Feature management of a communication device

摘要

A system and method for the real-time management of a device, and more particularly to the establishment and enforcement of policies or rules associated with the feature or functions that may be performed with the device, such as making and receiving calls, exchanging data, playing games and music, sending and receiving email, accessing web sites, and paying for goods and services. If a child or employee is using the device, there may be a need to regulate how that device can be used and to determine who will pay for what goods or services. In addition to providing all of the features associated with a device, service providers need to be able to establish and enforce rules (policies) regulating how and when that device can be used and who will pay for a good or service requested by the user of the device.

主权项

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for managing a computing device associated with a plan, the medium storing thereon computer readable instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to at least:
store a rule that determines whether units of value associated with a use of a function operable on the computing device will be deducted from a first allowance associated with the computing device or from a second allowance associated with the computing device; store a policy that controls the use of the function on the computing device; receive an update to the rule or to the policy from a server; determine, in real time, whether the use of the function to interact with a remote computing device is allowed based on the policy and the update; interact with the remote computing device based on the determination; determine, in real time, whether charges associated with the use of the function are to be deducted from the first allowance or from the second allowance based on the rule and the update; and automatically deduct, in real time, units of value from the first allowance or from the second allowance in response to the interaction, the deduction being based on the determination.