Establishing and using a trust level in mobile phones

• US 9,935,965 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bray, Gavin G., Cheng, Chia-Le, Hughes, Elizabeth M., Singh, Kalvinder P.
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, TRANG T
• Application Number:
  US14/711,905
• Publication Number:
  US 20160337375A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,055 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

Automatically establishing and/or modifying a trust relationship between devices, including mobile devices, in communication, and customizing a user interface workflow based on the trust relationship. Trust relationships are based on numerous proximity-related factors including automatically gathered proximity data, length of time in proximity, and signals detected from a target communication device as well as other nearby communication devices.

Claims

1. A computer program product for creating a trust level value and optimizing communication between devices based on the trust level value, the computer program product comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions programmed to receive a historical locational data set including information about device location for a first communication device and a second communication device;

program instructions programmed to apply a first set of machine logic based rules to the historical locational data set to create a trust level for communications, between the first communication device and the second communication device, based, at least in part, upon relative distance over time between the first communication device and the second communication device;

program instructions programmed to apply a weighting factor to the trust level wherein a trust relationship between the first communication device and the second communication device is not as strong based on a greater concentration of devices in close proximity to the first device and the second device and wherein the trust level is based on at least one of ambient lighting or ambient noise;

program instructions programmed to share, between the first communication device and the second communication device, respective trust level information with respect to a third communication device to improve their respective trust relationships with the third communication device; and

program instructions programmed to improve a trust between the first communication device and the third communication device based, at least in part, on trust level information with respect to the first communication device and the second communication device.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:

program instructions programmed, responsive to an attempted communication from the second communication device to the first communication device, to present the trust level, in human understandable form and format, through the first communication device.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:

program instructions programmed, responsive to an attempted communication from the second communication device to the first communication device, to apply a second set of machine logic based rules to determine whether the attempted communication will be allowed.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:

program instructions programmed to collect over time, by the first communication device, a first set of wireless signals originating from the second communication device;

wherein the historical locational data set is based, at least in part, on the first set of wireless signals.

5. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein the first set of wireless signals includes at least one of the following types of wireless signals:

(i) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 type wireless signals;

(ii) IEEE 802.15.4 type wireless signals;

(iii) IEEE 802.15.1 type wireless signals;

or

(iv) Near Field Communication type wireless signals.

6. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein the first set of wireless signals includes at least one of the following types of wireless signals:

(i) ultra-high frequency spectrum electromagnetic signals;

(ii) super high frequency electromagnetic signals;

(iii) ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) spectrum electromagnetic signals;

(iv) electromagnetic signals of a type sent by devices to cell phone towers;

or

(v) radio frequency (RF) signals of the type that can power a passive device at a distance.

7. A computer system for creating a trust level value and optimizing communication between devices based on the trust level value, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media;

program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions programmed to receive a historical locational data set including information about device location for a first communication device and a second communication device;

program instructions programmed to apply a first set of machine logic based rules to the historical locational data set to create a trust level for communications, between the first communication device and the second communication device, based, at least in part, upon relative distance over time between the first communication device and the second communication device;

program instructions programmed to apply a weighting factor to the trust level wherein a trust relationship between the first communication device and the second communication device is not as strong based on a greater concentration of devices in close proximity to the first device and the second device and wherein the trust level is based on at least one of ambient lighting or ambient noise;

program instructions programmed to share, between the first communication device and the second communication device, respective trust level information with respect to a third communication device to improve their respective trust relationships with the third communication device; and

program instructions programmed to improve a trust between the first communication device and the third communication device based, at least in part, on trust level information with respect to the first communication device and the second communication device.

8. The computer system of claim 7 further comprising:

program instructions programmed, responsive to an attempted communication from the second communication device to the first communication device, to present the trust level, in human understandable form and format, through the first communication device.

9. The computer system of claim 7 further comprising:

program instructions programmed, responsive to an attempted communication from the second communication device to the first communication device, to apply a second set of machine logic based rules to determine whether the attempted communication will be allowed.

10. The computer system of claim 7 further comprising:

program instructions programmed to collect over time, by the first communication device, a first set of wireless signals originating from the second communication device;

wherein the historical locational data set is based, at least in part, on the first set of wireless signals.

11. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the first set of wireless signals includes at least one of the following types of wireless signals:

(i) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 type wireless signals;

(ii) IEEE 802.15.4 type wireless signals;

(iii) IEEE 802.15.1 type wireless signals;

or

(iv) Near Field Communication type wireless signals.

12. The computer system of claim 10 wherein the first set of wireless signals includes at least one of the following types of wireless signals:

(i) ultra-high frequency spectrum electromagnetic signals;

(ii) super high frequency electromagnetic signals;

(iii) ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) spectrum electromagnetic signals;

(iv) electromagnetic signals of a type sent by devices to cell phone towers;

or

(v) radio frequency (RF) signals of the type that can power a passive device at a distance.