Apparatus, system, and method of activation control, and medium storing activation control program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9787555-B2
Application number	US-201514601672-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2015
Priority date	Jan 28, 2014
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

An activation control apparatus stores, in a memory, first association information that associates, for each one of a plurality of applications, application identification information for identifying an application with terminal identification information for identifying a communication terminal permitted to debug the application. In response to an activation request for activating a first application from a first communication terminal, the activation control apparatus determines whether the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger. When the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger, the activation control apparatus further determines whether the first communication terminal is permitted to debug the first application using the first association information, and rejects the activation request when the first communication terminal is not permitted to debug the application. When the first communication terminal is not provided with a debugger, the activation control apparatus accepts the activation request.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An activation control apparatus that controls activation of a plurality of application that can be activated on a plurality of communication terminals, the apparatus comprising:
a memory that stores first association information that associates, for each one of the plurality of applications, application identification information for identifying an application with terminal identification information for identifying a communication terminal permitted to debug the application;
a receiver that receives an activation request for activating a first application of the plurality of applications from a first communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals; and
processing circuitry that determines whether the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger,
wherein, when the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger, the processing circuitry further determines whether the first communication terminal is permitted to debug the first application using the first association information, and rejects the activation request when the first communication terminal is not permitted to debug the application, and
when the first communication terminal is not provided with a debugger, the processing circuitry accepts the activation request to allow the first communication terminal to activate the first application on the first communication terminal,
wherein the first association information includes
association information that associates, for each one of the plurality of applications, developer identification information for identifying a developer permitted to debug the application with the application identification information of the application; and
association information that associates the developer identification information of the developer with the terminal identification information for identifying a communication terminal owned by the developer, and

wherein, in response to a registration request for registering an additional communication terminal as a communication terminal owned by the developer,
the processing circuitry requests the additional communication terminal to install a debugger, and additionally stores terminal identification information for identifying the additional communication terminal in association with the developer identification information of the developer.

2. The activation control apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a transmitter that sends information used for accessing the first application to the first communication terminal, when the activation request is accepted.

3. The activation control apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the memory further stores second association information that associates, for each one of the plurality of communication terminals, terminal identification information of the communication terminal with application information indicating one or more applications available for use by the communication terminal, and
the transmitter sends information indicating one or more applications that are associated with identification information for identifying the first communication terminal to the first communication terminal, wherein the first application that is requested for activation by the first communication terminal is selected from the one or more applications associated with the identification information of the first communication terminal.

4. The activation control apparatus of claim 3 , wherein
the receiver receives a use request to enable use of a second application of the plurality of communication terminals from the first communication terminal, the second application being an application that is not associated with the first communication terminal by the second association information, and
wherein, when the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger, the processing circuitry further determines whether the first communication terminal is permitted to debug the second application using the first association information, and rejects the use request when the first communication terminal is not permitted to debug the second application, and
when the first communication terminal is not provided with a debugger, the processing circuitry accepts the use request, and updates the second association information to associate the second application with the first communication terminal.

5. The activation control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry determines whether the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger, based on a determination of whether terminal identification information of the first communication terminal is associated with any developer identification information.

6. A communication system comprising:
the activation control apparatus of claim 1 ; and
the first communication terminal that sends the activation request to the activation control apparatus through a network.

7. The communication system of claim 6 , further comprising:
an application server including a memory that stores the plurality of applications,
wherein the activation control apparatus sends information used for accessing the first application to the first communication terminal, when the first communication terminal is not provided with a debugger, or when the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger and is permitted to debug the first application.

8. A method of controlling activation of a plurality of applications that can be activated on a plurality of communication terminals, comprising:
storing in a memory first association information that associates, for each one of the plurality of applications, application identification information for identifying an application with terminal identification information for identifying a communication terminal permitted to debug the application;
receiving an activation request for activating a first application of the plurality of applications from a first communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals;
determining whether the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger to generate a first determination result;
determining whether the first communication terminal is permitted to debug the first application using the first association information to generate a second determination result, when the first determination result indicates that the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger; and
controlling activation of the first application on the first communication terminal based on the first determination result, and the second determination result when generated,
wherein, the controlling includes
rejecting the activation request based on the second determination result indicating that the first communication terminal is not permitted to debug the first application, and
accepting the activation request based on the first determination result indicating that the first communication terminal is not provided with a debugger or the second determination result indicating that the first communication terminal is permitted to debug the first application to allow the first communication terminal to activate the first application on the first communication terminal,

wherein the first association information includes
association information that associates, for each one of the plurality of applications, developer identification information for identifying a developer permitted to debug the application with the application identification information of the application; and
association information that associates the developer identification information of the developer with the terminal identification information for identifying a communication terminal owned by the developer,

wherein, in

Assignees

• Maeda Kaoru
• Matsuno Yoichiro
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Maeda Kaoru
• Matsuno Yoichiro

Classifications

• H04L43/04 Primary

  Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation · CPC title

• G06F8/71 Primary

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title