MULTIPLE DEVICE LOSS STATUS RETRIEVAL WITHOUT ID PROVISION

• US 20110115621A1
• Filed: 11/17/2010
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Inventors: Loveland, Damien Gerard
• Granted Patent: US 8,441,348 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/16 Anti-theft; Abduction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system is disclosed that enables multiple electronic devices to be tracked in the case of theft or loss without the need for monitoring or tracking the devices prior to the loss or theft. The system operates by sending bulk status information regarding the lost/stolen statuses of multiple devices to one of these devices. The receiving device then decodes the bulk status information to determine its own lost/stolen status. If the status reveals that the device is currently reported as lost or stolen, the device initiates an appropriate security action, such as the transmission of its location to a monitoring center.

Claims

1. A method performed by an electronic host device to facilitate recovery thereof when the host device is lost or stolen, the method comprising:

transmitting a request to a remote monitoring center for bulk status information relating to the lost or stolen status of a plurality of electronic host devices;

receiving the bulk status information from the remote monitoring center;

analyzing the received bulk status information with an identity key stored in a memory of the electronic host device to determine whether the electronic host device has been reported lost or stolen; and

when the electronic host device is determined to have been reported lost or stolen, transmitting information relating to the location of the electronic host device to the monitoring center.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the bulk status information does not include an identifier of the electronic host device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the bulk status information includes a plurality of status information portions, each of which corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of electronic host devices, and the step of analyzing the received bulk status information comprises using the identity key to select the status information portion that corresponds to the electronic host device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for bulk status information does not include said identity key.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for bulk status information includes an identifier of a group to which the plurality of electronic host devices belong, wherein said electronic host device is a member of said group.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the bulk status information comprises receiving an HTML page that has said bulk status information encoded therein.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the bulk status information comprises receiving an image that has said bulk status information encoded therein.

8. A computer-readable medium that stores executable code that directs an electronic host device to perform the method of claim 1.

9. An electronic host device programmed to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A method performed by an electronic host device, comprising:

receiving a bulk status message transmitted by a monitoring center, said bulk message including status information for each of a plurality of electronic host devices, including said electronic host device, said status information indicating, for each electronic host device, whether the respective host electronic has a status of lost or stolen based on reports submitted to the monitoring center;

determining, using an identifier of the electronic host device, that the bulk status message indicates that the electronic host device has a status of lost or stolen; and

in response to said determination, performing a security action.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein performing a security action comprises transmitting information regarding a location of the electronic host device to enable said location to be monitored from a remote location.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein performing a security action comprises one or more of:

locking down the electronic host device, encrypting data, deleting encryption keys, deleting data, sounding an alarm, sending emails, capturing screen shots, capturing key strokes, notifying nearby devices, taking camera shots, and taking video clips.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the bulk status message does not include unique identifiers of any of the plurality of electronic host devices.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the bulk status information includes a plurality of status information portions, each of which corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of electronic host devices, and the method comprises using said identifier to select the status information portion that corresponds to the electronic host device.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises transmitting a request for the bulk status information to the monitoring center, said request including a group identifier that identifies a group corresponding to said plurality of electronic host devices.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the bulk status message comprises receiving an HTML page that has said status information encoded therein.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the bulk status message comprises receiving an image that has said status information encoded therein.

18. A computer-readable medium that stores executable code that directs an electronic host device to perform the method of claim 10.

19. An electronic host device programmed to perform the method of claim 10.