Patent Application
20100299720
The present invention discloses a convenient method for easily disconnecting and connecting internet to/from a computer. Instead of plugging and unplugging the physical cable that connects to the internet, a facility is invented to conveniently connect and disconnect internet using a switch on an internet cable or a convenient switch on the keyboard or monitor/display or the computer housing/box itself. Instead of pressing a switch, a key or swipe card can be used to activate the switch. Alternately the internet connection can be activated by opening a browser. The invention can be integrated into the browser to disable the internet connection during periods of inactivity. The key or swipe card can additionally be used to implement access restrictions, for instance controlling hours of access or disallowed sites for a child.
Many computers are permanently connected to the internet via physical cables. Irrespective of whether the internet connection is used by the user or not, the connection is often always ON 24/7. This permanently ON internet connection makes the computer more vulnerable to malicious attacks. Many users like to disconnect internet connections while leaving their desks for longer time periods so that viruses and other invasive attacks via the internet can be prevented. Some users like to turn off internet every night when they go to bed. If the computer is connected to the internet only when it is used, the vulnerability to malicious attacks may be proportionately reduced. Usually it is inconvenient to turn off internet by pulling off the cable from the computer or the wall. The wall switch may be inaccessible or not conveniently accessible. It might be inconvenient to physically go to the back of the computer or the wall outlet each time you want to reconnect/disconnect. There may be more than one wall outlet and when the person has to connect it back, one may make a mistake connecting to the wrong outlet. The cable will get increased wear and tear by physically plugging and unplugging too often. There are several such inconveniences associated with physically plugging and unplugging the internet connection.
In view of the advantages of connecting the computer to the internet only when connection is needed and in view of the shortcoming of physically plugging/unplugging the internet cable to the computer each time, the objective of the present invention is to provide a convenient mechanism for turning on/off internet connection without physically plugging on/off the internet cable from either the computer or the wall.
For the purposes of this specification, the term “computer” refers to broadly to any computer. It includes laptops, netbooks, notebooks, desktops, servers and any other computers.
For the purposes of this specification, the term “internet data conduit” refers to a conduit that carries data to and from the internet. The data can be in any form, such as analog or digital. And the conduit can carry data in electrical, fiber optic or any other form.
For the purposes of this specification, the term “data conduit disconnect apparatus” refers to a mechanism for severing the transmission of data along a data conduit. The data conduit disconnect apparatus can consist of switches that make and break the flow of data on the conduit.
For the purposes of this specification, the term “activation switch” refers broadly to any switch that can be used to activate the data conduit disconnect apparatus. The term switch refers to any type of switch, including but not limited to a mechanical switch, an electrical switch, or a software driven switch. As discussed below, the switch could be located in any location on the system, including but not limited to being located on the disconnect apparatus, the data conduit, the computer, the computer's keyboard, the computer's screen, the computer mouse, a remote control, voice activation system, or a swipe card.
The invention thus consists of a data conduit disconnect apparatus to facilitate the connection and/or disconnection and an activation mechanism for the user to activate the disconnect apparatus. In some embodiments, the disconnect apparatus and the user activation mechanism can be integrated together, eg: a mechanical switch located on the internet cable which when pressed by the user connects/disconnects the internet. In other cases, a mechanical switch located on a convenient location on the computer, when pressed, generates an electrical signal, which in turn will activate the data conduit disconnect apparatus, which may be a switch located elsewhere. In another embodiment, this switch is located on the wall, near the internet jack.
The activation mechanism can also be a key operated switch. In this embodiment of the invention, the user inserts a key into a keyhole to turn on the internet connection. The key is removed to turn off the internet connection. In another embodiment of the invention, the user inserts a key into a keyhole and turns the key clockwise or counterclockwise to turn ON the internet connection. Once turned, the key may be required to stay in the keyhole. Alternately, in another implementation, the key does not need to stay in the keyhole to continue to activate the internet connection. Different such implementations are possible. The keyhole can be integrated into the keyboard, monitor, computer housing or mouse or can be a part of the connecting cable (for example in a small housing half-way on the cable). The computer housing refers to the box or other structure that houses the computer.
In another embodiment of the invention, a swipe card is used instead of a key. The swipe card can look like a credit card with a magnetic strip or a computer chip. The slot to swipe the card can be located on the keyboard or monitor or computer housing or the mouse. The key can be made of any material such as but not limited to metal, plastic, wood, or an electronic key which has embedded circuitry in it. Swiping the card activates/deactivates the internet connection.
It is useful to have internet access restrictions for different users. For instance, children can be restricted from using internet after 10 pm. Similarly, children may have to restricted from certain sites. It is possible to create restricted access to the internet by coding access restriction information into the swipe card. It is also possible to create restricted access environment by storing information on access restrictions and linking it to finger prints, or particular swipe cards, or keys or voice. The predetermined previleges of users include but not limited to specific hours of the day or specific sites prevented from visiting and such other things.
The swipe card or the key can store additional information for limited or controlled access. For instance, children's keys can be programmed with restrictions to control the hours they are allowed internet access or sites they are prohibited from accessing. When users buy computers from vendors, it can come with adult keys (adult swipe cards) and children's keys (children's swipe cards). While Hunter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,599,139 a timer mechanism to control children's access to phone/cable, no prior art discloses a convenient mechanism such as a key/swipe card to control access and provide different levels of internet access on the same computer.
This invention is applicable to wired and wireless internet connections. In the case of the wireless internet, the user controlled switch 22, 37 or 44 send signals to turn off the wireless unit housed in the computer. Chiang et al (U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,238) presents a latch mechanism to shut off wireless communication from a laptop. Disconnecting internet from laptops using wired internet connections was not covered by Chiang U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,238. In Chiang U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,238, in order to shut off wireless communication, the laptop has to be closed, which prevents the user from using the computer after shutting off the internet. It is very useful to have a laptop be open and functional, users to be able to do activities that do not need internet ( eg: word processing, offline games, etc) after disconnecting the internet. Hence a laptop that uses the invention in Chiang can still benefit from the invention being described here. The current invention is applicable to laptop and desktop computers. The internet switch, swipe card and controlled access key are applicable for laptop and desktop computers, wired and wireless internet connections.
The internet activation switch can be activated using a remote control. When the switch is integrated to the keyboard or computer or display, if the external internet cable has a switch, then the integrated switch can remotely control the switch on the cable. But the switch on the computer/keyboard/monitor can be built into the computer or keyboard or monitor or mouse so that the computer can be connected to the internet without any special cable.
The switch can be a soft switch on the display. The soft switch can be made available from a pop-up menu or a menu with radio buttons (similar to volume control radio buttons). The switch can be integrated into the operating system or web browsers. When the browser is opened, it will send a signal to turn ON the internet connection automatically and when the browser is closed it will send a signal to turn OFF the internet. For systems where access control is activated or deactivated using a swipe card, if the user has swiped a card that provides appropriate previleges, the switch can be integrated into the browser in such a way that when the browser is opened, it will send a signal to turn ON the internet connection automatically and when the browser is closed it will send a signal to turn OFF the internet. An additional improvement will be to detect a browser that is inactive for a certain amount of time and trigger the turn OFF of the internet activation mechanism.
There are some computers where the main computer unit is integrated to the display. And computers of different form factors are expected to appear. Hence the location of the switch can be changed to suit the form factor of the computer. The invention is about the use of the conveniently accessible switch itself without the need to plug and unplug cables.
What is presented in this invention is an internet activation and/or deactivation system comprising of an activation mechanism built into a computer keyboard/mouse/monitor/computer housing/internet cable in such a way that the computer can be connected/disconnected to/from the internet by a key press/key stroke without physically plugging/unplugging the internet cable. The terms switch and key have been used interchangeably in many parts of this description. The term key may be denoting a key as on a keyboard or a mechanical key that is turned to open/close a lock. While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it is not limited to specific examples presented here. It is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and mechanisms.
What is claimed is:
