1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices and, particularly, to an electronic device capable of disabling applications and hardware of the electronic device and a method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
To avoid leakage of confidential information, some companies or factories forbid employees to use electronic devices (e.g. smart phones) in restricted areas. This can avoid leakage of confidential information, but may also bring inconvenience to employees. For example, in a photography-prohibited area, cameras are prohibited, but communication is allowed. If smart phones having cameras are prohibited, communication between employees may be limited. Therefore, a method to solve the above problems is desired.
The components of the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout several views.
The processing unit 10 includes a position tracking module 12, a determining module 14, and a disabling module 16. The position tracking module 12 determines whether the device 100 enters one restricted area according to the position of the device 100 and the geographic information for defining various restricted areas. The determining module 14 determines one or more to-be-disabled applications and/or hardware according to the disabling table when the device 100 enters one restricted area. The disabling module 16 disables the one or more determined to-be-disabled applications and/or hardware when the device 100 enters the one restricted area, and re-enables the disabled applications and/or hardware when the device 100 leaves the one restricted area.
In this embodiment, the disabling module 16 disables one to-be-disabled hardware by calling applications for supporting the running of the to-be-disabled hardware, and re-enables the disabled hardware by releasing the called applications. If the applications for supporting the running of the to-be-disabled hardware are called by the disabling module 16, the to-be-disabled hardware cannot be started by clicking the application icon of the to-be-disabled hardware. For example, if the to-be-disabled hardware is a camera, when the disabling module 16 disables the camera, users cannot open the camera to take photos. In this embodiment, the disabling module 16 disables one to-be-disabled application by hiding an operation interface of the to-be-disabled application when the to-be-disabled application is opened, and re-enables one disabled application by re-displaying the operation interface of the disable application. Other methods for disabling applications and hardware can also be employed.
In step S301, the position tracking module 12 determines whether the device 100 enters one restricted area according to the position of the device 100 and the geographic information for defining various restricted areas. If yes, the procedure goes to step S302, otherwise the procedure goes to step S303.
In step S302, the determining module 14 determines one or more to-be-disabled applications and/or hardware according to the disabling table.
In step S303, the disabling module 16 disables the one or more determined to-be-disabled applications and/or hardware. After executing step S303, the procedure returns to step S301.
In step S304, the disabling module 16 determines there is one or more disabled applications and/or hardware of the device 100 when the device 100 is not in any restricted area. If yes, the procedure goes to step S305, otherwise the procedure returns to step S301.
In step S305, the disabling module 16 re-enables the one or more disabled applications and/or hardware. After executing step S305, the procedure returns to step S301.
With such configuration, when the electronic device 100 enters a restricted area, some applications and/or hardware which may bring leakage of confidential information are automatically disabled, thus information leakage is avoided. Thus, the electronic device 100 can be used to help person's work without information leakage.
Although the present disclosure has been specifically described on the basis of the exemplary embodiment thereof, the disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the embodiment without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201210339881.0 | Sep 2012 | CN | national |