Application of the invoke facility service to restrict invocation of compound wireless mobile communication services

• US 8,577,344 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2012
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thaddeus John Kobylarz
• Original Assignee: Thaddeus John Kobylarz
• Inventors: Kobylarz, Thaddeus John
• Primary Examiner(s): Agosta, Steve D
• Application Number:
  US13/506,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20120220276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 571 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455418-420, 455/466, 455/550.1, 455/566, 455/556.2, 379/93.23, 379/93.24, 705/39
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal

Abstract

This invention provides a mechanism for enhancing safe use of wireless mobile terminals (smartphones) in a moving vehicle. The Invoke facility service'"'"'s Boolean expression controls the conditions which invoke smartphone apps into execution. Smartphone apps, which are dangerous to execute in a moving vehicle, are prevented from invocation. Elimination of all smartphone apps in moving vehicles is inadvisable. An app, deploying an accelerometer to sense the impact of a serious collision to call “911” with a recorded message and provides the vehicle'"'"'s GPS location, is an example. This invention allows an app builder to select invocation conditions for apps. Significant is the use manner of the operation “Not”. The contradiction of an event is also an event meaning that if an event is false, its contradictory event is true. Another important aspect is the conjunctive operation “And Then”. This operation implies an efficient algorithm to evaluate Boolean expressions.

Claims

1. A process, residing in the memory of a Smartphone or cellular phone, that is used to invoke a compound wireless mobile communication service also known as a Smartphone app or its diminutive app, by using a Boolean expression of events, which when a combination of events that either occur or events that do not occur result in a “

True”

evaluation of the Boolean expression, the aforementioned compound wireless mobile communication service will commence its execution, where the Boolean expression is contained within a service termed Invoke facility service;

such that the builder of an Invoke facility service associated the said Invoke facility service with the aforementioned compound wireless mobile communication service;

wherein the contained Boolean expression is built with events interconnected by the logical connectives of “

And”

, “

Or”

, “

Not”

, “

If X, Then Y”

, “

And Then”

;

such that the negation operation “

Not”

establishes a contradictory event, signifying that an event and its contradictory event are both considered to be events, where if the event did not occur (is “

False”

), then its contradictory event did occur (is “

True”

) and conversely; and

such that “

And Then”

is a conjunctive connective, meaning it has the same logical operation as “

And”

;

whereas, “

And Then”

includes a sequential implication for testing the occurrence of events;

as illustrated in the partial Boolean expression “

PrecedingExpression And Then FollowingExpression”

, for which “

PrecedingExpression” and

“

FollowingExpression”

are logic expressions each containing one or more events, wherein the events within “

PrecedingExpression”

are tested for occurrences prior to testing occurrences of the events within “

FollowingExpression”

;

where both logic expressions contain events or their contradictory events that are observable when tested by the wireless mobile terminal;

such that events observed by or linked to the Smartphone or cellular telephone, are of the following event types or their contradictions;

A) audio events such as a) a vehicle engine running, b) glass being broken, c) an automobile accident, d) a child crying, e) an explosion, f) the sound of thunder, g) the sound of gushing wind, h) the sound of falling rain, i) the sound of falling hail, j) a person'"'"'s scream, k) a dog barking, l) screeching tires from excessive vehicular braking, m) an alarm siren, n) a gunshot, o) footsteps, p) a turning door knob, q) a door closing;

B) visual events such as a) the retina of an eye, b) a door opening, c) a license plate number, d) a fire, e) an explosion, f) a bolt of lightning, g) a bar code, h) a person'"'"'s face, i) an automobile, j) a gun, k) an animal;

C) electro-mechanical system communication links that provide status data events as a) heart pacer malfunction occurred, b) blood monitor sensed excessive glucose level, c) insulin pump level below threshold, d) epileptic seizure sensed, e) stroke precursor symptom(s) observed, f) heart rate is dangerous, g) temperature level above threshold, h) carbon monoxide level dangerous, i) smoke level suggests fire, j) vehicle engine is running, k) vehicle speed is above a set maximum, l) vehicle brake fluid low, m) vehicle engine malfunction warning, n) accelerometer sensed impact, o) malfunctioning heating system at home, p) home alarm system is triggered, q) breathing support system operating unsatisfactorily, r) password protection is violated, s) credit card charge beyond maximum, t) bank transfer beyond maximum, u) check cashed beyond maximum, v) sale made, w) purchase made.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein further improvements include Invoke facility services as Component Services of a compound wireless mobile communication service, such that Invoke facility services can appear anywhere and multiple times within a compound wireless mobile communication service and thereby also control the internal execution of other Component Services within a compound wireless mobile communication service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein further improvements include having events initially assigned a flag of “

Untested”

;

meaning that no knowledge exists as to whether an event has occurred or an event has not occurred, which signifies a test needs to be made in order to provide a “

True”

value, meaning the event has occurred, or a “

False”

value, meaning the event has not occurred, and having the event values reset to “

Untested”

after the elapsed time from an event'"'"'s test exceeds the compound wireless mobile communication service builder'"'"'s prescribed time interval;

wherein the Boolean expression computation cannot proceed when an “

Untested”

event is encountered and the event must be tested for its value before continuing the Boolean expression evaluation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein further improvements include a testing repetition rate, prescribed by the compound wireless mobile communication service builder, for observing whether events have occurred for those events designated as “

Sustained”

, meaning the event occurrence must persist from the time first observed and then for each repeated observation for a “

True”

value, which continues beyond invocation of the Compound Wireless Service app and onto the entire execution of the Compound Wireless Service app, but ends when the Compound Wireless Service app execution ends;

whereas events designated as “

Momentary”

, meaning the event occurrence only needs to be observed once for a “

True”

value, retain their values beyond invocation of the Compound Wireless Service app and onto the entire execution of the Compound Wireless Service app without repeated tests, whereby the “

Sustained”

event parameters and the “

Momentary”

event parameters are accessible throughout the entire execution of a Compound Wireless Service app.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the Boolean expression is evaluated according to a schema provided by:

a) an inverted binary tree, termed event test path tree, having its root node at the top and said to be in level 0;

b) each node, including the root node, of the tree represents an event of the Boolean expression;

c) two branches subtend from an event node, wherein one branch represents a “

True”

value for its event from which the branch is subtended and the other branch represents a “

False”

value for its event from which the branch is subtended;

d) each branch is directed to the next event node of the Boolean expression to be considered and increases the subsequent event level by an increment of 1;

e) a sequence of nodes and branches, termed an “

event test path”

, is concluded at a leaf where the Boolean expression possesses a value of either “

True”

or “

False”

;

such that the negation operation “

Not”

is represented by a contradictory event, meaning that an event and its contradictory event are both events, where if the event did not occur (is “

False”

), then its contradictory event did occur (is “

True”

), and conversely.

6. The schema of claim 5, whereby its event test path tree is used to guide an Invoke facility service'"'"'s evaluation of its Boolean expression according to the values of the tested events and in the sequence of an event test path;

which originates at the event root node and continues until a leaf representing the Boolean expression value is reached, wherein encountered “

Untested”

events are first tested for occurrence before proceeding farther in the event test path and such that the event test path sequence is according to the appearance of the logical connective “

And Then”

in the Boolean expression, where “

And Then”

has the same logical operation as “

And”

;

whereas the “

And Then”

sequential implication for testing the occurrence of events is as illustrated in the partial Boolean expression “

PrecedingExpression And Then FollowingExpression”

, for which “

PrecedingExpression” and

“

FollowingExpression”

are logic expressions each containing one or more events, wherein the events within “

PrecedingExpression”

are tested for occurrences prior to testing occurrences of the events within “

FollowingExpression”

;

where both logic expressions contain events or their contradictory events that are observable when tested by the wireless mobile terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a wireless mobile terminal timing event is specified by a range of time, identified by a start time and an end time pair, having a combination of time of a day, days of a week, weeks of a month, months of a year, and years;

such that an event has occurred when the time is either outside the specified range of time or the contradiction of not outside the specified range of time.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein further improvements include the temporal tolerance embodiment of Δ

T for time values provided by the Compound Wireless Service interactive graphical compiler to the Compound Wireless Service app builder;

such that an indeterminate temporal region of T−

Δ

T≦

t≦

T+Δ

T is identified;

to avail the possibility of providing a warning notification to a user when a time measurement is within the indeterminate temporal region, during the execution of the Invoke facility service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein events that are either sent or received by the wireless mobile terminal include:

a) an audio signal that does not match an audio signal stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

b) an audio signal'"'"'s address that does not match an address stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

c) a video signal that does not match a video signal stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

d) a video signal'"'"'s address that does not match an address stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal;

e) a text message that does not match a text message stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

f) a text message'"'"'s address that does not match an address stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

g) a photograph that does not match a photograph stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

h) a photograph'"'"'s address that does not match an address stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

i) an e-mail'"'"'s subject that does not match an e-mail'"'"'s subject stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal;

j) an e-mail'"'"'s address that does not match an e-mail'"'"'s address stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal;

k) an Internet address that does not match an Internet address stored by the builder in the wireless mobile terminal;

l) a “

caller ID”

that does not match a “

caller ID”

stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal;

m) an Internet signal with an address that does not match an Internet signal with an address stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal;

n) a wireless service provider signal that does not match a wireless service provider signal stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal;

o) the date of an e-mail that does not match the date of an e-mail stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal;

p) a transducer signal value that does not match a transducer signal value stored by the builder within the wireless mobile terminal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the Invoke facility service possesses the enhancement parameters:

(OptionalEventDurationList)—

an optional list of triples;

where each triple designates

     1) an event name,

     2) its value of “

Sustained”

or “

Momentary”

,

     3) the testing repetition interval for a “

Sustained”

event or a null entry for a “

Momentary”

event;

(OptionalObservationRepetitionInterval)—

a pair that specifies two time intervals;

     1) the interval between successive evaluations the Boolean expression parameter {OptionalEventExpression} and

     2) the time interval to reset all event test values to an “

Untested”

flag;

(OptionalEventFailureNotification)—

a means to provide a notification when an event test path results in a “

False”

evaluation of a wireless mobile terminal Compound Wireless Service app'"'"'s Invoke facility service Boolean expression;

such that the notification can be visually displayed on the wireless mobile terminal and/or by a recorded audio message;

where the manner of presentation and precise representation are at the discretion of the Compound Wireless Service app builder;

(OptionalEventPathpata)—

represents the potential event test paths to evaluate the Compound Wireless Service app'"'"'s Boolean expression;

in the schema of an inverted, binary, directed tree;

consisting of set of triples and a set of pairs, for which the triples define the tree, whose nodes are pointers to the events and two subtended branches represent the “

True”

or “

False”

possibilities for an event node;

such that the end nodes are leaves that point to pairs, for which each pair contains the Boolean expression value (either “

True”

or “

False”

) and a label for the traced event test path leading to a leaf;

(OptionalEventFailureNotificationSchema)—

is a set of pairs, of the form (event test path label, notification) or (event test path label, notification pointer), to provide the failure notification parameter value to be displayed by the (OptionalEventFailureNotification) parameter output;

after acquiring the event test path label from the (OptionalEventNotificationData) parameter, which specifies an event test path label from the traced event test path, to point to the notification part of the pair;

such that the notification or the notification pointer can be provided to the (OptionalEventFailureNotification) parameter, and thereby identify the notification to be displayed by the output (OptionalEventFailureNotification).