Apple Inc.

Karthik Narayanan

James R Wilson

Patrice Olivier Gautier

Raghu Pai

Raghunandan K Pai

Maxime Veron

Timothy S Hurley

Ivan Krstic

Megan M Frost

James C Wilson

John Gates

Sudhakar N Mambakkam

Eric Daniel Friedman

Murthy Parthasarathi

Selvarajan Subramaniam

Ramarathnam Santhanagopal

Prabhakaran Vaidyanathaswami

Paul William Chinn

Joshua Barton Dickens

Scott Lopatin

Usama Mikael Hajj

Navin Bindiganavile Suparna

Ragu Pai

Murthy Parthasarahthi

John Patrick Gates

Timonthy Hurley

A system and method of locating 'friends' having mobile devices connected to a network and associated with a user account is disclosed. The method includes sending a request to a mobile device, the mobile device determining its present geographic location and responding to the requestor with this information. This information may be in the form of a coordinate location such as a GPS location or it may be in the form of a name that the mobile device owner assigned to a particular area (e.g., “home”). Having this location information, a user is able to view the location of the friend that is associated with the mobile device.

Identifying and locating users on a mobile network

A device locator mode or find my device (FMD) mode can allow a lost, stolen, or misplaced mobile device to be located. The FMD mode can be enabled or disabled on a mobile device. Sometimes thieves or unauthorized parties attempt to disable the FMD mode. To prevent this, the mobile device can transmit a unique device identifier to a remote server. The remote server can link the device identifier to a cloud-based user account associated with the user of the mobile device. Before an FMD mode is disabled on the mobile device, before the content or settings can be erased, and/or before a mobile device is permitted to be activated/reactivated, a user of the mobile device can be challenged for the credentials of the cloud-based user account. If valid credentials are provided, FMD can be disabled, the content or settings can be reset, and/or the device can be activated/reactivated.

Device locator disable authentication

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for setting a reminder triggered by a target device. A requesting device sends a request to a server to set a notification triggered by a target device. The request includes parameters, such as a location and a condition that define when the notification is triggered. The server sends instruction to the target device to set the notification based on the parameters. When the condition such as arrival is met by the target device in relation to the location the target device sends a message to the server that the notification has been triggered. The target device can set a geo-fence to determine the position of the target device in relation to the location, and the requesting user can dictate the size of the geo-fence. The server sends a message to the requesting device that the notification has been triggered.

Setting a reminder that is triggered by a target user device

A system and method of locating 'friends' having mobile devices connected to a network and associated with a user account is disclosed. The method includes sending a request to a mobile device, the mobile device determining its present geographic location and responding to the requestor with this information. This information may be in the form of a coordinate location such as a GPS location or it may be in the form of a name that the mobile device owner assigned to a particular area (e.g., 'home'). Having this location information, a user is able to view the location of the friend that is associated with the mobile device.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a program for recovering access to a service associated with an account. The program provides a login credential to log into the account to receive the associated service. Next, the program receives an access continuation parameter (ACP) after logging into the account. The program then accesses the service and receives a rejection of a subsequent access to the service. The program then provides the ACP in lieu of the login credential to continue to receive the service.

Account access recovery system, method and apparatus

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for managing credentials of multiple users on an electronic device are provided.

Managing credentials of multiple users on an electronic device

Some embodiments provide an account-access recovery method that receives a request to recover access to an account. The method also assesses recent usage of a device that is associated with the account. The method also, based on the assessment, selects a recovery process from a group of different recovery processes for regaining access to the account. The method also provides the selected recovery process to a party that is requesting the access recovery.

Selectively specifying account access recovery process based on account activity

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for setting a reminder triggered by a target device. A requesting device sends a request to a server to set a reminder triggered by a target device. The request includes parameters, such as a location and a condition that define when the reminder is triggered. The server sends instruction to the target device to set the reminder based on the parameters. When the condition such as arrival is met by the target device in relation to the location the target device sends a message to the server that the reminder has been triggered. The target device can set a geo-fence to determine the position of the target device in relation to the location, and the requesting user can dictate the size of the geo-fence. The server sends a notification to the requesting device that the reminder has been triggered.

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for remotely initiating lost mode on a computing device. A request that lost mode be initiated can include a message and contact information provided by the requesting user. Once authenticated, a command to initiate lost mode is sent to the lost device. Initiating lost mode includes locking the lost device and suppressing select functionality. The message and contact information are displayed and the lost device is enabled to contact the requesting user using the contact information. The lost device can also collect and transmit location data to the requesting user. The location data can be presented on a map indicating the lost devices location and the time the lost device was at the location. The location data can be scheduled to be resent to the user based on numerous factors such as a set schedule, rules or heuristic.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Karthik Narayanan