Apparatus and method for selective interfering with wireless communications devices
First Claim
1. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
- at least one active antenna element;
a drive circuit coupled to drive the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device; and
a disabling circuit responsive to at least an allotted amount of time for disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element during a defined period to selectively disable the drive circuit from the driving of the at least one active antenna element, the drive circuit and the disabling circuit cooperatively operable to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold and the allotted amount of time for disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element during the defined period has been exceeded and to not interfere with the communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the allotted amount of time for disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element during the defined period has not been exceeded.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, includes a drive circuit coupled to at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to movement of a vehicle above a defined threshold. The drive circuit being selectively disabled while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold. The interference may take the form of a bare carrier wave, or may take the form of noise, and is transmitted at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device.
8 Citations
71 Claims
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1. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one active antenna element; a drive circuit coupled to drive the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device; and a disabling circuit responsive to at least an allotted amount of time for disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element during a defined period to selectively disable the drive circuit from the driving of the at least one active antenna element, the drive circuit and the disabling circuit cooperatively operable to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold and the allotted amount of time for disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element during the defined period has been exceeded and to not interfere with the communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the allotted amount of time for disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element during the defined period has not been exceeded. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one active antenna element; a drive circuit coupled to drive the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device; and a disabling circuit to selectively disable the drive circuit from the driving of the at least one active antenna element while the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold, wherein the disabling circuit determines whether a disable key is present and tracks an accumulated amount of time the disable key is present, the drive circuit and the disabling circuit cooperatively operable to selectively interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device based at least in part on whether the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the accumulated amount of time that the disable key is present. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one active antenna element; a drive circuit coupled to drive the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device; and a disabling circuit to selectively disable the drive circuit from the driving of the at least one active antenna element, wherein the disabling circuit is operable to determine whether a disable key is present and a number of times the disable key has been present, the drive circuit and the disabling circuit cooperatively operable to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold and the number of times the disable key has been present exceeds a defined limit and to not interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the number of times the disable key has been present does not exceed the defined limit. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A method to disable operation of wireless communications devices within vehicles, the method comprising:
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determining whether a vehicle is moving above a defined threshold; driving at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to a determination that the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold; and selectively disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element to stop the interference while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold at least in part in response to a determination that an allotted amount of time for disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element during a defined period has not been exceeded. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method to disable operation of wireless communications devices within vehicles, the method comprising:
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determining whether a vehicle is moving above a defined threshold; determining whether a disable key is present; tracking an accumulated amount of time that the disable key is presents; driving at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to a determination that the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the accumulated amount of time that the disable key is present exceeds a defined time limit; selectively disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element to stop the interference while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold in response to a determination that the accumulated amount of time that the disable key is present does not exceed the defined time limit. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49)
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50. A method to disable operation of wireless communications devices within vehicles, the method comprising:
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determining whether a vehicle is moving above a defined threshold; determining a number of times that a disable key has been present; driving at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to a determination that the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and that the number of times the disable key has been present does exceed a defined limit; selectively disabling the driving of the at least one active antenna element to stop the interference while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold in response to a determination that the number of times that the disable key has been present does not exceed the defined limit. - View Dependent Claims (51)
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52. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one active antenna element; drive means for driving the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device; and disabling means for selectively disabling the drive means responsive at least in part to an allotted amount of time for disabling the drive means, the drive means and the disabling means cooperatively operable to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold and the allotted amount of time for disabling the drive means during a defined period has been exceeded and to not interfere with the communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the allotted amount of time for disabling the drive means during the defined period has not been exceeded. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one active antenna element; drive means for driving the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device; and disabling means for selectively disabling the drive means, wherein the disabling means tracks an accumulated amount of time a key is present, the drive means and the disabling means cooperatively operable to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold and the accumulated amount of time the key is present has been exceeded and to not interfere with the communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the accumulated amount of time the key is present has not been exceeded. - View Dependent Claims (68)
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69. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one active antenna element; drive means for driving the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device; and disabling means for selectively disabling the drive means, wherein the disabling means is operable to determine a number of times a key has been present, the drive means and the disabling means cooperatively operable to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold and the number of times the key has been present exceeds a defined limit and to not interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and the destination device while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold and the number of times the key has been present does not exceed the defined limit. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71)
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Specification