SECURE VOTING VIA MULTIMEDIA PROCESSING RESOURCES

• US 20100127064A1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Marathe, Nikhil S., Heinmiller, Wayne Robert, Barnes, Bruce
• Granted Patent: US 8,931,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/51
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 13/00 Voting apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1041 Televoting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00

Abstract

A voting server receives votes from a multimedia processing resource (MPR) and executes instructions for determining whether a user location is an approved voting location and determining whether an MPR communication path is an approved path. If the user location is an approved voting location and the MPR communication path is an approved path, ballot data is accessed, a ballot based on the ballot data is presented to a user, and user input is accepted to select an element from the ballot.

Claims

1. A voting server for receiving votes from a multimedia processing resource (MPR), the voting server comprising machine executable instructions stored on at least one tangible computer readable medium, the instructions including instructions for:

determining whether a user location is an approved location;

determining whether an MPR communication path is an approved path; and

responsive to determining that the user location is an approved location and the MPR communication path is an approved path;

accessing ballot data;

presenting a ballot to a user, wherein the ballot is based on the ballot data; and

accepting a user input to select an element from the ballot.

2. The voting server of claim 1, further comprising instructions for:

determining whether a user identity is valid, wherein said accessing, presenting, and accepting are further responsive to determining that the user identity is valid.

3. The voting server of claim 2, wherein said determining whether a user identity is valid includes receiving biometric data from the user.

4. The voting server of claim 2, wherein said determining whether a user identity is valid includes determining whether received textual data is from an approved mobile telephony device.

5. The voting server of claim 1, further comprising instructions for:

determining whether an MPR location is the approved location.

6. The voting server of claim 5, wherein said determining whether an MPR communication path is an approved path includes:

validating that an indicator for a portion of the MPR communication path is stored in a line information database (LIDB).

7. The voting server of claim 6, wherein the LIDB includes a wireless LIDB.

8. The voting server of claim 6, wherein the LIDB includes a wireline LIDB.

9. The voting server of claim 5, wherein said determining whether an MPR location is the approved location includes:

receiving an indication that an approved mobile telephony device is within a predetermined proximity of the MPR.

10. The voting server of claim 9, wherein said receiving an indication that an approved mobile telephony device is within a predetermined proximity of the MPR includes verifying a local communication link between the MPR and the approved mobile telephony device.

11. The voting server of claim 10, wherein said receiving an indication that an approved mobile telephony device is within a predetermined proximity of the MPR includes receiving global positioning system data from the approved mobile telephony device.

12. A multimedia processing resource (MPR) comprising:

a network interface for communicating with a content provider over a communication path associated with a line information data base identifier;

a wireless interface for receiving location data to determine whether a user location is an approved location;

a ballot application module stored on a tangible computer readable medium, wherein the ballot module is for presenting a ballot to a user; and

a remote control interface for accepting a user input to select an element from the ballot.

13. The MPR of claim 12, further comprising:

a satellite interface for determining whether a location of the MPR is the approved location.

14. The MPR of claim 12, further comprising:

a user profile module for verifying an identity of the user.

15. The MPR of claim 12, further comprising:

a communication device data module for verifying whether a mobile telephony device local to the MPR is an approved device.

16. The MPR of claim 12, wherein the MPR is a set top box operable to process multimedia content.

17. A service for accepting votes from a multimedia processing resource (MPR), the service comprising:

enabling a voting server to determine whether an MPR communication path is an approved path;

enabling the voting server to determine whether a user location is an approved voting location; and

responsive to determining that the user location is an approved voting location and responsive to determining that the MPR communication path is an approved path;

enabling an MPR to present a ballot to a user; and

enabling the MPR to accept a user input to select at least one element from the ballot.

18. The service of claim 17, further comprising:

enabling the MPR to detect that the user location is local to the MPR.

19. The service of claim 17, further comprising:

enabling the voting server to determine whether an MPR location is the approved voting location for the user.

20. The service of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the user location is an approved voting location and responsive to determining that the MPR communication path is an approved path;

enabling the MPR to accept further user input to enter a new element to the ballot.

21. The service of claim 17, wherein said determining whether an MPR communication path is an approved path includes:

enabling a voting server to validate that an indicator for a portion of the MPR communication path is stored in a line information database (LIDB).

22. The service of claim 21, wherein the LIDB includes a wireless LIDB.

23. The service of claim 21, wherein the LIDB includes a wireline LIDB.

24. The service of claim 17, further comprising:

determining whether the user is an approved voter.

25. The service of claim 24, wherein said determining whether the user is an approved voter includes determining whether the user is an approved voter based on user biometric data.