| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 455456400 | Quiet or transmission prevention mode | 30 |
| 20130035117 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESTRICTING DRIVER MOBILE DEVICE FEATURE USAGE WHILE VEHICLE IS IN MOTION - A method and system may determine one or more mobile devices associated with a driver of a vehicle. The method and system may deactivate, if one or more vehicle parameters indicate the vehicle is configured for motion, one or more features of the one or more mobile devices associated with the driver of the vehicle. The method and system may reactivate, if the one or more vehicle parameters indicate the vehicle is no longer configured for motion, the one or more features of the one or more mobile devices associated with the driver of the vehicle. The one or more mobile devices may, in some embodiments, be mobile telephones and the one or more features may be text entry features. | 02-07-2013 |
| 20100105417 | Location Blocking Service from a Web Advertiser - Location-blocking and identity-blocking services that can be commercially offered by a service promoter, e.g., a cellular service provider or a web advertiser. In the identity-blocking service, the service promoter may disclose the current physical location of a mobile subscriber (i.e., a cellular phone operator) to a third party (e.g., a web advertiser) subscribing to the identity-blocking service. However, the service promoter may not send any identity information for the mobile subscriber to the third party. On the other hand, in the location-blocking service, the service promoter may disclose the mobile subscriber's identity information to the third party, but not the current physical location of the mobile subscriber. Blocking of the mobile subscriber's identity or location information may be desirable for privacy reasons, to comply with a government regulation, or to implement a telecommunication service option selected by the mobile subscriber. However, in the case of the mobile subscriber requesting emergency help, the service promoter may not block identity and/or location information. Instead, the service promoter may send all such information to the emergency service provider (e.g., the police or a hospital). | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100105416 | Systems and Methods of Detection and Allowing Access of Transmission Facilities - A method of detecting a transmitting device within a facility is disclosed. The method involves detecting the transmitting device of a wireless transmission detection facility; communicating signal information relating to the detected transmitting device to a central unit where the detected transmitting device is identified; determining whether the detected transmitting device is allowed within the facility and providing instruction to a transmitting device to interfere with the detected transmitting device when the detected transmitting device is not allowed in the facility and providing instructions and methodologies when the detected transmitting device is allowed in the facility. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20120225673 | Dead Zone for Wireless Communication Device - I have invented a communication system illustratively comprising: a wireless communication device; a network for controlling wireless communication over said network, said network tracking a location of said wireless communication device based on location data pertaining to said wireless communication device, said network comprising a no communication zone register including a database of predetermined zones in which predetermined communication by, to, or by and to said wireless communication device is to be disabled; wherein when said wireless communication device is in one of said predetermined zones in which communication by, to, or by and to wireless communication device is not permitted, said network disables said predetermined communication by, to, or by and to said wireless communication device. The “dead zones” where the wireless device may be disabled illustratively may include a speeding zone, a hospital zone, a movie theater zone, a church zone, and a performing arts theater zone or be based upon the law of a state on the use of said wireless communication device in a moving vehicle. The device may include GPS acquisition circuitry and the system may use assisted GPS for use in calculating the location of the wireless communication device. On disablement a message may display on the wireless communication device that the wireless communication device is in a “dead zone”. While in the “dead zone”, my invention allows for disablement of voice communication, text messages, emails, and/or data communication. Disablement may occur by service disablement or disablement of the password or keyboard entry feature of the wireless device. “Dead zones” may be determined by default or subscription. My inventive device and method for dead zoning a wireless communication device are also disclosed. | 09-06-2012 |
| 20120238296 | RADIO APPARATUS TRANSMITTING OR RECEIVING A SIGNAL INCLUDING PREDETERMINED INFORMATION - An extracting unit detects movement from a first area to a second area, the first area and the second area defined as areas having different priorities. When the extracting unit detects the movement, this changes a communication process defined in the first area to the communication process defined in the second area. A notifying unit notifies that the area changed when the movement is detected. Herein, the priority of the first area and the priority of the second area are defined according to importance of a signal, which should be broadcasted from a processing unit. | 09-20-2012 |
| 20110077029 | GATEWAY DEVICE, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING RADIO TRANSMISSION, AND RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - A femto GW provides a network connection to an MS that is radio-accommodated in a femto BS. Upon reception of a position registration confirmation for the MS, if the MS has been radio-accommodated in a BS or the femto BS within a specific calling area including a calling area for the femto BS immediately before reception of the position registration confirmation, and the MS that has been radio-accommodated in the specific calling area is withdrawing itself from the calling area, a transmission stop command for stopping radio transmission to the MS is sent to the femto BS. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20090312038 | SYSTEM HAVING DOPPLER-BASED CONTROL OF A MOBILE DEVICE - Embodiments of the present invention recite a system having Doppler-based control of a mobile device. In one embodiment, at least one measured Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Doppler frequency shift measurement corresponding to a GNSS signal measured at a mobile electronic device is received. The speed of the remote device is then determined based at least in part upon the GNSS Doppler frequency shift measurement. An operation of the remote device is then controlled from the base station when the speed of the remote device exceeds a speed threshold. | 12-17-2009 |
| 20120108269 | Wireless Handset Airplane Safety Interlock - A method and device for controlling the operability of a transmitter on a mobile communications device by determining if the mobile communications device is located within the cabin of an airplane. A condition parameter of the mobile communications device may be determined. The transmitter on the mobile communications device may be disabled in response to the mobile communications device being located within an airplane and further in response to the determined condition parameter. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20110171978 | Wireless communication method, wireless communication system, and mode switching method - In a mobile terminal ( | 07-14-2011 |
| 20090117919 | System for controlling a personal electronic device - A system and method of controlling a personal electronic device is described. The system includes a personal electronic device coupled to a sensor that can detect a safety signal. The system can also include a safety signal source. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20110230211 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXECUTING APPLICATIONS IN A MOBILE DEVICE - A method and system for executing applications in a mobile device including receiving a request for execution of the application; determining whether the mobile device is located in a restricted area where execution of the application is controlled; and determining, when the mobile device is located in a restricted area, whether to execute the application requested for execution, according to a application execution policy that allows for execution of the application in the restricted area. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20090318169 | DISABLING WIRELESS TELEPHONE USE WHILE IN VEHICLE - A method includes determining that a wireless telephone is in a moving vehicle using, e.g., speed as calculated by the telephone using GPS signals or co-location of the telephone with a vehicle as might be determined by receiving the vehicle's position via Bluetooth. Use of the telephone is selectively denied if it is determined that the telephone is in a vehicle. | 12-24-2009 |
| 20080214211 | SYSTEM FOR ENABLING OR RESTRICTING CERTAIN CELLULAR TELEPHONE DEVICE CAPABILITIES IN CERTAIN ZONES - A system for selectively restricting or enabling the use of a cellular telephone module in a zone is described, comprising: a control signal transmitter for generating a control signal at an entrance to the zone or alternatively generating control signals throughout the zone; the cellular telephone including a module; a receiver module within the cellular telephone responsive to the control signal for generating a module enable/restrict upon receipt of the control signal; and a switch within the cellular telephone responsive to the module enable/restrict for selectively enabling or inhibiting the operation of the module for a predetermined period of time after receipt of the control signal. Additionally, this system's cellular telephone can dial a telephone, send a message to it, receive a text message from it, and send digits to it, to handle emergencies or conduct business. Finally, the system can remind owners to recharge their cellular telephone batteries. | 09-04-2008 |
| 20110039581 | Method and apparatus for restricting the use of a mobile telecommunications device by a vehicle's driver - A method and apparatus which determines that a vehicle operator is in physical possession of a given mobile telecommunications device and that the vehicle is moving at a speed greater than a given threshold speed (which may be zero), and thereby restricts the use of the mobile communications device. Illustratively, the device may be restricted from placing and receiving calls, and sending and receiving text messages. It may be determined that the vehicle operator is in physical possession of the device based on near field communication (NFC) technology whereby a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transceiver is attached to or embedded in the steering wheel or driver's seat of the vehicle. The vehicle's speed may be determined using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or an Assisted GPS (A-GPS) technique, or from speed data determined by the vehicle itself and communicated to the mobile communications device thereby. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20100227629 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTINUOUS MOBILE SERVICE GEOCHRONOUS VALIDATION - In one embodiment of the present invention, a system and method may be provided for validating communications permissions for an in progress communication. The system and method may include receiving location information, at a service provider, from a wireless communications device. The location information may be communicated to a database that is able to determine communications permissions based upon some predetermined criteria, such as time, date, and location. Based upon the received location information and a related database record, permissions for the wireless communications device may be determined. The determined permissions may be communicated to the service provider. The wireless communications device may be notified about restrictions on its communications, in response to receiving the permissions. The permissions determination may be repeated, as necessary, in response to receiving updated location information. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20110244890 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AND RECORDING OPERATOR'S USE OF A COMMUNICATION DEVICE WHILE OPERATING A VEHICLE - To enable enforcement and monitoring of safety regulations, a system records events of broadcast communications from a driver's or machine operator's mobile communication device. The events may be annotated with other fact or circumstances, such as time, duration, speed of vehicle, motion of vehicle, type of communication, or mode of communication. The event may be determined through use of direction receive only antennas capable of receiving only those signals aligned with the antenna, signals not aligned with the direction of the antenna are not received and thus do not create a recordable event. The recorded event may be broadcast to an organization or person in real time or may be retrieved periodically. The event may also produce an alert for persons or other operators proximate the vehicle or machine. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20120244887 | COMMUNICATION CONTROL APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD AND PROGRAM - In a case where a communication control apparatus incorporated by a portable device detects a communication request from an external device and decides whether to perform communications, it is hard to determine, with a high degree of precision, whether the owner of the portable device incorporating the communication control apparatus has an intention to use the portable device in response to the communication request. In order to solve this problem, there are included a distance measuring means for measuring spatial distances from any given objects that have distances of a particular range in a direction of a particular range and that are adjacent to each other; a condition storing means for storing predetermined distance conditions; and a communication means that becomes, based on a result of comparison of the values of the spatial distances with the distance conditions, communicatable in response to the externally received communication request. | 09-27-2012 |
| 20110021213 | VEHICLE COMPUTER LINK TO MOBILE PHONE - A method is implemented by a mobile device associated with a short-range wireless network in a vehicle. The method includes identifying a paired device within the short-range wireless network, the paired device having access to a vehicle information system, and receiving, from the paired device, vehicle status information from the vehicle information system. The mobile device determines if the vehicle status information triggers a safety mode for the mobile device and disables particular features or components of the mobile device based on the determination. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110136513 | System and Method for Limiting a Wireless Communication Device to a Specified Geographic Zone - A method, computer code product for limiting a wireless communication device to a specified geographic zone. The device is configured to connect to a subscriber device in a subscriber network and determine if the subscriber device is on a list of preapproved subscriber devices in the specified geographic zone. The device can also be configured to determine if it is connected to a subscriber device on at least one neighbor list of approved subscriber devices. If the device is connected to a subscriber device on the preapproved list or a neighbor list, the device is permission as if it is in the geographic zone. Additional subscriber devices can be added to the neighbor list(s) when the device is handed off from an approved subscriber device based on the previous subscriber device to which the device was connected. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20100081458 | Mobile Terminal Motion Detection Methods and Systems - Methods and systems are provided for allowing possible motion or lack of motion of a mobile terminal to be detected based, at least in part, on at least one wireless signal. For example, according to one method a mobile terminal may be configured to operate in a first wireless communication system and the method may include detecting motion or lack of motion of the mobile terminal based, at least in part, on at least one wireless signal from at least one terrestrial-based second wireless communication system, and in response to detecting the motion or lack of motion, initiating or stopping at least one process within the mobile terminal. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20120302261 | CONTROL SCHEMES FOR DETERMINING ACCESS TERMINAL LOCATION - A location of an access terminal is estimated based on signals received by the access terminal. The manner in which a femto cell transmits signals and/or the manner in which the access terminal monitors for signals may be controlled in some cases to facilitate the reception of signals at the access terminal during a location determination operation. In some embodiments, the number of femto cells for which the access terminal monitors for signals may be controlled by controlling the manner in which the access terminal maintains its active set. In some embodiments, in the event a given femto cell is interfering with the ability of an access terminal to receive signals from other femto cells, that femto cell may be instructed to temporarily stop transmissions (e.g., on the traffic channel and/or a beacon channel). | 11-29-2012 |
| 20110053612 | GPSS-BASED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENABLING OR DISABLING CELLPHONES IN PREDEFINED ZONES. - A system and method are described for initiating, enabling, disabling or restoring cellphone operations when the cellphone is in a zone, which is where cellphone operation has to be so altered. A courtesy signal transmitter transmits a courtesy signal containing zone data, which is received by the cellphone's courtesy signal receiver. A GPSS receiver, embedded in the cellphone, outputs the current cellphone location. A cellphone's processor compares this location to the zone's coordinates; if it determines that the cellphone is in the zone, the cellphone's processor initiates, enables, or disables operations in it as directed by bits in the zone's data. Spread-spectrum technology securely passes zone data from courtesy signal transmitters to courtesy signal receivers in cellphones, using GPSS data to make this coding scheme more secure. Finally, the courtesy signal transmitter GPSS location is checked to determine if the courtesy signal transmitter has been moved after it is initialized. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20120021777 | PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATION - A method and portable electronic device for hands-free operation in a motor vehicle are described. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method comprising: detecting when a portable electronic device is within a threshold distance of a motor vehicle; and inhibiting the portable electronic device from transmitting communications when the portable electronic device is within the threshold distance of a motor vehicle. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120064920 | MOBILE OBJECT LOCATION-BASED PRIVACY PROTECTION - A system, method and apparatus for creating and implementing a privacy zone around a mobile object are described herein. A privacy zone is a geographic location proximate to a mobile object in which mobile device functionality is reduced when a mobile device is inside the boundaries of the privacy zone. A locator subsystem tracks the location of the mobile object to update the location of the privacy zone. Further, the locator subsystem monitors for mobile devices that may interface with the privacy zone. Once a mobile device is found to be within a privacy zone, the pre-determined mobile device features will preferably be disabled. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20110065456 | CELLULAR DEVICE DEACTIVATION SYSTEM - In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes a wireless device that is capable of linking to a vehicle via a close range antenna, such as a Bluetooth antenna. Once the wireless device is linked to the vehicle it can receive location data and determine the speed of the wireless device. If the speed exceeds a predefined threshold the wireless device may have its wireless communications deactivated. If the wireless device is utilizing a hands free device wireless communications may be permitted. The use of the link to the vehicle ensures that the wireless device will not be deactivated when, for example, it is used on a train. In addition, waiting to gather location data and determine speed until when the wireless device is associated with a vehicle will save battery life. The wireless device may have a speed determination scheme that takes into account GPS multipath. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110034185 | NETWORK-BASED IMPLEMENTATION OF VELOCITY CONTROLS FOR A MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE - A communication network includes a wireless network, a location platform, and a network component. The wireless network includes a base station to send data to and receive data from a mobile station via radio frequency communication signals. The location platform is operably coupled to the wireless network. In one embodiment, the location platform computes a velocity of the mobile station in response to a velocity request. The network component is operably coupled between the wireless network and the location platform. In one embodiment, the network component compares the computed velocity of the mobile station with a velocity threshold in response to an attempted communication involving the mobile station. The network component also implements a restrictive action for the attempted communication involving the mobile station in response to a determination that the computed velocity exceeds the velocity threshold. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20100304761 | SENSOR USES IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS - Methods and apparatus are directed to mobile devices utilizing motion and/or position sensors for improving operating performance and/or power efficiency. In one example, a method for reducing power consumption in a mobile device includes receiving movement information, establishing movement data based on the movement information, determining if the mobile device is stationary using the movement data; and reducing the frequency of searching for a base station when the mobile device is stationary. In another example, a mobile device which reduces power consumption based upon movement data includes an RF front end, a receiver coupled to the RF front end, a data demodulator coupled to the receiver, a searcher, coupled to the RF front end and the receiver, which searches for base stations, and a processing unit coupled to the searcher, wherein the processing unit controls the searcher based upon the stationarity of the mobile device. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20120258740 | Access Control According to a Policy Defined for a Group of Associated Electronic Devices Comprising a Cellular Modem - Access control according to a policy defined for a plurality of electronic devices comprising a cellular modem and associated with the same user If an end user has two electronic devices, such as a fire alarm or an electricity meter, which both have a cellular modem and are allowed to operate in parallel under the same subscription, the end user can abuse this subscription by lending or selling one of the devices to another person. This abuse can be prevented by the present invention in that the network access is controlled according to a policy defined for the plurality of electronic devices operating under the same subscription. In particular, the policy defines a threshold distance between a primary electronic device and each additional electronic device belonging to said plurality of electronic devices operating under the same subscription which specifies the maximum distance from the primary electronic device which still allows to gain access to the network. | 10-11-2012 |
| 20120094698 | Location aware message restriction and auto-replay feature - A system and method of delaying delivery of a content message to a mobile device is provided. A control message, associated with a mobile device, based on location information associated with the mobile device is received. A content message for the mobile device is received. Delivery of the content message to the mobile device is delayed based on the control message. | 04-19-2012 |
| 20100234047 | SYSTEM FOR INHIBITING TEXTING AND SIMILAR DISTRACTIONS WHILE DRIVING MOVING VEHICLES. - A system is disclosed for preventing moving vehicle drivers from cell phone texting while that vehicle is moving. This system comprises a motion detector and a moving vehicle's contiguous interior compartment containing at least four courtesy signal transmitters and at least one conventional cell phone having a text keyboard, a microphone, and a courtesy signal receiver disposed in the microphone which is in the keyboard. This compartment may also have devices in it which control the speed and direction the moving vehicle will go, and if so, it may have a moving vehicle driver, who may also be the aforementioned cell phone user, located to operate these devices. The cell phone may enable or disable the keyboard based on courtesy signal transit times and the motion indicator, but this determination may be overridden by the cell phone service provider, or person of authority located in the vehicle's contiguous interior compartment. | 09-16-2010 |
