Dynamic transmission of user information to trusted contacts

• US 8,893,247 B1
• Filed: 12/14/2012
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Faaborg, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wyszynski, Aubrey
• Application Number:
  US13/714,839
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 726/7
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes

Abstract

Methods and systems involving the dynamic transmission of user information to trusted contacts are described herein. An example system may be configured to (a) receive, at a first computing device, a command to send message data to a second computing device, where the second computing device is associated with a contact; (b) determine that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact; (c) based on (i) receiving the command to send the message data and (ii) determining that the contact is a trusted contact, cause a multimedia-capture device to obtain multimedia data; and (d) transmit trusted-contact data to the second computing device associated with the trusted contact, where the trusted-contact data comprises (i) the message data, (ii) the multimedia data, and (iii) environmental data that corresponds to at least one environmental condition of the first computing device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a multimedia-capture device;

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause a first computing device to;

receive a command to send message data to a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is associated with a contact;

determine that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact;

based on (i) receiving the command to send the message data and (ii) determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact, cause the multimedia-capture device to capture multimedia data of the real-world surroundings of the first computing device; and

transmit trusted-contact data to the second computing device associated with the trusted contact, wherein the trusted-contact data comprises (i) the message data, (ii) the multimedia data, and (iii) environmental data that corresponds to at least one environmental condition of the first computing device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact comprises searching a trusted contact list for the contact associated with the second computing device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact comprises determining that a trust indicator associated with the contact is enabled.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the first computing device to:

enable the trust indicator associated with the contact based on a number of communications between the first computing device and the second computing device.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the first computing device to:

enable the trust indicator associated with the contact based on at least one of location data of the first computing device and location data of the second computing device.

6. The system of claim 3, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the first computing device to:

enable the trust indicator associated with the contact based on at least one of cellular service data of the first computing device and cellular service data of the second computing device.

7. The system of claim 3, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the first computing device to:

enable the trust indicator associated with the contact based on social-media data associated with the first computing device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the social-media data indicates at least one of a friend contact and a family contact.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the message data is at least one of (i) audio data, (ii) textual data, (iii) video data, and (iv) image data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia data is one of (i) image data, (ii) video data, and (iii) audio data.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the environmental data is at least one of (i) video data, (ii) image data, (iii) audio data, (iv) location data, (v) computing-condition data that indicates a computing condition of the first computing device, and (vi) user-condition data that indicates a physiological condition of a user of the first computing device.

12. The system of claim 1, further including a GPS sensor, wherein the GPS sensor obtains the environmental data.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a first computing device, a command to send message data to a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is associated with a contact;

determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact;

based on (i) receiving the command to send the message data and (ii) determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact, causing a multimedia-capture device to capture multimedia data of the real-world surroundings of the first computing device; and

transmitting trusted-contact data to the second computing device associated with the trusted contact, wherein the trusted-contact data comprises (i) the message data, (ii) the multimedia data, and (iii) environmental data that corresponds to at least one environmental condition of the first computing device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact comprises searching a trusted contact list for the contact associated with the second computing device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact comprises determining that a trust indicator associated with the contact is enabled.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the trust indicator is enabled based on comparing the number of communications between the first computing device and the second computing device with a threshold value.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the trust indicator is enabled based on comparing the location data of the first computing device with the location data of the second computing device.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving a command to send message data to a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is associated with a contact;

instructions for determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact;

based on (i) receiving the command to send the message data and (ii) determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact, instructions for causing a multimedia-capture device to capture multimedia data of the real-world surroundings of the first computing device; and

instructions for transmitting trusted-contact data to the second computing device associated with the trusted contact, wherein the trusted-contact data comprises (i) the message data, (ii) the multimedia data, and (iii) environmental data that corresponds to at least one environmental condition of a first computing device.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein determining that the contact associated with the second computing device is a trusted contact comprises determining that a trust indicator associated with the contact is enabled.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the trust indicator is enabled based on a number of communications between the first computing device and the second computing device.

21. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the system to;

receive trusted-contact data that was generated by a first computing device, wherein the trusted-contact data comprises (i) message data, (ii) multimedia data that corresponds to data of the real-world surroundings of the first computing device, wherein the multimedia data was captured by the first computing device based on the first computing device (a) receiving a command to send message data to a second computing device associated with a contact and (b) determining that the contact is a trusted contact, and (iii) environmental data that corresponds to at least one environmental condition of the first computing device;

receive formatting data that corresponds to the second computing device, wherein the formatting data indicates at least one display characteristic of the second computing device; and

based on (i) the received trusted-contact data and (ii) the received formatting data, transmit delivery data to the second computing device, wherein the delivery data comprises (i) the message data, (ii) the multimedia data, and (iii) the environmental data, wherein the delivery data is formatted based on the display characteristic indicated by the formatting data.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the message data is at least one of (i) audio data, (ii) textual data, (iii) video data, and (iv) image data.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the multimedia data is one of (i) image data, (ii) video data, and (iii) audio data.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the environmental data is at least one of (i) video data, (ii) image data, (iii) audio data, (iv) location data, (v) computing condition data that indicates a computing condition of the first computing device, and (vi) user-condition data that indicates a physiological condition of a user of the first computing device.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the formatting data is received from the second computing device.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the formatting data indicates at least one of a message type and a display characteristic.

27. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving trusted-contact data that was generated by a first computing device, wherein the trusted-contact data comprises (i) message data, (ii) multimedia data that corresponds to data of the real-world surroundings of the first computing device, wherein the multimedia data was captured by the first computing device based on the first computing device (a) receiving a command to send message data to a second computing device associated with a contact and (b) determining that the contact is a trusted contact, and (iii) environmental data that corresponds to at least one environmental condition of the first computing device;

receiving formatting data that corresponds to the second computing device, wherein the formatting data indicates at least one display characteristic of the second computing device; and

based on (i) the received trusted-contact data and (ii) the received formatting data, transmitting delivery data to the second computing device, wherein the delivery data comprises (i) the message data, (ii) the multimedia data, and (iii) the environmental data, wherein the delivery data is formatted based on the display characteristic indicated by the formatting data.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the formatting data indicates at least one of a message type and a display characteristic.

29. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving trusted-contact data that was generated by a first computing device, wherein the trusted-contact data comprises (i) message data, (ii) multimedia data that corresponds to data of the real-world surroundings of the first computing device, wherein the multimedia data was captured by the first computing device based on the first computing device (a) receiving a command to send message data to a second computing device associated with a contact and (b) determining that the contact is a trusted contact, and (iii) environmental data that corresponds to at least one environmental condition of the first computing device;

instructions for receiving formatting data that corresponds to the second computing device, wherein the formatting data indicates at least one display characteristic of the second computing device; and

based on (i) the received trusted-contact data and (ii) the received formatting data, instructions for transmitting delivery data to the second computing device, wherein the delivery data comprises (i) the message data, (ii) the multimedia data, and (iii) the environmental data, wherein the delivery data is formatted based on the display characteristic indicated by the formatting data.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the formatting data indicates at least one of a message type and a display characteristic.