Patent Application
20190069022
Embodiments of the invention are related to the field of data mining, specifically related to data associated with information monitoring, content filtering and content control of information for electronic devices and/or control of electronic devices or apparatus employing one or more electronic devices, as well as compliance management and event detection. Specifically, enables data mining of data associated with any electronic devices that may be throttled including but not limited to telephones, computers, games, televisions, music players, vehicles, cars, motorcycles, remote controls for audio/visual components, household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. Embodiments enable data mining on systems that throttle or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase the functionality of any electronic device/apparatus and/or throttle or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase information that is input to, output from, used on or exchanged with electronic devices based on compliance with “agreements”. An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement, such as one or more tasks or activities to be performed by an agreement performer or events that may be encountered or monitored, and actions that are performed to enforce or assert the agreement with respect to any or all electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. For example, embodiments enable data mining on systems that utilize throttling of electronic devices or associated information based on whether an agreement performer such as a child has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricular activities or events such as weather or health related for example or any combination thereof to redefine the experience of parenting.
Electronics devices are ubiquitous and include telephones, computers, games, televisions, music players or any other electronic devices that are programmable, including but not limited to programmable controllers or computers within vehicles, cars, motorcycles, remote controls, household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. Many of these devices are being adopted and utilized for more diverse functions and at increasingly younger ages, especially information devices. Some electronic devices are considered to be “externally facing” because of their network capabilities that may include for example exchanging of information with external servers. These devices may include Internet access, WiFi capabilities, BLUETOOTH® or other wireless communications technologies, and generally have IP addresses, or other unique identifiers and/or GPS functions. Currently, electronic devices that historically have not had an external exchange of information with a communications network are gradually becoming network-enabled, for example part of the standard “home network”. The home network includes television and/or cable set top boxes, computer printers capable of remote status reporting, air conditioning units with remote monitoring, and even appliances, including refrigerators with remote temperature setting capabilities.
There are no known systems that throttle electronic devices or throttle information to/from/on the electronic devices, based on compliance with agreements having conditions based on activities performed by an agreement performer or events such as external events or any combination thereof. Existing solutions related to Quality of Service (QoS) and Grade of Service (GoS) are related to providing priority to different users, and not providing an altered priority or service level for a particular user based on conditions of an agreement that include activities or events that may directly or indirectly affect a user. For example, QoS products attempt to preserve a particular data flow for a given user or application and are not capable of altering bandwidth or type of information accessed or altering the functionality of the device itself based on homework status, test grades, compliance with a corporate training requirements, or health related events such as heat, cold, pollen, smog or other events.
With respect to younger age groups, use of mobile electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and portable computers is increasingly. For example, children are being given mobile devices at younger ages and/or Internet access. This has led to a new generation of technically knowledgeable children whose lives are centered on “networked” communication such as texting, mobile phone calls, use of applications on mobile devices, use of social networks/media, peer-to-peer video games, cloud-based video games, and general websites on the Internet. For this generation, the web has expanded to well beyond e-mail and e-commerce web sites, and has become a source of videos, game playing, social connection, news, applications, and a platform for sharing ideas, music, pictures, videos and various forms of multimedia.
This incredible paradigm shift has resulted in individuals of all ages spending an inordinate amount of time using electronic devices, and in turn becoming distracted by them, hindering productivity and adversely impacting time and organizational management systems and in general making people less engaging in person, less physically active and less healthy. Whether through phone calls, texting, use of apps, social networks, video games, and general websites, children in their most formative years, for example 5-12 years old and even younger and older children as well, are particularly at risk for distraction. This level of distraction leads to sub-par academic performance, incompletion or delayed completion of household chores, or other assigned activities, such as physical exercise, taking of medications, etc. There are no known systems that throttle electronic devices or throttle information to/from/on electronic devices associated with children based on their compliance with agreements or other events. For example, there are no known systems that increase or decrease web access to websites or limit mobile phone or text message usage or any combination thereof, or otherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreement, such as achieving a particular grade on homework or a test or an event such as temperature, allergy or smog events or any combination thereof.
In corporate settings, some employees are required to maintain competency in a particular area and are required to read or be tested, for example on safety or other job requirements. There are no known systems that throttle electronic devices or throttle information to/from/on electronic devices associated with employees based on their compliance with agreements or other events. There are no known systems that limit web access to work related websites or limit mobile phone or text message usage within a building or any combination thereof, or otherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreement, such as taking a required training test or an event such as a weather emergency or any combination thereof.
One method for controlling these devices and/or networks is to confiscate the devices, or deactivate Internet access. This is sometimes difficult to do or may cause safety issues by disabling ones ability to dial emergency telephone numbers for example. Other solutions to limit Internet access include use of proxy servers or web filtering software. Known proxy servers and web filtering software are basic content filters that filter information on computers based on a web address or the content at a website. In effect, these filters limit “what” a user may view or do. These types of filters generally block all information from a domain or website that contains content that meets some criteria, wherein the blocking is based entirely on the content itself and not any external criteria or conditions or events. In addition, some types of filters have time ranges for use that limit the times at which a user may view or do something. Phone based filtering is used for parental control to limit the number of texts or cell phone minutes that a child may use, or to alert a parent if a child is out of a defined area. Other solutions may disable texting if the mobile phone is moving, to prevent texting while driving, without regard to a portable computer such as a tablet or laptop that a child may have which may not block this behavior. Hence, known solutions are also standalone, configured on a per device basis and not across devices associated with a particular person.
Knowledgeable users may easily bypass some types of content filters. One such method for bypassing these types of filters includes using open and anonymous HTTPS transparent proxies for example. Thus, known filters cannot control email, instant messages or chat sessions in any sophisticated manner since these types of open proxies may be utilized to bypass any installed web filtering software.
Other solutions do not actually control the devices, but rather involve monitoring software that is highly invasive and intercepts or otherwise supervises electronic devices and copies keystrokes, screen images, text messages and any other input or output to the electronic device to a third party for surveillance purposes. This type of solution is used to monitor children, employees, in intelligence services and for remote home surveillance for example. There are negative limitations to this solution, privacy being a major problem area.
On the positive side of reinforcement, there are also point based incentive systems that attempt to positively reward a person for a type of behavior, for example by earning points. These types of systems are also standalone and do not tie into any electronics to limit usage in any intelligent manner for example for across multiple electronics devices associated with a person, such as a child or employee or institutionalized individual.
There are no known systems that control electronic devices, for example dim screens, activate sounds, introduce delays or throttle, decrease or increase the amount of or type of information to/from/on the electronic device based on compliance with an agreement or event or any combination thereof. This includes vehicles, such as a car, wherein there are no known solutions that set a maximum acceleration setting based on performance on homework or a grade obtained on an examination as part of an agreement for example or based on an event such as if a weather website indicates a chance of slippery road conditions or an accident local to an area where the automobile is currently travelling or any combination thereof.
There are no known systems that increase bandwidth or sources of information for an agreement performer if the agreement performer has walked, biked, run or swim or otherwise moved by their own effort over a predefined distance for health compliance. There are no known systems that throttle or increase bandwidth in case of high pollen count or smog alert events to encourage a child to stay inside and surf the web or play games, or decrease bandwidth or type of information if the weather is good outside to promote exercise such as physical game play instead of video game play. There are no known systems that throttle or limit or reduce bandwidth or sources of information based on the location of an electronic device if a child is currently grounded and increase the bandwidth in the location where the child is not grounded. There are no known systems that limit game playing capabilities or levels in games based on compliance with an agreement or event. There are no known systems that limit playlists, or particular songs or song types, e.g., with offensive lyrics, based on compliance with an agreement or event. There are no known systems that throttle a device based on activities associated with another user or a group of other users, i.e., friends of a child or work groups to encourage better circles of friends or improved group performance. This for example enables a parent to indirectly reward a child to encourage a child to associate with well-behaved children.
In addition, there are no known systems that data mine for rewards that may be utilized by a parent for a reward that is similar to a reward for a condition that another parent or person has utilized. There are no known systems that enable manufacturers to data mine for types of rewards or incentives and target a group of parents or persons that may buy certain types of products based on agreements and conditions. There are no known systems that enable parents or other persons to remain up to date on items popular amongst children that are based on agreements that other parents have entered and which have resulted in rewards for meeting conditions of the agreements. There are no known systems that displays potential rewards based on bandwidth usage based on information monitoring with respect to a condition of an agreement, to provide further incentive to perform a task for example. There are no known systems that provide popups or text messages during game play showing tasks to be completed according to agreements. There are no known systems that determine if a child is communicating with a known sex offender, for example based on sex offender maps and IP tracing, for example alert to a parent and potentially throttle other forms of electronic device utilization to further protect a child. There are no known systems that alert a parent when a child's friends have gotten in trouble or are not meeting their agreements, so that a parent may limit a child's interactions with particular people or groups. There are no known solutions that limit a person's agreement with himself or herself to throttle usage based on addictive behavior such as online gambling or obsessive pornography viewing. There are no known systems that data mine an agreement database having multiple parents and children to determine whether a parent is strict or not strict, or to rate how strict a parent is being with respect to other parents, agreements and conditions, or in any other manner rate what kind of parent a parent is based on how a child is performing and the rewards that a child is receiving for example. There are no known systems that provide tips or recommendations for example to improve a child's performance based on parent and/or child behavior with respect to agreements.
In summary, known solutions either intrusively monitor, or filter content entirely on a per device basis and do not throttle information based on conditions, or compliance with agreements or events, for example that are network detectable. Known solutions simply enable or disable the information entirely and on a per device basis without regard to the other devices associated with an agreement performer, such as a child, or employee or other user. For example, known solutions do not throttle an electronic device to limit or decrease or increase information input, output or exchanged with one or more electronic devices such but not limited to a telephone, computer, game, television or music player or any other device having a computer or any combination thereof based on whether a student has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricular activities, or whether an employee has complied with a work requirement.
For at least the limitations described above there is a need for a data mining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttle.
One or more embodiments on the invention enable a data mining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttle. Embodiments enable data mining of any throttling systems that may be utilized to throttle, or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase the functionality of electronic devices and/or throttle, or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase the information that is input to, output from, used on or exchanged with electronic devices based on compliance with an “agreement”. An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement, such as one or more tasks or activities to be performed by an agreement performer or events that may be encountered or monitored, and actions that are performed to enforce or assert the agreement with respect to any or all electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. Enables data mining of data associated with, obtained from, monitored by, communicated with or otherwise utilized by any electronic devices that may be throttled including but not limited to telephones, computers, games, televisions, music players, vehicles, cars, motorcycles, remote controls for audio/visual components, household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. For example, embodiments enable data mining of systems that implements throttling of electronic devices or associated information based on whether an agreement performer such as a child has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricular activities or events such as weather or health related for example or any combination thereof to redefine the experience of parenting. Embodiments may be utilized to data mine agreement based throttle information associated with corporate or institutional or self-compliance single user settings.
Embodiments generally utilize or interface with an agreement database that includes an agreement that can be between two roles, which may be played one or more humans, for example an agreement creator and an agreement performer. This may include parents and children or employers and employees or any other role between agreement creator and agreement performer. These roles may be taken by the same person, or by groups of people. A throttle system enables electronic device usage dependent upon agreements between parents and children, e.g., throttling access to websites/apps/text messaging or total time of electronic device usage across all devices associated with a child based on completion of school, home or extracurricular activities, which is heretofore unknown in the art. Embodiments may be utilized in corporate or institutional settings as well for compliance with corporate requirements. The agreement may be implemented for example in an object oriented or relational database or any other type of data retaining apparatus. The agreement generally includes information related to an agreement performer, an agreement creator, a condition to be satisfied by the agreement performer, or an event that may or may not be related to the agreement performer and an action to be performed based on compliance with the condition by the agreement performer. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the agreements may include actions/limits that are performed or enforced before a condition is satisfied.
One type of condition may be based on an activity performed by the agreement performer. The system may data mine, utilize or interface with one or more activity database that contains activity status associated with the condition to be satisfied by the agreement performer. The activity database may be integrated with the agreement database or separate or distributed in any manner as desired. One form of activity database is a School Information System or SIS, which holds assignments, tests, grades, dates and other school related activities and associated status. The compliance and activity status may be based on trust, evidence or confirmation or any combination thereof.
Bandwidth or information type may be throttled down or up, and this throttling may be data mined for patterns unknown a priori for example. For example if an employee has not completed a required corporate training session, their bandwidth or access to text messages or websites may be decreased for example. Alternatively, throttling of bandwidth or type of information may be increased, for example in the case of an event such as high pollen count or smog alert that the system detects or is otherwise made aware of. This encourages children or employees to remain inside to use electronic devices in case of hazardous outdoor conditions or alternatively encourages children or employees to locate outdoors in healthy conditions.
Another type of condition may be based on an event that may be discovered or otherwise determined by the system. In one or more embodiments, the system may also encounter, discover, obtain or in any other way utilize events to control the electronic device, for example set information parameters in the electronic device that alters the functionality of the electronic device, or data mine the events to determine patterns in the events. For example, one or more embodiments of the invention may data mine for occurrences of throttle events that set the maximum acceleration setting in a computer that controls a vehicle based on performance on homework or a grade obtained on an examination as part of an agreement, or based on an event such as a weather event that is discovered by the system when a weather website indicates a chance of slippery road conditions or an accident local to an area where the vehicle is currently travelling or any combination thereof. The data mining may thus determine efficacy of actions or enable marketers to target parents or employers with products that result in better performance for a student or employee. Embodiments of the throttling system may throttle information parameters up or in an any increasing fashion as well, wherein the acceleration setting in the computer on the vehicle may be increased to allow for more aggressive driving performance if the agreement performer has complied with an agreement or in case of emergency as determined by the system or in case of exiting an area where an accident has been passed.
Furthermore, the volume of a car radio or stations allowed, or a music player utilized whether or not moving in a vehicle, may be set based on the activities of the agreement performer, for example good grades or bad grades, or based on the weather events for example to set a station automatically to a weather or hazard channel if the weather event detected is of a particular nature. The combination of setting or throttling devices themselves or information associated therewith may be based on activity type conditions and event type conditions or any combination thereof, which is unknown in the art and the data mining on this type of information is thus also unknown in the art.
The throttling system may utilize an agreement monitor coupled with the agreement database and the activity database that is configured to check if the condition has been satisfied based on the activity status to determine compliance. Alternatively or in combination the agreement monitor or any other element in the system may be configured to utilize the Internet or other network connection to discover events that may trigger conditions of agreements and assert actions. The agreement monitor may be implemented in a variety of configurations that may monitor agreements, activities, events or any other quantity wherein the agreement monitor may execute on any computing element within the system.
An information monitor may be utilized in many configurations wherein the information monitor is configured to determine monitored information associated with an electronic device that is associated with the agreement performer. Alternatively, or in combination, the information monitor may locally check conditions based on the monitored information to determine when a limit is reached. For example, if a certain number of text messages have been sent/received in a month, the system may limit or block access to all text based applications on all devices associated with a child by broadcasting the monitored information and/or limit event to the agreement server and/or other electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. By determining the monitored information, for example the application being utilized, the information being viewed, the amount of text messages input, etc., the throttling system may throttle the amount or speed of that monitored information, or allow or block the information altogether based on compliance, as opposed to content. Embodiments of the throttling system may throttle information by throttling associated applications as well, by introducing delays and or dimmed screens, or asserting sounds or warnings or otherwise limiting the application, or disabling the application altogether.
In one or more embodiments, the throttling system utilizes an information throttle coupled with the agreement monitor and optionally coupled with the information monitor, wherein the information throttle is configured to perform the action, based on the compliance with the condition by the agreement performer, or event associated with the condition. The information throttle may implement the action wherein the action is configured to control the electronic device itself, for example dim a screen, activate sounds, introduce delays and/or limit or throttle or decrease or increase the monitored information associated with one or more electronic device, for example slow or limit the number of text messages on a cell phone, display of web pages for any set of web sites, display a reminder on a television to finish homework if changed to a particular channel or program, or in any other manner limit, allow or block information. For example, throttling system embodiments may limit access to a website or disable an application, play an audio message during music playing, or in any other manner limit, allow or block any functionality of any electronic device associated with the agreement performer. Embodiments of the throttling system may perform in a non-standalone or integrated manner in order to disable all texting on all devices associated with a child if a text message is sent from a particular location, for example if “grounded”, or while moving over a threshold speed indicative of driving. In one or more embodiments of the invention, if a text message is sent via a mobile computer or tablet and a cell phone associated with the child is moving over a certain speed, then the computer or tablet may block access by obtaining a speed event from the cell phone and determine that the child is attempting to bypass text throttling through use of a device other than a cell phone to send a text message.
In a parent/child embodiment, a parent may embody the agreement creator and may propose an agreement with a condition such as “IF all assigned homework is completed by 9 PM” and an action such as “enable social media websites for 1 hour at unlimited bandwidth across all electronic devices associated with an agreement performer, and 1 hour with 50% speed degradation up to 20 text messages”. In this scenario, a child may embody the agreement performer, and may agree to the conditions in order to obtain access to information, including websites, videos and/or television shows, text messages, phone minutes, game time, music, etc. In this scenario, the condition is effectively an activity to be performed by the agreement performer. In other scenarios, the condition may be related to an activity performed by a third party, such as “if payment from third party received is greater than $50” then an action of “enable text messaging” for example on the mobile phone associated with the child, for example if the child has earned enough money from a job or chores. Conditions may also include time components in addition to an activity, for example when some activity is due. Alternatively, or in combination, the time component may include a time range, for example a time start and time stop. The time component may be in any format and include any temporal information including a day, date, recurring interval such as “every other Friday”, or any other description related to time. One or more embodiments of the invention may show text or play audio reminders on electronic devices of upcoming deadlines, e.g., tests or homework or chores or piano lessons or any other activity with an associated deadline or due date. Embodiments of the throttling system may implement actions that throttle or limit monitored information in any manner. For example, actions may include a time limit that limits an amount of time that the monitored information may be utilized or displayed on the electronic device, or a total across all electronic devices associated with a particular agreement performer, a numerical limit that limits a number of data entries associated with the monitored information, a web limit that limits access to a website associated with the monitored information, an application limit that limits access to an application associated with the monitored information, a game limit that limits game parameters associated with the monitored information, a television limit that limits a television program or channel associated with the monitored information. Video and television are utilized herein as different delivery mechanisms for potentially the same time sequenced multi-picture media, whether delivered on a computer or television. Activities may originate from the electronic devices themselves and may include any output that each electronic device is capable of generating, such as the output results of character inputs, to determine if a child has read an entire chapter. Conditions, for example that specify event and values thereof or ranges may be utilized including but not limited to the orientation, location, speed or any other characteristic of any electronic device, along with a description of the application being used may then be utilized to assert an action, for example to limit text messaging if driving for example, even if the texting is occurring on a device other than the device that is capable of detecting speed. Events such as location-based events may be checked against agreements to find out whether to assert an action to control an electronic device or throttle information to/from/on the electronic device. For example, if a child is grounded, then bandwidth may be decreased or terminated outside of the grounded area and increased when the child is within the grounded area. In addition, events such as predefined distance events that occur if an agreement performer has moved themselves over an agreed upon distance and for example under the speed associated with a car may be utilized to throttle or increase the amount of bandwidth or type of data that the agreement performer may interact with or game playing levels may be increased or more aggressive games may be allowed or more weapons may be enabled within games or playlists with more energetic music may be enabled, etc.
One or more embodiments of the throttling system may interface with or otherwise utilize one or more activity databases that include activities related to schoolwork, chores or extracurricular activities or any combination thereof. For example, an activity database such as a school information system or SIS that includes homework activities and other assignments or tasks and associated activity status may be utilized. In addition, a parent may implement a similar system with chore related activities including “mow the lawn every other Saturday” with associated activity status of True or False for the current time period. The associated action may include “enable 20 extra phone minutes” or “enable TV program XYZ” or any other action including “transfer $20 to allowance money card” for the payment of an allowance for example. The activity status may information related to completion of an activity assigned to the agreement performer in the form of Boolean True or False, or a range, which may be utilized a range of actions based on a condition of “grade A”, “grade B”, “grade C” conditions in a particular class or on a particular test or as a cumulative average across classes or any other combination thereof. This range of conditions may be utilized to provide a corresponding range of actions that correspond to the different grades, for example “provide unlimited web browsing”, “degrade browsing speed by 20%”, “send alert when electronic device is greater than 0.25 miles from home”, to implement a “grounding” of the child respectively.
Non-time oriented conditions or events may also be implemented, for example if a speed of an electronic device is indicative of driving, an action such as limiting or disabling text messaging from one or more electronic devices associated with an agreement performer may be implemented. This condition may be broadcast widely or locally to limit or disable text messaging if moving over a certain speed indicative of driving or may be conditional based on a location of movement, such as in a school zone. Any other condition or action that throttles information to one or more electronic devices associated with an agreement performer is in keeping with the spirit of the invention. Alternatively, or in combination, if an agreement performer has walked or run over a certain distance as per the GPS tracking on the electronic device associated with the agreement performer, then bandwidth or access may be increased. This may be utilized for medical purposes to ensure that the agreement performer is getting the prescribed amount of exercise. In addition, bandwidth or access time or access to particular games, websites, text messaging or any other electronic device usage may be increased for example on days with high smog or high pollen counts or based on any other external condition, whether medical or not. All of this information and all other information that the throttling system may obtain may be data mined and sold to marketers for example.
In corporate settings, some employees are required to maintain competency in a particular area and are required to read or be tested. Embodiments of the throttling system may be utilized to control electronic devices or limit information to/from/on electronic devices associated with employees based on their compliance with agreements. For example, embodiments may limit web access to work related websites or limit mobile phone usage within a building or any combination thereof, or otherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreement or an event or any combination thereof. Embodiments may be utilized within institutions such as jails to provide incentives for compliance with increases in bandwidth or type of information based on good behavior.
Any combination of hardware may be utilized to implement the system. In one or more embodiments, the agreement monitor is configured to execute on the server computer that for example be remotely accessed over a computer network. The information monitor and information throttle may execute on an electronic device associated with the agreement performer, or on a router, or a cable set top box, or any other computational component coupled with the system or any combination thereof so long as the information monitor and information throttle may limit monitored information associated with the agreement performer based on compliance with an agreement. In one or more embodiments, the information monitor is configured to interface with a proxy server or web filtering software, to enable existing hardware or software content filtering solutions to throttle monitored information based on compliance by an agreement performer, in addition to their inherent content filtering. In one or more embodiments, any electronic device on a local area network may communicate with any other electronic device on the local area network to coordinate or in any other manner communicate information regarding information monitoring and enforcement, for example using mDNS.
In one or more embodiments, monitored information includes telephone time usage, a number of telephone calls, a telephone number, a number of text messages, a location of the electronic device, a speed, location, orientation, acceleration of the electronic device, a website address, a computer application that is running or has run or attempted to run, a game, a television channel, an image captured from the electronic device, an image captured from a camera coupled with the electronic device. Embodiments of the invention may implement an action configured to limit the monitored information to limit input to, output from or data exchange with the electronic device. Other actions may transfer money, send notifications to other parties, etc. Alternatively or in combination an action may be configured to limit the monitored information in a manner for example that degrade performances on the electronic device. This may be implemented as processing cycles or time delays that may be inserted between accepting input or displaying information or transferring information to or from the electronic device.
At least one embodiment of the throttling system may control or throttle one or more electronic devices in an integrated manner or control or throttle information to/from/on one or more electronic devices associated with an agreement performer in an integrated manner, such as a telephone, a computer such as a laptop, tablet, smart phone, or a music player, a game controller, or a television, or any other device such as a network interfaced device or any information input or output device, or any apparatus with a programmable element such as a computer or any combination thereof.
In one or more embodiments, the action may be performed across two or more electronic devices associated with the agreement performer, for example a telephone, a computer, a music player, a game or a television, or any other information input or output device, or any combination thereof. In this embodiment, the agreement monitor is configured to sum the monitored information from each respective information monitor into a combined monitored information total and the information throttle is configured to limit the monitored information on each of the two or more electronic devices based on the combined monitored information total. This for example can be utilized to limit total time spent by a child online, watching television, playing electronic games, texting and talking on the phone, so that the child for example may do any of these activities so long as the time spent doing all of the activities is less than a particular threshold, after which for example a degraded performance may be employed on one or more of the electronic devices if desired. Although this example relates to time, it may also relate to any monitored information. For example, limiting a child to 1 hour web browsing across all electronic devices such as a cell phone, tablet computer and laptop computer is accomplished by adding the usage from all monitored devices and throttling all devices when the limit is reached. This sophisticated throttling of information is unknown in the art with respect to agreement compliance and known content filters and makes the agreement monitor the enforcer, not the parent.
At least one embodiment of the information throttle or agreement monitor or any other component in the system is configured to notify the agreement creator based on the compliance. This can be in the form of an email, text message, web page, voice message, or any other type of communication and may include a display such as a visual or audio display of information related to the compliance. In addition, the agreement monitor may be configured to display information to the agreement creator or other party related to an attempt to bypass the action configured to limit the monitored information by the agreement performer. For example, electronic devices having cameras may take videos or pictures, for example with forward or reverse pointing cameras and send the pictures to a parent, and/or perform face recognition on any images to determine if the child that is associated with the electronic device is really the one using it. The system may then send an attempted bypass message to the parent or other child's parent not using the system, after looking up the face in any social media accounts associated with the child, and for example upsell the system to the other child's parents. Alternatively or in combination, the agreement monitor is configured to display information related to the compliance and the monitored information. The agreement monitor is generally configured to accept input from the agreement creator to define the condition and the action. All information that is monitored, and any events generated based thereon may be encrypted when broadcast, as may be the case for any conditions and actions that are communicated between devices as one skilled in the art will appreciate.
In addition, embodiments of the invention may be configured to allow a parent or other entity to data mine for rewards that may be utilized for a reward that is similar to a reward for a condition that another parent or person has utilized, for example with respect to a particular condition, e.g., a reward for an “A” on a final exam. Embodiments of the invention may also be configured to enable manufacturers to data mine for types of rewards or incentives and target a group of parents or persons that may buy certain types of products, for example based on agreements and conditions. This allows manufacturers to target parents of friends of a child that just won a particular reward for achieving a condition for example. Embodiments of the invention also enable parents or other persons to remain up to date on items popular amongst children that are based on agreements that other parents have entered and which have resulted in rewards for meeting conditions of the agreements. This allows parents to receive product literature, overviews, pictures, movies, blogs or other information to keep a parent “hip”. Embodiments of the invention may be configured to display potential rewards on an electronic device being utilized by a person, for example based on bandwidth usage based on information monitoring with respect to a condition of an agreement, to provide further incentive to perform a task for example. Alternatively or in combination, embodiments of the invention may also provide popups or text messages during game play showing tasks to be completed according to agreements. This capability allows a child to see a potential reward for studying, for example while playing a game, wherein the child may make a decision to go study or simply to remind the child that a test is coming up or that homework is due. Embodiments of the system may also determine if a child is communicating with a known sex offender, for example based on sex offender maps and IP tracing, and alert a parent and potentially throttle other forms of electronic device utilization to further protect a child. Embodiments of the invention may also alert a parent when a child's friends have gotten in trouble or are not meeting their agreements, so that a parent may limit a child's interactions with particular people or groups. Embodiments may be utilized in a one-person configuration to throttle usage based on addictive behavior such as online gambling or obsessive pornography viewing. Embodiments of the system may also allow for information in the system to be data mined, wherein an agreement database having multiple parents and children is mined to determine whether a parent is strict or not strict, or to rate how strict a parent is being with respect to other parents, agreements and conditions, or in any other manner rate what kind of parent a parent is based on how a child is performing and the rewards that a child is receiving for example. Embodiments of the invention may also provide tips or recommendations based on parent and/or child behavior with respect to agreements, for example as data mined to achieve better performance by the child. The system may provide a suggested type of action to take based on levels of performance of conditions by a child for example. Data mining may also be performed to detect attention deficit disorder (ADD) or any other medical condition, for example by mining for patterns in monitored information, such as reaction time in games, grades and derivatives of grades to determine if a child is improving or getting worse for example with respect to certain medications. Data mining may be utilized to suggest alternative courses of treatment that increase or decrease the throttled information or enable or disable particular forms of communication, channels, apps or games, etc., to improve an agreement performer or the performance of an agreement performer, for example with our without data mining information related to medical information.
Embodiments of the invention may be configured to enable payment for data mining of the information regarding activities, usage, equipment identification or any other quantity stored in any element of the system. Embodiments of the invention may also be purchased on a fee for use basis, monthly basis, enterprise basis, or in any other manner.
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:
A data mining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttle will now be described. In the following exemplary description numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to an artisan of ordinary skill that the present invention may be practiced without incorporating all aspects of the specific details described herein. In other instances, specific features, quantities, or measurements well known to those of ordinary skill in the art have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention. Readers should note that although examples of the invention are set forth herein, the claims, and the full scope of any equivalents, are what define the metes and bounds of the invention.
Embodiment of the invention 100 may be utilized to data mine the system shown that is enabled to throttle, or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase the functionality of electronic devices and/or throttle, or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase the information that is input to, output from, used on or exchanged with electronic devices based on compliance with an “agreement”. An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement, such as one or more tasks or activities to be performed by an agreement performer or events that may be encountered or monitored, and actions that are performed to enforce or assert the agreement with respect to any or all electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. Any electronic devices may be throttled including but not limited to telephones, computers, games, televisions, music players, vehicles, cars, motorcycles, remote controls for audio/visual components, household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. For example, embodiments enable throttling of electronic devices or associated information based on whether an agreement performer such as a child has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricular activities or events such as weather or health related for example or any combination thereof to redefine the experience of parenting.
System 100 may access and store agreements in agreement database 170, or in any other component of the system for example. The system may utilize agreement monitor 161 for example implemented as hardware in the form of a specific functional element, software or firmware that executes on agreement server 160, or on any other component that is coupled with the agreement database and the activity database. The agreement monitor is configured to check if a condition has been satisfied to determine compliance. One type of condition may be based on activity status in activity database 180a, or 180b, or 180c or otherwise communicated to the agreement server in any manner. One form of activity database is a School Information System or SIS, which holds assignments, tests, grades, dates and other school related activities and associated status. The databases may be accessible over Internet 150, or in any other manner for example. Another type of condition may be based on an event that may be discovered or otherwise determined by the system by polling, or by receipt of an event or by searching or in any other manner employed by the agreement monitor or information monitor discuss below. Internet 150 may be utilized by the system to obtain events related to weather, health, allergies, finances, road conditions or any other type of data that may be accessed on Internet 150 and for example that may form part of a condition of an agreement for example.
An information monitor such as information monitor 131a, 131b or 131c may be utilized in many configurations wherein the information monitor is configured to determine monitored information associated with an electronic device that is associated with the agreement performer. The information input to, output from, used on or exchanged with or in any other manner utilized by electronic devices 110a, 110b and 110c and that is transmitted and/or received is depicted with arrows 120. Alternatively, or in combination, the information monitor may locally check conditions based on the monitored information to determine when a limit is reached. For example, if a certain number of text messages have been sent/received in a month, the system may limit or block access to all text based applications on all devices associated with a child/employee by broadcasting the monitored information and/or limit event to the agreement server and/or other electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. By determining the monitored information, for example the application being utilized, the information being viewed, the amount of text messages input, etc., the system may locally throttle one or more software apps or applications, or throttle the amount or speed of that monitored information, or allow or block the information altogether, for example to/from cell phone tower 140a or website 140b or any other information source, or directly throttle the device, i.e., set maximum acceleration or speed parameters for vehicle with computer 110c.
In one or more embodiments, the throttle system utilizes information throttle 130a, 130b, 130c and 130d coupled with the agreement monitor and optionally with the information monitor wherein the information throttle is configured to perform an action, based on the compliance with the condition by the agreement performer. Information throttles 131a-d may throttle increase or decrease capabilities or functionality or information related bandwidth or information type. For example if employee 101 has not completed a required corporate training session, their bandwidth or access to text messages or websites may be decreased for example by throttling electronic devices 110a, 110b, 110c or information to/from/used on electronic devices 110a, 110b, or 110c. Alternatively, throttling of bandwidth or type of information may be increased, for example in the case of an event such as high pollen count or smog alert that the system detects or is otherwise made aware of. This encourages children or employees to remain inside to use electronic devices in case of hazardous outdoor conditions or alternatively encourages children or employees to locate outdoors in healthy conditions.
Thus the information throttle may be utilized to set information parameters within the electronic device to alter the functionality or otherwise control the device in addition to throttling information associated with the device. These types of actions may dim the screen, play sounds, slow the device or set parameters that alter the acceleration, maximum speed, total distance allowed for travel of the electronic device, for example when coupled with or mounted in a vehicle. Alternatively, the information throttle may increase information parameters that increase the functionality of the device, for example when a website determines that the outdoor pollen count is too high, implying the agreement performer should stay inside and surf the web or that the vehicle may have a higher speed setting based on road conditions
For example, one or more embodiments of the throttling system may set the maximum acceleration setting in engine control computer 110c coupled with the vehicle that controls the vehicle based on performance on homework or a grade obtained on an examination as part of an agreement condition, or based on an event such as a weather event that is discovered by the system when a weather website indicates a chance of slippery road conditions or an accident local to an area where the vehicle is currently travelling or any combination thereof. Embodiments of the invention may throttle information parameters up or in an any increasing fashion as well, wherein the acceleration setting in computer 110c on the vehicle may be increased to allow for more aggressive driving performance if the agreement performer has complied with an agreement or in case of emergency as determined by the system or in case of exiting an area where an accident has been passed. Furthermore, the volume of a car radio or stations allowed, or a music player utilized which represents computer 110c in this embodiment, whether or not moving in the vehicle, may be set based on the activities of the agreement performer, for example good grades or bad grades, or based on the weather events for example to set a station automatically to a weather or hazard channel if the weather event detected is of a particular nature. The combination of setting or throttling devices themselves or information associated therewith may be based on activity type conditions and event type conditions or any combination thereof, which is unknown in the art.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the agreements may include actions/limits that are performed or enforced before a condition is satisfied. An information throttle may execute locally on devices 110a, 110b and 110c or remotely, for example on a router or other component not shown for ease of illustration, or in any other hybrid or distributed architecture. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the information throttle may be combined with or associated with the information monitor or part of the same functionality or apparatus. The information throttle may implement the action wherein the action is configured to limit the monitored information associated with one or more electronic device, for example slow or limit the number of text messages on a cell phone, display of web pages for any set of web sites, display a reminder on a television to finish homework if changed to a particular channel or program, or in any other manner limit, allow or block information, transfer money, perform notifications or take any other action not directed at limiting information on the electronic device, but in support thereof for example. Information may be locally monitored and enforced, for example the information throttle may locally limit the application, i.e., exit the application or slow it or limit it in any other manner if a local limit is reached for example, without requiring a data transfer over arrows 120, especially if the network is unavailable for example or for example if the condition does not depend on an external activity.
For example, electronic devices 110a, 110b and 110c may communicate over a LAN or using technologies such as BLUETOOTH® or any other wireless networking technology to discover and/or communicate monitored information and/or limits and/or actions between the devices. Any electronic devices may broadcast an agreement performer identifier and monitored information, which may be communicated in any encrypted manner for example. Embodiments of the invention may perform in a non-standalone or integrated manner in order to disable all texting on all devices associated with a child if a text message is sent from a particular location, for example if “grounded”, or while moving over a threshold speed indicative of driving which is unknown in the art. In one or more embodiments of the invention, if a text message is sent via a mobile computer or tablet and a cell phone associated with the child is moving over a certain speed, then the computer or tablet may block access by obtaining a speed event from the cell phone and determine that the child is attempting to bypass text throttling through use of a device other than a cell phone to send a text message. This may be implemented by the information monitor 131b for example executing on electronic device 110b that intercepts input text characters, either from the input devices by intercepting input characters from the device drivers for the input devices, or from applications or browsers running applications that provide events that are sent to the information monitor which then broadcasts the application, event, and information or any combination thereof to any other electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. Once the other electronic devices receive the monitored information message, they may locally sum the usage and implement limits or pass the summed usage to an information throttle to implement the limit on the device. Any other mechanism that enables multiple electronic devices to obtain monitored information and throttle information based thereon is in keeping with the spirit of the invention.
The compliance and activity status may be based on trust, evidence or confirmation or any combination thereof. For trust-based assertions of activity status or completion, the agreement performer is allowed to set the status, e.g., assert that an activity has been satisfied, which may or may not fully satisfy a condition that asserts an action. In evidence-based compliance, the agreement performer is required to set status and provide evidence or submit any information that corroborates the status of the activity. This type of compliance may be utilized until trust is formed between the agreement creator and agreement performer for example. In confirmation-based compliance, the agreement performer submits the evidence. For example, activity status may be input for any type of compliance monitoring to an activity database 180a-c or to the agreement server, or for example on any electronic device 110a-c or via website 140b or via any other apparatus that may communicate with the system. For confirmation-based compliance, the agreement creator may then confirm that the activity has been satisfied before the condition enables an action to be performed for example. Any other granularity of compliance monitoring or assertion is in keeping with the spirit of the invention. Any type of interface may be utilized for input of the activity status by the agreement performer including a checkbox, character entry, mouse click, touch screen entry, etc., as one skilled in the art will appreciate.
In a parent/child embodiment, a parent may embody agreement creator 102 and may propose an agreement with a condition such as “IF all assigned homework is completed by 9 PM” and an action such as “enable social media websites for 1 hour at unlimited bandwidth across all electronic devices associated with an agreement performer, and 1 hour with 50% speed degradation up to 20 text messages”. In this scenario, a child may embody agreement performer 101, and may agree to the conditions in order to obtain access to information, including websites, television shows, text messages, phone minutes, game time, music, etc. In this scenario, the condition is effectively an activity to be performed by the agreement performer, which may be stored in activity database 180a or anywhere else in the system for example. In other scenarios, the condition may be related to an activity performed by a third party, such as “if payment in bank account received is greater than $50” for example as a result of performing chores, then an action of “enable text messaging” for example may be implemented on the mobile phone associated with the child, for example if the child has earned enough money from a job or chores. Although not shown for ease of illustration, any other database may be accessed, for example by the agreement server including financial databases at a bank, medical databases associated with the agreement performer, or any other database including weather, and pollen related databases or websites or any other external information that may be obtained by the agreement server for example over Internet 150. Conditions may also include time components in addition to an activity, for example when some activity is due. Alternatively, or in combination, the time component may include a time range, for example a time start and time stop. The time component may be in any format and include any temporal information including a day, date, recurring interval such as “every other Friday”, or any other description related to time. Embodiments of the invention may implement actions that throttle or limit monitored information in any manner. For example, actions may include a time limit that limits an amount of time that the monitored information may be utilized or displayed on the electronic device, or a total across all electronic devices associated with a particular agreement performer, a numerical limit that limits a number of data entries associated with the monitored information, a web limit that limits access to a website associated with the monitored information, an application limit that limits access to an application associated with the monitored information, a game limit that limits game parameters associated with the monitored information, a television limit that limits a television program or channel associated with the monitored information.
As limits are being accumulated per device, the limits may be combined to form a total limit of play time for example and agreement monitor 161 may add the usage of all electronic devices based on information gathered from information monitors 131a and 131b and add them together to derive the total time that is then utilized by information throttles 130a, 130b and 130c to then throttle the information on those devices to slow them significantly or disable them altogether once a threshold of monitored information is reached, whether on a per device or across-device basis. Activities may originate from the electronic devices themselves and may include any output that each electronic device is capable of generating, such as the output results of character inputs, to determine if a child has read an entire chapter, or completed an electronic test for example. Regardless of the origin, the activities may be saved locally and/or remotely in agreement database 170. Conditions, for example the that specify event and values thereof or ranges may be utilized including but not limited to orientation, location, speed or any other characteristic of an electronic device, along with a description of the application being used may then be utilized to assert an action, for example to limit text messaging across any or all devices, if driving for example. Events such as location-based events may be checked against agreements to find out whether to assert an action to control an electronic device or throttle information to/from/on the electronic device. For example, if a child is grounded, then bandwidth may be decreased or terminated outside of the grounded area and increased when the child is within the grounded area. In addition, events such as predefined distance events that occur if an agreement performer has moved themselves over an agreed upon distance and for example under the speed associated with a car may be utilized to throttle or increase the amount of bandwidth or type of data that the agreement performer may interact with or game playing levels may be increased or more aggressive games may be allowed or more weapons may be enabled within games or playlists with more energetic music may be enabled, etc. The activities may be recorded into the activity database associated with the activity, namely 180a, 180b or 180c or in any other manner recorded, for example locally until a network connection is obtained. Any local area network devices associated with the agreement performer may query and find each other using any type of network protocol, such as mNDS and share monitored information and throttle local devices accordingly.
Non-time oriented conditions, or conditions based on events may also be implemented, for example if a speed of an electronic device is indicative of driving, an action such as limiting or disabling text messaging from one or more electronic devices associated with an agreement performer may be implemented. This condition may be broadcast widely or locally to limit or disable text messaging if moving over a certain speed indicative of driving or may be conditional based on a location of movement, such as in a school zone. For example, speed and range may be utilized with respect to cell phones that commonly have GPS chips or other location based functional element such as cell tower triangulation location features. In this scenario a condition may be “if agreement performer is travelling faster than a defined speed at a particular location” with an action of “ground individual by sending messages to the agreement performer and agreement creator and limit cell phone usage to home number and 911 only and enable only informational television programs”. By monitoring the speed of the cell phone and monitoring the location, which can be translated into a speed limit on each street being traveled, the system may ensure that the child is not in a vehicle that is speeding, whether driving or not. Conversely, if the cell phone has not moved during school a warning action may result in a text message to a parent notifying the parent that the child is attempting to circumvent the system by leaving the cell phone in a locker for the lunch period, or for example is texting using an app on a mobile computer or tablet other than the cell phone. Any quantity that may be monitored may be utilized to perform an action that limits or throttles information, or transfers money or notifies an interested party or performs any other action. The schemas described are not limited to the fields described and may be implemented with any other fields or the fields described or any combination thereof as desired for the particular implementation and electronic devices to be utilized with embodiments of the system for example. Any other condition or action that throttles information to one or more electronic devices associated with an agreement performer is in keeping with the spirit of the invention. Alternatively, or in combination, if an agreement performer has walked or run over a certain distance as per the GPS tracking on the electronic device associated with the agreement performer, then bandwidth or access may be increased. This may be utilized for medical purposes to ensure that the agreement performer is getting the prescribed amount of exercise. In addition, bandwidth or access time or access to particular games, websites, text messaging or any other electronic device usage may be increased for example on days with high smog or high pollen counts or based on any other external condition, whether medical or not.
Any combination of hardware may be utilized to implement the system. In one or more embodiments, the agreement monitor is configured to execute on the server computer that for example be remotely accessed over a computer network. This is not required however and the agreement monitor may execute on any computational device in the system. For example, the information monitor may execute on a mobile phone associated with the agreement creator or in any other computational element or across multiple computational elements that make up the system.
As shown, a hardware, software or firmware embodiment of information monitor 131a may be utilized in router 501 which may interface with information throttle 130a directly or indirectly, which itself may be implemented in hardware, software or firmware. Likewise, information monitors 131b shown respectively on smart phone 110a and computer 110b may be implemented as software “apps” or part of an “app”, service or in any combination of hardware or firmware. As smart phone 110a includes a telephonic interface as well as wireless interface, the usage of the telephone and browser and/or any applications that execute on the smart phone may be obtained by loading the app on the phone and executing the app. The app may hook into the operating system and not only obtain usage associated with the other applications and interfaces, but also with other components on the smart phone including the location and orientation interfaces to determine if the location is changing with respect to time to derive velocity. In addition, existing apps on the smart phone may be interfaced with in order to limit the apps wherein the apps may be locked or set to execute at a lower priority based on the action implemented by the information throttle. In addition, images may be taken from the screen for use in determining if the owner of the smart phone is attempting to bypass text or chat restrictions using a browser-based proxy. Images from the camera on the smart phone may be taken from the forward or rear-pointing camera if so equipped to ensure that the person using the smart phone is agreement performer. Image processing may be performed to determine if the face in a captured image matches the face of the agreement performer and send a notification if this is not the case. In the hardware embodiment shown in
In one or more embodiments, monitored information includes telephone time usage, a number of telephone calls, a telephone number, a number of text messages, a location of the electronic device, a speed of the electronic device, a website address, a computer application that is running or has run or attempted to run, a game, a television channel, a television program, a video, an image captured from the electronic device, an image captured from a camera coupled with the electronic device, a speed and location of the electronic device. Embodiments of the invention may implement an action configured to limit the monitored information to limit input to, output from or data exchange with the electronic device. Other actions may transfer money, send notifications to other parties, etc. Alternatively or in combination an action may be configured to limit the monitored information in a manner for example that degrade performances on the electronic device as previously mentioned. This may be implemented as processing cycles or time delays that may be inserted between accepting input or displaying information or transferring information to or from the electronic device. Any or all of this information may be data mined as well as any other information described herein or that may be obtained by the system.
In one or more embodiments, the action may be performed across two or more electronic devices associated with the agreement performer, for example a telephone, a computer, a music player, a game or a television, or any other information input or output device, or any combination thereof. In this embodiment, the agreement monitor is configured to sum the monitored information from each respective information monitor into a combined monitored information total and the information throttle is configured to limit the monitored information on each of the two or more electronic devices based on the combined monitored information total. This for example can be utilized to limit total time spent by a child online, watching television, playing electronic games, texting and talking on the phone, so that the child for example may do any of these activities so long as the time spent doing all of the activities is less than a particular threshold, after which for example a degraded performance may be employed on one or more of the electronic devices if desired. Although this example relates to time, it may also relate to any monitored information. For example, limiting a child to 1 hour web browsing across all electronic devices such as a cell phone, tablet computer and laptop computer is accomplished by adding the usage from all monitored devices and throttling all devices when the limit is reached. This sophisticated throttling of information is unknown in the art with respect to agreement compliance and known content filters and makes the agreement monitor the enforcer, not the parent.
Alternatively or in combination, the agreement monitor is configured to display information related to the compliance and the monitored information.
The agreement monitor is generally configured to accept input from the agreement creator to define the condition and the action. Any type of interface including text fields or pull-down lists may be utilized to enter data as is known in the art. Predefined agreements and/or conditions may be provided for default behavior. For example, a default of 1 hour per day of electronic usage from combined devices until all school related activities are complete wherein an addition 1 hour may be rewarded, may be a default for example. Any other type of default actions and/or conditions may be utilized in keeping with the spirit of the invention.
In addition, the notification system may be utilized to enable schools to determine if a child is behaving according to agreements at home, while the system enables a parent to determine if the child is behaving according to agreements at school. Such a system enables problems to be addressed earlier and corrective action to be taken by the system instead of making the parent or the teacher the “bad guy”.
Embodiments of the invention also enable parents or other persons to remain up to date on items popular amongst children that are based on agreements that other parents have entered and which have resulted in rewards for meeting conditions of the agreements. This allows parents to receive product literature, overviews, pictures, movies, blogs or other information to keep a parent “hip”. Embodiments of the invention may display or notify an agreement creator and/or agreement performer of potential rewards, using any apparatus that may couple with any portion of the system shown in
Embodiments of the invention may be configured to display potential rewards on an electronic device being utilized by a person, for example based on bandwidth usage based on information monitoring with respect to a condition of an agreement, to provide further incentive to perform a task for example. Alternatively or in combination, embodiments of the invention may also provide popups or text messages or audio messages during video, music or game play listing tasks to be completed according to agreements. This capability allows a child to sense a potential reward for studying, for example while playing a game, wherein the child may make a decision to go study or simply to remind the child that a test is coming up or that homework is due.
Embodiments of the throttling system may also alert a parent when a child's friends have gotten in trouble or are not meeting their agreements, so that a parent may limit a child's interactions with particular people or groups. Embodiments may be utilized in a one-person configuration to throttle usage based on addictive behavior such as online gambling or obsessive pornography viewing. Embodiments of the system may also allow for information in the system to be data mined, wherein an agreement database having multiple parents and children is mined to determine whether a parent is strict or not strict, or to rate how strict a parent is being with respect to other parents, agreements and conditions, or in any other manner rate what kind of parent a parent is based on how a child is performing and the rewards that a child is receiving for example. Embodiments of the invention may also provide tips or recommendations based on parent and/or child behavior with respect to agreements, for example as data mined to achieve better performance by the child. The system may provide a suggested type of action to take based on levels of performance of conditions by a child for example. The system enables grouping of multiple students and this may be utilized by schools for their mining purposes as well as to provide parents with control over who a child congregates with and which sets of kids are good or undesirable as friends. Then, a parent may choose to allow a child to perform activities with a certain group of children, e.g., the smart children (for example with the highest grades in the group of children), or the ones that are the hardest working (satisfy the most conditions), etc. Any electronic device in the system may be utilized to display or otherwise present status, notifications, tips or suggestions. Data mining may also be performed to detect attention deficit disorder (ADD) or any other medical condition, for example by mining for patterns in monitored information, such as reaction time in games, grades and derivatives of grades to determine if a child is improving or getting worse for example with respect to certain medications. Data mining may be utilized to suggest alternative courses of treatment that increase or decrease the throttled information or enable or disable particular forms of communication, channels, apps or games, etc., to improve an agreement performer or the performance of an agreement performer, for example with our without data mining information related to medical information.
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/669,541 filed on 9 Jul. 2012, the specification of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61669541 | Jul 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13568140 | Aug 2012 | US |
| Child | 16127045 | US |
