Modification of portable communications device operation in vehicles
First Claim
1. A method for controlling the use of at least one personal communications device in a vehicle, the method comprisingat a controller in said vehicle, deriving information relating to the geographic location of said vehicle,at said controller in said vehicle, deriving information relating to restrictions on the use of personal communications devices in at least one geographic region,at said controller in said vehicle, determining whether said geographic location of said vehicle bears a predetermined relationship to at least one of said geographic regions,transmitting a message from said controller in said vehicle to said at least one personal communications device imposing restrictions on use of each said personal communications device while said predetermined relationship exists.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Restrictions on use of a cellular telephone in a vehicle, such as an automobile, are imposed using a global position system (GPS) device to determine the location of a vehicle in relation to geographic regions in which legal or customer restrictions on cellular telephone use are to be imposed. Network or local short-range wireless transmitters supply information to a cellular telephone describing potentially applicable restriction information retrieved from network databases. In response, a cellular telephone determines applicability of such restrictions and applies them to further use of the cellular telephone while such restrictions continue to apply. Alternative arrangements allow vehicle-based or network based processing of region and restrictions information to yield command messages to cellular telephones to control their further use.
240 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for controlling the use of at least one personal communications device in a vehicle, the method comprising
at a controller in said vehicle, deriving information relating to the geographic location of said vehicle, at said controller in said vehicle, deriving information relating to restrictions on the use of personal communications devices in at least one geographic region, at said controller in said vehicle, determining whether said geographic location of said vehicle bears a predetermined relationship to at least one of said geographic regions, transmitting a message from said controller in said vehicle to said at least one personal communications device imposing restrictions on use of each said personal communications device while said predetermined relationship exists.
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10. A method for controlling the use of a wireless personal communications device in a vehicle comprising
deriving information relating to the geographic location of said personal communications device, deriving information relating to restrictions on the in-vehicle use of personal communications devices in each of a plurality of geographic regions, determining whether said geographic location of said personal communications device bears a predetermined relationship to at least one of said geographic regions, determining whether the personal wireless communications device is being used in a vehicle, and determining restrictions on the in-vehicle use of said personal communications device while said predetermined relationship exists; wherein said use of a personal communications device is pursuant to an arrangement with a communications carrier, and said restrictions comprise restrictions imposed by a customer of said carrier;
said customer being a person having supervisory responsibility for at least one user of said personal communications device.- View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
Specification