Disabling a mobile phone suspected of being a trigger for a bomb

• US 9,002,343 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2007
• Issued: 04/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Harrigan, David P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Siddiqui, Kashif
• Application Number:
  US11/836,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20110003586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,797 Days
• Field of Search: 455403-405, 455410-411, 455418-4221, 379/202, 370/264
• US Class Current: 455/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for disabling a mobile phone suspected of being a trigger for a bomb are provided. Embodiments include tracking, by one or more data communications servers of the data communications network, location, motion, and usage of a mobile phone; determining, by the one or more data communications servers, whether the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern of location, motion, and usage; and disabling, by the one or more data communications servers, the mobile phone only from receiving messages if the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern of location, motion, and usage.

Claims

1. A method for disabling a mobile phone suspected of being a trigger for a bomb, the mobile phone connected for data communications to a mobile phone network, the method comprising:

tracking, by one or more data communications servers of the mobile phone network, location, motion, and usage of the mobile phone;

determining, by the one or more data communications servers, whether the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern record, wherein the suspect pattern record includes location criteria, motion criteria, and usage criteria, including;

determining whether the location of the mobile phone matches the location criteria in the suspect pattern record;

determining whether the motion of the mobile phone matches the motion criteria in the suspect pattern record; and

determining whether the usage of the mobile phone matches the usage criteria in the suspect pattern record;

disabling, by the one or more data communications servers, the mobile phone only from receiving messages if the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern record of location, motion, and usage; and

enabling, by the one or more data communications servers, the mobile phone to receive messages after expiration of a predetermined period of time.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

specifying a plurality of suspect pattern records of location, motion, and usage of mobile phones; and

storing the specified suspect pattern records of location, motion, and usage in a database for comparison with tracked location, motion, and usage of mobile phones.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages without notifying the mobile phone of the disabling.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages without notifying callers to the mobile phone of the disabling.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises dropping phone calls to the mobile phone and supplying ring tones to callers.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises dropping packets of text messages and providing a false confirmation of sending the text message to a text message sender.

7. A system for disabling a mobile phone suspected of being a trigger for a bomb, the mobile phone connected for data communications to a mobile phone network, the system comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of:

tracking, by one or more data communications servers of the mobile phone network, location, motion, and usage of the mobile phone;

determining, by the one or more data communications servers, whether the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern record, wherein the suspect pattern record includes location criteria, motion criteria, and usage criteria, including;

determining whether the location of the mobile phone matches the location criteria in the suspect pattern record;

determining whether the motion of the mobile phone matches the motion criteria in the suspect pattern record; and

determining whether the usage of the mobile phone matches the usage criteria in the suspect pattern record;

disabling, by the one or more data communications servers, the mobile phone only from receiving messages if the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern record of location, motion, and usage; and

enabling, by the one or more data communications servers, the mobile phone to receive messages after expiration of a predetermined period of time.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the computer memory also has disposed within it computer program instructions capable of:

specifying a plurality of suspect pattern records of location, motion, and usage of mobile phones; and

storing the specified suspect pattern records of location, motion, and usage in a database for comparison with tracked location, motion, and usage of mobile phones.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages without notifying the mobile phone of the disabling.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages without notifying callers to the mobile phone of the disabling.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of dropping phone calls to the mobile phone and computer program instructions capable of supplying ring tones to callers.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of dropping packets of text messages and computer program instructions capable of providing a false confirmation of sending the text message to a text message sender.

13. A computer program product for disabling a mobile phone suspected of being a trigger for a bomb, the mobile phone connected for data communications to a mobile phone network, the computer program product disposed in a computer readable recordable storage medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions capable of:

tracking, by one or more data communications servers of the mobile phone network, location, motion, and usage of the mobile phone;

determining, by the one or more data communications servers, whether the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern record, wherein the suspect pattern record includes location criteria, motion criteria, and usage criteria, including;

determining whether the location of the mobile phone matches the location criteria in the suspect pattern record;

determining whether the motion of the mobile phone matches the motion criteria in the suspect pattern record; and

determining whether the usage of the mobile phone matches the usage criteria in the suspect pattern record;

disabling, by the one or more data communications servers, the mobile phone only from receiving messages if the location, the motion, and the usage of the mobile phone matches a suspect pattern record of location, motion, and usage; and

enabling, by the one or more data communications servers, the mobile phone to receive messages after expiration of a predetermined period of time.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer program instructions capable of:

specifying a plurality of suspect pattern records of location, motion, and usage of mobile phones; and

storing the specified suspect pattern records of location, motion, and usage in a database for comparison with tracked location, motion, and usage of mobile phones.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages without notifying the mobile phone of the disabling.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages without notifying callers to the mobile phone of the disabling.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of computer program instructions capable of dropping phone calls to the mobile phone and computer program instructions capable of supplying ring tones to callers.

18. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein computer program instructions capable of disabling the mobile phone from receiving messages further comprises computer program instructions capable of dropping packets of text messages and computer program instructions capable of providing a false confirmation of sending the text message to a text message sender.