Third party control of location information access

• US 8,943,415 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2010
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Meola, Aaron George
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matt
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pan, Yongjia
• Application Number:
  US12/684,575
• Publication Number:
  US 20110173545A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,845 Days
• Field of Search: 715/700, 715/735, 715/736, 715740-743, 715/760, 715/764
• US Class Current: 715/743
• 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: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment

Abstract

Controlling access to location information by entities hosted by an execution extension environment. After receiving a request from the entity for location information associated with a computing device, access rights of the entity for the requested location information are accessed. A request is sent to another computing device to determine whether to authorize access by the entity to the requested location information. Based on a response from the other computing device, access to the requested location information is enabled.

Claims

1. A system for enabling access to location information on a mobile computing device, said system comprising:

a memory area for storing access rights of an entity to location information of a first mobile computing device, the access rights specifying whether entities have access to location information associated with the first mobile computing device; and

a processor programmed to;

receive a first request for the location information associated with the first mobile computing device;

obtain, from the memory area, the access rights of the entity to the requested location information;

determine whether the entity is authorized to have access to the requested location information based on the obtained access rights, wherein determining includes considering a previous response from a second mobile computing device, the previous response relating at least to the entity;

send, to the second mobile computing device, a second request to authorize the entity to access the requested location information if the obtained access rights do not authorize access to the requested location information associated with the first mobile computing device, the entity representing a child application program executing within a parent application program on the first mobile computing device, the second request including information related to previous authorizations, wherein the second request is sent to a third mobile computing device via the second mobile computing device when a response from the second mobile computing device is not received within a predetermined period of time; and

enable access to the requested location information based on a current response from the second mobile computing device or the third mobile computing device to the sent request.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the application program comprises a browser and the entity comprises a web page and associated scripts, the processor enabling access by the web page to the requested location information while refusing access by other web pages, the web page and the other web pages being displayed by the same browser on the first mobile computing device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to associate an expiration value for the access rights.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the access rights include data defining a purpose for the requested location information.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for controlling access by the entity to the requested location information.

6. The system of claim 1, the processor being further programmed to receive a notification at the first mobile computing device from the second mobile computing device before enabling access to the requested location information, the notification indicating that a decision to authorize the entity to access the requested location information is pending.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface configured to request user input from the second mobile computing device to define the access rights.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the access rights include data for reducing an accuracy of the location information to be collected by the entity.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, from an entity executing within at least one execution extension environment on a first computing device, a first request for location information of the first computing device, the entity representing a child application program executing within a parent application program on the first computing device;

accessing access rights of the entity for the requested location information;

determining, via a processor, if the entity has access to the requested location information, the determining including considering a previous response from a second computing device, the previous response relating at least to the entity;

sending, to the second computing device, a second request to authorize the entity access to the requested location information based on the determining, the second request including information related to previous authorizations, wherein the second request is sent to a third computing device when a response from the second computing device is not received within a predetermined period of time; and

enabling access to the requested location information associated with the first computing device based on a current response from the second computing device or the third computing device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving user input from the second computing device that defines the access rights.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising reducing the accuracy of the location information exposed to the entity.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the access rights are predefined.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising associating an expiration value with the access rights.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the execution extension environment comprises a browser and the entity comprises a web page.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the second request to authorize the entity access to the requested location information is sent by at least one of the following:

SMS, email, automated voice message, and an application built into the second computing device.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the access rights authorize access to the requested location information based on at least one of the following:

a type of entity making a request for the location information, a day of the week, a time of day, and a location of the first computing device.

17. One or more computer storage media having computer-executable components, said components comprising:

an access component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to receive, from an entity executing within an application program on a first mobile computing device, a first request for location information associated with the first mobile computing device, the entity representing a child application program executing within a parent application program on the first mobile computing device, the access component further determining whether the entity is authorized to have access to the requested location information, the determining including considering a previous response from a second mobile computing device, the previous response relating at least to the entity;

a permissions component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to send a second request for the location information from the first mobile computing device to the second mobile computing device, the second request including information related to previous authorizations, the permissions component further sending second the request to a third mobile computing device via the second mobile computing device when a response from the second mobile computing device is not received within a predetermined period of time; and

an interface component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to receive user input from the second mobile computing device or the third mobile computing device, wherein the user input comprises access rights for the entity to the location information on the first mobile computing device.

18. The computer storage media of claim 17, wherein the interface component further comprises requesting user input to define an expiration for the access rights.

19. The computer storage media of claim 17, wherein the location information describes a current location of the first mobile computing device.

20. The computer storage media of claim 17, further comprising an accuracy component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to reduce accuracy of the location information exposed to the entity.