Abstract:
According to one embodiment, the invention discloses a method comprising determining a position of a mobile device; and controlling access to said mobile device based on said position. According to another embodiment of the invention there is provided a mobile device comprising a positioning mechanism to determine a position a mobile device; and a controlling mechanism to control access to said mobile device based on said position.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to access control. In particular is relates to controlling access to mobile devices.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    Mobile device s such as notebook computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and cellular telephones are typically used in different locations depending on the movement of a user. Depending on where the mobile device is being used, it must be appropriately configured in order to prevent unauthorized use thereof. For example, when the user is on a corporate campus and is connected to a corporate intranet there is no need for data encryption for communications confined to the corporate intranet. Likewise, when the user is at home, security concerns related to unauthorized use of a mobile device would be reduced, whereas these concerns would be higher when the user is in a public place such as an airport or a hotel.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0003]    [0003]FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a mobile device in accordance with the invention;  
         [0004]    [0004]FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the wireless communications module of the mobile device of FIG. 1 in greater detail;  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of operations performed in order to select an appropriate access policy in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and  
         [0006]    [0006]FIGS. 4 and 5 show aspects of operations in FIG. 3 in greater detail.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0007]    According to embodiments of the present invention access control parameters which control access to a mobile device are changed automatically based on the location of the mobile device. In some embodiments of the invention, a user of the mobile device pre-configures a set of security policies with predetermined values for the access control parameters based on knowledge of anticipated usage scenarios. The mobile device then uses an appropriate security policy based on the physical location of the device. Each security policy is associated with a zone which may be user defined. Examples of user defined zones may include a home zone, a work zone, an airport, a hotel zone, etc. Each zone defines the physical region within which the mobile device must be located before the security policy associated with the zone becomes operative. As a user moves around with the mobile device, the position of the mobile device is constantly updated and when the device crosses from one security zone to another, the security policy for that device is appropriately updated without any user intervention.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 of the drawings shows one embodiment of a mobile device  10  in accordance with the invention. The device  10  includes a processor  12  that processes data signals. Processor  12  may be a Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) microprocessor, a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) microprocessor, a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) microprocessor, a processor implementing a combination of instructions sets, or other processor device.  
         [0009]    In one embodiment, processor  12  is a processor in the Pentium® family of processors including the Pentium® 4 family and mobile Pentium® processors available from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. Alternatively, other processors may be used. FIG. 1 shows an example of a mobile device  10  employing a single processor. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that mobile device  10  may be implemented using multiple processors.  
         [0010]    Processor  12  is coupled to a processor bus  14 . Processor bus  14  transmits data signals between processor  12  and other components in mobile device  10 . Device  10  also includes a memory  16 . In one embodiment, memory  16  is a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) device. However, in other embodiments, memory  16  may be a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) device, or other memory device.  
         [0011]    Memory  16  may store instructions or code represented by data signals that may be executed by processor  12 . According to one embodiment of the invention, a cache memory  12 . 1  resides within processor  12  and stores data signals that are also stored in memory  16 . Cache  12 . 1  speeds up memory accesses by processor  12  by taking advantage of its proximity to processor  12 . In another embodiment, cache  12 . 1  resides external to processor  12 .  
         [0012]    Mobile device  10  further includes a bridge memory controller  18  coupled to processor bus  14  and memory  16 . Bridge/memory controller  18  directs data signals between processor  12 , memory  16 , and other components in device  10  and bridges the data signals between processor bus  14 , memory  16 , and a first input/output (I/O) bus  20 . In one embodiment, I/O bus  20  may be a single bus or a combination of multiple buses.  
         [0013]    In a further embodiment, I/O bus  20  may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect adhering to a Specification Revision  2 . 1  bus developed by PCI Special Interest Group of Portland, Oreg. In another embodiment, I/O bus  20  may be a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) bus developed by PCMCIA of San Jose, Calif. Alternatively, other buses may be used to implement I/O bus  20 . I/O bus  20  provides communication links between components in device  10 . A display device controller  22  is coupled to I/O bus  20 . Display device controller  22  allows coupling of a displayed device to device  10  and acts as an interface between the display device and device  10 . In one embodiment, display device controller  22  is a Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA) card. In other embodiments, display device controller  22  may be a Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) card, and Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) card, and Extended Graphics Array (XGA) card or other display device controller. The display device receives data signals from processor  12  through display device controller  22  and displays information and data signals to a user of device  10 .  
         [0014]    Mobile device  10  further includes a wireless communications module  24  which is coupled to I/O bus  20 . Components of the wireless communications module  24  is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2 of the drawings. Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the wireless communications module  24  includes a position sensor  24 . 1 . The position sensor  24 . 1  may be any commercially available position sensor and in one embodiment it may be a GPS sensor. The module  24  further includes a digital map  24 . 2  which is an area coverage map indicating which communications networks are operative at a global position of mobile device  10 . The module  24  further includes an intelligent roaming controller  24 . 3  which provides the functionality of selecting one of radio interfaces  24 . 4  to connect mobile device  10  to a selected operative communications network as will be described in greater detail below. Finally, the module  24  includes a baseband logic module  24 . 5 . The detailed components within the baseband logic module  24 . 5  have not been shown. However, one skilled in the art will understand that it will necessarily include components such as a digital signal processor, embedded controller support blocks such as volatile and nonvolatile memory, clocks, interface logic and any miscellaneous hardware acceleration blocks required by the radio interfaces  24 . 4 . The baseband logic module  24 . 5  is coupled to the I/O bus  20 .  
         [0015]    According to embodiments of the invention, the mobile device  10  may be a mobile device such as a notebook computer, Portable Digital Assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, etc. The mobile device  10  may be used to perform operations shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. Referring to FIG. 3, at block  30  the mobile device  10  determines its location relative to a locally defined coordinate system or a global coordinate system. The particular operations performed in order to determine the location of mobile device  10  at block  30  is shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings. Referring to FIG. 4, at block  30 . 1  a determination is made as to whether a local position sensor exists. If such a position sensor exists then at block  30 . 2  a current global of mobile device  10  is obtained from said local sensor. Alternatively, if no local sensor exists then at block  30 . 3 , a determination is made as to whether a network connection is available. If a network connection is available then at block  30 . 4  a check is made to determine if the network connection is capable of determining the current position of mobile device  10 . According to one embodiment of the invention, this may be achieved by accessing a database of services provided by a network operator, for which services a current user of mobile device  10  is subscribed. If the network connection is capable of determining a current position of mobile device  10  then at block  30 . 5  said current position is obtained from the network. Obtaining the current position involves sending a triangulation signal to the network operator, who would then triangulate a signal, and receiving said triangulated signal.  
         [0016]    Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawings, after the position/location of mobile device  10  has been determined at block  30 , at block  32  the security zone in which mobile device  10  is operating is determined. The particular operations involved in determining the security zone at block  32  are shown in greater detail in FIG. 5 of the drawings. Referring to FIG. 5, at block  32 . 1  a determination is made as to whether a network connection is available. If a network connection is available then at block  32 . 2  location information is sent to the network and based on this information a request is made for an update to the current security zone within which the mobile device  10  is operating. If no network coverage is available then at block  32 . 3  a digital network coverage map including security zones is accessed in order to determine the current security zone. Each security zone is determined in accordance with the current location or position of mobile device  10 . Typically, security zones are user-defined for locations such as a home location, a work location, an airport location, hotel location, etc. Associated with each security zone is an access protocol which configures access control parameters to mobile device  10  which will determine, for example, whether a screen saver locks, and hence requires passwords to re-authenticate, a lead idle time before the screen saver locks, when to power down the apparatus, when to reset the apparatus and require re-authentication, when to use automatic roaming, when to make electronic payments and the type of external access request that may be accepted.  
         [0017]    Referring again to FIG. 3 of the drawings, at block  34  the appropriate access policy for the current security zone is obtained and applied at block  36 . At block  38  a determination is made as to whether a system shut down request has been received. If a system shut down request has been received then the system shuts down, failing which operations starting at block  30  are repeated.  
         [0018]    One advantage of the present invention is that it provides a security system that is capable of modifying the access policy of a mobile device based on the location of the device.  
         [0019]    For the purposes of this specification, a machine-readable medium includes any mechanism that provides (i.e. stores and/or transmits) information in a form readable by a machine (e.g. computer) for example, a machine-readable medium includes read-only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory device s; electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g. carrier waves, infra red signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.  
         [0020]    It will be apparent from this description the aspects of the present invention may be embodied, at least partly, in software. In other embodiments, hardware circuitry may be used in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, the techniques are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.  
         [0021]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the various modification and changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit of the invention as set forth in the claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than in a restrictive sense.