Device access control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9986293-B2
Application number	US-27529708-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2008
Priority date	Nov 21, 2007
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

Access to an electronic media device may be controlled based on media settings of users experiencing content using the electronic media device. Users or attributes of the users experiencing content using the electronic media device may be automatically identified and access to the electronic media device may be automatically controlled based on media settings associated with the identified users and/or attributes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
accessing one or more images of multiple users in an area in which an electronic media device is located;
detecting a position of a remote control in the one or more images;
determining a position of each of the multiple users based on the one or more images;
comparing the position of the remote control to the position of each of the multiple users;
identifying a user closest to the position of the remote control based on the comparison;
determining, an age-related level of the user closest to the position of the remote control;
accessing media settings appropriate for the user based on the determined age-related level of the user; and
controlling access to the electronic media device based on the accessed media settings appropriate for the user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining multiple physical attributes of the user, wherein the multiple physical attributes include at least a facial attribute of the user and a non-facial attribute of the user;
accessing three or more age-related levels, wherein the three or more age-related levels are associated with different age ranges of users, wherein the different age ranges are associated with one or more categories of physical attributes, the one or more categories of physical attributes including at least one or more of a size range of a user, a facial feature ratio range of a user, or a skin texture of a user;
comparing the determined multiple physical attributes of the user to sets of physical attributes for the three or more age-related levels;
determining that at least the facial attribute and the non-facial attribute match a set of physical attributes associated with a matched age-related level;
determining, without relying on preregistered age information unique to the user, the age-related level of the user as the matched age-related level based on the determined match.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving, at the electronic media device, a user input command; and
capturing one or more images of the area in which the electronic media device is located in response to receiving the user input command, wherein the multiple physical attributes of the user are determined based on the one or more captured images.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein controlling access to the electronic media device based on the accessed media settings appropriate for the user includes preventing the electronic media device from turning on based on the determined multiple physical attribute of the detected user.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein controlling access to the electronic media device based on the accessed media settings appropriate for the user includes preventing the electronic media device from playing particular content.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein preventing the electronic media device from playing particular content includes at least one of preventing the user from tuning the electronic media device to a particular television channel based on a rating of television content being offered over the particular television channel, and preventing the user from playing a particular recording using the electronic media device based on a rating of content included in the particular recording.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining a gender attribute, wherein accessing media settings appropriate for the user based on the determined age-related level of the user includes accessing media settings appropriate for a user with the gender attribute.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the position of the remote control in the one or more images includes detecting presence of infrared light in a first of the one or more images and detecting absence of infrared light in a second of the one or more images.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the user closest to the position of the remote control is determined to be using the remote control.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein access to the electronic media device is controlled without using attributes of the multiple users other than the user closest to the position of the remote control.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user input command provided by the user closest to the position of the remote control, wherein the user input command includes a request to access particular content using the electronic media device; and
wherein controlling access to the electronic media device based on the accessed media settings appropriate for the user closest to the position of the remote control includes:
determining that the user closest to the position of the remote control is prevented from accessing the particular content using the electronic media device without supervision of another user with an age-related level that is different than an age-related level of the user closest to the position of the remote control and that is equal to or greater than a particular age-related level;
determining an age-related level of at least one of the multiple users other than the user closest to the position of the remote control based on the accessed one or more images;
determining whether the age-related level of the at least one of the multiple users is equal to or greater than the particular age-related level; and
determining whether to control the electronic media device to access the particular content based on whether the age-related level of the at least one of the multiple users other than the user closest to the position of the remote control is equal to or greater than the particular age-related level.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user input command from the user to perform a particular operation;
accessing a control rule associated with performing the particular operation, the control rule defining an appropriate age-related level associated with performing the particular operation;
comparing the determined age-related level of the user to the appropriate age-related level associated with performing the particular operation;
determining whether the particular operation is appropriate for the user based on the comparison of the determined age-related level of the user to the appropriate age-related level associated with performing the particular operation; and
determining whether to perform the particular operation based on whether the particular operation is determined to be appropriate for the user.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:
wherein the determined multiple physical attributes of the user include at least one or more of a size of the user, a facial feature ratio of the user, and a skin texture attribute of the user;
wherein accessing the three or more age-related levels includes accessing information related to at least one or more of size ranges, facial feature ratio ranges, or skin textures of users having ranges of ages associated with the three or more age-related levels; and
wherein comparing the determined multiple physical attributes of the user to sets of physical attributes for the three or more age-related levels includes comparing at least one or more of the size of the user, the facial feature ratio of the user, or the skin texture attribute of the user to the accessed information related to at least one or more of the size ranges, the facial feature ratio ranges, or the skin

Assignees

• Hildreth Evan
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Hildreth Evan

Classifications

• H04N21/4223

  Cameras (H04N23/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N5/44543

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N5/4403

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N21/485

  End-user interface for client configuration · CPC title

• H04N21/4755 Primary

  for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre (retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306) · CPC title