SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MOBILE DEVICE CONTROL DELEGATION

• US 20150350410A1
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Wavemarket Incorporated (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Weiss, Andrew, Roumeliotis, Tasos, Roy, Sourya
• Granted Patent: US 10,148,805 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A system and method for implementing controls corresponding to a particular mobile device. The method includes receiving from a first party corresponding to the particular mobile device a designation of a second party and receiving control instructions from the second party. A particular geographic area and/or a particular time frame is associated with the second party. A processor alternately delegates one or more device controls of the particular mobile device from the first party to the second party based on a current location of the particular mobile device relative to the particular geographic area and/or a current time relative to the particular time frame. The control instructions received from the second party are applied when the one or more device controls are delegated to the second party.

Claims

1. A method of implementing controls corresponding to a particular mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving from a first party corresponding to the particular mobile device a designation of a second party;

receiving control instructions from the second party;

associating at least one of a particular geographic area and a particular time frame with the second party;

alternately delegating by at least one processor at least one device control of the particular mobile device from the first party to the second party based on at least one of a current location of the particular mobile device relative to the particular geographic area and a current time relative to the particular time frame; and

applying the control instructions received from the second party when the at least one device control is delegated to the second party.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving control instructions from the first party via the first user account;

applying the control instructions received from the first party when the at least one device control is delegated to the first party.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the control instructions comprises a particular application executing on the particular mobile device to constrain at least one of communication and application use on the particular mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an exception to the control instructions of the second party from the first party, wherein applying the control instructions received from the second party comprises constraining at least one of communication and application use on the particular mobile device mitigated by the exception to the control instructions from the first party.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the exception to the control instruction comprises at least one phone number to which communication is not constrained.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the exception to the control instruction comprises at least one application of which use is not constrained.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the control instructions by a network connectable server;

providing the control instructions to the particular mobile device from the network connectable server through a network;

applying the control instructions by an application executed on the particular mobile device to constrain at least one of communication and application use on the particular mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the control instructions via a network connectable server, wherein applying the control instructions comprises communicating instructions to a telecommunication carrier system configured to service the particular mobile device to constrain communication of the particular mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the control instructions comprises setting a particular geographic constraint on the particular mobile device, the method further comprising:

determining the location of the particular mobile device;

determining based on the location that the particular mobile device has violated the particular geographic constraint;

providing an alert responsive to determining that the particular mobile device has violated the particular geographic constraint.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing the alert to at least one of the first party and the second party.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the control instructions comprises selectively constraining application use on the particular mobile device, wherein the control instructions comprise a listing of at least one particular application not constrained on the particular mobile device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location of a device corresponding to the second party;

determining a location of the particular mobile device relative to the location of the device corresponding to the second party during a time when the at least one device control is delegated to the second party; and

generating an alert based on the location of the particular mobile device relative to the location of the device corresponding to the second party.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling a computer user interface listing identifiers of a plurality of parties corresponding to a plurality of user accounts; and

receiving from the first party via the first user account the designation of the second party from the identifier list via the user interface.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a modification to the control instructions from the second party;

providing a notification to the first party regarding the modification to the control instructions received from the second party;

receiving a permission to apply the modification to the control instructions from the first party; and

applying the modified control instructions when the at least one device control is delegated to the second party responsive to receiving the permission from the first user.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the control instructions on a network connectable server;

accessing the network connectable server by the particular mobile device to retrieve the control instructions; and

applying the control instructions via a particular application executing on the particular mobile device to constrain at least one of communication and application use on the particular mobile device.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling a first user account corresponding to the first party corresponding to the particular mobile device;

enabling a second user account corresponding to the second party;

receiving the designation of the second party from the first party via the first user account; and

receiving the control instructions from the second party via the second user account.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein control instructions from the second party are received by a network connectable server and an identity of a user of the particular mobile device is unavailable to the second party.

18. A method of implementing controls corresponding to a particular mobile device, the method comprising:

receive a first instruction set corresponding to a first user account of a first party, the first instruction set directed to at least one of mobile device monitoring and mobile device control;

receive a second instruction set corresponding to a second user account of a second party, the second instruction set directed to at least one of mobile device monitoring and mobile device control;

alternately applying by at least one processor the first instruction set and the second instruction set based on at least one of a time of day, a day of week, and a location of the particular mobile device to at least one of monitor and control use of a particular mobile device.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 18, further comprising:

receive via the first user account the first instruction set corresponding to at least one of monitoring and control of the particular mobile device;

receive via the second user account the second instruction set corresponding to at least one of monitoring and control of the particular mobile device.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving the first instruction set and the second instruction set by a network connectable server; and

applying the first instruction set and the second instruction by at least one of the network connectable server and the particular mobile device based on data received from the network connectable server.

21. The computer implemented method of claim 18, further comprising receiving at least one exception to the second instruction set from the first party;

22. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein:

the second instruction set provides a communication constraint restricting telephone communication by the particular mobile device;

the at least one exception to the second instruction set comprises at least one unrestricted telephone number;

applying the second instruction set comprises allowing communications corresponding to the at least one unrestricted telephone number and disallowing communications not corresponding to the unrestricted telephone number.

23. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein:

the second instruction set provides a constraint restricting application use by the particular mobile device;

the at least one exception to the second instruction set comprises an indication of at least one unrestricted application;

applying the second instruction set comprises allowing use of the at least one unrestricted application by the particular mobile device and disallowing use of a plurality of other applications by the particular mobile device.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising

enabling designation of an identifier corresponding to the second user account;

receiving designation of the identifier corresponding to the second user account by the first party;

alternately applying the second instruction set based on the designation of the identifier corresponding to the second user account by the first party.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

associating a geographic area with the second party;

determining the particular mobile device has entered the particular geographic area;

applying the second instruction set responsive to determining the particular mobile device has entered the particular geographic area.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the geographic area corresponds to the dynamic location of a mobile device corresponding to the second party.

27. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

associating a particular time frame with the second party; and

applying the second instruction set during the particular time frame.

28. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

associating a geographic area with the second party;

associating a particular time frame with the second party;

determining the particular mobile device has entered the particular geographic area during the particular time frame;

applying the second instruction set responsive to determining the particular mobile device has entered the particular geographic area and that a current time corresponds to the particular time frame.

29. A computing system comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the system, cause the system to perform a process including:

receiving from a first party corresponding to the particular mobile device a designation of a second party;

receiving control instructions from the second party;

associating at least one of a particular geographic area and a particular time frame with the second party;

alternately delegating by a processor at least one device control of the particular mobile device from the first party to the second party based on at least one of a current location of the particular mobile device relative to the particular geographic area and a current time relative to the particular time frame; and

applying the control instructions received from the second party when the at least one device control is delegated to the second party.

30. Non-transitory computer-readable media tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by at least one processor-enabled computing system to implement a method, the at least one computing system being capable of interfacing with a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving from a first party corresponding to the particular mobile device a designation of a second party;

receiving control instructions from the second party;

associating at least one of a particular geographic area and a particular time frame with the second party;

alternately delegating by a processor at least one device control of the particular mobile device from the first party to the second party based on at least one of a current location of the particular mobile device relative to the particular geographic area and a current time relative to the particular time frame; and

applying the control instructions received from the second party when the at least one device control is delegated to the second party.