Second party control over mobile device usage
AssigneeCingular Wireless II, LLC
InventorsJEFFREY CLINTON MIKAN, John Ervin Lewis, Justin McNamara, Fulvio Cenciarelli, Anastasios L. Kefalas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mechanism is provided whereby a parent, or other second party, can monitor and/or control a child's or other first party's wireless device usage. An interface can allow the parent to set rules for the child's usage, and can specify that the parent should receive messages when a call is made to or from the child's wireless device. In addition to call information, the message may prompt the parent for approval of the call connection. Thus, a parent can decide whether a call that is incoming from or outgoing to a third party should be permitted.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- detecting, on a network, a communication from a sender mobile device intended for a recipient mobile device associated with a first party before transmitting the communication to the recipient mobile device;
- consulting a rule established by a second party to determine that the communication is subject to approval by the second party;
- responsive to determining that the communication is subject to approval, transmitting, to a second mobile device associated with the second party, a request to approve transmission of the communication to the recipient mobile device;
- determining that a response to the request has not been received from the second mobile device within a predetermined amount of time;
- and
- terminating the communication.
A network device comprising:
- a transceiver configured to:
- receive a communication from a sender mobile device intended for a recipient mobile device associated with a first party before the communication has been transmitted to the recipient mobile device, and
- transmit, to a second mobile device associated with a second party, a request to approve transmission of the communication to the recipient mobile device;
- and a processor configured to:
- consult a rule established by the second party to determine that the communication is subject to approval by the second party,
- determine that a response to the request has not been received from the second mobile device within a predetermined amount of time, and
- terminate the communication.
A system comprising:
- a verification server configured to:
- detect a communication from a sender mobile device intended for a recipient mobile device associated with a first party before transmitting the communication to the recipient mobile device,
- consult a rule retrieved from a settings server to determine that the communication is subject to approval by the second party,
- responsive to determining that the communication is subject to approval, transmit, to a second mobile device associated with the second party, a request to approve transmission of the communication to the recipient mobile device,
- determine that a response to the request has not been received from the second mobile device within a predetermined amount of time, and
- terminate the communication;
- and
- the settings server configured to generate the rule based on input received from the second party.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.