Method and apparatus for a proximity warning system

• US 7,890,766 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2007
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ratliff, Emily Jane, Girouard, Janice Marie, Hamzy, Mark Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Kimyen
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAN, APRIL YING
• Application Number:
  US11/776,664
• Publication Number:
  US 20080012704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 340/541, 340/505, 340/568.2, 713/182, 715/741, 715/742, 715/743, 726/2, 726/3, 726/4, 726/17, 726/20, 726/21, 726/22, 726/34
• US Class Current: 713/182
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for warning of a presence of a person in a zone having an inadequate security clearance. Movement of the person in the zone is detected. A message is broadcast to selected data processing systems associated with the zone, wherein the data processing systems initiate actions to protect data in the selected data processing systems.

Claims

1. A data processing system for warning of a presence of a person in a zone having an inadequate security clearance, the data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

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

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the instructions to;

receive a message by a selected data processing system within a plurality of data processing systems located within the zone, wherein the message indicates the presence of the person entering the zone;

initiate security actions to protect data displayed on the selected data processing system, wherein initiating the security actions further comprises;

identifying a security level of each window in a plurality of windows displayed at the selected data processing system;

selecting at least one window in the plurality of windows on which to perform the security actions to form selected windows, wherein a window in the plurality of windows is selected to form the selected windows if a security level of the window is greater than the security level associated with the person; and

performing the security actions to protect the data displayed on the selected windows while data displayed in other windows in the plurality of windows remain displayed, wherein the security actions are performed depending on a confidentiality level of the data being displayed at the data processing system; and

monitor for additional messages indicating a presence of an unauthorized person in the zone, wherein the cessation of receiving the messages indicates that the security actions no longer need to be taken.

2. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the security actions include at least one security action selected from a group consisting of displaying a screen saver, displaying a login screen, fading a screen to black, minimizing all windows on a screen, and saving and closing selected documents on a screen.

3. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the zone is selected from a room, a building, or a portion of a room.

4. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit further executes instructions to:

identify a security level of the document based on the security tags in response to determining that security tags are present in a document displayed on the selected data processing system; and

perform a security action on the document in response to a determination that the security level of the document is greater than the security level of the message.

5. The data processing system of claim 4, wherein the selected data processing system parses the document containing security tags to identify the actions to be performed.

6. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable recordable-type medium including instructions for warning of a presence of a person in a zone having an inadequate security clearance, the instructions comprising;

instructions for receiving a message by a selected data processing system in a plurality of data processing systems located within the zone, wherein the message indicates the presence of the person entering the zone;

instructions for initiating security actions to protect data displayed on the selected data processing system, wherein initiating the security actions further comprises;

identifying a security level of each window in a plurality of windows displayed at the selected data processing system;

selecting at least one window in the plurality of windows on which to perform the security actions to form selected windows, wherein a window in the plurality of windows is selected to form the selected windows if a security level of the window is greater than the security level associated with the person; and

performing the security actions to protect the data displayed on the selected windows while data displayed in other windows in the plurality of windows remain displayed, wherein the security actions are performed depending on a confidentiality level of the data being displayed at the data processing system; and

instructions for monitoring for additional messages indicating a presence of an unauthorized person in the zone, wherein the cessation of receiving messages indicates that the security actins no longer need to be taken.