Apparatus for accessing a common database from a mobile device and a computing device
View Patent ↗The present invention has been made in consideration of thin devices efficiently communicating ideas and transactions into data networks by using other devices with full functional user interface in the networks. According to one aspect of the present invention, the thin device exclusively controls the authentication of a rendezvous that is associated with a user account in a server. The thin device running a micro-browser provisions the rendezvous with a set of credential information in an authenticated and secure communication session so that the provisioning process is truly proprietary. To access the user account, the other devices equipped with well-known browsers must submit the correct credential information to the rendezvous for verification in the server. Once admitted, the other devices can update managed information in the user account, individually and respectively, thereby the thin device is able to conduct desired transactions based on the managed information in the user account without the need to key in pertinent information of the transactions.
1. An apparatus for accessing data contained in a data network system, comprising:
a memory containing program code for a server module;
a processor, coupled to the memory, and capable of executing the program code to enable the server module to perform the operations of:
hosting the data, the data associated with an account for a mobile device, the device having a display screen, and the data being accessible by a computing device remotely located and coupled to a data network selected from a group consisting of the Internet, a private network and a network of private and public networks;
receiving a request from the mobile device through a wireless data network to access the data;
retrieving the data after the request is authenticated with respect to the account; and
forwarding the data to the mobile device in a first format displayable on the display screen of the mobile device.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor further enables the server module to perform the operations of:
prompting the computing device for credential information when the computing device accesses the data;
providing access to the data in a second format after the credential information is verified; and
updating the data upon receiving updated information from the computing device.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data is presented to the computing device in a second format, and further, wherein the first format is a first markup language and the second format is a second markup language.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first format is used to display the data on the mobile device and the second format is used to display the data on the computing device.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises a plurality of hyperlinks, and further, wherein the retrieving further comprises:
contacting a resource identified by the one of the hyperlinks over the data network;
fetching the data in a second format from the resource; and converting the fetched data to the first format.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises data for configuring or re-configuring a feature of the mobile device.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device is a wireless telephone.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device includes a processor, and further, wherein the processor controls a telephony function.