Consumer abuse detection system and method

• US 8,063,765 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2010
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tan, Tang Yew, Johnson, Timothy M., Dinh, Richard H. M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg; George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nwugo; Ojiako
• Application Number:
  US12/858,913
• Publication Number:
  US 20100312920A1
• Time in Patent Office: 461 Days
• Field of Search: 340/521, 340/825.24
• US Class Current: 340/521
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/18 Telephone sets specially adapted for use in ships, mines, or other places exposed to adverse environment H04M1/19 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/24 Arrangements for testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems, devices, and methods for detecting the occurrence of consumer abuse events in electronic devices. In one embodiment, a system includes one or more sensors coupled to an abuse detection sub-system for detecting the occurrence of an abuse event, wherein upon detecting an abuse event, a record of the abuse event is stored by the abuse detection sub-system. The system further provides a communication interface configured to provide a first mode of diagnostic communication and a second mode of non-diagnostic communication through a common input/output port. When using a diagnostic device, the diagnostic mode of communication may be enabled, thus allowing the diagnostic device to access consumer abuse event data stored by the abuse detection sub-system.

Claims

1. A system for detecting consumer abuse in an electronic device comprising:

one or more sensors configured to detect the occurrence of an abuse event;

abuse detection circuitry configured to receive indication of the occurrence of the abuse event from the one or more sensors and to generate a record corresponding to the occurrence of the abuse event upon receiving the indication;

a memory configured to store the record;

an input/output (I/O) port comprising a set of connector pins being configured to communicatively couple the electronic device to at least one external device; and

a dual-mode communication interface comprising;

a first sub-interface configured to provide non-diagnostic communication between the electronic device and the external device using the set of connector pins of the I/O port;

a second sub-interface configured to provide diagnostic communication between the electronic device and the external device using a subset of the connector pins of the I/O port; and

communication selection logic configured to enable the non-diagnostic communication by selecting the first sub-interface and to enable the diagnostic communication by selecting the second sub-interface;

wherein the dual-mode communication interface is configured to use the communication selection logic to provide diagnostic communication when the electronic device is in a diagnostic mode and to provide non-diagnostic communication when the electronic device is in a non-diagnostic mode, wherein the diagnostic communication and the non-diagnostic communication are provided through the I/O port, wherein the non-diagnostic communication is provided using a first sub-interface of the dual-mode communication interface and the set of connector pins of the I/O port, wherein the diagnostic communication is provided using a second sub-interface of the dual-mode communication interface and the subset of the connector pins of the I/O port, and wherein the record stored in the memory may be read by the diagnostic device when the diagnostic communication is provided.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the I/O port is configured to be coupled to an external device, and wherein the diagnostic mode is triggered when the external device comprises a diagnostic device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the diagnostic mode is triggered when the diagnostic device is coupled to the I/O port and provides a control signal to the electronic device indicating that that external device is the diagnostic device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the diagnostic mode is provided when the diagnostic device is coupled to the I/O port and provides a sequence of input commands configured to enable the dual-mode communication interface to couple the I/O port to the second sub-interface.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first sub-interface comprises at least one of a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a FireWire interface, a wireless interface, or some combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the second sub-interface comprises at least one of an I²C interface, a serial peripheral interface (SPI), a System Management Bus (SMB) interface, a Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IMPI), or some combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least one of a liquid sensor, a thermal sensor, a continuity sensor, an accelerometer, a shock sensor, or some combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the I/O port comprises a plurality of connector pins, and wherein the diagnostic and non-diagnostic communication both occur via the same connector pins.

9. A method comprising:

using one or more sensors to detect the occurrence of an abuse event on an electronic device having an input/output (I/O) port configured to electronically couple the electronic device to an external device, and a dual-mode communication interface having first and second interfaces, wherein the dual-mode communication interface is configured to provide a diagnostic mode of communication and a non-diagnostic mode of communication through the I/O port;

generating a record of the abuse event;

storing the record in a memory device;

using a multiplexer of a communication selection logic to select between one of the first interface and the second interface, wherein the diagnostic mode of communication is provided through the I/O port when the first interface is selected and the non-diagnostic mode of communication is provided through the I/O port when the second interface is selected; and

allowing the record to be accessed from the memory device through the (I/O) port by an external device coupled to the I/O port when the first interface is selected by the multiplexer to provide the diagnostic mode of communication.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the diagnostic mode of communication is automatically selected if the external device is detected as comprising a diagnostic device.

11. The method of claim 9, comprising using communication selection logic to detect whether a sequence of inputs provided by the external device corresponds to an authorization input sequence of a diagnostic device and selecting the diagnostic mode of communication only if the sequence of inputs corresponds to the authorization input sequence.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein if the non-diagnostic communication mode is selected, the external device is permitted to communicate with the electronic device but is not permitted to access the record stored in the memory device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein using one or more sensors to detect the occurrence of an abuse event comprises detecting for the occurrence of a liquid ingress event, a thermal event, a shock event, or a tamper event.

14. An electronic device comprising:

a processor configured to execute instructions;

a first storage unit configured to store data, the data at least partially comprising instructions to be executed by the processor;

an input/output (I/O) port configured to enable coupling of the electronic device to at least one external device;

a communication interface comprising first and second interfaces, wherein the communication interface is configured to provide a diagnostic mode of communication and a non-diagnostic mode of communication through the I/O port;

communication selection logic comprising a multiplexer configured to select between one of the first interface and the second interface, wherein the diagnostic mode of communication is provided when the first interface is selected and wherein the non-diagnostic mode of communication is provided when the second interface is selected; and

an abuse detection sub-system comprising;

a plurality of sensors configured to detect consumer abuse events occurring on an electronic device;

a second storage unit, wherein upon the detection of a consumer abuse event by one of the plurality of sensors, the abuse detection sub-system is configured to store a record of the detected consumer abuse event into the second storage unit, wherein the second storage unit is accessible by the external device for reading of the record using the I/O port if the diagnostic mode of communication is selected.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the external device comprises a diagnostic device if the diagnostic mode of communication is selected.

16. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the first and second storage units are part of the same storage device.

17. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the record of the detected consumer abuse event includes a timestamp indicating a time value corresponding to when the consumer abuse event occurred.

18. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the electronic device comprises a digital media player, a cellular telephone, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, or some combination thereof.

19. A method comprising:

interfacing a diagnostic device with an electronic device through an input/output port comprising a set of connector pins, wherein the electronic device comprises;

an abuse detection sub-system having a plurality of sensors configured to detect the occurrences of consumer abuse events, and wherein upon the detection of a consumer abuse event by any one of the plurality of sensors, the abuse detection sub-system is configured to store a record of the detected consumer abuse event into a memory device configured store consumer abuse event records;

a dual-mode communication interface comprising;

a first sub-interface configured to provide a non-diagnostic communication mode between the electronic device and an external device using a set of connector pins of the input/output port;

a second sub-interface configured to provide a diagnostic communication mode between the electronic device and the diagnostic device using a subset of the set of connector pins of the input/output port; and

communication selection logic configured to enable the non-diagnostic communication mode by selecting the first sub-interface and to enable the diagnostic communication mode by selecting the second sub-interface;

wherein the dual-mode communication interface is configured to use the communication selection logic to selectively provide the non-diagnostic mode of communication through the input/output (I/O port) using the connector pins by selecting the first sub-interface or provide the diagnostic mode of communication through the I/O port using the subset of the set of connector pins by selecting the second sub-interface, wherein selectively providing the diagnostic mode of communication using the second sub-interface enables access to the consumer abuse records by the diagnostic device interfaced with the I/O port, and wherein selectively providing the non-diagnostic mode of communication does not permit access to the consumer abuse records;

using the diagnostic device to enable the diagnostic mode of communication through the I/O port; and

reading the consumer abuse event records from the memory device using the diagnostic device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein using the diagnostic device to enable the diagnostic mode of communication comprises providing an input command sequence corresponding to an authorization input sequence.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein reading the consumer abuse event records from the memory device comprises generating a visual map of the locations at which consumer abuse events occurred based upon the locations of each of the sensors that detected occurrences of consumer abuse events.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein each consumer abuse event record comprises a timestamp corresponding to its occurrence and wherein generating the visual map comprises determining the progression of the consumer abuse events over time.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the consumer abuse events correspond to liquid ingress events, and wherein determining the progression of the consumer abuse events comprises determining the progression of liquid ingress into the electronic device.

24. An electronic device comprising:

a processor configured to execute instructions;

an input/output (I/O) port comprising a set of connector pins to facilitate coupling of the electronic device to an external device;

dual-mode communication circuitry comprising;

a first communication interface configured to provide a non-diagnostic mode of communication between the electronic device and the external device using the set of connector pins of the I/O port;

a second communication interface configured to provide a diagnostic mode of communication between the electronic device and the external device using at least a subset of the connector pins of the I/O port; and

communication selection logic configured to enable the non-diagnostic mode of communication by selecting the first communication interface and to enable the diagnostic mode of communication by selecting the second communication interface; and

a consumer abuse detection sub-system comprising;

a sensor configured to detect the occurrence of a consumer abuse event on the electronic device;

a clock configured to provide timestamps; and

a storage device configured to store records of occurrences of consumer abuse events, wherein, upon detection of a consumer abuse event by the sensor, a record comprising a timestamp indicating a time at which the consumer abuse event occurred is stored in the storage device;

wherein the record stored in the storage device is accessible by the external device only when the diagnostic mode of communication is enabled.

25. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the sensor is configured to detect for the occurrence of at least one of a liquid ingress event, a thermal event, a shock event, and a tamper event.

26. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein, if the external device comprises a diagnostic device, the communication selection logic enables the diagnostic mode of communication by selecting the second interface in response to a request initiated by the external device.

27. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the first communication interface comprises at least one of a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a FireWire interface, or some combination thereof;

and wherein the second communication interface comprises at least one of an I²C interface, a serial peripheral interface (SPI), a System Management Bus (SMB) interface, a Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IMPI), or some combination thereof.