Mobile device traffic splitter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9854443-B2
Application number	US-201514675475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2015
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A mobile device traffic splicer is disclosed. In various embodiments, a network communication associated with a destination is received from a mobile device. A stored routing data associated with the mobile device is used to determine, based at least in part on the destination, to redirect the network communication to a proxy associated with the destination. The network communication is sent to the proxy associated with the destination. In various embodiments, one or both of metering network traffic by destination and/or domain and filtering network communications and/or portions thereof based on the destination and/or domain may be performed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of managing a mobile device, comprising:
receiving, at a traffic splitter from a mobile device, a network communication associated with a destination;
using a stored routing data associated with the mobile device to determine, based at least in part on the destination, to redirect the network communication to a proxy associated with the destination;
using a stored policy to determine to filter the network communication, wherein filtering the network communication includes blocking or removing at least a portion of data comprising the network communication;
sending the network communication to the proxy associated with the destination; and
metering, by the traffic splitter, traffic usage from the mobile device to the proxy associated with the destination, wherein the metered traffic usage includes a measure of an amount and/or percentage of data traffic between the mobile device and the proxy associated with the destination.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic splicer is configured to receive and store said routing data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the routing data is provided via an MDM broker by an MDM authority associated with the destination.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination comprises a domain or portion thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination comprises a subnetwork or other IP address range.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a stored policy to determine to perform inline processing with respect to the network communication.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the inline processing includes encrypting at least a portion of data comprising the network communication.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the proxy is associated with an MDM server associated with the destination.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating a usage statistic associated with the destination to reflect the network communication.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising using the usage statistic to generate a report.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising using the usage statistic to generate an automatic reimbursement payment.

12. A system, comprising:
a communication interface; and
a processor coupled to the communication interface and configured to:
receive from a mobile device, via the communication interface, a network communication associated with a destination;
use a stored routing data associated with the mobile device to determine, based at least in part on the destination, to redirect the network communication to a proxy associated with the destination;
use a stored policy to determine to filter the network communication, wherein filtering the network communication includes blocking or removing at least a portion of data comprising the network communication;
send the network communication to the proxy associated with the destination; and
meter traffic usage from the mobile device to the proxy associated with the destination, wherein the metered traffic usage includes a measure of an amount and/or percentage of data traffic between the mobile device and the proxy associated with the destination.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a storage device configured to store said routing data.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive via an administrative user interface a definition of said routing data and to store said routing data in said storage device.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the routing data is provided via an MDM broker by an MDM authority associated with the destination.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the destination comprises a subnetwork or other IP address range.

17. A computer program product to manage a mobile device, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
receiving from a mobile device a network communication associated with a destination;
using a stored routing data associated with the mobile device to determine, based at least in part on the destination, to redirect the network communication to a proxy associated with the destination;
using a stored policy to determine to filter the network communication, wherein filtering the network communication includes blocking or removing at least a portion of data comprising the network communication;
sending the network communication to the proxy associated with the destination; and
metering traffic usage from the mobile device to the proxy associated with the destination, wherein the metered traffic usage includes a measure of an amount and/or percentage of data traffic between the mobile device and the proxy associated with the destination.

Assignees

• Mobile Iron Inc

Inventors

• Batchu Suresh Kumar
• Kim Mansu

Classifications

• H04L43/0876

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L63/1408

  by monitoring network traffic (monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00) · CPC title

• H04L12/08

  Allotting numbers to messages; Counting characters, words or messages · CPC title

• H04L63/029

  Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes · CPC title

• H04W12/08 Primary

  Access security · CPC title