Method and apparatus for bearer and server independent parental control on smartphone, managed by smartphone

• US 9,088,861 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2014
• Issued: 07/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Prakash, Gyan, Aissi, Selim, Dadu, Saurabh, Poornachandran, Rajesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Nghi H
• Application Number:
  US14/317,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20140308924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 389 Days
• Field of Search: 455/418, 455/411, 455/466, 455/518, 455/519, 455/521
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/37 Managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

In some embodiments, the invention involves parental or master control of a child or subordinate mobile phone without service provider intervention. An embodiment of the invention is a system and method relating to master control of the subordinate smart phone using features on the smart phones, and independent of features provided by the phone service providers. Communication between the master and subordinate phones may be initiated using near field communication, Bluetooth, direct connect to a PC, or by other secure, local wireless or wired connections. Once initiated, desired communication events are captured by the parental control application to effect control policies on the subordinate phone. Communication between the phones may be encrypted to prevent malicious intervention of message traffic. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A master mobile phone, comprising:

a user interface of a parental control application to allow a master user on the master mobile phone to interactively manage and control at least one child mobile phone, wherein a set-up phase is to identify whether a phone is to act as a master mobile phone or child mobile phone;

an authentication agent configured to enable the master mobile phone to authenticate a data connection session between the master mobile phone and the at least one child mobile phone, the authentication to utilize a security engine coupled to the master mobile phone for encrypting and decrypting messages and/or certificates;

a policy management and enforcement agent to initiate changes in a control policy in the at least one child mobile phone and record the changes in a secure storage coupled to the master mobile phone, wherein (i) the control policy defines control and management of at least one feature of the child mobile phone and (ii) the child mobile phone restricts, redirects, and/or monitors the at least one feature of the child mobile phone, according to the control policy;

a communication agent configured to send requests and control policy changes to the at least one child mobile phone, and perform a handshake communication between the at least one child mobile phone and the master mobile phone to initiate the data connection session via a local communication protocol between the master mobile phone and the at least one child mobile phone, wherein the master mobile phone and the child mobile phone communicate via a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the local communication protocol.

2. The master mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the local communication protocol comprises a near-field communication protocol.

3. The master mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the local communication protocol comprises a personal area network protocol.

4. The master mobile phone of claim 1, further comprising a communication driver to generate an event associated with a message type and content of a received short message service (SMS) message, wherein the generation of an event type registered by the parental control application on the master mobile phone is to be processed by the parental control application before other user applications on the master mobile phone.

5. The master mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the policy identifies control and management in the at least one child mobile phone of at least one of:

short message service (SMS) policy;

language parsing control and SMS redirections;

phone calling control;

phone receiving control and redirection;

restricted location based beaconing when near to restricted locations;

instance messaging (IM) and Web browsing policy and language control; and

phone application download and install policy.

6. The master mobile phone of claim 1, wherein a master synchronization data connection session is to be initiated between the master mobile phone and at least one other master mobile phone, the at least one other master mobile phone configured to control a same child mobile phone as to be controlled by the master mobile phone, wherein the master synchronization data connection is to synchronize a stored policy on the master mobile phone and the at least one other master mobile phone, the stored policy with the same child mobile phone.

7. A child mobile phone, comprising:

a plurality of communication features of the child mobile phone to be controlled by at least one authenticated master mobile phone, wherein control of the communication features is transparent to a user of the child mobile phone;

a policy management and enforcement agent to initiate changes in a control policy in the child mobile phone and record the changes in a secure storage coupled to the child mobile phone, wherein (i) the control policy defines control and management of at least one feature of the child mobile phone and (ii) the policy management and enforcement agent restricts, redirects, and/or monitors the at least one feature of the child mobile phone, according to the control policy;

an authentication agent configured to enable the child mobile phone to authenticate a data connection session between a master mobile phone and the child mobile phone, the authentication to utilize a security engine coupled to the child mobile phone for encrypting and decrypting messages and/or certificates;

a communication agent configured to receive requests and control policy changes from the master mobile phone, and perform a handshake communication between the child mobile phone and the master mobile phone to initiate the data connection session via a local communication protocol between the master mobile phone and the child mobile phone, wherein the master mobile phone and the child mobile phone communicate via a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the local communication protocol.

8. The child mobile phone of claim 7, wherein the local communication protocol comprises a near-field communication protocol.

9. The child mobile phone of claim 7, wherein the local communication protocol comprises a personal area network protocol.

10. The child mobile phone of claim 7, further comprising a communication driver to generate an event associated with a message type and content of a received short message service (SMS) message, wherein the generation of an event type registered by a parental control application on the child mobile phone is to be processed by the parental control application before other user applications on the child mobile phone.

11. The child mobile phone as recited in claim 7, wherein the policy identifies control and management in the child phone of at least one of:

short message service (SMS) policy;

language parsing control and SMS redirections;

phone calling control;

phone receiving control and redirection;

restricted location based beaconing when near to restricted locations;

instance messaging (IM) and Web browsing policy and language control; and

phone application download and install policy.

12. One or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause a mobile phone to:

categorize that the mobile phone is to be a master phone or a child phone based on a selection by a master user;

initiate a message handshake protocol between the master phone and a child phone in response to categorizing that the mobile phone is to be the master phone;

initiate a data connection session between the master phone and the child phone via a local communication protocol between the master phone and the child phone;

communicate between the master phone and the child phone via a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the local communication protocol;

request authenticating of the master phone to the child phone;

control features of the child phone by the master phone, after authentication by sending a control policy to the child phone; and

define control and management of at least one feature of the child phone in the control policy.

13. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein:

to initiate the data connection session between the master phone and the child phone via the local communication protocol comprises to initiate the data connection session via a near-field communication protocol; and

to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated comprises to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the near-field communication protocol.

14. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein:

to initiate the data connection session between the master phone and the child phone via the local communication protocol comprises to initiate the data connection session via a personal area network protocol; and

to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated comprises to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the personal area network protocol.

15. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein, to send the control policy to the child phone further comprises to:

send a request to the child phone from the master phone; and

when the request comprises a change in control policy, store the change in control policy in a secure storage coupled to the master phone.

16. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, further comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause the mobile phone to:

register, with a mobile operating system on the child phone, events to be captured and processed by a parental control module, wherein the events to be captured are associated with the features to be controlled by the master phone, and processing by the parental control module is prior to processing of the events by user applications on the child phone.

17. One or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause a mobile phone to:

categorize that the mobile phone is to be a master phone or a child phone based on a selection by a master user;

respond to a message handshake protocol initiation between a master phone and the child phone, in response to categorizing that the mobile phone is to be the child phone;

initiate a data connection session between the master phone and the child phone via a local communication protocol between the master phone and the child phone;

communicate between the master phone and the child phone via a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the local communication protocol;

receive a request for authentication of the master phone by the child phone;

authenticate the master phone by the child phone;

receive a request from the master phone, by the child phone, wherein the request received by the child phone comprises a control policy change, the control policy change to define control and management of at least one feature of the child phone in a control policy; and

restrict, redirect, and/or monitor the at least one feature of the child phone, according to the control policy as updated by the control policy change.

18. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein:

to initiate the data connection session between the master phone and the child phone via the local communication protocol comprises to initiate the data connection session via a near-field communication protocol; and

to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated comprises to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the near-field communication protocol.

19. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein:

to initiate the data connection session between the master phone and the child phone via the local communication protocol comprises to initiate the data connection session via a personal area network protocol; and

to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated comprises to communicate between the master phone and the child phone via the TCP/IP protocol after the data connection session is initiated via the personal area network protocol.

20. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause the mobile phone to:

perform an action based on the request, responsive to receiving the request by the child phone.

21. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause the mobile phone to store the control policy change in a secure storage coupled to the child phone, the secure storage inaccessible to a non-master user on the child phone.

22. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause the mobile phone to:

register, with a mobile operating system on the child phone, events to be captured and processed by a parental control module, wherein the events to be captured are associated with the features to be controlled by the master phone, and processing by the parental control module is prior to processing of the events by user applications on the child phone.