Method to mitigate phone theft
AssigneeMotorola Mobility LLC
InventorRANJEET GUPTA
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of mitigating the theft of a portable electronic device communicatively connected to a second portable electronic device via a communications subsystem comprising a short range wireless network. Upon detecting that predetermined theft mitigation criteria have been met activating threat mitigation measures including at least locking the screen of the potentially stolen device and prompting the potentially stolen device to emit an alarm tone to alert bystanders.
Claims20
An electronic device comprising:
- a display embedded in a user accessible surface of the electronic device;
- a communications subsystem comprising an interface that enables the electronic device to communicatively connect via a wireless connection to a second electronic device;
- a memory having stored thereon a theft mitigation module (TMM) for controlling a plurality of hardware elements of the electronic device;
- and
- at least one processor communicatively coupled to the display, the communications subsystem, and the memory, the at least one processor executing program code of the theft mitigation module, and configured to cause the electronic device to:
- in response to one or more preset triggering criteria being met, activate theft mitigation measures comprising transmitting at least one control signal that triggers the second electronic device to perform at least one of:
- locking a second device screen;
- and
- emitting an alarm tone.
A method comprising:
- detecting, by a processor of an electronic device that is communicatively connected via a short range wireless connection to a second electronic device, a trigger condition corresponding to a potential theft of the connected second electronic device;
- in response to detecting the trigger condition, activating theft mitigation measures, comprising transmitting at least one control signal that triggers the second electronic device to perform at least one of:
- locking a screen of the second device;
- and
- emitting an alarm tone.
A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having program instructions that when executed by a processor of an electronic device that comprises an interface that enables the electronic device to communicatively connect via a wireless connection to a second electronic device, configure the electronic device to perform functions comprising:
- detecting, by a processor of an electronic device that is communicatively connected via a short range wireless connection to a second electronic device, a trigger condition corresponding to a potential theft of the connected second electronic device;
- in response to detecting the trigger condition, activating theft mitigation measures, comprising transmitting at least one control signal that triggers the second electronic device to perform at least one of:
- locking a screen of the second device;
- and
- emitting an alarm tone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.