System and method for location based policy management

• US 7,286,834 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2004
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walter, Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thier, Michael
• Application Number:
  US10/890,397
• Publication Number:
  US 20060014547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• Field of Search: 455/411, 455/422.1, 455/440, 455/456.1, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to a system including a set of short-range wireless access points and a policy server. The set of short-range wireless access points are configured to provide a short-range wireless network having a coverage area and are configured to communicate with a wireless enabled device within the coverage area. The policy server is communicatively coupled with the set of short-range wireless access points and is configured to determine whether the wireless enabled device is located within a designated region within the coverage area based on data received from the set of short-range wireless access points.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a set of short-range wireless access points configured to provide a short-range wireless network having a coverage area wherein each access point is configured to communicate with a wireless enabled device within a portion of the coverage area and within a designated access area, the designated access area being defined by boundary data for establishing policy management therein;

a policy server communicatively coupled with the set of short-range wireless access points;

configured to receive the boundary data from a boundary calibration device, the boundary data representing a set of boundary locations, wherein the set of boundary locations is determined by the boundary calibration device collecting data from each of the of access points at each boundary location;

configured to determine whether the wireless enabled device is located within the designated access area within the coverage area based on the boundary data; and

configured to control the wireless enabled device in accordance with the policy management when the wireless enabled device is located in the designated access area.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the designated access area is smaller than the coverage area.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the policy server is configured to control network traffic associated with the wireless enabled device based on whether the wireless enabled device is within the designated access area.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the policy server is configured to control feature functionality of the wireless enabled device based on whether the wireless enabled device is within the designated access area.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the policy server determines whether the wireless enabled device is within the designated region by performing a triangulation operation based on the data received from at least three access points.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the short-range wireless network uses protocols selected from the group consisting of IEEE 802.113 802.15, and 802.16.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of boundary locations is determined by performing a triangulation operation.

8. A method for managing feature functionality of a wireless enabled device, the method comprising:

determining boundary data of a set of boundary locations based on a location of a boundary calibration device relative to a location of each of a plurality of access points;

providing the boundary data defining a designated access area within a short-range wireless network coverage area wherein a plurality of short-range access points are configured to communicate within the designated access area defined by boundaries within said coverage area;

determining whether a wireless enabled device is located within the designated access area based on data communicated by each access point of the plurality of short-range access points and the boundary data; and

determining a feature policy to be applied to the wireless enabled device based on determining that the wireless enabled device is located within the designated access area.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing the feature policy to the wireless enabled device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the feature policy is provided via the short-range wireless network.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the wireless enabled device is located within the designated access area further includes comparing the device location to the boundary data.