from the registered entity comprises priority information, wherein the priority information specifies one or more server-side priorities that are to be accorded to the corresponding push notification message, wherein a server-side priority specifies an order of priority in which the push notification message is to be pushed to the target mobile computing device with respect to other pending notification messages.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the push notification message request received from the registered entity comprises priority information, wherein the priority information specifies one or more client-side priorities that are to be accorded to the corresponding push notification message, wherein a client-side priority specifies how user is to be alerted when the push notification message is received by the target mobile computing device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein a client-side priority specifies actions that a user may take with regard to accessing, dismissing or storing a push notification message received by the target mobile computing device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the requested message content associated with the push notification message to the target mobile computing device comprises:
retrieving the requested message content associated with the message ID from a secure data store managed by the push service platform, wherein the message content is stored in encrypted form in the data store; and
sending the encrypted message content to the target mobile computing device in a secure message.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving and storing an acknowledgment message sent from the target mobile computing device, wherein the acknowledgement message includes user response information that indicates an action taken by the user with respect to the push notification message received by the target mobile computing device.

10. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program code embodied thereon, which when executed by a computer, performs the method as recited in claim 1 .

11. A push service system for pushing secure notifications to a mobile computing device, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute code stored in the memory for:
receiving, by the push service system, a push notification message request from an entity registered with the push service system, wherein the push notification message comprises message content and a security level indicator that specifies a level of security by which the push service system is to store the message content in an encrypted or non-encrypted format;
processing, by the push service system, the push notification message request to generate a secure push notification message, wherein the secure push notification message comprises a message ID (identifier) that corresponds to message content associated with the push notification message request, but wherein the message content is not included in the secure push notification message, wherein processing the push notification message request further comprises storing the message content in an encrypted or non-encrypted format according to the security level indicator of the push notification message request;
sending, by the push service system, the secure push notification message to a native third-party push service associated with a target mobile computing device wherein the native third-party push service forwards the secure push notification message to the target mobile computing device;
receiving, by the push service system, a pull message request from the target mobile computing device, the pull message request requesting the stored message content corresponding to the message ID; and
sending, by the push service system, the requested message content to the target mobile computing device in response to the pull message.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein processing the push notification message request to generate a secure push notification message comprises:
encrypting the message content associated with the push notification message request according to the security level indicator; and
storing the encrypted message content in a secure data store managed by the push service system.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein processing the

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Barkie Eric J
• Fletcher Benjamin L
• Fonseca Carlos A
• Liu Leslie S
• Malone Colm V
• Wei Min

Classifications

• H04W12/02

  Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII] · CPC title

• H04W12/10 Primary

  Integrity · CPC title

• H04L63/0428

  wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload · CPC title

• H04L67/26

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/53

  using third party service providers · CPC title