METHOD AND APPARATUS PERTAINING TO PORTABLE TRANSACTION-ENABLEMENT PLATFORM-BASED SECURE TRANSACTIONS

• US 20110029702A1
• Filed: 07/28/2009
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola Mobility, Inc. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pirretti, Matthew G., Buskey, Ronald F.
• Application Number:
  US12/510,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029702A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/32 using wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification

Abstract

A portable transaction-enablement platform carries out certain actions to improve the protection of sensitive information. This can comprise detecting when a user of the portable transaction-enablement platform prepares to use the portable transaction-enablement platform to facilitate a sensitive transaction and then responding in a corresponding manner. This can comprise, for example, automatically pre-enabling transaction-enablement platform functionality as pertains to the sensitive transaction while also limiting transaction-enablement platform functionality that does not support the sensitive transaction and that poses a risk to the sensitive transaction.

Claims

1. A portable transaction-enablement platform comprising:

a housing;

a user interface supported by the housing; and

a control circuit disposed within the housing and operably coupled to the user interface and configured to;

detect when the user is preparing to use the transaction-enablement platform to facilitate a sensitive transaction; and

in response to detecting that the user is preparing to use the transaction-enablement platform to facilitate a sensitive transaction, automatically;

pre-enabling transaction-enablement platform functionality as pertains to the sensitive transaction; and

limiting transaction-enablement platform functionality that does not support the sensitive transaction and that poses a risk to the sensitive transaction.

2. The transaction-enablement platform of claim 1 further comprising an external communications interface that is supported by the housing and that operably couples to the control circuit.

3. The transaction-enablement platform of claim 1 wherein:

the user interface comprises, at least in part, an automatically modifiable user-input interface; and

pre-enabling transaction-enablement platform functionality as pertains to the sensitive transaction comprises, at least in part, modifying the user-input interface to display information regarding at least one item of transaction-enablement platform functionality.

4. The transaction-enablement platform of claim 3 wherein the information comprises at least one user-selectable functional option.

5. The transaction-enablement platform of claim 3 wherein modifying the user-input interface to display information regarding at least one item of transaction-enablement platform functionality comprises, at least in part, modifying the user-input interface to display information regarding at least one item of transaction-enablement platform functionality that is frequently used when facilitating the sensitive transaction.

6. The transaction-enablement platform of claim 1 wherein limiting transaction-enablement platform functionality that does not support the sensitive transaction and that poses a risk to the sensitive transaction comprises, at least in part, suspending operability of at least one transaction-enablement platform functionality that does not support the sensitive transaction and that poses a risk to the sensitive transaction.

7. The transaction-enablement platform of claim 6 wherein suspending operability of at least one transaction-enablement platform functionality that does not support the sensitive transaction and that poses a risk to the sensitive transaction comprises, at least in part, suspending operability of an external interface.

8. The transaction-enablement platform of claim 6 wherein suspending operability of at least one transaction-enablement platform functionality that does not support the sensitive transaction and that poses a risk to the sensitive transaction comprises, at least in part, suspending operability of an application that is not necessary to facilitating the sensitive transaction.

9. A method for use with a portable transaction-enablement platform, the method comprising:

at the transaction-enablement platform;

detecting when a user of the transaction-enablement platform is preparing to use the transaction-enablement platform to facilitate a sensitive transaction; and

in response to detecting that the user is preparing to use the transaction-enablement platform to facilitate a sensitive transaction, automatically;

pre-enabling transaction-enablement platform functionality as pertains to the sensitive transaction; and

limiting transaction-enablement platform functionality that does not support the sensitive transaction and that poses a risk to the sensitive transaction.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

in response to detecting that the user is preparing to use the transaction-enablement platform to facilitate a sensitive transaction, automatically significantly altering an appearance of an end-user interface as comprises a part of the transaction-enablement platform to thereby alert the user that the user is facilitating a sensitive transaction.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein significantly altering an appearance of an end-user interface as comprises a part of the transaction-enablement platform to thereby alert the user that the user is facilitating a sensitive transaction comprises, at least in part, modifying the end-user interface such that the end-user interface now presents information dedicated to facilitating a sensitive transaction in a highly-perceptible form.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the information dedicated to facilitating a sensitive transaction comprises a display background that uniquely signifies facilitating a sensitive transaction.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the information dedicated to facilitating a sensitive transaction comprises an illuminated button that uniquely signifies facilitating a sensitive transaction.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein pre-enabling transaction-enablement platform functionality as pertains to the sensitive transaction comprises, at least in part, displaying a relative-risk indication.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein displaying a relative-risk indication comprises displaying a relative-risk indication that presents a present risk-metric value within a displayed range of risk-metric values.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein displaying a relative-risk indication that presents a present risk-metric value within a displayed range of risk-metric values comprises calculating the present risk-metric value as a function of a plurality of differing risk-evaluation considerations.

17. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining a relative-risk value as pertains to the sensitive transaction;

when the relative-risk value compares unfavorably to a required level of security, inhibiting the sensitive transaction.