METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly to controlling a feature provided in the electronic device.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

With development in technology the use of handheld electronic devices is becoming more prevalent, which includes devices with or without communication functions. Due to recent advances in technology, features such as camera, USB ports and like are now small enough to be placed inside handheld electronic devices so that the devices are able to take and store information. The addition of such feature to these devices has proven to be quite popular among the general population. However, many corporations and governmental agencies are wary of portable features, like those provided by these devices.

All the components of above mentioned features can be located within the housing of a handheld electronic device, thereby expanding the device's functionality to include photography data transfer etc.. The information taken with these devices are generally stored onto a fixed memory within the electronic device. Other devices make use of the removable memory options typically used to store information through these features.

However such kind of portable arrangement for the above mentioned features can be used to take confidential documents, classified research, prototypes, and other confidential subject matter. This information can then be stored on the device and subsequently transmitted wirelessly. Thus, confidential material can be improperly divulged and/or used for improper purposes. The ubiquitous presence of handheld electronic devices in the business environment makes it difficult for businesses to control their use.

Therefore the present disclosure is directed to a security system that can be utilized to disable certain features of the devices, such as a camera or USB port.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide a method and system for disabling a feature of an electronic device. The method incorporates a software agent that engages the particular feature of the electronic device to deny the user from utilizing the same, thereby disabling the said feature. Further, said application is enabled based on the input received from the user.

The particular feature is disabled when a first control signal is received from the server and accordingly the software agent engages the feature based on the commands to deny the electronic device from utilizing the feature, thereby disabling said feature. Further the software agent receives a second control signal from the server and accordingly disengages the feature based on the commands to allow the electronic device for utilizing the feature, thereby enabling said feature.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a representation of a system in which the present invention is be implemented.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing system in which the present invention is implemented.

Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a Mobile Cell phone system in which the present invention is implemented.

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating a terminal in which the present invention is implemented

Figure 6 is a flowchart representation of the present invention according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Figure 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a system in which the present invention is implemented wherein the system 9000 is a network of electronic devices such as a mobile phone 9400, a laptop 9500, a tablet 9600 and a computer 9300, a set of terminals 9800 and a plurality of servers 9200.

Further the system 9000 is provided with a local network 9105, which is the medium used to provide data communications links between the electronic devices 9300, 9500, 9600 & 9400 and the set of terminals 9800 provided within the system 9000. Also the servers 9200 is connected to the local network 9105 along with the set of terminals 9800 and the electronic devices 9300, 9500, 9600 & 9400.

The server 9200 provides a first control signal and a second control signals to the electronic devices 9300, 9500, 9400 & 9600, where electronic devices 9300, 9500, 9400 & 9600 are clients to the server 9200.

The system 9000 can also be implemented on different types of networks, such as, internet, a Local Area Network, or on a Wide Area Network (WAN).

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the data processing done by the server, 9200 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure wherein the data processing system 9200 can be symmetrical multi-processor system (SMP) including a CPU 9206 connected to a system bus 9201.

Further a cache memory 9222 is connected to the system bus 9201 for providing an interface to a RAM 9210. Also an input/output bus bridge (I/O bus bridge) 9209 is connected to the system bus 9201 and provides an interface to an input/output bus (I/O bus) 9202. The cache memory 9222 and the I/O bridge 9209 is connected to the system bus 9201.

A peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge 9513 connected to the I/O bus 9202, provides an interface to a peripheral component interconnect local bus (PCI local bus) 9203. Also a set of communication links are provided to the clients by means of a network adapter 9213 connected to the PCI local bus 9203 through add-in boards / on boards.

Further additional PCI bus bridges 9515 & 9517 are provided for additional PCI local buses 9204 & 9205, from which additional network adapters may be supported thereby connecting the server 9200 to multiple network computers. A hard disk controller 9211 is also connected to I/O bus 9202 and a hard disk 9212 is connected to Hard disk controller 9211 as depicted.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in figure 2 may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as Optical disk drives (CD / DVD) and the like, also can be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention. The data processing system depicted in figure 2 may be any commercially servers with processors such as Intel or AMD etc.. running on Windows or Apple iOS operating system etc..

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing system at client end in which the present invention is implemented, wherein the data processing system 9300 employs a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures such as Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) may be used. A processor 9301 and a main memory 9303 are connected to PC local bus 9501 through PCI bridge 9302. The PCI Bridge 9302 also may include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for the processor 9301. In the depicted example a NIC adapter 9313 a SAS/IDE Host bus adapter 931 land an Expansion Bus Adapter 9319 are connected to the PCI Local bus 9501 by direct component connection. An Audio Video adapter 9304 and Graphics Adapter 9317 are connected directly or by add-on boards inserted into expansion slots. The Expansion Bus Adapter 9319 provides a connection for a Keyboard & Mouse adapter 9333 and a memory 9339. A SAS / IDE Host bus adapter 9311 provides a connection for a Hard disk 9322, CD/DVD Rom or CD/DVD RW 9324. An operating system may be commercially available Operating System such as Windows etc.. or Open Source such as Linux etc

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in figure 3 may vary depending on the implementation. Also the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.

Figure 4 illustrates the preferred embodiment of the present invention wherein a camera feature of a mobile device is controlled. A microprocessor-9401 manages all the modules and functionalities of the device. A Memory -9422 holds three types of data.

1. Programs -9424 such as the operating system of the device and other programs which are used to manage and operate the device,

2. Usage Data 9426 stores the contacts and other transactional details such as call details etc.,

3. Policy Data 9428 has the details of the settings, configuration etc for facilitating user preferences and policies for the functionality of the instruments

An End user interface -9414 commonly consists of keypad and trackpad, some device may have touchpad, facility for data entry and navigation in the screen. There could be additional buttons to obtain options, select etc. apart from phone related buttons such as accept/dial out, terminate/ switch off, mute, fast dial etc. which may vary from model to model.

A Power management 9413 module provides the necessary power for all the active components in the instrument to function with a battery which can be charged using an interface from external sources.
SIM -9412 is the module to establish the connectivity with the service provider with a unique identity to communicate -2 way with the external world over GSM, CDMA, 3G etc. using the RF components in the assigned band.

A Microphone 9407 is the module which converts audio into electrical signal to facilitate voice interaction
A Speaker 9406 provides necessary audio output of the established connection, alerts for various, situations or incidents such as call alert, busy tone, arrival of mail, SMS etc.

Device interface generally provides facility for end user to establish connection with other devices or systems such as USB interface, wireless, blue tooth etc.

A Display 9404 provides the visual interface of the programs available, output of user actions and status indicators such as communication signal level, battery charge level, date & time etc.

An input/output (I/O) 9403 is the internal bus which connects the various modules/devices with the Microprocessor for the overall functioning.

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating a terminal according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein a card swipe unit is used as the terminal 9800. The card consists swipe unit 9800 of a Central Microcontroller 9881 which manages the functional modules which includes a Display unit 9803 which is seven segment display to display the time, date, status, card swiped details etc., a Relay unit 9805 to enable the switching facility between the main power source and the auxiliary power from battery (optional) during power outage. The Relay unit 9805 also provides control for other functionality such as a speaker 9817 for alerts. A Card reader 9821 facilitates reading of the card and recording the time of valid card swipe. A Keypad 9807 provides facility to do the configuration and initialization of the terminal. A Power unit 9809 provides the necessary DC voltages for the entire terminal from the AC mains source.

This also has the facility to operate with the auxiliary battery option. A RAM module 9811 stores the terminal ID details, date and time settings, acceptable card policy and records the valid card swipe details with the time stamp. The capacity may be of the order of a few hundred to many thousands of swipes based on the design. A RTC module 9815 is the time keeper of the system providing the current date and time (after initialization) to facilitate the time stamping of valid card swipes. The Speaker 9817 provides audio alerts while acknowledging valid swipes, error situations such as power outage, data transfer or customized alerts for a given situation. A NIC module 9819 provide the interface between the Card swipe unit 9800 and the external world to facilitate administrators to configure, monitor and transfer of collected swipe data from terminal to the server.

Figure 6 shows a flowchart illustrating the process flow of enablement and disablement of a feature of an electronic device in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention wherein a card reader 6020 is connected to a server 6006. The server 6006 has operating system, such as Windows, Linux etc., a Database server such as Microsoft SQL server or MySQL or Oracle for storing data and a Webserver. An application Employee Information System is placed in the server 6006. The server 6006 is a logical server and may actually take the form of a group of physical servers. A Domain Controller server 6010, which maintains the profile of all the users is connected to the server 6008.

According to the present invention, the mobile phones or similar devices are integrated with the LDAP service and a software agent is executed on the electronic device for controlling specific feature of the electronic device such as blocking of the USB port, DVD/CD device, Bluetooth, Camera, Wireless, Device lock, Software Access and installation restriction as programmed.

Further the user while entering a restricted area is required to swipe the access card provided, to gain entry/ mark attendance at the entrance using Card reader 6020. User's credentials are verified with the details stored in the Card reader 6020. If the user is invalid the Card Reader 6020 will show an error message and his entry will be restricted. The swiping details are captured for the valid users and stored in the Card reader 6020. The server 6006 runs an Application at a regular time interval, which can be specified on need basis, to fetch the swipe details from all Card readers deployed. The collected data are stored in the Swipe data base (DB) 6062. The EIS DB 6061 will run an application at specified time interval specified by the organization, to extract the User swipe details. The extracted data are transformed into a format acceptable to Employee Information System (EIS) DB 6061 and updated in the EIS DB 6061. An application 6063 will be executed at a regular time interval.

The application 6063 checks the data whether it is In-swipe or Out-swipe based on the logic implemented within the system. If the data is In-swipe, the application 6063 initiates in IT policy server 6008 and generates a first control signal modifying the discretionary policies applicable within the area thereby disabling the specified features in the device 6040 automatically. When the users try to access that particular feature the system will show an error message. Whereas if the data is an Out-Swipe the application 6063 relaxes the IT policy changes initiated above in IT policy server 6008 and generates a second control signal thereby enabling the specified features in the device 6040 automatically and providing the users to access the features earlier available outside the restricted area.

We Claim:

1. A method for controlling a feature of an electronic device, the method comprising:

executing a software agent on the electronic devices;

receiving a set of information from at least one terminal;

comparing the received information with a predetermined information stored in the server;
generating a first control signal based on the server response,

wherein the software agent extracts commands from the first control signal;

engaging the feature based on the commands to deny the electronic device from utilizing the feature, thereby disabling said feature;

receiving a second control signal based on the server response,

wherein the software agent extracts commands from the second control signal; and

disengaging the feature based on the commands to allow the electronic device for utilizing the feature, thereby enabling said feature;

2. A system for controlling a feature of an electronic device, the system comprising:

a software agent executable on mobile device, wherein the software agent engages the feature of an electronic device upon receiving a first control signal from the server, thereby disabling said feature,

wherein the software agent disengages the feature of an electronic device upon receiving a second control signal from the server, thereby enabling said feature.

3. The method and system for controlling the feature of the electronic device as claimed in claim land claim 2, wherein the electronic device is preferably a mobile device.

4. The method and system for controlling the feature of the electronic device as claimed in claim 1 and claim 2, wherein the feature to be controlled is a camera feature.

5. The method and system for controlling the feature of the electronic device as claimed in claim land claim 2, wherein the software agent is to be executed only once in said electronic device.