US 8,571,541 B2 · Proximity-based authorization

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for enabling the response to a command from a wireless terminal to be based at least partially on the presence or absence of other users nearby, and possibly the identity of those users. In the illustrated embodiment, a server maintains an updated list of the locations of fixed and wireless terminals within an area (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 wireless access point's area of coverage, a CDMA base station's cell, etc.). When a user issues a command to his or her wireless terminal, the command is transmitted to the server. The server determines whether there are any other nearby wireless terminals (and inferentially, the users associated with these terminals), and then determines whether the command is authorized in that environment.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving, at a first wireless terminal, a request from a first user to access content associated with the first wireless terminal;
when a second wireless terminal associated with a second user is within a distance D of the first wireless terminal, displaying the content, via the first wireless terminal, as text;
and
when the second wireless terminal is not within the distance D of the first wireless terminal, providing the content as audio via the first wireless.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

10/891,867Filed 15 Jul 2004

Published

US 2006/0014532 A119 Jan 2006

Granted

29 Oct 2013

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification20 codes

H04W 12/08
Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity: access security
G06F 21/6218
Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules: to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file…
G07C 9/28
Involving the use of a pass: the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
H04L 63/0492
Wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload: by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field…

Proximity-based authorization

Life of this patent

Proximity-based authorization

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims6