Parental notification of prohibited activities

• US 8,885,803 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2013
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kent, Larry Jr., Daniel, William Todd
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh, Van D
• Application Number:
  US13/866,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20130295903A1
• Time in Patent Office: 571 Days
• Field of Search: 379/208.01, 379/214.01, 379/212.01, 379/211.02, 379/210.02, 379/102.03, 379/142.15, 379/142.17, 379/88.17, 379/88.12, 379/88.11, 379/88.2, 379/88.21, 379/199, 379/200, 455/466, 455/415, 455/420, 709/206
• US Class Current: 379/199
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/66 with means for preventing unauthorised or fraudulent calling verifying user identity or authority in secret or secure digital communications H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Methods, systems, and products notify parents of child activities. A child'"'"'s device stores rules that prohibit certain activities. When the child'"'"'s device attempts a prohibited activity, a message is sent to a notification address associated with the parent. The message, for example, may be sent to the parent'"'"'s cell phone. The instant message describes the prohibited activity.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring activities performed by a home terminating telephone device;

storing rules in memory of the home terminating telephone device that prohibit the activities of the home terminating telephone device;

retrieving a rule from the memory that is associated with a user of the home terminating telephone device;

determining a prohibited activity is attempted by the user of the home terminating telephone device;

retrieving a notification address of a parent associated with the user;

sending an instant message from the home terminating telephone device to the notification address to notify the parent of the prohibited activity and an identification of a name of the user that is attempting the prohibited activity; and

prompting the parent at the notification address to authorize the prohibited activity.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining an incoming call is received at the home terminating telephone device.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising sending the instant message to notify the notification address of the incoming call.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising including a calling number in the instant message.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving from the memory a log of activities of the home terminating telephone device.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising sending the log of activities to the notification address.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining an outgoing call is sent from the home terminating telephone device.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising including a called number in the instant message to the notification address.

9. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions that when executed cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

monitoring activities performed by a home terminating telephone device;

storing rules that prohibit the activities of the device;

retrieving a rule that is associated with a user of the home terminating telephone device;

determining a prohibited activity is attempted by the user of the home terminating telephone device;

retrieving a notification address of a parent associated with the user;

sending an instant message from the home terminating telephone device to the notification address to notify the parent of the prohibited activity and an identification of a name of the user that is attempting the prohibited activity; and

receiving authorization of the prohibited activity.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise determining an incoming call is received at the home terminating telephone device.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise sending the instant message to notify the notification address of the incoming call.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise including a calling number in the instant message.

13. The system according to claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise retrieving from the memory a log of activities of the home terminating telephone device.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise sending the log of activities to the notification address.

15. The system according to claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise determining an outgoing call is sent from the home terminating telephone device.

16. The system according to claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise including a called number in the instant message to the notification address.

17. A memory storing instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

monitoring activities performed by a home terminating telephone device;

storing rules that prohibit the activities of the home terminating telephone device;

retrieving a rule that is associated with a user of the home terminating telephone device;

determining a prohibited activity is attempted by the user of the home terminating telephone device;

retrieving a notification address of a parent associated with the user;

sending an instant message from the home terminating telephone device to the notification address to notify the parent of the prohibited activity and an identification of a name of the user that is attempting the prohibited activity; and

receiving authorization of the prohibited activity.

18. The memory according to claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise determining an incoming call is received at the home terminating telephone device.

19. The memory according to claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise sending the instant message to notify the notification address of the incoming call.

20. The memory according to claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise including a calling number in the instant message.