INFORMATION THROTTLE BASED ON COMPLIANCE WITH ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION RULES

• US 20160330084A1
• Filed: 07/20/2016
• Published: 11/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eturi Corp.
• Original Assignee: Eturi Corp.
• Inventors: HUNTER, Edward, MOUSSAVIAN, Negeen, MOUSSAVIAN, Amir, LEWIS, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,887,887 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5019 Ensuring fulfilment of SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2425 for supporting services specification, e.g. SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Throttles electronic devices based on compliance with rules for electronic communications such as emails, texts, or postings on social media sites. Rules may for example prohibit certain topics, language, or behaviors such as online bullying. If system detects a violation of the electronic communications rules, it may block access or reduce performance on one or more electronic devices as a consequence. In some cases, devices or selected apps or services may continue to function, but at a reduced level. Conversely the system may provide rewards for conforming with the rules. Throttling of devices may also depend on other factors, such as homework completion, test results, grades, and environmental conditions. Machine learning techniques may be applied to determine when electronic communications may violate the rules. For example, probabilistic topic models may be applied to determine the topics of electronic communications, and to assess whether these topics violate the rules.

Claims

1. An information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules comprising:

an agreement between an agreement creator and an agreement performer, which is stored in a memory of a computer, wherein said agreement comprises

one or more rules for electronic communications between said agreement performer and one or more other participants;

an action to be performed based on compliance with said one or more rules;

an agreement monitor coupled with said agreement and configured to analyze said electronic communications to determine said compliance with said one or more rules;

an information throttle coupled at least intermittently with said agreement monitor and with an electronic device that is associated with said agreement performer, and configured to perform said action based on said compliance with said one or more rules;

wherein said action comprises one or more of

a modification of access by said agreement performer to at least one application or service on said electronic device;

a modification of access by said agreement performer to at least one website from said electronic device;

a modification of performance of said at least one application or service on said electronic device;

wherein said modification of performance of said at least one application or service comprises one or more of

modification of a speed at which said at least one application or service executes on said electronic device;

modification of a display setting of a display of said electronic device;

modification of an audio output setting of an audio output of said electronic device;

modification of a delay between acceptance of information by said at least one application or service and output of said information by said electronic device;

modification of a set of available features in said at least one application or service.

2. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein

said electronic communications comprise one or more postings made by said agreement performer on one or more social media sites;

said agreement monitor is further coupled to said one or more social media sites and is further configured to analyze said one or more postings to determine said compliance with said one or more rules.

3. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein said electronic communications comprise one or more of

an email;

a text message;

a tweet;

an Internet chat message;

a voice call;

a voice message;

a picture message;

a video call; and

,

a video message.

4. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein said one or more rules comprise one or more of

no negativity;

no inappropriate language;

no inappropriate topics;

no bullying;

no threatening;

no aggression; and

,

no communication with inappropriate people or organizations.

5. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein said agreement monitor comprises

a feature extractor that generates a feature vector from an electronic communication;

and,

a compliance function that maps said feature vector to a compliance score that measures said compliance with said one or more rules.

6. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 5, wherein said feature vector comprises one or more of

n-grams of words, phrases, or graphic symbols in said electronic communication or in a message thread associated with said electronic communication;

positions of words, phrases, or graphic symbols in said electronic communication or in said message thread;

identities of persons who sent or posted or received messages in said message thread;

number of messages sent by or posted by or received by each person in said message thread;

total number of messages in said message thread;

total number of participants in said message thread; and

,

identities of social media sites on which said electronic communication was posted.

7. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 5, further comprising

a database of rated words or phrases;

a rating function for each word or phrase in said database;

wherein

said feature extractor identifies words or phrases in said electronic communication that are also in said database of rated words or phrases;

said compliance function calculates a total or average or aggregate rating function for said words or phrases in said electronic communication that are also in said database of rated words or phrases.

8. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 7, wherein said rating function measures one or more of a sentiment, an affect, an opinion, or an emotional content associated with said word or phrase in said database.

9. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 5, further comprising a machine learning system comprising

a training set of electronic communications;

an algorithm to learn one or both of said feature extractor and said compliance function from said training set.

10. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 9, wherein said compliance function comprises a probabilistic topic model that assigns topic weights to said electronic communication.

11. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 10, wherein said algorithm comprises latent Dirichlet allocation.

12. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein

said action partially reduces performance of said at least one application or service on said electronic device without blocking use of said at least one application or service.

13. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein

said electronic device comprises one or more of a telephone, a computer, a music player, a game, a video game console, a virtual reality headset, an augmented reality headset, a wearable device, a streaming set-top box, a smart hub, a connected hub, a smart household device, a smart thermostat, a beacon, a television, a smart television, a vehicle, a car, a motorcycle, an autonomous vehicle, a self-driving car, a self-driving vehicle, a drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a robot, a remote control, or an appliance.

14. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein

said electronic device comprises a plurality of electronic devices associated with said agreement performer;

said action is performed across said plurality of electronic devices.

15. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein the information throttle performs the action based on a site pass or channel pass and wherein the site comprises a list of websites or TV channels, amount of time of enabled access or expiration time thereof.

16. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein

said agreement further comprises homework or a test to be performed by said agreement performer;

said action to be performed is further based on one or both of a completion status of said homework and a grade value associated with said test.

17. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein said action comprises

provide said agreement performer with a reward when said agreement performer complies with said one or more rules.

18. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein

said agreement further comprises a condition comprising an environmental event comprising data related to any combination of weather, temperature, allergy, pollen or smog alert;

said action to be performed is further based on said condition.

19. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 1, wherein said agreement monitor is further configured to transmit one or more notices to said agreement creator and one or more other users.

20. The information throttle based on compliance with electronic communication rules of claim 19, wherein said one or more other users comprise one or more of a parent, a guardian, a babysitter, a teacher, a school administrator, a doctor, a nurse, a counselor, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a clergyperson, a security officer, an emergency service, a hotline operator, a police officer, a police administrator, a federal agent, and a lawyer.