Modification of portable communications device operation in vehicles
First Claim
1. A method for controlling the use of a portable communications device comprisingderiving information relating to the geographic location of the personal communications device,at the personal communications device, receiving region information relating to restrictions on use of personal communications devices in each of a plurality of geographic regions likely to be of interest,storing the region information in a region table in the personal communications device;
- determining whether the geographic location of the personal communications device bears a predetermined relationship to at least one of the geographic regions of the stored region information, andenforcing the restrictions on the use of the personal communications device while the predetermined relationship exists;
wherein the region information includes legal restrictions imposed by a governmental authority on personal communications device use particular to at least one of the plurality of geographic regions.
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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.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for controlling the use of a portable communications device comprising
deriving information relating to the geographic location of the personal communications device, at the personal communications device, receiving region information relating to restrictions on use of personal communications devices in each of a plurality of geographic regions likely to be of interest, storing the region information in a region table in the personal communications device; -
determining whether the geographic location of the personal communications device bears a predetermined relationship to at least one of the geographic regions of the stored region information, and enforcing the restrictions on the use of the personal communications device while the predetermined relationship exists; wherein the region information includes legal restrictions imposed by a governmental authority on personal communications device use particular to at least one of the plurality of geographic regions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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10. A portable communications device, comprising:
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means for receiving information relating to the geographic location of the personal communications device, means for receiving region information relating to restrictions on use of personal communications devices in each of a plurality of geographic regions likely to be of current interest, a region table for storing the region information in the personal communications device; means for determining whether the geographic location of the personal communications device bears a predetermined relationship to at least one of the geographic regions of the stored region information, and means for enforcing the restrictions on the use of the personal communications device while the predetermined relationship exists; wherein the region information includes legal restrictions imposed by a governmental authority on personal communications device use particular to at least one of the plurality of geographic regions. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification