Modification of portable communications device operation in vehicles
First Claim
1. A method for controlling the use of a personal communications device comprisingderiving information relating to the geographic location of the personal communications device,in a processor of the personal communications device, accessing region information in a region table stored at the personal communications device and containing restrictions on use of the personal communications device in each of a plurality of geographic regions likely to be of interest,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, andin a processor of the personal communications device, enforcing the restrictions on the use of the personal communications device while the predetermined relationship exists, by supervision of communication elements within the communications device.
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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
20 Claims
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1. A method for controlling the use of a personal communications device comprising
deriving information relating to the geographic location of the personal communications device, in a processor of the personal communications device, accessing region information in a region table stored at the personal communications device and containing restrictions on use of the personal communications device in each of a plurality of geographic regions likely to be of interest, 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 in a processor of the personal communications device, enforcing the restrictions on the use of the personal communications device while the predetermined relationship exists, by supervision of communication elements within the communications device.
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11. A personal communications device, comprising:
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means for deriving information relating to the geographic location of the personal communications device, a computer storage device containing a region table including restrictions on use of the personal communications device in each of a plurality of geographic regions likely to be of interest; a processor of the personal communications device configured to; access region information in the region table; determine 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 enforce the restrictions on the use of the personal communications device while the predetermined relationship exists, by supervision of communication elements within the communications device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification