Means, apparatus, and method of security and convenience through voluntary disclosure

• US 20020105410A1
• Filed: 10/16/2001
• Published: 08/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: W. Stephen G. Mann
• Original Assignee: W. Stephen G. Mann
• Inventors: Mann, W. Stephen G.
• Application Number:
  US09/978,233
• Publication Number:
  US 20020105410A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/3.3
• CPC Class Codes: E03C 1/057 touchless, i.e. using sensors
• CPC Class Codes: E03D 5/105 touchless, e.g. using sensors

Abstract

Persons such as travellers in an airport are given an opportunity to remove themselves from being under suspicion of terrorism or the like. Persons are provided with one or more opportunities to reveal information about themselves by way of a personal disclosure that would normally be unacceptably invasive if such disclosure were mandatory. The nature of the personal disclosure is such that almost all persons frequently choose to make such a disclosure in their ordinary day-to-day lives, but would be offended if required to make the same disclosure. In one embodiment, persons are given an opportunity to use an airport lounge spa facility with separate showers, saunas, steam rooms, and whirlpool baths, for men and women. Clothing is safely held (and possibly inspected) by locker room attendants while patrons are using the spa. A method of cost management is provided, whereby the reduction in suspicion (by way of the personal disclosure) of the large numbers of people using the spa is translated into a cost savings in terms of underwriting insurance, or the like, whereby this cost savings funds the construction of the voluntary personal disclosure facility. In another embodiment patrons are offered a free medical exam or health diagnostic that includes a personal disclosure, such as undressing, being scanned, or the like. Other embodiments include an opportunity to play a free Virtual Reality (VR) game using VR goggles having a retinal scanner, or an opportunity to play a free video game by pressing a fingerprint scanner to generate a virtual world from a magnified video image of the participant'"'"'s thumb.

Claims

1. A voluntary disclosure system for allowing users to place themselves under reduced suspicion by volunteering to disclose personal information, said voluntary disclosure system comprising:

a voluntary disclosure fixture for being voluntarily used by some of said users;

a user-specific non-suspiciousness accumulator for being initialized prior to usage of said fixture by each user of said fixture;

recording or observing means for recording or observing personal information of at least a portion of users of said fixture, during usage of said fixture,

said non-suspiciousness accumulator being incremented through usage of said fixture.

2. The voluntary disclosure facility of claim 1 where use of said fixture is for undergoing a medical examination in a medical examination booth, said recording or observing means being for viewing by medical staff at a remote site, or at a later time.

3. The voluntary disclosure facility of claim 1 where use of said fixture is for undergoing a medical examination in a medical examination booth, said medical examination booth including deposit facilities for collection of one or more of:

a blood sample;

urination sample;

defection sample;

sperm sample;

DNA sample;

hair sample;

skin scrape sample.

4. The voluntary disclosure facility of claim 3 in which said fixture includes a curved surface made from one of:

smoked polycarbonate;

smoked glass;

partially transparent material,

said fixture having one or more image sensors concealed behind said surface, said surface for seating of one of said users undergoing said medical examination, said surface having one or more openings to receive said sample, said fixture including a processor responsive to an output from said image sensors, said processor automating at least one aspect of a process in undergoing said medical examination.

5. The voluntary disclosure facility of claim 1 in which said fixture includes a curved surface made from one of:

smoked polycarbonate;

smoked glass;

partially transparent material.

said fixture having image sensors concealed behind said surface, said surface for seating of one of said users undergoing said medical examination.

6. The voluntary disclosure facility of claim 1 where use of said fixture requires the removal of at least some clothing, said recording or observing means arranged for recording or observing users of said facility in a state of being not fully clothed.

7. The voluntary disclosure facility of claim 1 further including at least one locker room, in which at least some of said users undress and give their clothes to a locker room attendant for safe keeping, said recording or observing means including a scanner for scanning said clothes.

8. A spa facility incorporating the voluntary disclosure facility of claim 1, in which said fixture is at least one spa fixture from the list of:

a whirlpool bath;

a steam room;

a sauna;

a shower,

said recording or observing means including the inspection of users of said spa fixture by an attendant of said spa facility.

9. A terrorist-reduction cost-sharing airport spa facility incorporating the voluntary disclosure facility of claim 1, in which said fixture is at least one spa fixture from the list of:

a whirlpool bath;

a steam room;

a sauna;

a shower,

said recording or observing means including the inspection of users of said spa fixture by an attendant of said spa facility, said spa facility further including a tracking system for tracking the extent of bodily disclosure of users of said spa facility, and for tracking costs savings arising from suspiciousness reductions associated with said disclosure, said spa facility being provided at reduced or zero cost to users, based on said costs savings.

10. A method for running a voluntary disclosure system for allowing users to place themselves under reduced suspicion by volunteering to disclose personal information, said method comprising the steps of:

offering users the opportunity to use a voluntary disclosure fixture;

keeping, for each potential user, a user-specific non-suspiciousness accumulator, and initializing said non-suspiciousness accumulator prior to usage of said fixture by each user of said fixture;

recording or observing personal information of at least a portion of users of said fixture, during usage of said fixture;

incrementing said non-suspiciousness accumulator in response to usage of said fixture.

11. The voluntary disclosure method of claim 10 in which said fixture is installed for use by passengers in an airport.

12. The voluntary disclosure method of claim 10 in which said fixture is at least one spa fixture from the list of:

a whirlpool bath;

a steam room;

a sauna;

a shower,

said recording or observing means including the inspection of users of said spa fixture by an attendant of said spa facility, said method further including the the step of tracking of the extent of bodily disclosure of users of said spa facility, and the step of tracking costs savings arising from suspiciousness reductions associated with said disclosure, said method also including the step of providing usage of said spa fixture at reduced or zero cost to users, based on said costs savings.

14. The voluntary disclosure device of claim 13 in which said device is a body scanner for scanning the unclothed body of a user, said input being the disclosure of the naked body to said device.

15. The voluntary disclosure device of claim 13 in which said device is a retinal scanner, said input being the disclosure of the naked eye to said device.

16. The voluntary disclosure device of claim 15, said retinal scanner incorporated into a virtual reality headset for being used in a video game, said disclosure being made in conjunction with the playing of said video game.

17. The voluntary disclosure device of claim 13 in which said device is a fingerprint scanner. said input being the disclosure of the surface of at least one finger to said device.

18. The voluntary disclosure device of claim 17, said fingerprint scanner incorporated into a pushbutton device, said pushbutton device having a concomitant effect in addition to being a fingerprint scanner.

19. The voluntary disclosure device of claim 17, said fingerprint scanner also being for a game, such that a feature of the game is activated by pressing on said fingerprint scanner.

20. The voluntary disclosure device of claim 17 further including a matcher for matching scanned fingerprints with previously stored fingerprints, and an incrementer for awarding non-suspiciousness points in respect to a first time enrolee, and an incrementer for awarding non-suspiciousness points for a second time enrolee, and a detention indicator to indicate that a user should be detained, said selection from among said awarding non-suspiciousness points in respect to a first time enrolee, said awarding non-suspiciousness points for a second time enrolee, and said indicator, being responsive to an output of said matcher.

13. A voluntary disclosure device for allowing users to place themselves under reduced suspicion by volunteering to disclose personal information, said voluntary disclosure device comprising:

a voluntary disclosure input for being voluntarily used by some of said users;

a user-specific non-suspiciousness accumulator for being initialized prior to usage of said input by each user of said input;

recording or observing means for recording or observing personal information of at least a portion of users of said input, during usage of said input,

said non-suspiciousness accumulator being incremented through usage of said input.