MODIFYING A FUNCTION BASED ON USER PROXIMITY

• US 20140141759A1
• Filed: 11/19/2012
• Published: 05/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kelso, Scott Edwards, Locker, Howard, Nicholson, John Weldon, Roper, Matthew Price, Bowser, Robert A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,042,827 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

For modifying a function based on user proximity, a proximity module determines a distance between an electronic device and a transported device in wireless communication with the electronic device. The proximity module further modifies a function of the electronic device if the distance is within the specified range.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a computer readable storage medium storing machine readable code;

a processor executing the machine readable code, the machine readable code comprising;

a proximity module determining a distance between an electronic device and a transported device in wireless communication with the electronic device and modifying a function of the electronic device if the distance is within a specified range.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein modifying the function performs the modifications selected from the group consisting of decreasing a service rate for the function and increasing a service rate function.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the function is a wireless data stream.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distance is calculated from observations selected from the group consisting of a time interval from a signal to a return signal, a loss of the wireless communication, a wireless communication signal strength, a wireless communication fingerprint, a radio direction finding, an inertial navigation location for the electronic device and the transported device, and global positioning system locations for the electronic device and the transported device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the function is not modified during a critical operation.

6. A method comprising:

determining a distance between an electronic device and a transported device in wireless communication with the electronic device; and

modifying a function of the electronic device if the distance is within a specified range.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein modifying the function comprises decreasing a service rate for the function.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein modifying the function comprises increasing a service rate function

9. The method of claim 6, wherein modifying the function performs the modifications selected from the group consisting of enabling the function, disabling the function, unlocking the electronic device, and changing a status.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the wireless communication is selected from the group consisting of a Bluetooth connection, a WiFi network, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) communication, a ZigBee connection, a Z-Wave connection, an ANT+ connection, an infrared connection, and a cellular telephone network communication.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising a plurality of functions that each has at least one corresponding specified range.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the function is a wireless data stream.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the distance is calculated from a time interval from a signal to a return signal.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein the distance is calculated from observations selected from the group consisting of a time interval from a signal to a return signal, a loss of the wireless communication, a wireless communication signal strength, a wireless communication fingerprint, a radio direction finding, an inertial navigation location for the electronic device and the transported device, and global positioning system locations for the electronic device and the transported device.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the function is not modified during a critical operation.

16. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium storing machine readable code executed by a processor to perform the operations of:

determining a distance between an electronic device and a transported device in wireless communication with the electronic device; and

modifying a function of the electronic device if the distance is within a specified range.

17. The program product of claim 16, wherein modifying the function performs the modifications selected from the group consisting of decreasing a service rate for the function and increasing a service rate function.

18. The program product of claim 16, wherein the function is a wireless data stream.

19. The program product of claim 16, wherein the distance is calculated from observations selected from the group consisting of a time interval from a signal to a return signal, a loss of the wireless communication, a wireless communication signal strength, a wireless communication fingerprint, a radio direction finding, an inertial navigation location for the electronic device and the transported device, and global positioning system locations for the electronic device and the transported device.

20. The program product of claim 16, wherein the function is not modified during a critical operation.