METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING ACCESS TO LOCATION INFORMATION ABOUT USER EQUIPMENT EXECUTING APPLICATION

• US 20150304848A1
• Filed: 04/22/2015
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Jin-Hyoung, Kang, Hyeon-Jin, Park, Yong-Seok, Yoon, Kang-Jin, Lee, Jin-Ho
• Granted Patent: US 9,674,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a sensor network, Machine Type Communication (MTC), Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, and technology for Internet of Things (IoT). The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on the above technologies, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security and safety services. A method and a User Equipment (UE) for controlling access to location information about the UE are provided. The UE includes a controller configured, upon sensing access to the location information about the UE by an application operating in an operating system (OS) of the UE, to match a rule defining access authorization of the application to the location information, and to determine whether to allow or deny access of the application to the location information based on the access authorization, and a display configured to display a screen under control of the controller.

Claims

1. A User Equipment (UE) for controlling access to location information about the the UE comprising:

a controller configured, upon sensing access to the location information about the UE by an application operating in an operating system (OS) of the UE, to;

match a rule defining access authorization of the application to the location information, and

determine whether to allow or deny access of the application to the location information based on the access authorization; and

a display configured to display a screen under control of the controller.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein in the presence of the rule, the controller is further configured to allow or deny the access of the application to the location information according to the rule.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein in the absence of the rule, the controller is further configured to control a display of a notification indicating an attempt of the application to access the location information.

4. The UE of claim 3, wherein upon input of a user selection of the notification, the controller is further configured to control the display to output a query screen asking whether to allow or deny the access of the application to the location information.

5. The UE of claim 4, wherein the query screen includes a selection menu for at least one of location information, time information, event information, application state information, and UE state information as additional information for use in generating a rule defining whether to allow or deny the access of the application to the location information.

6. The UE of claim 5, wherein when a user selects at least one piece of additional information, the rule is generated as a condition that both selected additional information and identification information about the application should be satisfied.

7. The UE of claim 3, wherein upon input of a user selection for the notification, the controller is further configured to control the display to output a map screen including an icon indicating a current location of the UE.

8. The UE of claim 7, wherein the map screen displays a location information access history of the application using at least one icon.

9. The UE of claim 7, wherein upon input of a user selection of at least one icon on the map screen, the controller is further configured to control the display to output a screen for setting permission or denial for access of the application to location information, for a point indicated by at least one icon.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the screen includes a selection menu for at least one of location information, time information, event information, application state information, and UE state information as additional information for use in generating a rule defining whether to allow or deny access of the application to location information, for a point indicated by the at least one icon.

11. A method for controlling access to location information about a User Equipment (UE), performed by the UE, the method comprising:

upon sensing access to the location information about the UE by an application operating in an operating system (OS) of the UE, matching a rule defining access authorization of the application to the location information; and

determining whether to allow or deny access of the application to the location information based on the access authorization.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising in the presence of the rule, allowing o or denying the access of the application to the location information according to the rule.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in the absence of the rule, displaying a notification indicating an attempt of the application to access the location information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, upon input of a user selection of the notification, outputting a query screen asking whether to allow or deny the access of the application to the location information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the query screen includes a selection menu for at least one of location information, time information, event information, application state information, and UE state information as additional information for use in generating a rule defining whether to allow or deny the access of the application to the location information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising, when a user selects at least one piece of additional information, generating the rule as a condition that both selected additional information and identification information about the application should be satisfied.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising, upon input of a user selection for the notification, outputting a map screen including an icon indicating a current location of the UE.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the map screen displays a location information access history of the application using at least one icon.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising, upon input of a user selection of at least one icon on the map screen, outputting a screen fur setting permission or denial for access of the application to location information, for a point indicated by at least one icon.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the screen includes a selection menu for at least one of location information, time information, event information, application state information, and UE state information as additional information for use in generating a rule defining whether to allow or deny access of the application to location information, for a point indicated by the at least one icon.