SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING DYNAMIC PRESENCE INFORMATION AS COLLECTED BY A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20080242265A1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twitter Inc (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lyle, Ruthie D., Cohen, Norman Howard
• Granted Patent: US 7,746,226 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/68 Circuit arrangements for preventing eavesdropping
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/62 user interface aspects of conference calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A system and method for detecting proximity of at least one outside party to a multi-party communication includes steps of: receiving presence information of the at least one outside party, wherein the presence information comprises sensor data received from at least one sensor indicating that the outside party is in proximity to a second party; analyzing the sensor data to determine its threat level; and transmitting a signal to the first party, the signal indicating that at least one outside party is in proximity to the second party.

Claims

1. A system for informing a first party in a multi-party communication of the proximity of at least one outside party to a second party in the multi-party communication, the system comprising:

at least one sensor configured for collecting evidence of the proximity of the at least one outside party to the second party in the multi-party communication;

an analytical mechanism configured for interpreting the evidence collected by the at least one sensor to provide a signal indicating proximity of the at least one outside party; and

a transmitter configured for transmitting the signal to the first party in the multi-party communication.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor is operatively connected to, or embedded in, a communication device in use by the second party.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more components of the analytical mechanism are operatively connected to, or embedded in, a communication device in use by the second party.

4. The system of claim 1 in which the at least one sensor comprises at least one of the following:

at least one radio-frequency receiver configured for receiving radio frequency transmissions, comprising at least one selected from a group consisting of;

a radio-frequency receiver that is part of an active-badge reader;

a radio-frequency receiver that is part of a passive RFID-tag reader; and

a radio-frequency receiver that detects the presence of transmissions other than those originating from the mobile communications device or one or more of the sensors;

a microwave-based sensor such as a radar sensor configured for detecting one or more of the presence, distance, contours, and motion of objects;

an infrared sensor configured for detecting body heat;

an infrared sensor configured for detecting one or more of the presence, distance, contours, and motion of animate objects;

a camera configured for detecting one or more of the presence, distance, appearance, and motion of objects;

an ultrasound sensor configured for detecting one or more of the presence, distance, contours, and motion of objects;

a microphone configured for detecting ambient sound;

a human-input device, such as but not limited to a button, keyboard, microphone, camera, or touch screen, through which the second party communicates an indication of the presence of one or more outside parties.

5. The system of claim 4 in which the at least one radio-frequency receiver comprises an RFID reader.

6. The system of claim 4 in which the at least one radio-frequency receiver detects the presence of transmissions other than those originating from the second party communications device or the at least one sensor.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein an indication of the presence of the at least one outside party comprises supplementary information supplied by the second party.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the supplementary information includes the apparent identity of the at least one outside party.

9. The system of claim 7 in which the supplementary information includes the level of threat posed by one or more outside parties to privacy of communication, based on such attributes such as, but not limited to, whether an outside party is known to the second party, the organizational affiliations of an outside party, the proximity of an outside party, the current activities of an outside party, and whether an outside party appears to be paying attention to the communication between the first party and the second party.

10. The system of claim 1 in which one or more of the sensors is mounted on a supporting apparatus near the mobile communication device and communicates with it through a means of wireless communication such as, but not limited to, Bluetooth or Zigbee.

11. The system of claim 1 in which the analytical mechanism is a computer processor executing analytical software.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the supplementary information includes an indication of the likelihood of the presence of the at least one outside party.

13. A method for detecting proximity of at least one outside party to a multi-party communication, the method comprising steps of:

receiving presence information of the at least one outside party, wherein the presence information comprises sensor data received from at least one sensor indicating that the outside party is in proximity to a second party;

analyzing the sensor data to determine its threat level; and

transmitting a signal to a first party, the signal indicating that the at least one outside party is in proximity to the second party.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising a step of:

comparing sensor data with profiles of sensor data expected when the at least one outside party is in communication range.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of analyzing the sensor data comprises a step of:

interpreting combinations of data from multiple sensors.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the transmitting step further comprises steps of:

providing sensor readings to the second party that indicate a heightened probability of the presence of the at least one outside party; and

receiving from the second party supplementary information in response to the sensor readings.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising steps of:

transmitting a request for privacy information from a first party to the second party in order to prompt the second party to indicate the presence of the at least one outside party.

18. The method of claim 17 in which the request specifies the kinds of supplementary information to be provided

19. The method of claim 18 in which the request by the first party and the response to that request by the second party take place before any other communication between the first party and the second party.

20. The method of claim 18 in which the request by the first party and the response to that request by the second party take place at any point during the communication between the first party and the second party.

21. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium and comprising code that, when executed, causes a computer to perform the following:

receive presence information of the at least one outside party, wherein the presence information comprises sensor data received from at least one sensor indicating that the outside party is in communication range of a second party;

analyze the sensor data to determine its threat level; and

transmit a signal to a first party, the signal indicating that at least one outside party is in communication range of the second party.