SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING HISTOGRAM CONTROLLED MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20130185411A1
• Filed: 01/13/2012
• Published: 07/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Wavemarket Incorporated (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,571 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724631 by limiting the access to the user interface, e.g. locking a touch-screen or a keypad
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A communication network and software for its implementation that controls a mobile device based on historical user activity is provided. The mobile device communicates with a server and includes a function that is dependent on the user activity. The server senses the user activity over time and produces a histogram of that activity. The rate at which the server attempts to sense the user activity depends on the histogram. An application might change the function depending on the result of detecting the user activity and the rate at which it does so.

Claims

1. A system comprising a computer readable storage medium containing coded instructions to cause a mobile device to:

store client states indicating statuses of functional components of the mobile device, wherein each client state corresponds to at least one functional component;

compile a digital histogram of client state activity historical data indicating a client activity over time;

store a client digest of the client states of the mobile device;

receive a particular server digest of a plurality of server digests that each correspond to a server state of a plurality of server states that indicate statuses of functional components;

compare the particular server digest with the corresponding client digest;

transmit a state request in response to a difference between the particular server digest and the client digest;

receive a particular server state of said plurality of server states in response to said state request;

enable or disable at least one functional component in response to the particular server state;

store the particular server state as the corresponding client state; and

store the particular server digest as the corresponding client digest.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the statuses of the functional components of the mobile device comprise an indication of whether a particular functional component is enabled or disabled.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital histogram influences when a particular functional component is enabled or disabled.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to store the digital histogram.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the digital histogram relates to driving.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the digital histogram relates to usage.

7. A method for controlling mobile device functional components, comprising:

storing a plurality of server states associated with a mobile device;

storing a plurality of server digests corresponding to the plurality of server states;

storing a digital representation of a histogram reflecting an activity of the mobile device;

storing within the mobile device a plurality of client states indicating statuses of functional components of the mobile device, wherein each client state corresponds to at least one functional component;

for each client state storing on the mobile device a client digest of the client state;

polling the activity of the mobile device to determine its status at a frequency based on the histogram;

updating the digital representation;

receiving a request to modify the status of at least one functional component;

updating at least one of the server states and at least one of the server digests in response to the request from the application to modify the status of at least one functional component;

transmitting the updated server digest to the mobile device;

receiving the updated server digest;

comparing the updated server digest with the corresponding client digest;

transmitting a state request corresponding to a determination of a difference between the updated server digest and the corresponding client digest;

receiving the state request;

transmitting an updated server state to the mobile device;

receiving the updated server state;

changing at least one functional component based on the updated server state;

storing the updated server state as the corresponding client state; and

storing the updated server digest as the corresponding client digest.

8. A method for enabling control of a mobile device functional components comprising:

providing a server having a computing system on a network;

storing with the server a plurality of server states, at least one histogram representing the frequency of a user activity, and a plurality of server digests respectively corresponding to functional components of the mobile device;

receiving from an application via the network a request to modify the status of at least one functional component of the mobile device based on the histogram;

updating with the server a server state and a server digest corresponding to the at least one functional component;

transmit the updated server digest to the mobile device;

receive at the server a state request corresponding to updated server state from the mobile device; and

transmit the updated server state to the mobile device responsive to the state request.

9. A communication network for controlling a mobile device based on a user activity, comprising:

a mobile device having communication capability and a function dependent on a user activity;

a client having communication capability, activity detection logic for detecting the user activity based on the function, a data collection unit for collecting and compiling a digital histogram of the user activity, a stored histogram database for storing the compiled digital histogram, and a polling mechanism for directing the activity detection logic to detect the user activity;

wherein the polling mechanism directs the activity detection logic based on the stored histogram.

10. The communication network according to claim 9, wherein the function is dependent on driving.

11. The communication network according to claim 10, wherein the stored histogram database spans a 24 hour time interval.

12. The communication network according to claim 10, wherein the compiled digital histogram includes at least one assumed value regarding driving.

13. The communication network according to claim 12, wherein the at least one assumed value is lost over time.

14. The communication network according to claim 12, wherein the significance of the at least one assumed value is reduced over time.

15. The communication network according to claim 9, wherein the function is dependent on usage of the mobile device.

16. The communication network according to claim 15, wherein the stored histogram database spans a 24 hour time interval.

17. The communication network according to claim 15, wherein the compiled digital histogram includes at least one assumption regarding usage of the mobile device.

18. The communication network according to claim 17, wherein the significance of the at least one assumption is lost over time.

19. The communication network according to claim 17, wherein the significance of the at least one assumption is reduced over time.

20. A system comprising stored computer readable coded instructions to:

establish communications with a mobile device;

set a mobile device function that is dependent on a user activity;

establish communications with a server;

implement activity detection logic for detecting the user activity based on the mobile device function setting;

implement a data collection unit for collecting and compiling a digital histogram of the user activity detected by the activity detection logic;

implement a stored histogram database for storing the compiled digital histogram;

creating a polling mechanism for directing the activity detection logic to detect the user activity;

controlling the polling mechanism based on the stored histogram.

21. A communication network for operating a mobile device based on a user activity, comprising:

a mobile device having communication capability, a function dependent on a user activity, and a feature settable by a received status signal;

a server having communication capability and activity detection logic for detecting user activity based on the function;

a client having communication capability, a data collection unit for collecting and compiling a digital histogram of the user activity, a stored histogram database for storing the compiled digital histogram, a polling mechanism for directing the activity detection logic to detect the user activity, and status logic for producing a status signal; and

application software for controlling an application whose operation depends on the user activity, the application software interacting with the status logic;

wherein the polling mechanism directs the activity detection logic via the communication capability of the server and the client at a frequency based on the stored histogram; and

wherein the application directs the status logic to cause the server to transmit the received status signal when the user activity is detected.

22. The communication network according to claim 21, wherein the function is dependent on driving.

23. The communication network according to claim 22, wherein the stored histogram database spans a 24 hour time interval.

24. The communication network according to claim 22, wherein the compiled digital histogram includes at least one assumed value regarding driving.

25. The communication network according to claim 24, wherein the at least one assumed value is lost over time.

26. The communication network according to claim 24, wherein the significance of the at least one assumed value is reduced over time.

27. The communication network according to claim 22 wherein driving is detected based on an average rate of travel of the mobile device.

28. The communication network according to claim 21, wherein the function is dependent on usage of the mobile device.

29. The communication network according to claim 22, wherein the stored histogram database spans a 24 hour time interval.

30. The communication network according to claim 22, wherein the compiled digital histogram includes at least one assumption regarding usage of the mobile device.

31. The communication network according to claim 30, wherein the significance of the at least one assumption is lost over time.

32. The communication network according to claim 30, wherein the significance of the at least one assumption is reduced over time.

33. The communication network according to claim 21, wherein the application directs the status logic to cause the server to transmit the received status signal when the user activity changes.

34. The communication network according to claim 21, wherein the stored histogram contains an absolute history of all user activities from a given start time.

35. The communication network according to claim 21, wherein the stored histogram contains no more than ‘

n’

time bins of data, wherein older data is discarded.