Controlling the use of a wireless mobile communication device
A controlling party can set limitations on a controlled party's access to applications operating on the controlled party's wireless mobile communication device. The controlling party can effectuate these limitations via various different mechanisms. In one instance, the controlling party uses another wireless communication device to effectuate the limitations. In another instance, the limitations are effectuated by the controlling party's operation of a data processing apparatus connected by a wired data communication bus to the controlled party's wireless mobile communication device. In a still further instance, the controlling party effectuates the limitations by accessing a website supported by a web server.
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This application claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of co-pending U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/510,705, filed on Oct. 10, 2003 and incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates generally to wireless mobile communication devices and, more particularly to controlling the use of a wireless mobile communication device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe usefulness and practicality of providing children with access to wireless mobile telecommunications technology is evident. Wireless communication devices such as mobile telephones are particularly useful and practical as a means of maintaining contact with children for purposes of safety, security and general peace of mind. However, although wireless telephones such as cell phones provide many obvious advantages for children, there are also several areas of concern. These areas of concern include the possibility of excessively large monthly telephone bills, unwanted callers, and general irresponsibility associated with children and young adults. This irresponsibility can manifest itself, for example, in excessive game playing on the wireless device, excessive time spent on telephone chats (whether or not they result in an increased bill), and poor management of the audible ringer function (for example, the phone rings in the middle of a child's math class).
It is therefore desirable to provide for parental control of the use of a wireless mobile communication device, such as a mobile telephone, that is made available by a parent to a child.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art and provides additional benefits. A brief summary of some embodiments and aspects of the invention are first presented. Some simplifications and omissions may be made in the following summary. The summary is intended to highlight and introduce some aspects of the disclosed embodiments, but not to limit the scope of the invention. The summary does not provide an exhaustive list of embodiments of the invention.
The present invention permits a controlling party to set limitations on a controlled party's access to applications operating on the controlled party's wireless mobile communication device. The controlling party can effectuate these limitations via various different mechanisms. For example, in some embodiments, the controlling party uses another wireless communication device to effectuate the limitations. In other embodiments, the limitations are effectuated by the controlling party operating a data processing apparatus connected by a wired data communication bus to the controlled party's wireless mobile communication device. In still further embodiments, the controlling party effectuates the limitations by accessing a website supported by a web server.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that they may readily use the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.
Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words or phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term “or” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term “controller” means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation, whether such a device is implemented in hardware, firmware, software or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document, and those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that such definitions apply in many, if not most, instances to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFor a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers designate like objects, and in which:
The invention will now be described with respect to various embodiments. The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding of, and enabling description for, these embodiments of the invention. However, one skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without these details. In other instances, well known structures and functions have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments of the invention.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention permit a controlling party, for example a parent, to set limitations on a controlled party's, for example a child's, access to and use of communication and other applications operating on the controlled party's wireless mobile communication device. The controlling party can effectuate these limitations via several different mechanisms, for example by using another wireless communication device, by operating a data processing apparatus connected by a wired data communication bus to the controlled party's wireless mobile communication device, or by accessing a website supported by a web server which can communicate with the controlled party's wireless mobile communication device.
In another example, the parent can communicate the desired limitation information to MS1 via a data processing apparatus connected to MS1 via a wired data communication bus 110, for example a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or an RS-232 bus. The data processing apparatus of
In another example, the parent can communicate the desired limitation information to MS1 by using a suitable data processing apparatus PC2 to access, via a data network 124 (such as the internet), a web server 120 that supports a website (password protected in some embodiments) designed to process, store and transmit (to MS1) the limitation information. The server 120 includes a database 121 for storing the limitation information. In the example of
In some embodiments, the data processor 202 of communication device MS1 implements the controlling party's limitations in the form of corresponding filtering functions. For example, if the controlling party places a limitation on the controlled party's use of a given application running on the data processor 202, then the data processor 202 implements that limitation in the form of a filter which filters input and/or output information associated with that application.
Referring still to the examples of
Referring again to
In some embodiments, the synchronization application 740 utilizes an acknowledgement verification protocol in order to confirm delivery of the completed filter information to the controlled party's device MS1. In such embodiments, the filter provisioning interface 810 of
In some exemplary embodiments, the synchronization application 740 and the filter provisioning interface 810 utilize checksum verifications in conjunction with transmission of the completed filter information. In other exemplary embodiments, checksum verification is used in conjunction with transmission of the completed filter information from any of the sources of
In some embodiments which utilize the aforementioned acknowledgement protocol, the synchronization application 740 can implement a retry algorithm wherein the server attempts a predetermined number of retries in the absence of an acknowledgement, for example 3 retries, the first retry at 30 seconds after the initial transmission, the second retry at one minute after the initial transmission, and the third retry at 5 minutes after the initial transmission.
In some embodiments, the controlling party defines the filter operation such that the filter examines information associated with the user application and provides to the web server an update regarding the status of the examined information. For example, the filter operation can detect whether the controlled party is, via the user interface, removing a task from a “to-do” list, and the filter provisioning interface 810 can forward to the web server 120 a message indicating that this task of the “to-do” list has been completed. The controlling party can thus monitor the completion of activities by simply visiting the website on the server 120.
In some exemplary embodiments, the filter operation can be defined to perform an addition of an item to a given “to-do” list. For example, if the controlled party already has a list of things to do when she arrives home from school, the controlling party can add an item to that “to-do” list, for example “take out the dog when you get home”.
In some exemplary embodiments, the identifier of the conventional, non-removable modem hardware in the module 201 of
Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been described above in detail, this does not limit the scope of the invention, which can be practiced in a variety of embodiments.
Claims
1. canceled.
2. canceled.
3. A wireless mobile communication apparatus, comprising:
- a data processor for supporting a user application that is controllably accessible to a user of said wireless mobile communication apparatus;
- an input for receiving from an external communication source information indicative of a limitation that a controlling party desires to impose on the user's access to the user application; and wherein
- said data processor is coupled to said input and responsive to said limitation information for automatically limiting the user's access to the user application in accordance with said limitation information.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said limitation information defines the user's ability to access the user application during selected times or under selected conditions.
5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said limitation information includes information indicative of one of a denial of the user's access to the user application, a time period during which the user's access to the user application is prohibited, a limit on a total amount of time permitted for the user's cumulative access of the user application, and a limit on the user's ability to access the user application for other than actions permitted by the controlling party.
6. The apparatus of claim 3, provided as one of a telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable computer, each equipped for wireless communication.
7. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said data processor is responsive to receipt of said limitation information for providing an acknowledgement of said receipt, and including an output coupled to said data processor for outputting said acknowledgement for transmission to the external communication source.
8. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said data processor is responsive to receipt of said limitation information for performing checksum verification of said limitation information.
9. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said input is for receiving said limitation information via one of a wired communication channel and a wireless communication channel.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said wired communication channel includes one of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) and an RS-232 bus, and wherein said wireless communication channel includes a GSM/GPRS channel.
11. An apparatus for controlling the use of a wireless mobile communication device, comprising:
- a controlling party interface for enabling a controlling party to input first information indicative of a user application running on the wireless mobile communication device and controllably accessible to a user, and second information indicative of a limitation that the controlling party desires to impose on the user's access to the user application;
- a data processor having an input coupled to said controlling party interface, said data processor for associating said first information to said second information and for producing third information indicative of an association between said first information and said second information; and
- an output coupled to said data processor for outputting said third information for transmission to the wireless mobile communication device.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said output is for outputting said third information for transmission on one of a wired communication channel and a wireless communication channel.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said wired communication channel includes one of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) and an RS-232 bus, and wherein said wireless communication channel includes a GSM/GPRS channel.
14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said data processor supports a text messaging application for providing said third information in a text message.
15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said data processor is provided in a web server.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said controlling party interface includes a website implemented by said web server.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said website is accessible through the Internet.
18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said wireless mobile communication device is provided as one of a telephone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable computer, each equipped for wireless communication.
19. The apparatus of claim 11, provided as one of a telephone, a desktop computer, a portable computer and a personal digital assistant.
20. A method of controlling the use of a wireless mobile communication apparatus, comprising:
- transmitting, from a communication source apparatus to a communication destination apparatus that is physically separate from the communication source apparatus, information indicative of a limitation that a controlling party desires to impose on a user's access to a user application running on the wireless mobile communication apparatus and controllably accessible to the user;
- in response to receipt of the limitation information at the communication destination apparatus, transferring the limitation information to the wireless mobile communication apparatus; and
- in response to receipt of the limitation information at the wireless mobile communication apparatus, automatically limiting the user's access to the user application in accordance with the limitation information.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein said transmitting step includes transmitting the limitation information on one of a wired communication channel and a wireless communication channel.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein said transmitting step includes transmitting the limitation information across a data communication network.
23. The method of claim 20, wherein said transmitting step includes transmitting the limitation information on a wired communication channel, and said transferring step includes transmitting the limitation information on a wireless communication channel.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein the limitation information is stored on a server prior to being transferred on the wireless communication channel.
25. The method of claim 20, wherein said transmitting step includes entering the limitation information at a website.
26. The method of claim 20, wherein said limiting step includes limiting the user's ability to access the user application during selected times or under selected conditions.
27. The method of claim 20, including transmitting from the wireless mobile communication apparatus to a website server an indication that the user has accessed the user application.
28. A method for controlling the use of a wireless communication device that provides a plurality of user applications, the method comprising:
- configuring said wireless communication device to process parameters for controlling the use of at least one of said applications;
- setting at a separate device the value(s) of at least one of said control parameters;
- communicating said parameter value(s) from said separate device to said wireless communication device; and
- processing said parameter value(s) at said wireless communication device to control the use of at least one of said applications.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein said wireless communication device is a cellular telephone.
30. The method of claim 28, wherein said wireless communication device is a personal digital assistant (PDA) with wireless communication capability.
31. The method of claim 28, wherein said separate device is another wireless communication device that communicates with said wireless communication device through a wireless communication network.
32. The method of claim 28, wherein said separate device is a computing device that communicates with said wireless communication device through a direct link.
33. The method of claim 28, wherein said separate device is a computing device that communicates with said wireless communication device through a data communication network coupled to a wireless communication network.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 8, 2004
Publication Date: May 26, 2005
Applicant: ENFORA, L.P. (PLANO, TX)
Inventor: Mark Weinzierl (Frisco, TX)
Application Number: 10/962,158