Abstract:
The present invention provides a method for providing an easily accessible and easily understandable source of information. The information provided comes from a multitude of sources and from a multitude of different information types. More particularly, the present invention provides a portfolio of web services delivered to a consumer through a website portal model. The web services help provide security information to a person. A person uses the services to assess, alert, inform, and enable them to make the most effective response to safety concerns.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     In relation to this utility application, applicants claim priority to earlier U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/537,446 filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Apr. 1, 2004, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002]     Not Applicable  
       REFERENCE TO A “MICROFICHE APPENDIX” 
       [0003]     Not Applicable  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0005]     The present invention relates to methods of enhancing a person&#39;s security in their information and person. In particular, the invention involves a method of providing a person with multiple sources of information in one place to easily manage, respond, and understand their security position.  
         [0006]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0007]     After the attacks on Sep. 11, 2001, people around the world have become more aware of their personal safety. Personal safety is a concern for all people. Yet, as the world grows more complex, the ability of ordinary citizens to manage their own safety has become difficult or even impossible. People must receive, process, and respond to an inordinate amount of information that relates to their safety and security. This information includes risks to the person&#39;s physical safety, risks to the person&#39;s financial security, risks to the person&#39;s identity, and numerous other risks.  
         [0008]     To manage the information received, a person must interface with a multitude of entities. Currently, a person contacts each entity individually to obtain a specific item of information. An example of the current methodology is reflected in U.S. Patent Application 2002/0087460 to Hornung. In this patent, a consumer provides initial information. This initial information allows credit agencies to send notices, to the consumer, of changes in the consumer&#39;s credit history. The consumer may then respond to the changes. As with the other prior art, Hornung only provides information from one type of information—credit history. The current systems are based on fragmented solutions that are cumbersome and not easily operated.  
         [0009]     In addition, a person must often write or call the entity to obtain the information. These antiquated communication methods cause delays in receiving information. In addition, the information is presented in a form, whether a paper report or a phone message, that is hard to store and difficult to correlate with other information.  
         [0010]     Thus, there is a need to provide security information and other information more easily and more readily.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     The present invention provides a method for providing an easily accessible and easily understandable source of information. The information provided comes from a multitude of sources and from a multitude of different information types. More particularly, the present invention provides a portfolio of web services delivered to a consumer through a website portal model. The web services help provide security information to a person. A person uses the services to assess, alert, inform, and enable them to make the most effective response to safety concerns. 
     
    
     BREIF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of an embodiment for an information receiving system communicatively coupled to a plurality of information sources providing several types of information and to a user in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  shows a more detailed embodiment of the information receiving system in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 3A  shows one embodiment of a method to provide multiple types of information to a consumer through a single source in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3B  shows one embodiment of a method to provide multiple types of information to a consumer through a single source in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4A  shows a second embodiment of a method to provide multiple types of information to a consumer through a single source in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4B  shows a second embodiment of a method to provide multiple types of information to a consumer through a single source in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 5A  shows a third embodiment of a method to provide multiple types of information to a consumer through a single source in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 5B  shows a third embodiment of a method to provide multiple types of information to a consumer through a single source in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  shows an embodiment of a method to secure an electronic device in accordance with the present invention.  
     
    
       [0021]     To clarify, each drawing includes reference numerals. These reference numerals follow a common nomenclature. The reference numeral will have three digits or four digits. The first one or two digits represent the drawing number where the reference numeral was first used. For example, a reference numeral used first in drawing one will have a numeral like  1 xx, while a numeral first used in drawing four will have a numeral like  4 XX. The second two digits represent a specific item within a drawing. One item in  FIG. 1  may be  101  while another item may be  102 . Like reference numerals used in later drawing represent the same item. For example, reference numeral  102  in  FIG. 3  is the same item as shown in  FIG. 1 .  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0022]     The present invention will now be described in reference to embodiments of the invention presented in the description below with reference to the attached figures. However, the invention is not limited to those embodiments as one skilled in the art will understand equivalents that are within the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is as defined in the claims.  
         [0023]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of an information receiving system  100  that may be used for the present invention. The information receiving system  100  includes two or more information providers  102 , an information receiver  104 , and a user or person (user electronic device)  106 . These entities may be communicatively coupled. Throughout this description, communicatively coupled may mean any type of electronic or electrical connection including, but not limited to, LANs, WANs, wireless LANs, Virtual Private Networks, cellular or wireless systems, or satellite communication systems. In the exemplary embodiment, communicatively coupled is a connection through electronic pathways via the internet.  
         [0024]     Information providers  102  are any entity, whether a business, organization, person, database, or electronic system that attends to personal information. Attending to personal information may include, but is not limited to, storing, modifying, or creating information about a person. The information receiver  104  is connected to at least two information providers  102 . At least one information provider  102  connected to the information receiver  104  provides personal information that is in a different class or is a different type of information than at least one other information provider  102 . For example, the information receiver  104  in the embodiment shown is connected to six information providers. Each of these information providers  102  provides a different type of information: identity information  108 , financial information  110 , location information  112 , legal information  114 , public information  116 , or computer system information  118 . The types or classes of information are not limited to these exemplary categories.  
         [0025]     Personal information can be any data that may describe or apply to a person or may apply to something with which a person is concerned. As explained above, personal information may be separated into separate classes or types of information. There may be one or more information providers  102  that send data that can be classified under one type of personal information. In addition, the classes of information may be categorized in more detailed classes than those types of personal information exemplified in  FIG. 1 . For example, a bank (like Wells Fargo or Citibank) and a credit reporting agency (like Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion) may both be considered financial information providers  110 . However, the financial information class of information may be broken into smaller categories. Two credit agencies may provide credit scores but not daily account activity and fall into the same class of information provider  102 . A bank may provide daily account activity on a person&#39;s checking account but not a credit score. Thus, the bank and the credit agencies, while falling under the broad category of financial information providers  110 , may fall into separate classes of information providers  102  because they provide information that the other information provider  102  does not. To determine if one information provider  102  is providing data in a separate the class of information, one skilled in the art should determine whether that information provider  102  presents one or more items of data that the other information provider or providers  102  do not provide.  
         [0026]     There are several examples of information that fall under the general information categories mentioned above. Identity information  108  can include any data that includes a physical or identification characteristic of the person. Identity information  108  may include, but is not limited to, use of a person&#39;s social security number, use of a person&#39;s driver&#39;s license number, use of a person&#39;s biometric information (including fingerprints, eye scans, picture, facial recognition, DNA typing, or other use of biometric data), or use of a person&#39;s military identification card. The financial dealings and financial position of a person generally encompass a person&#39;s financial information  110 . Financial information  110  may include, but is not limited to, credit card usage, the creation of a new credit account, bank account transactions, credit reports, establishment of new financial accounts, retirement account transactions, or use or distribution of a person&#39;s credit report. Location information  112  may include information provided by an asset tracking system. These systems use GPS or other location finding devices to locate a person or object holding or using the device. The location is sent to an asset tracking system to process. Then the location may be sent to a user in a GIS format where the location is shown as a visual representation on a map. The location information  112  that may be shown includes, but is not limited to, the location of family members, the location of coworkers, the location of pets, the location of assets (such as cars, boats, motor homes, bicycles, etc.), the location of city service vehicles (such as the police, fire engines, snow plows, etc.), the location of sex offenders living in the area, or the location of buildings (such as schools, hospitals, gas stations, etc.). Legal information  114  may include any information that affects or describes a person&#39;s legal status. For instance, this legal information  114  may include, but is not limited to, possible warrants, traffic tickets, parking tickets, summons, pending trials, or investigations into the person. Public information  116  is data or notices provided by civic or public safety organizations. Some examples of public information  116  may include, but is not limited to, homeland security messages, public address messages, meeting notices, pending votes on legislation or codes, reverse  911  messages, or school closings. Computer system information  118  is information about a user&#39;s electronic device or home computer system. Computer system information may include, but is not limited to, software updates available, virus update files, recalls, hardware failures, scheduled maintenance, or password updates. The examples given above do not encompass all possible information that may be managed by and in the present invention. Other information that would fall into the above categories and into other unmentioned categories is contemplated.  
         [0027]     The information receiver  104  may be a system that receives information from the plurality of information providers  102  and provides that information to the user  106 . The information receiver  104  may be an electronic system or a software system. In one embodiment, the information receiver  104  would be a separate entity that would receive information from a plurality of information providers  102  and forward information to a plurality of users  106 . Another embodiment would embed the information receiver  104  into a computer or electronic device operated by the user  106 . In this embodiment, the user  106  would access the information receiver  104  by operating the hardware or software embedded in the user&#39;s computer system  106 . No internet or other communicative couple would be needed between the user  106  and the information receiver  104 . One skilled in the art will recognize the changes to the information receiving system, as will be explained below, that will be needed to create this embodiment.  
         [0028]     A more detailed embodiment of the information receiving system  100  is shown in  FIG. 2 . This embodiment shows the information receiver  104  operating outside and independent from the user  106 . In other words, the information receiver  104  is a separate entity that manages stores, consolidates, formats, and transmits the information to the user  106 . As mentioned above, the information receiver  104  can be co-located or integrated with the user  106  or into the user&#39;s computer system. This alternate embodiment includes a software program or electronic device used at the user&#39;s home or in the user&#39;s computer to act as the information receiver  104 . These two embodiments have similar components and the second embodiment will not be explained further. However, one skilled in the art will recognize the small changes that would need to be made to integrate the information receiver  104  into the user&#39;s systems  106 .  
         [0029]     Starting from the user  106  in  FIG. 2 , the present embodiment demonstrates that the user or the user&#39;s electronic device  106  may represent one or more of several devices. The security information may be reported to one or more of these devices  106 . The electronic device  106  can be any device that may be communicatively coupled to the information receiver  104 , receive information signals, and provide a message to the user  106 . The message sent to the user  106  may be an audio, video, or text message. The means of transport for the signal is immaterial as the signal may include, but is not limited to, a wireless, cellular, telephone, internet, or satellite communication. Some of the electronic devices  106  that may be used in the present invention include, but are not limited to a user&#39;s home computer, a display device, telephone, a laptop computer, a wireless or cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a server, a mainframe or a hand held computer.  
         [0030]     As some of the electronic devices  106  may not have direct access to the internet, the present invention may also include one or more service providers  220 . While the user may contact the information receiver  104  directly as shown, one or more service providers  220  may pass the information to the user  106 . For instance, the information receiver  104  may send the information onto a television signal provider, such as DirecTV, which would forward the information to the user&#39;s television. In other embodiments, the user  106  may access the information through an ISP. Still in another embodiment, the user  106  may receive information on his or her cellular phone via a cellular phone system or wireless system  222 . Wireless systems allow nearly immediate notification of the user  106 , regardless of the location of the user  106 . Other service providers  220  are contemplated and included in the present invention.  
         [0031]     The detailed embodiment of the information receiving system  100  includes a detailed embodiment of the information receiver  104 . The information receiver  104  is communicatively coupled to the one or more of the electronic devices  106 . The information receiver  104  may include, but is not limited to, a computer, a computer system, a mainframe, a server, or other electronic system. The embodiment of the information receiver  104  can have several components or subsystems.  
         [0032]     Components of the information receiver  104  may include one or more of, but are not limited to, an information portal  204 , a registration system  212 , an authentication system  214 , a permissions system  216 , an information vault  218 , a presentation engine  206 , or one or more databases  208 , or one or more communications engines. The information portal  204  is the interface between the user  106  and the information receiver  104 , which provides the electronic connection between the information receiver  104  and the electronic devices  106 . This portal  204  may receive or send information from and to the user  106 . Information portals  204  can be routers, switches, and other internet or electronic communication systems that are well known in the art and will not be explained further.  
         [0033]     The registration system  212 , authentication system, and permissions systems may be software or hardware systems. The registration system  212  ensures that the user  106  is allowed access to the information receiver  104 . The registration system  212  requires the user  106  to enter some of their personal information to gain access to the information data. Thus, the registration system  212  directs the presentation engine  206  to send information upon request by the user  106 . In addition, the registration system  212  helps establish what data the information receiver may receive on behalf of the user  106 . In other words, what types of information upon which the user  106  wants to receive updates. The registration system  212  may also be the initial program used to establish the user  106  as a client of the information receiving system  100 .  
         [0034]     The authentication system  216  may be any system that verifies that the user has access to the particular information. For instance, the authentication system  214  may use a login and password protocol to prevent unauthorized access. Other systems and data may be used to authenticate the user&#39;s allowed access, such as biometric data or other information. Authentication systems  214  are well known in the art and will not be explained further.  
         [0035]     A permissions system  216  may limit the amount of access to the user  106 . For instance, the permissions system  216  may only grant access to a user to his financial or public information. This permissions system  216  more accurately allows more than one user access to some mutually important data but not to each person&#39;s complete data. For instance, a wife may have access to the husband&#39;s shared bank account but not to his retirement account information. Permission systems  216  are well known in the art and will not be explained further.  
         [0036]     The information vault  218  is a data storage system. In an exemplary embodiment, the vault  218  is a database stored in some type of memory. The memory may be a RAM, ROM, hard drive, tape storage, optical disc storage, or other device. The vault  218  may be protected by one or more security measures. These measures may include password protection or encryption. The vault  218  stores all or a portion of the personal information obtained either from the user  106  or from the information providers  102 . The vault  218  may also store other information received for latter transmittal or for use in reports or presentations that may be made at a latter time.  
         [0037]     The presentation engine  206  is the system or software module that receives, retrieves, consolidates, formats, or transmits the personal information. For instance, when a user  106  requests a credit report, the presentation engine  206  may retrieve the data, put it in an easily understandable format, and transmit it to the portal  204  for forwarding to the user  106 . The functions of the presentation engine  206  are described in more detail below.  
         [0038]     The information storage  208  are the databases for the different types of information. There can be a single physical database with different relational or database substructures or there can be more than one physical database. In the exemplary embodiment, each physical database  208  shown stores or holds personal information representing a single type of information. For instance, the identity database may store information from identity information providers  108 . The financial database may store information from financial information providers  110 . Each type of data may be parsed out to a different database. There may be as many databases as there are types of information that need to be stored. Databases are well known in the art and will not be explained further.  
         [0039]     Each database  208  may interface with a communication engine  210 . The communication engine  210  may be communicatively coupled to one or more information providers  102 . The information providers  102  may include data providers and application providers. Data providers supply raw information; application providers provide access to or output from other processes, such as an asset tracking system. The connection to the information providers  102  may be made through different systems. Thus, there may be a communication engine dedicated to each type of information or dedicated to each information provider. This dedicated approach allows the interfaces, both as to type of communication system and communication protocol, to be specified for every information provider  102  (as is represented by the different solid or dashed lines in  FIG. 2 ). Thus, there are as many communication engineers  210  as there are different communications systems or protocols. For example, one financial information provider  110  may provide XML files over an internet connection, while a public information provider  116  may provide Acrobat Reader files over a LAN. The present embodiment uses an internet connection, but the invention is not limited to that one embodiment. As the communication engine  210  depends upon the type of connection between the information provider  102  and the information receiver  104 , the structure and function of the communication engine  210  will differ. However, communication engines  210  are well known in the art and need not be explained further.  
         [0040]     Finally, two or more information providers  102  are communicatively coupled to the information receiver  104 . Some information providers  102  may include, but are not limited to, credit reporting agencies (such as Experian or TRW), banks (such as Citibank, Wells Fargo, or First National Bank), retailers (such as Sears or WalMart), civic organizations (such as Federal agencies, town councils, police stations, or school administrations), courts, or third party systems (such as asset tracking systems or computer software companies). One skilled in the art will recognize that the sources of information are as numerous as the information itself. Therefore, there are other information providers  102  that are included in the present invention. Method of Receiving and Reporting Information to a User  
         [0041]      FIG. 3A ,  FIG. 3B ,  FIG. 4A ,  FIG. 4B ,  FIG. 5A , and  FIG. 5B  show embodiments of methods  300 ,  400 , and  500  for providing information in a single source from two or more information providers. While the embodiments show several steps, the present invention may have more or fewer steps than the embodiments presented. Many of the steps or processes in the methods are the same or similar. Thus, these similar steps will be explained only once. The differences between the three embodiments will be described in more detail.  
         [0042]     The methods all require that the information receiver  104  obtain initial personal information about the person  106 , connect with two or more information providers  102  that attend to personal information in two or more classes of information, receive one or more items of information from one or more of the information providers  102 , and report the one or more items of information to the person  106 . These steps will be discussed in more detail below.  
         [0043]     The information receiver  104  must obtain initial personal information about the person or user—either initial identity information  304 , initial financial information  306 , or both. To protect the appropriate information, the information receiver must know that information. Some examples of the initial identity information may include, but is not limited to, a person&#39;s name, address, birthday, SSN, mother&#39;s maiden name, driver&#39;s license number, height, weight, hair color, or eye color. Some examples of the initial financial information may include, but is not limited to, a person&#39;s bank account numbers, credit card numbers, loans outstanding, investment accounts, place of employment, or retirement accounts. The initial information helps determine which information providers will be connected with and identify the person or the items the person is concerned about. For example, to protect a person&#39;s social security number, the information receiver  104  must know and recognize the number. Obtaining  304  and  306  the information may be completed in various ways by various means.  
         [0044]     The person or user  106  may provide the information to the information receiver  104  through the registration system  212 . Providing the data may include simply entering the information into the person&#39;s computer by the keyboard, mouse, or other man/machine interface and transmitting the initial information to the information receiver  104 . There may be other methods of providing  304  and  306  the initial information. For instance, the user  106  may scan their Social Security Card into a computer, the user  106  may store their fingerprint into the computer using a biometric scanner, or the user  106  may read the information to a voice recognition program, and the initial information can be transmitted to the information receiver  104 . In another embodiment, a software program may search the memory of a computer for electronic files that carry personal information. The software program may, for instance, scan the memory of the computer for nine digit numbers that may be social security numbers (SSN). The program may then ask the user  106  if this is their SSN. If the user  106  responds that the number is their SSN, then that number may be transmitted to the information receiver  104 . The means and method of providing the information may vary and may use several different methods.  
         [0045]     After the initial information is obtained, the information receiver  104  connects  308  with a plurality of information providers  102 . Connecting with an information provider  102  means both communicatively coupling with the information provider  102  and establishing a relationship with the information provider  102  where the information provider  102  agrees to supply personal information. One advantage of an information receiver  104  independent from the user  106  is that only one connection to each information provider  102  need be made for numerous users  106 . Thus, when the information receiver is already connected to the information provider, connecting may involve adding the new user to the list of personal information that the information provider  102  needs to monitor and to report. The information receiver  104  must connect with two or more information providers  102 . In addition, at least one of the information providers  102  must supply personal information in a different class than at least one other information provider  102 . For example, if one information provider supplies financial information then one other information provider must supply identity information, public information, or some other class of information. Again, the classes of information are not limited to these broad categories, but the classes may be separated into more detailed categories. It is possible to have two or more information providers supplying information in the same class of information, if one other information provider is supplying personal information in a separate class. For instance, the information receiving system may include connections to three credit agencies, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. However, the information receiving system would also be connected to a bank, like Wells Fargo, or to a public information provider, like U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  
         [0046]     Once the connections are established, the three embodiments differ.  FIG. 3A  includes an embodiment where the information receiver  104  receives a notification or notice  310  about the person&#39;s personal information. Notice and notification are used interchangeably and are meant to mean the same thing. This notice may be forwarded  316  to the user  106  in its original format or a modified format, as will be explained later. The notice may include a message that simply tells the user  106  that a change in their personal information has been made. In this embodiment, the user  106  would need to make a request as to what was changed and how it was changed. The information receiver  104  may answer the request or forward the request to the appropriate information provider or providers  102 . The response may be received by the information receiver  104  from the information provider or providers  102  and be sent to the user  106  containing the changed information. In another embodiment, the notification contains the changed information already, and the user  106  need not make a request for the information. In another embodiment, the notice is sent to the user  106  after an update  318  to the information. This situation may occur when a use of a person&#39;s SSN occurs. Rather than report each day whether a use occurred, the information receiving system  100  would update the user  106  on that particular day only if a use of the SSN had occurred. Another embodiment of the receiving information may include the user  106  sending a request to the information receiver  104  that is forwarded to the information provider  102 . The information provider and information receiver may send a response. This request and response situation may occur with the person&#39;s credit report. A request to view the credit report may be sent to a credit reporting agency. A response to that request, with the credit report attached, may be set back to the user  106 .  
         [0047]     In other methods shown in  FIG. 4A  and  FIG. 4B , the information receiver  104  may receive  408  a baseline set of personal information. The baseline set of information can contain all or a portion of the personal information about the user  106  that is stored by any information provider  102 . The information receiver  104  can send the baseline set of information to the user  106 . Then, the user  106  may verify the correctness of the baseline information by reviewing it for accuracy. If the information is incorrect, the user  106  may send a response to the information receiver  104  or the appropriate information provider or providers  102  to correct the problem. Once the problem is corrected or if the baseline information is already correct, this baseline set of information may be stored in the user-specific vault or in the information type specific database.  
         [0048]     Now, the information receiver  104  may periodically provide change information to the user  106 . A period of time elapses  410 . The duration of the period of time is immaterial and may be an hour, a day, a month, a year, or any other measure of time. In addition, the period does not need to be regular. Thus, the period need not be constant or consistent. Instead the period of the updates may vary such that it may be everyday for a week, then change to once a week for two months, and back to once a day for three weeks. Regardless, one or more information providers  102  can send a new set of personal information to the information receiver  104 . The information receiver  104  may receive  412  this new set of information. The information receiver  104  may make a comparison  414  between the new set of information and the baseline set of information. The information receiver  104  determines if any changes have been made  416  between the baseline set of information and the new set of information. If a change has been made, the information receiver can notify  418  the user of the change. This notification can be the same of similar to the notification mentioned earlier. Thus, the notice may include the change or simply bring the user&#39;s attention to the change. If no change has been made two things may happen. In  FIG. 4A , the information receiver  104  may simply wait for a new set of information to be received. Thus, the baseline set of information never changes, and all comparisons in the future happen with the same set of baseline information. In  FIG. 5A , the new set of information is established  502  as the new baseline set of information. Thus, each subsequent comparison happens with the last set of information received by the information receiver  104 . The second embodiment creates a continually changing set of baseline information that can better track the user&#39;s changes in his or her information. These periodic updates may occur with the person&#39;s bank account data. For instance, every day the bank may send the account balance and the days charges and credits to the information receiver  104 . The information receiver  104  will compare the information to a baseline set of information and forward the changes to the user  106 . Thus, the user  106  obtains a periodic update of their accounts everyday.  
         [0049]     In all three embodiments in  FIG. 3A ,  FIG. 4B , and  FIG. 5B , the information receiving system  100  must report a notification  316  or report of a change  418  to the user  106 . Reporting the information includes methods of taking the received information (whether notices or new sets of information) and presenting it to the user  106 . The presentation may come in different formats that may include, but is not limited to, a visual presentation, an audio presentation, a report that may be printed, a warning message, or a tactile report (for instance, a Braille system for the blind). The presentation may be made on one or more of the user&#39;s computer, display device, wireless receiver, cellular phone, personal digital assistant, email address, website, telephone, or other device.  
         [0050]     In a further embodiment, the user  106  may want to respond to the notice or report of the change. The user  106  can determine whether a response is needed to anything in the notification  320  or anything in the report of the change  420 . The user  106  may send a message, email, Instant Message, phone call, or other transmission either to the information receiver  104  or to the information provider  102  directly. A message sent to the information receiver  102  may require the information receiver to determine  322  if the user&#39;s response can be addressed without forwarding the message to the information provider  102 . If the information receiver  104  can address the response, the information receiver  104  fixes the problem  328  with the report, notification, or the personal information. If the information receiver  104  can not address the response, the information receiver  104  sends the response  324  to one or more of the information providers  102 . The information receiver may then monitor if the problem is fixed  326 . Once the problem is fixed, the information receiver  104  may wait for a new set of information or a new notification caused by an update to the personal information  318 .  
         [0051]      FIG. 3A  includes other steps in the process that may be included in any of the embodiments of the present invention. For instance, another step in the process may include securing the user&#39;s computer or electronic device  302 . A method  600  of securing the person&#39;s electronic device  106  is shown in  FIG. 6 . Securing an electronic device may include, but is not limited to, scanning for viruses  602 , searching for Trojan Horses  604 , establishing firewalls  606 , encrypting information  612  and  618 , or storing information  620  in a secure location. Scanning for viruses  602 , establishing firewalls  606 , and encrypting information  612  and  618  are well known in the art and will not be explained further. A Trojan Horse is a program embedded in the electronic device&#39;s  106  software that tracks the user&#39;s actions and reports those actions to an outside entity. Searching for Trojan Horses  604  is well known in the art and will not be explained further. Some information may be removed from the electronic device  106  and stored  620  in the vault  218 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , securing  302  the electronic device  106  may also include receiving the initial information  304  and  306 , then searching  610  and  616  the person&#39;s electronic device  106  for that information. If the information is found on the electronic device  106 , the information may be either encrypted  612  and  618 , moved to the vault  620 , or both. The information found on the electronic device  106  may also be password protected. Password protecting information is well known in the art and will not be explained further. Any of these methods may be used alone or in conjunction and other methods known in the art may also be used to protect the personal information already on the electronic device  106 .  
         [0052]     Referring again to  FIG. 3A , the information receiver  104  may format  312  the notices or personal information received form the information providers  102  before reporting the information. In some embodiments, the information receiver  104  may pass through the information received by the information providers  102 . However, most embodiments will require the information receiver  104  to format or change the style, protocol, structure, language, or some other characteristic of the information before transmitting the information to the user  106 . Formatting the information includes the information receiver placing the information into a presentation for use by the user  106 . In most embodiments, the information receiver  104  presents the information in a form that is easily understood by the user  106 . For instance, determining if an unauthorized account has been opened in the person&#39;s name may be daunting for the user  106 . The credit report must be reviewed, with the intention of eliminating all current, legitimate accounts. The information receiver  104  may have the current accounts stored and eliminate those entries. The formatted presentation would leave a listing of new accounts that are currently unrecognized. Thus, the formatting made the credit report more easily understood. One skilled in the art will recognize other functions that may be considered formatting the information.  
         [0053]     The information receiver  104 , as a function of the formatting, may also consolidate information. The information receiver  104  allows the receipt and reporting of single pieces of information. However, in most embodiments, the formatted presentation will include two or pieces of information from two or more information providers  102 . Thus, the consolidated presentation will incorporate the two pieces of information. For example, a credit report may be consolidated with a person&#39;s bank statement. In this embodiment, the person may view what accounts exist along with their current activity. Consolidating information may also include combining pieces of information. Combining information includes using two or more pieces of information to create a new piece of information. For instance, a charge on a credit card may have an address and a time stamp. The charge may be shown on a map from asset tracking system. The location of the person&#39;s cell phone (and necessarily the person) during the time of the credit card charge may be shown on the same map. Thus, the person can decide if he or she was at the place when the charge was made or if someone has stolen his or her credit card or account number.  
       EXAMPLE  
       [0054]     John Smith purchases a DirecTV system and signs up for the DirecTV service that provides television programming provided by a satellite signal. As part of the content or programming offered by DirecTV, the satellite television provider  220  allows Mr. Smith to sign-up for a personal information security system. The service allows John to view the status of his personal information and helps him respond to issues with his personal information.  
         [0055]     John selects the service and provides some initial information to an information receiver  104 . He gives some identity information, including his name, address, SSN, and his driver&#39;s license number. He provides some financial information, including his bank account numbers, his credit card numbers, and his retirement account numbers. John also provides a set of cellular phone identification information for his family&#39;s three cellular phones. The identification information is the number used to identify the cellular phone in the cellular system. Every cellular phone has an identification number that allows the cellular phone system to track the minutes called by the phone and identify that the phone belongs to a certain cellular service. Mr. Smith gives one phone to his wife Jane and the other to his son Billy. In addition, John purchases a special dog collar with a dog tag that can both receive GPS signals and transmit those signals over the cellular phone system. He puts the dog collar on the family&#39;s pet named Fido.  
         [0056]     DirecTV  220  sends Mr. Smith two set-top boxes  106 . These systems  106  include a hard drive, electronic components, and operating systems capable of operating a GIS System/Image Formatter program. In this example, the set-top boxes  106  have the regional maps of John&#39;s home state. After the set-top boxes  106  are installed at Mr. Smith&#39;s home, he can contact the information receiver  104  to authorize his system  106  to receive notices about his personal information. DirecTV receives the identification numbers from John&#39;s two set-top boxes  106 . These identification numbers specifically identify those set-top boxes  106  in the satellite television system. A customer number is given to John for his service. John&#39;s two set-top boxes  106  are authorized by downloading commands over the satellite transmission to the boxes with their identification numbers. The authorization programs the set-top boxes  106  to receive certain programming or content including the personal information. Channels usually describe an analog television tuning to a certain broadcasted frequency, but the term is used here to describe a certain signal of digital television that carries specific programming content—like HBO, CNN, ESPN, etc.  
         [0057]     DirecTV provides the customer number to the information receiver  104  and establishes a format for the signals that will go to John Smith. In this example, DirecTV  220  will receive personal information from the information receiver  104  with a header that includes the service provider&#39;s TCP/IP internet address. The information receiver  104  then connects with several information providers  102  that attend to John&#39;s personal information. These information providers  102  include Equifax, his banks, his credit card companies, his local fire department, his local police department, and an asset tracking service. The information receiver  104  then begins receiving data from the information providers  102  listed for John Smith.  
         [0058]     One day, John begins to worry that Billy has been lying to John about some of his extracurricular activities. Billy has been telling his dad that he has been studying at the library every night for three hours. Unbeknownst to young Billy, John has given Billy a new cellular phone device with a built-in GPS receiver. The new phone sends GPS coordinates to the asset tracking service and are relayed to the information receiver  104  then onto John&#39;s DirecTV system where John can see Billy&#39;s location throughout the day. One evening, when Billy is assumedly at the library, John turns to the personnel information channel on his television system.  
         [0059]     Billy, who is at the local arcade, has his cellular phone in his pocket. The cellular phone receives a transmission from several GPS satellites (or triangulates from several cell towers). The signals are interpreted into a GPS coordinate location. This location is formed into a message and a header. Every five minutes the cellular phone sends an internet transmission to the asset tracking service with the GPS coordinates. The asset tracking service sends the information onto the information receiver  104 . The message is reformatted to make it easier to send to John over the DirecTV system and to make it easily understandable. At a router, the message is transmitted to DirecTV.  
         [0060]     Once received at DirecTV&#39;s internet router, the message is multiplexed into a stream of numerous location content messages. In essence, Mr. Smith&#39;s message becomes one of many similar messages all in the location content bit stream. This stream is multiplexed into the satellite transmission and beamed to the satellite. At John&#39;s home, the personal information stream is demultiplexed from the satellite transmission by his two set-top boxes  106 .  
         [0061]     The GIS System on Mr. Smith&#39;s set-top box  106  then determines where the GPS coordinate is located using the GIS database and files stored on the system. Once the location is determined, the GIS System obtains a map from the database and locates an icon, for instance a small boy for Billy, on the map. The GIS Image Formatter creates an image file, such as an MPEG file of the map and the icon. This file is sent to the display device.  
         [0062]     On the display device, John Smith can see that his son is at the arcade. Also, through a similar process, the dog, Fido, is shown as located at the veterinarian&#39;s office with his wife, Jane. Both the wife icon and the dog icon are shown at the same place. An address may be given for the different locations. For instance, the location for his wife and dog may read, “Peterinarian, 1800 Main St., Smalltown, Colo.” Other information may be provided including, but not limited to, telephone numbers, directions to a location selected, advertising materials, the condition of the asset being looked at, or a direction or speed of travel for the asset. Also, John may decide to play back the location data from Billy from the past two weeks. The data may show Billy has been at the arcade several times when he told his father that he was studying.  
         [0063]     While viewing the location information, John gets a warning notice on his cellular phone that a new credit account has been established in his name. John knows that he has not applied for credit in the past month. John heads to his personal computer and brings up the information receiver  104  website. He uses a login and a password to enter the website information portal  204 . Once on the website, John requests to see the credit account information.  
         [0064]     The information receiver  104  stores a set of financial data for John in an information vault  218 . A presentation engine  206  retrieves the new credit account information from the information vault  218  and sends a formatted page of information to the portal  204  and to John. John looks over the information and notices that the credit account was opened in another state. Immediately, John knows that someone has tried to steal his identity. John uses the website response tool to send a message to the information receiver  104  that the credit account has been created fraudulently.  
         [0065]     The information receiver  104  forward John&#39;s message to the bank where the credit account was created. The bank quickly responds to the message by closing the account. Within a matter of minutes the new account was opened then closed. The bank lost no money and John&#39;s credit rating remains intact.