HK1119012A - Method to control radio devices based on user environment policy requirements - Google Patents

Description

Method for controlling wireless device according to user environment policy requirements

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of information handling systems, and more particularly to automatically enforcing wireless activation device usage policies within a predetermined environment.

Background

As the value and availability of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. The information handling system is one option available. Information handling systems typically perform the processing, compilation, storage, and/or communication of information or data for business, personal, or other purposes that enable a user to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information processing requirements and requirements vary from user to user or application to application, information handling systems also vary with the type of information being processed, the method of processing the information, the amount of information being processed, stored, and communicated, and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, and communicated. The differences in information handling systems allow the information handling systems to be either generic or configured for a particular user or a particular use, such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise information storage, or global communications. In addition, an information handling system may contain or include a number of hardware and software components that may process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, or network systems.

The use of wireless communication devices, including information handling systems configured as portable devices, has shown its popularity over the past few years. It is common for users to carry one or more such devices into a variety of environments, some of which have usage requirements or limitations commensurate with their acceptable usage. For example, civil aviation requires that wireless devices be disabled for a certain time. Some devices, such as cell phones and pagers, require a global shut down because their transmitters may interfere with the navigation device. Similarly, a wirelessly enabled notebook computer may be shut down all the way unless wireless functionality is disabled. Similarly, users are often required to set wireless communication devices silent or off in commercial conferences and classrooms, and other public places such as movie theaters, religious conferences, community meetings, or others, so as not to disturb others. The wireless device user may also enter a restricted area where photography is prohibited, causing their handset to be required to temporarily hand out or turn their handset off when it has camera functionality. As a result, the main function of the mobile phone is lost when the user follows the request because the mobile phone has a camera function, which causes inconvenience to the user.

Currently, there is no automatic method for turning these devices off or silent when needed. There is also no automatic method of disabling the preset device functions while still retaining other functions. Stated another way, usage policies cannot easily and efficiently work in a given environment. Instead, it must be performed manually. For example, flight attendants announce passengers or turn their wireless devices off, or set them to a desired mode of operation. However, currently available statistics show that two-digit percentages of cell phones and pagers are still on the fly, indicating that this solution is not as effective as desired. In another example, posters, slides, and audio broadcasts may be made to call for the wireless device to be set to silent mode or turned off at a movie theater or other public location. But because of the lack of means to perform these requests, interference still exists.

Some manufacturers have now attempted to address these problems by incorporating a special switch in their wireless devices so that users can continue to use the device while disabling wireless communication functionality. Alternatively, the wireless functionality may be disabled by pressing a predetermined sequence key (e.g., Fn-F2). The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has provided icons or other indications incorporated into wireless devices to display the status of their various functions. These improvements result in increased equipment costs and have not been widely adopted. These approaches still require manual effort on the part of the user and do not automatically implement local wireless device usage policies when facilitating disabling wireless and other device functionality. Another approach uses a Power Monitoring Unit (PMU) to define a forbidden area that prevents a handset from making/receiving calls. In this way, handsets in use are identified by their Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and, if located in a forbidden area, their network access is disabled, thereby preventing incoming or outgoing calls and music or ring tones that cause confusion. However, the transmitter of the handset is not turned off, which may cause interference with other communication and/or navigation devices in some environments. In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a method of controlling communication and other functions of a wireless-enabled device so that a preset usage policy for an environment or situation can be automatically implemented.

Disclosure of Invention

In accordance with the present invention, a system and method for automatically enforcing a wireless enabled device usage policy in a predetermined environment is disclosed. In various embodiments of the present invention, the wireless usage policy manager enforces the preset usage policy by automatically disabling or restricting wireless enabled device operation when the wireless enabled device enters a preset boundary of a wireless policy management environment. When the wireless enabled device exits the preset boundary of the wireless policy management environment, their previous operating state is automatically restored without user action. Wireless enabled devices include, but are not limited to, cellular telephones, laptop computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), pagers, and/or the like. Wirelessly enabled device functions that are disabled or limited using the policy manager include, but are not limited to, power on/off status, communication band and/or protocol, voiced/unvoiced/vibrate ring patterns, and/or digital camera operation.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the additional or extended information elements are performed by wireless communication protocols known to those skilled in the art, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Bluetooth, Ultra Wideband (UWB), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), and IEEE 802.11 (WiFi). These information elements are executed to communicate and/or enforce a preset wireless usage policy when the wireless device enters the boundary of a wireless usage policy domain established by a wireless access point containing a wireless usage policy manager. The communication and/or execution of the additional or extended information element occurs during a handoff period, i.e., when the target wireless device is handed off from the current wireless transmitter connection to the transmitter of the local wireless access point containing the wireless usage policy manager. In one embodiment of the invention, the boundary of the wireless usage policy domain is formed by the coverage area of the wireless access point containing the wireless usage policy manager. In another embodiment of the present invention, the boundary of the wireless usage policy domain is formed by the coverage areas of two or more wireless access points that further contain a common usage policy database. In both embodiments, the location of the wireless access point containing the wireless usage policy manager may be fixed (e.g., movie theatre) or mobile (e.g., civil aviation on airlines).

In other embodiments of the invention, the extensible mechanisms of the radio transmission apparatus, the control domain, the probe request/response, the service discovery algorithm, etc. are implemented without changing existing technical specifications and/or standards. Moreover, the add-on element can be introduced without changing the hardware and/or software that contains the wireless enabled device, allowing it to be quickly deployed in existing and new products. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these embodiments and variations of the present invention are achievable, including but not limited to those described above, and are not intended to be all-inclusive.

Drawings

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

FIG. 1 is a generalized illustration of an information handling system for implementing the method and system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a wireless communication network for implementing the methods and apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts a wireless usage policy enforcement system implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a generalized block diagram of a wireless usage policy negotiation system implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a generalized flow diagram depicting a wireless usage policy enforcement system implemented according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a generalized depiction of an information element expansion flow implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

A system and method for automatically enforcing a wireless-enabled device usage policy within a predetermined environment is described. The wireless usage policy manager enforces a preset usage policy by automatically disabling or restricting wireless-enabled device operation when the wireless-enabled device enters a preset boundary of a wireless policy management environment. The wireless enabled devices automatically resume their previous operating state without requiring user action when they exit the preset boundary of the wireless policy management environment.

For purposes of this disclosure, an Information Handling System (IHS) may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may include a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include Random Access Memory (RAM), one or more processing devices such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, Read Only Memory (ROM), and/or other types of nonvolatile storage. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.

FIG. 1 is a generalized illustration of an information handling system 100 for implementing the present systems and methods. The information handling system includes a processor (e.g., central processing unit or "CPU") 102, input/output (I/O) devices 104 (e.g., display, keyboard, mouse, and unified controller), hard disk drive or disk storage 106, various other subsystems 108, network ports 110, which may be connected to a network 122, and system memory 112, all interconnected by one or more buses 114. An operating system 116 resides in system memory 112 and supports a wireless communication application 118 for implementing a wireless usage policy enforcement application 120 in one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 depicts a wireless communication network 200 for implementing the methods and systems of the present invention. The wireless communication network 200 includes wireless communication zones 202, 204, 206, 208, 210, and 212. In an embodiment of the present invention, the wireless communication region 210 further includes smaller regions 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224 and 230, which may include, but are not limited to, small macro (macro), micro (micro), pico (pico) and/or femto (nano) cells as known to those skilled in the art.

The smaller zones typically operate at different frequencies and handle most of the traffic within zone 210, typically with gaps in their coverage area afforded by the overall wireless coverage provided by zone 210. The types of zones are generally divided by the location they typically implement and the wireless coverage they provide. For example, both large and small macro-areas are typically applied at locations above the roof, with large macro-areas typically providing 3 to 30 kilometers of coverage and small macro-areas providing only 1 to 3 kilometers of coverage. Micro-zones are typically applied to roofs or undersides of roofs, providing 100 meters to 1 kilometer coverage. Both the pico and nano areas are applied to the sub-roof layer, providing coverage of 10 meters to 1 km and 1 meter to 10 meters, respectively.

The smaller wireless zone 230 further includes a wireless usage policy field, which will be described in detail below. In the description of the wireless communication network 200 herein, the wireless activation device traverses the wireless communication regions 202, 204, 206, 208, 212 and the smaller wireless regions 216, 218 of the wireless communication region 210 along a path 226. As the wireless-enabled device traverses path 226, its communication connection is maintained by a handoff procedure, well known to those skilled in the art, and the current zone relinquishes control of the communication session to the receiving zone.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the wireless enabled device traverses the wireless communication regions 202, 206 along a path 228, and also traverses the smaller wireless region 214 of the wireless communication region 210 before entering the smaller wireless communication region 230 (further including the wireless usage policy field described in detail below). When a wireless enabled device enters a wireless usage policy domain that includes a smaller wireless zone 230, control of its communication and its associated performance is transferred during the handoff process described in detail below. In the same or other embodiments of the present invention, the associated wireless usage policy is enforced at all times as long as the device is within the coverage of wireless usage policy domain 230. However, when the wireless enabled device leaves the coverage area of wireless usage policy field 230, the device will return to its previous operating state and control of its communications and its associated performance will be transferred during other handoffs, first to cell wireless region 218 and then to wireless region 212.

Fig. 3 depicts a wireless usage policy domain enforcement system 300 implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In this description, the wireless communication network 306 is coupled to a wired communication network 308 and includes one or more Base Transceiver Systems (BTSs) 304 for providing wireless communication connections to the wireless devices 302 that include the usage policy enforcement application 120. Wireless usage policy field 310 includes a wireless access point 312, wireless access point 312 further including a wireless usage policy manager 314 and a wireless usage policy 316. In one embodiment of the invention, the wireless usage policy 316 is stored locally in the wireless access point 312. In another embodiment of the present invention, the wireless usage policy 316 is stored on a remote host and accessed by the wireless usage policy manager 314 through a wireless connection, through the Base Transceiver System (BTS)304, and then through the wireless communication network 306 or through the wired communication network 308. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the wireless management policies 316 and the wireless usage policy manager 314 are both implemented on a remote host and accessed by the wireless access point 312 through a wireless connection, through the Base Transceiver System (BTS)304, through the wireless communication network 306, or through the wired communication network 308.

When a wireless device 302 containing the usage policy enforcement application 120 enters the wireless usage policy domain 310, their presence is detected by previous methods well known to those skilled in the art, and control of their respective wireless communication connections is handed off from the base station transceiver system 304 to the wireless access point 312. During the handoff period, the wireless usage policy manager 314 causes the wireless usage policy 316 to communicate with the wireless device 302 through a series of exchanges that include information element extensions, as will be described in detail below. These information element extensions may be used to enforce wireless usage policies 316 by controlling the required wireless communications and/or including related functions of the wireless device 302. In one embodiment of the invention, the usage policy enforcement application 120 enforces the information element extension, and the wireless usage policy 316 is enforced by controlling the required wireless communications and/or related functions involved by the information element extension. In another embodiment of the present invention, the wireless usage policy 316 is implemented using an information element extension that similarly encompasses the operating system or other software code (e.g., operating system, communication applications, etc.) of the wireless device 302.

In one embodiment of the invention, the wireless connection allowed by the wireless usage policy 316 is maintained over a wireless link between the access point 312 and the base transceiver system 304, the base transceiver system 304 being coupled to the wireless communication network 306, and the wireless communication network 306 in turn being coupled to the wired communication network 308. In another embodiment of the invention, the wireless connection permitted by the wireless usage policy 316 is maintained over a wired link between the wireless access point 312 and the wired communication network 308.

Fig. 4 is a generalized block diagram of a wireless usage policy negotiation system 400 implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention for negotiating the enforcement of wireless usage policies 316 within a wireless usage policy domain 310 when referring to a default wireless device 302. In this figure, the wireless communication network 306 includes a Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC) 'a' 402, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 'a' 404, a Base Station Controller (BSC) 'a' 406, and a Base Transceiver System (BTS) 304. The Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 'a' 404 further includes a Home Location Register (HLR) 'a' 408, a Visitor Location Register (VLR) 'a' 410, and a usage policy repository 'a' 412. In the same figure, the wireless usage policy domain 310 includes a Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC) 'B' 414, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 'B' 416, a Base Station Controller (BSC) 'B' 418, and a wireless access point 312, and further includes a wireless usage policy manager 314. The Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 'B' 416 further comprises a Home Location Register (HLR) 'B' 420, a Visitor Location Register (VLR) 'B' 422, and a usage policy repository 'B' 424.

The Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC) 'a' 402 communicates with the gateway mobile switching center 'B' 414 to determine whether the wireless device 302 is currently located within the coverage areas of the mobile switching center 'a' 404 and the mobile switching center 'B' 416. Mobile switching center 'a' 404 and mobile switching center 'B' 416 provide circuit-switched calling and mobility management for wireless devices 302 roaming within their coverage areas, respectively. The home location register 'a' 408 and the home location register 'B' 420, which contain the mobile switching center 'a' 404 and the mobile switching center 'B' 416, respectively, are permanent databases with detailed information of wireless devices subscribed to their associated wireless networks and current locations. Conversely, visitor location registers 'a' 410 and visitor location registers 'B' 422, which also contain mobile switching center 'a' 404 and mobile switching center 'B' 416, respectively, are temporary databases with detailed information for each wireless device roaming to its associated wireless network coverage area. The data stored in the visitor location register 'a' 410 and visitor location register 'B' 422 are obtained from the home location register 'B' 420 or home location register 'a' 408, respectively, or collected from the wireless device 302. In one embodiment of the invention, the functionality of the gateway mobile switching center 'a' 402 is integrated with the mobile switching center 'a' 404 and the functionality of the gateway mobile switching center 'B' 414 is integrated with the mobile switching center 'B' 416. In another embodiment of the present invention, the visitor location register 'A' 410 functions are similarly integrated into the mobile switching center 'A' 404, while the visitor location register 'B' 422 functions are similarly integrated into the mobile switching center 'B' 416. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the gateway mobile switching center 'a' 402 and gateway mobile switching center 'B' 414 functionality and the visitor location register 'a' 410 and visitor location register 'B' 422 functionality are integrated with the mobile switching center 'a' 404 and mobile switching center 'B' 416, respectively. The home location register 'a' 408 and the home location register 'B' 420 are typically implemented on a remote host, typically queried by the mobile switching center 'B' 416 and the mobile switching center 'a' 404 during a handoff period to migrate into their respective associated visitor location register 'a' 410 and visitor location register 'B' 422, respectively, with additional details about the wireless device 302 roaming in its coverage area.

In one embodiment of the invention, the policy repository 'a' 412 is used to store subscriber information cross-referenced with the home location register 'a' 408 data, which is associated with the wireless device 302 subscribed to the wireless communication network 306. In the same embodiment of the present invention, the usage policy repository 'B' 316 stores wireless usage policy information associated with the wireless usage policy field 310 and subscriber information cross-referenced with the data of the home location register 'B' 422, which is similarly associated with the wireless device 302 subscribed to the wireless communication network that includes the wireless usage policy field 310. When the wireless device 302 enters the wireless usage policy domain 310, the identification information is collected by the mobile switching center 'B' 416 and compared to data stored in the home location register 'B' 422. If no match is found, the identification information gathered from the wireless device 302 is added to the visitor location register 'B' 422 and the mobile switching center 'B' 416 queries the mobile switching center 'A' 404 for additional information from the home location register 'A' 408 and the usage policy repository 'A' 412. The additional information retrieved from the home location register 'a' 408 is added to the visitor location register 'B' 422 and the additional information retrieved from the usage policy repository 'a' 412 is compared to the wireless usage policy information in the usage policy repository 'B' 316. The wireless usage policy information from the usage policy repository 'B' 316 is modified as appropriate by the wireless usage policy manager 314 during the handoff period and, through information element extensions, communicates with the wireless usage policy enforcement application 120 or other software code comprising the wireless device 302 for execution, as will be described in more detail below.

As an example, when the wireless device 302 enters the wireless usage domain 310, the mobile switching center 'B' 416 gathers information from the wireless device 302 and queries the mobile switching center 'a' 404 to retrieve the information stored in the home location register 'a' 408 and the usage policy repository 'a' 412. The information retrieved from the usage policy repository 'a' 412 indicates that the wireless device 302 is affiliated with a law enforcement officer, and for security reasons, the wireless device should always be on, vocal, and capable of receiving and sending voice calls. The default wireless usage policy stored in wireless usage policy field 310 of usage policy repository 'B' 316 allows silent voicemail reception notifications and interactive text messages, but does not allow audible notification of incoming calls, nor does it allow receiving or making audible calls. In addition, the use of digital camera functionality within wireless devices is likewise not permitted. In this example, because the wireless device 302 is associated with overriding of wireless usage policies, the wireless usage policies retrieved by the usage policy repository 'B' 316 are first modified to allow silent voicemail to receive notifications, to interact with text messages, and to receive and place voice calls. However, the digital camera functionality within the wireless device 302 is not allowed to be used because the policy override received from the usage repository 'A' 412 is not available. As a result, the modified wireless usage policy is communicated by the wireless usage policy manager 314 to the wireless usage policy enforcement application 120 or other software code comprising the wireless device 302 during the handoff period via the information element extension.

Fig. 5 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating a wireless usage policy enforcement system implemented according to an embodiment of the present invention. At step 502, the wireless device enters the wireless usage policy domain, and as described in detail above, detailed information relating to the wireless device is collected at step 504 by a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) associated with the wireless network containing the wireless usage policy domain. In one embodiment of the invention, the wireless usage policy domain is a smaller area of the same wireless network and shares the same mobile switching center, and when the mobile switching center may not consider the wireless device as roaming, the device still obeys the wireless usage policy associated with the smaller area coverage. In another embodiment of the invention, the wireless device is roamed by another wireless network and the mobile switching center is different. In a different embodiment of the invention, the mobile switching center function is implemented within the wireless usage policy domain to create a virtual private wireless network, any wireless device within its coverage area is considered a roaming device.

Once more detailed information about the wireless device is collected in step 504, the mobile switching center associated with the wireless usage policy domain checks its associated Home Location Register (HLR) in step 506 to determine whether the wireless device is pre-provisioned to its associated wireless network in step 508. If it is determined in step 508 that the wireless device is indeed provisioned to its associated wireless network, the mobile switching center retrieves in step 510 more detailed information from its associated home location register and usage policy data from its associated wireless usage policy register as described in detail above. If it is determined in step 508 that no provisioning is to be made to its associated network, the mobile switching center registers the wireless device in a Visitor Location Register (VLR) in step 512 and queries the wireless network provider mobile switching center of the wireless device in step 514 to collect additional detailed information from its associated home location register and to collect usage policy data from within its associated wireless usage policy register. The retrieved detailed information is used by the mobile switching center associated with the wireless usage policy domain in step 516 to further assemble its visitor location register to the appropriate extent and the retrieved usage policy data is transmitted to the wireless usage policy manager (with the default wireless usage policy for the wireless usage policy domain) for comparison.

If it is determined in step 518 that the usage policy data retrieved from steps 510 or 514 requires an override to the default wireless usage policy for the wireless usage policy domain, the wireless usage policy manager determines in step 520 whether such override is allowed to be implemented. If it is decided in step 520 to override the default wireless usage policy of the wireless usage policy domain, then the override is applied in step 522 and the wireless device is communicated with in step 524 using an information element extension as will be described in more detail below. Otherwise, the default wireless usage policy of the wireless usage policy domain communicates with the wireless device in step 524 using an information element extension, which will be described in detail below. Assuming that the wireless device has adopted the communicated information element extension and was successfully implemented by the wireless usage policy enforcement application in step 526, a determination is made in step 534 as to whether the wireless device is leaving the coverage area of the wireless usage policy domain. If so, the appropriate information element extension is communicated to the wireless device by the wireless usage policy manager and implemented by the wireless usage policy enforcement application to store itself as a previous operating state in step 538 and then switch to the receiving mobile switching center. Otherwise, the wireless usage policy manager performs the appropriate information element expansion in step 524 and the process continues. If the wireless device has adopted the communicated information element extension but the wireless usage policy enforcement application did not successfully implement it in step 526, then a determination is made in step 528 as to whether they were successfully implemented by other software code comprising the wireless device.

If the information element extension was successfully implemented in step 528, it is next determined in step 534 whether the wireless device is leaving the coverage area of the wireless usage policy domain. If so, the appropriate information element extension is communicated by the wireless usage policy manager to the wireless device and implemented by other software code comprising the wireless device to store itself as a previous operating state in step 538 and then switch to the receiving mobile switching center. Otherwise, the wireless usage policy manager passes the appropriate information element extension in step 524 and the process continues. If the wireless device does not receive the communicated information element extension and does not successfully implement it in either step 526 or 528, the wireless usage policy manager uses the information element extension to send an announcement of the wireless usage policy to the wireless device in step 530 with a receipt acknowledgement message of the user action request in step 532. If the wireless device user does not acknowledge receipt of the advertisement in step 532, the advertisement is retransmitted by the wireless usage policy manager at a preset time interval until an acknowledgement is received in step 530. In one embodiment of the invention, the wireless usage policy advertisement is communicated to the wireless device as a text message. In another embodiment of the present invention, the wireless usage policy announcement is transmitted to the wireless device as pre-recorded voice information. If it is determined in step 534 that the wireless device is leaving the coverage area of the wireless usage policy domain, the wireless device user will be manually notified in step 536 to restore the wireless device to its previous operational state and then switch to the receiving mobile switching center in step 538.

FIG. 6 is a generalized depiction of an information element expansion flow implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In this depiction, the wireless activation device 302 receiving a handoff trigger 602, such as but not limited to a quality of service (QoS) falling below a preset range, results in the initiation of a mode negotiation 604 with the wireless access point 312. The mode negotiation 604 with the wireless access point 312 triggers a wireless usage policy request 604 from the wireless usage policy manager 314, downloads a wireless usage policy 608 to the wireless access point 312, and then checks the device mode 610 of the wireless active device 302. Once wireless access point 312 checks for wireless device mode, appropriate information elements 612 with extensions containing wireless usage parameters and controls are communicated to wireless enabled device 302 and then applied 614. In one embodiment of the invention, the IEEE 802.21 information element of the operator/user policy is extended and communicated to the wireless activation device 302 for implementation by the wireless usage policy enforcement application. In another embodiment of the present invention, the IEEE 802.21 information element of the operator/user policy is extended and communicated to the wireless activation device 302 for implementation by other software code containing the wireless device 302. In other embodiments of the present invention, existing information elements containing previous wireless communication protocols are suspended or extended to enforce a preset wireless usage policy and implemented on the wireless enabled device 302 using methods well known to those skilled in the art.

Once the wireless usage parameters and control are communicated to and applied 614 by the wireless activation device 302, a confirmation 616 of successful implementation is communicated to the wireless access point 312, which the access point 312 then confirms 618 its implementation so that a handover decision 620 can be made by the wireless activation device 302. Wireless activation device 302 initiates a handover request 622 to wireless access point 312, which in turn, access point 312 initiates a handover procedure 624, which handover procedure 624 is performed 626 at wireless access point 312. Once the handover procedure is performed 626 on the wireless enabled device 302, an acknowledgement 628 is transmitted 628 to the wireless access point 312 and the wireless access point 312 completes the handover 630. When the handoff is complete, the wireless access point 312 maintains the wireless connection and monitors the wireless enabled device 312 to ensure enforcement of the wireless usage policy. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many other embodiments of the invention and variations thereof are possible. In addition, each reference component of this embodiment of the present invention may be comprised of multiple components, each interacting in a distributed environment. In addition, other embodiments of the present invention may be expanded on the referenced embodiments to scale up and implement the system implementation.

Claims (20)

1. A system for controlling operation of a wirelessly enabled device, comprising:

a wireless policy manager for generating commands for executing a plurality of wireless device management policies;

at least one wireless activation device for implementing a wireless policy enforcement application such that the wireless activation device responds to the command generated by the wireless policy manager.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is located at a fixed location.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is mobile.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is implemented by a single wireless access point that defines a wireless usage policy domain.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is implemented by a plurality of wireless access points that define a wireless usage policy domain.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein individual ones of the plurality of wireless access points are configured to enforce the wireless usage policy as the wireless device moves within the wireless usage policy domain.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is to generate a command to automatically enforce the unlimited-use policy when the wireless device enters a wireless-use policy domain.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is to automatically terminate the wireless usage policy when the wireless device leaves a wireless usage policy domain.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is to execute a discovery application to detect wireless devices that are subject to a preset usage policy within a wireless usage policy domain.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless policy manager is to override a wireless usage policy based on preset criteria.

11. A method of controlling operation of a wirelessly enabled device, comprising:

generating, using a wireless policy manager, a command for executing a plurality of wireless device usage policies;

activating a wireless policy enforcement application on at least one wireless activation device, thereby causing the wireless activation device to respond to the command generated by the wireless policy manager.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless policy manager is located at a fixed location.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless policy manager is mobile.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless policy manager is implemented by a single wireless access point that defines a wireless usage policy domain.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless policy manager is implemented by a plurality of wireless access points that define a wireless usage policy domain.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein individual ones of the plurality of wireless access points are configured to enforce the wireless usage policy as the wireless device moves within the wireless usage policy domain.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein a wireless policy manager is used to generate commands to automatically enforce the unlimited-use policy when the wireless device enters a wireless-use policy domain.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless policy manager is to automatically terminate the wireless usage policy when the wireless device leaves a wireless usage policy domain.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless policy manager is configured to execute a discovery application to detect wireless devices that are subject to a preset usage policy within a wireless usage policy domain.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless policy manager is to override a wireless usage policy based on preset criteria.