Method and apparatus for controlling access to mobile devices

• US 6,577,274 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2001
• Issued: 06/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Bajikar, Sundeep M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Blum, Theodore M.
• Application Number:
  US10/028,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20030112182A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 Days
• Field of Search: 342/457, 342/357.06, 342/357.07, 342/450, 701/213, 705/35, 705/40, 705/42, 705/44
• US Class Current: 342/450
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/30 Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location

Abstract

According to one embodiment, the invention discloses a method comprising determining a position of a mobile device; and controlling access to said mobile device based on said position. According to another embodiment of the invention there is provided a mobile device comprising a positioning mechanism to determine a position a mobile device; and a controlling mechanism to control access to said mobile device based on said position.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a position of a mobile processing system;

determining if the position is within a user-defined zone;

if the position is within the user-defined zone, enabling user-defined settings for the mobile processing system associated with the user-defined zone, wherein the settings control whether user identification or user authentication is required in order to access the mobile processing system, whether electronic payments may be made using the mobile processing system, and what types of external access requests to allow.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the position comprises transmitting a triangulation signal from the mobile processing system to a network operator, which signal is triangulated by the network operator, and receiving a result of the triangulation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling the user-defined settings occurs without the user input.

4. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which when executed by a processing system cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

determining a position of the processing system;

determining if the position is within a user-defined zone;

if the position is within the user-defined zone, enabling user-defined settings for the processing system associated with the user-defined zone, wherein the settings control whether user identification or user authentication is required in order to access the processing system, whether electronic payments may be made using the mobile processing system, and what types of external access requests to allow.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein determining the position comprises transmitting a triangulation signal from the processing system to a network operator, which signal is triangulated by the network operator, and receiving a result of the triangulation.

6. A mobile processing system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising

determining a position of the mobile processing system;

determining if the position is within a user-defined zone;

if the position is within the user-defined zone, enabling user-defined settings for the mobile processing system associated with the user-defined zone, wherein the settings control whether user identification or user authentication is required in order to access the mobile processing system, whether electronic payments may be made using the mobile processing system, and what types of external access requests to allow.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein determining the position comprises transmitting a triangulation signal from the mobile processing system to a network operator, which signal is triangulated by the network operator, and receiving a result of the triangulation.