MESSAGE BLOCKER

• US 20170034674A1
• Filed: 07/31/2015
• Published: 02/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Ganesan, Rajasundaram, Boyina, SriKamal, Radhakrishnan, Vijayan, Rajendran, Sridevi, Senthil, Vijay A., Surianarayanan, Vinodkrishnan, Kathiresan, Parthasarathi, Chandrasekar, Anand, Sundarraman, Ramya, Mohan, Prabhu V.
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,628 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/68 Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium provide to determine whether a user of the user device is being transported by a vehicle; determine whether any of multiple events pertaining to a message application is detected in response to a determination that the user is being transported by the vehicle; obtain input characteristic data attributed to the user in response to a determination that any of the multiple events is detected; determine whether the user is a driver of the vehicle based on the input characteristic data; and block receipt of an inbound message and a creation of an outbound message in response to a determination that the user is the driver of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a user device, whether a user of the user device is being transported by a vehicle;

determining, by the user device, whether any of multiple events pertaining to a message application is detected in response to determining that the user is being transported by the vehicle;

obtaining, by the user device, input characteristic data attributed to the user in response to determining that any of the multiple events is detected;

determining, by the user device, whether the user is a driver of the vehicle based on the input characteristic data; and

blocking the user device from receiving an inbound message and creating an outbound message in response to determining that the user is the driver of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple events include a message received at the user device, a notification that alerts the user that the message is received at the user device, the user opening the message application, and the user entering an input to author a message via the message application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the message application is any of applications, that include a Short Message Service (SMS) application, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) application, an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) application, an electronic mail application, an Instant Messaging application, and a web browser application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the input characteristic data includes any of input characteristics attributed to the user, wherein the input characteristics include a speed at which the user authors a message, an amount of active input from the user during a time window within which the user authors the message, an amount of inactive input from the user during the time window within which the user authors the message, a time period that transpires from a time that the user is notified of an inbound message and a time that an input is received towards responding to the inbound message of which the user is notified, and a time period that transpires from a time that the user opens the message application to a time that the user begins to author an outbound message.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing, by the user device, the input characteristic data as historical data in response to determining that that user is not the driver of the vehicle; and

generating, by the user device, a template input signature based on the historical data, wherein the template input signature indicates input characteristics of the user that includes input characteristics of the user when authoring a message while not driving.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the user device, a request from the user to author an emergency message; and

overriding the blocking based on the receiving.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the blocking comprises:

disabling the message application from being opened by the user, wherein the message application is any applications that include a Short Message Service (SMS) application, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) application, an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) application, an electronic mail application, an Instant Messaging application, and a web browser application; and

forcing shutdown any of the applications that are opened.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the blocking comprises:

transmitting, by the user device, a request to a network device, wherein the message indicates to suspend delivery of inbound messages to the user device, wherein the inbound messages include any of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message, an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) message, and an electronic mail message; and

suspending delivery of inbound messages to the user device based on a receipt of the request.

9. A user device comprising:

a communication interface;

a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the instructions to;

determine whether a user of the user device is being transported by a vehicle;

determine whether any of multiple events pertaining to a message application is detected in response to a determination that the user is being transported by the vehicle;

obtain input characteristic data attributed to the user in response to a determination that any of the multiple events is detected;

determine whether the user is a driver of the vehicle based on the input characteristic data; and

block receipt of an inbound message and a creation of an outbound message in response to a determination that the user is the driver of the vehicle.

10. The user device of claim 9, wherein the multiple events include a message received at the user device, a notification output by the user device that alerts the user that the message is received at the user device, the user opening the message application, and the user entering an input to author a message via the message application.

11. The user device of claim 10, wherein the message application is any of applications, that include a Short Message Service (SMS) application, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) application, an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) application, an electronic mail application, an Instant Messaging application, and a web browser application.

12. The user device of claim 9, wherein the input characteristic data includes any of input characteristics attributed to the user, wherein the input characteristics include a speed at which the user authors a message, an amount of active input from the user during a time window within which the user authors the message, an amount of inactive input from the user during the time window within which the user authors the message, a time period that transpires from a time that the user is notified of an inbound message and a time that an input is received towards responding to the inbound message of which the user is notified, and a time period that transpires from a time that the user opens the message application to a time that the user begins to author an outbound message.

13. The user device of claim 12, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

store the input characteristic data as historical data in response to a determination that that user is not the driver of the vehicle; and

generate a template input signature based on the historical data, wherein the template input signature indicates input characteristics of the user that includes input characteristics of the user when authoring a message while not driving.

14. The user device of claim 9, wherein when determining whether the user is the driver, the processor further executes the instructions to:

generate an input signature based on the input characteristic data;

compare the input signature to a template input signature, wherein the template input signature indicates input characteristics of the user that includes input characteristics of the user when authoring a message while not driving; and

determine whether the user is the driver based on a result of a comparison between the input signature and the template input signature.

15. The user device of claim 9, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

disable the message application from being opened by the user, wherein the message application is any applications that include a Short Message Service (SMS) application, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) application, an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) application, an electronic mail application, an Instant Messaging application, and a web browser application; and

force shutdown any of the applications that are opened.

16. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor of a computational device, which when executed cause the computational device to:

determine whether a user of the computational device is being transported by a vehicle;

determine whether any of multiple events pertaining to a message application is detected in response to a determination that the user is being transported by the vehicle;

obtain input characteristic data attributed to the user in response to a determination that any of the multiple events is detected;

determine whether the user is a driver of the vehicle based on the input characteristic data; and

block receipt of an inbound message and a creation of an outbound message in response to a determination that the user is the driver of the vehicle.

17. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the multiple events include a message received at the computational device, a notification that alerts the user that the message is received at the computational device, the user opening the message application, and the user entering an input to author a message via the message application.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the message application is any of applications, wherein the applications include a Short Message Service (SMS) application, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) application, an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) application, an electronic mail application, an Instant Messaging application, and a web browser application.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the input characteristic data includes any of input characteristics attributed to the user, wherein the input characteristics include a speed at which the user authors a message, an amount of active input from the user during a time window within which the user authors the message, an amount of inactive input from the user during the time window within which the user authors the message, a time period that transpires from a time that the user is notified of an inbound message and a time that an input is received towards responding to the inbound message of which the user is notified, and a time period that transpires from a time that the user opens the message application to a time that the user begins to author an outbound message.

20. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further storing instructions executable by the processor of the computational device, which when executed cause the computational device to:

store the input characteristic data as historical data in response to a determination that that user is not the driver of the vehicle; and

generate a template input signature based on the historical data, wherein the template input signature indicates input characteristics of the user that includes input characteristics of the user when authoring a message while not driving.