Method and system for disabling an electronic device upon theft

• US 7,696,857 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2006
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shepard, Rodney Edward II, Mazzeo, Thomas S., Kritt, Barry Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu; Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): TUN, NAY L
• Application Number:
  US11/424,053
• Publication Number:
  US 20080001705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,399 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.31, 340/5.74
• US Class Current: 340/5.31
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 2073/0088 being lockable or unlockable by means of the office machine itself, e.g. by its keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 73/0005 using chains, cables or the like chain- or cable-locks of the padlock type E05B67/003; lockable clothing hangers or hanger racks E05B69/006
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 73/0082 for office machines, e.g. PC's, portable computers, typewriters, calculators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0886 the card reader being portable for interacting with a POS or ECR in realizing a payment transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

A system for disabling a device. An embedded identifier contained within a cable security system is read in response to enabling a cable security mechanism within the device. The device is disabled if the embedded identifier is not found.

Claims

1. A method for disabling a device, the method comprising:

providing a cable security system having a cable security mechanism provided within the device and a security cable having a proximal end connected to the device and the cable security mechanism, and a distal end forming a securement for attachment to a fixture;

responsive to enabling the cable security mechanism within the device, reading by the device an embedded identifier contained in an embedded identification chip located within the distal end of the security cable of the cable security system via an embedded electrical wire within the security cable; and

disabling the device if embedded identifier is not found.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the embedded identifier to a stored identifier to determine whether a match occurs;

enabling the device to operate if a match occurs; and

disabling the device from operating if a match does not occur.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the embedded identifier and the stored identifier are a unique alphanumeric identification number associated with the cable security system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the embedded identification chip located within the distal end of the security cable is connected to an I²C Bus.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the security cable includes a locking mechanism located on the proximal end of the security cable.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the security cable includes the embedded electrical wire running from the locking mechanism to the embedded identification chip located within the distal end of the security cable.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the device uses the embedded electrical wire to read the embedded identifier when the device is coupled to the cable security system and the cable security mechanism is enabled.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the device is disabled when the embedded electrical wire is severed.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the locking mechanism is coupled to the device, and wherein uncoupling the locking mechanism from the device disables the device when the cable security mechanism is enabled.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the disabling step includes locking a hard drive to form a locked hard drive, and wherein the locked hard drive is password protected, and wherein a password is stored within the locked hard drive, and wherein the password is required to re-enable the locked hard drive to operate.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the device intermittently compares the embedded identifier to the stored identifier at predetermined intervals during normal operation of the device after initial power on to determine whether a match occurs during normal operation of the device when the cable security mechanism is enabled.

12. A system for disabling a device, comprising:

a bus system;

a storage device connected to the bus system, wherein the storage device includes a set of instructions;

a cable security mechanism provided within the device and a security cable having a proximal end connected to the device and the cable security mechanism, and a distal end forming a securement for attachment to a fixture; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to read by the device an embedded identifier contained in an embedded identification chip located within the distal end of the security cable of the cable security system via an embedded electrical wire within the security cable in response to enabling the cable security mechanism within the device and disable the device if the embedded identifier is not found.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing unit executes a further set of instructions to compare the embedded identifier to a stored identifier to determine whether a match occurs, enable the device to operate if a match occurs, and disable the device from operating if a match does not occur.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the stored identifier is stored in a non-volatile memory within the device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the embedded identifier is stored in the non-volatile memory when the device is powered off.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the cable security mechanism includes a sensors unit, an enable/disable unit, and a storage unit, and wherein the sensors unit is used to read the embedded identifier, and wherein the enable/disable unit is used to enable and disable operation of the device, and wherein the storage unit is used to store a copy of the embedded identifier.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the device is at least one of a laptop computer, personal computer, personal digital assistant, television, projector, stereo, or digital video disc player.

18. A computer program product stored in a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therein for disabling a device, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code configured to read an embedded identifier contained in an embedded identification chip located within a distal end of a security cable of a cable security system via an embedded electrical wire within the security cable in response to enabling a cable security mechanism within the device,

wherein the cable security system comprises the cable security mechanism and the security cable, the security cable having a proximal end connected to the device and the cable security mechanism, and the distal end forming a securement for attachment to a fixture; and

computer usable program code configured to disable the device if the embedded identifier is not found.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to compare the embedded identifier to a stored identifier to determine whether a match occurs;

computer usable program code configured to enable the device to operate if a match occurs; and

computer usable program code configured to disable the device from operating if a match does not occur.