BYPASSING SECURITY AUTHENTICATION SCHEME ON A LOST DEVICE TO RETURN THE DEVICE TO THE OWNER

• US 20180063717A1
• Filed: 08/18/2017
• Published: 03/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Schushan, Asaf
• Granted Patent: US 10,257,709 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for bypassing device security protections to communicate with a contact of a secure device. The method displays a selectable user interface object on the device enabling a user to bypass the security protections of the device. Upon receiving a selection of the user interface object, the method initiates a communication to a contact that is preselected from a list of contacts.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method for bypassing device security protections to communicate with a privileged contact of a secure device, the method comprising:

displaying, while the device is in a locked mode in which a plurality of services are unavailable on the device, a selectable user interface (UI) item on the device for enabling a person to operate the device to communicate with a privileged contact while the device is in the locked mode;

upon the selection of the UI item, displaying a list of privileged contacts while the device is in the locked mode, wherein the list of privileged contacts includes an owner of the device; and

initiating a communication with a privileged contact selected from a list of privileged contacts.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving a selection of the privileged contact from the list of privileged contacts before initiating the communication.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising displaying, upon receiving the selection of the privileged contact, a list of selectable communication mechanisms.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the selected privileged contact is the owner of the device.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the list of selectable communication mechanisms for the owner of the device comprises at least one of e-mail and a phone call to a phone number not associated with the device.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the list of selectable communication mechanisms provides different sets of communication mechanisms for different privileged contacts.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the device is placed in the locked mode after a predetermined period of inactivity, the locked mode requiring the device to be unlocked before making said plurality of services available.

28. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit of a secure device bypasses device security protections to communicate with a privileged contact of the device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying, while the device is in a locked mode in which a plurality of services are unavailable on the device, a selectable user interface (UI) item on the device for enabling a person to operate the device to communicate with a privileged contact while the device is in the locked mode;

upon the selection of the UI item, displaying a list of privileged contacts while the device is in the locked mode, wherein the list of privileged contacts includes an owner of the device; and

initiating a communication with a privileged contact selected from a list of privileged contacts.

29. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for receiving a selection of the privileged contact from the list of privileged contacts before initiating the communication.

30. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 29, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for displaying, upon receiving the selection of the privileged contact, a list of selectable communication mechanisms.

31. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 30, wherein the selected privileged contact is the owner of the device, wherein the list of selectable communication mechanisms for the owner of the device comprises at least one of e-mail and a phone call to a phone number not associated with the device.

32. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 30, wherein the list of selectable communication mechanisms provides different sets of communication mechanisms for different privileged contacts.

33. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the list of privileged contacts comprises a set of automatically-generated privileged contacts.

34. An electronic device comprising:

a set of processing units; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit of a secure device bypasses device security protections to communicate with a privileged contact of the device, the program comprising sets of instructions for;

displaying, while the device is in a locked mode in which a plurality of services are unavailable on the device, a selectable user interface (UI) item on the device for enabling a person to operate the device to communicate with a privileged contact while the device is in the locked mode;

upon the selection of the UI item, displaying a list of privileged contacts while the device is in the locked mode, wherein the list of privileged contacts includes an owner of the device; and

initiating a communication with a privileged contact selected from a list of privileged contacts.

35. The electronic device of claim 34, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for receiving a selection of the privileged contact from the list of privileged contacts before initiating the communication.

36. The electronic device of claim 35, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for displaying, upon receiving the selection of the privileged contact, a list of selectable communication mechanisms.

37. The electronic device of claim 36, wherein the selected privileged contact is the owner of the device, wherein the list of selectable communication mechanisms for the owner of the device comprises at least one of e-mail and a phone call to a phone number not associated with the device.

38. The electronic device of claim 36, wherein the list of selectable communication mechanisms provides different sets of communication mechanisms for different privileged contacts.

39. The electronic device of claim 34, wherein the list of privileged contacts comprises a set of automatically-generated privileged contacts.

40. The electronic device of claim 34, wherein the set of instructions for initiating the communication comprises a set of instructions for using a third-party application to initiate the communication.