Method and apparatus for restricting operation of cellular telephones to well delineated geographical areas
AssigneeEricsson Inc.
InventorsEric Valentine, Vladimir Alperovich
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for restricting operation of a cellular telephone to well delineated geographical areas. The cellular telephone is equipped with a location device for ascertaining the current geographical location of the cellular telephone. The ascertained geographical location is compared with information pertaining to the allowability of operation of cellular telephones in various geographical locations. A determination is made as to whether the cellular telephone is allowed to operate in its current geographical location. The cellular telephone accordingly enables or disables transmitting by the transceiver of the cellular telephone.
Claims11
A system for restricting operation of a cellular telephone based on the geographical location of the cellular telephone comprising:
- in the cellular telephone:
- a locating device within the cellular telephone for ascertaining the geographical location of the cellular telephone;
- a transceiver for transmitting to a serving cellular telephone network the geographical location of the cellular telephone in accordance with network requests;
- and
- a controller for disabling the transceiver from transmitting in response to receiving a signal from the cellular telephone network denying operation of the cellular telephone;
- and
- in the serving cellular telephone network:
- means for determining whether the cellular telephone is allowed to operate in the ascertained geographical location;
- means for dynamically increasing the rate of which the serving cellular telephone network requests location updates from the cellular telephone as the ascertained geographical location of the cellular telephone approaches a restricted area;
- and
- the serving cellular telephone network further for transmitting a signal authorizing or denying operation of the cellular telephone.
A method for restricting operation of a cellular telephone based on the geographical location of the cellular telephone comprising the steps of:
- ascertaining the geographical location of the cellular telephone;
- requesting the cellular telephone to transmit the ascertained geographical location to a serving cellular telephone network;
- dynamically increasing the rate of requesting the ascertained geographical location of the cellular telephone as the cellular telephone approaches a restricted area;
- determining whether operation of the cellular telephone is allowed in the ascertained geographical location;
- and
- enabling or disabling transmissions by the cellular telephone depending on whether operation is determined to be allowed or prohibited, respectively, in the ascertained geographical location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.