Methods and apparatus for controlling permissions to be granted to applications on user equipment responsive to user privacy profiles

A method by a user equipment node for controlling operation of applications on the user equipment node, the method comprising:

• causing a network node to generate and store a user profile for a user of the user equipment node, the user profile comprising user preference information that indicates the user's preferences for restricting access by applications to resources of the user equipment node, said user preference information comprising information identifying a restricted resource, wherein causing the network node to generate and store the user profile for the user comprises transmitting to the network node the user preference information, wherein the transmitted user preference information further comprises privacy and security preferences information that indicates the user's preferences for controlling privacy and security of information that can be accessible to applications during operation on the user equipment node;
• transmitting to a network node an application request comprising user information that identifies the user of the user equipment node and application information that identifies a selected application that the user has selected for installation on the user equipment node;
• receiving the selected application from at least one network node through a data network, wherein the application is operable to operate in a plurality of modes of operation including a first mode of operation in which the application is configured to use a first set of resources and a second mode of operation in which the application is configured to use a subset of said first set of resources, wherein at least one resource is included in the first set of resources but is not included in the subset of said first set of resources;
• receiving, from the at least one network node, settings configuration information generated specifically for the application, wherein the setting configuration information generated specifically for the application was generated using the identified user's preferences and an application profile comprising information identifying each one of the plurality of modes of operation in which the application is operable to operate, and the settings configuration information that was generated specifically for the application comprises compatibility information specifying:
• i) that the second mode of operation is compatible with the identified user's preferences and ii) that the first mode of operation is incompatible with the identified user's preferences;
• installing the application to enable user initiated operation of the application through a user interface of the user equipment node;
• and
• using the setting configuration information, configuring permission settings for the application such that the permission settings for the application restrict the application from operating in the first mode of operation but do not restrict the application from operating in the second mode of operation.

A network apparatus for controlling operation of applications on a user equipment node, the network apparatus comprising:

• a user profile repository that stores a plurality of user profiles;
• an application profile repository that stores a plurality of application profiles;
• and
• controller circuitry arranged to:
• receive an application request transmitted by the user equipment node, the application request comprising user information that identifies a user of the user equipment node and application information that identifies a selected application that the user of the user equipment node has selected for installation on the user equipment node;
• in response to receiving the application request, retrieve a user profile for the user of the user equipment node from among the plurality of user profiles in the user profile repository using the user information included in the application request to identify the user profile, the user profile comprising user preference information that indicates preferences of the identified user of the user equipment node for restricting access by applications to resources of the user equipment node, said user preference information comprising restricted resource information identifying a restricted resource of the user equipment node;
• retrieve an application profile from among the plurality of application profiles in the application profile repository using the application information to identify the application profile, the application profile comprising information about the selected application, the information about the selected application comprising information identifying a set of resources of the user equipment node that the selected application is operable to use during operation, wherein said set of resources includes the restricted resource identified by the restricted resource information included in the user preference information;
• generate settings configuration information specifically for the selected application using preferences of the identified user of the user equipment node and the information about the application, wherein the generated settings configuration information is configured to prevent the application from using the restricted resource identified by the restricted resource information included in the user preference information;
• and
• communicate the application and the generated settings configuration information through a data network to the user equipment node for installation of the application and preventing the application from using the restricted resource when the application is run on the user equipment device, wherein
• the user preference information comprises privacy and security preference information,
• the application profile indicates a plurality of modes of operation of the application, each of the modes of operation having a different group of resources that the application will access, and
• the controller circuitry generates the settings configuration information by performing a process comprising:
• selecting one or more of said plurality of mode of operation based on the identity of the restricted resource included in the user profile, wherein each one of the selected modes of operation is configured to use the restricted resource;
• and
• generating the settings configuration information such that the settings configuration information indicates that that the selected one more modes of operation are prohibited modes of operation, thereby preventing the application from using the restricted resource.