The present invention relates to controlling electronic computer devices, and, in particular, to controlling portable devices such as telephones, smartphones, wearable technology including smart watches, games consoles, and tablet computers. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The amount of time spent using electronic computer devices is increasing and there are particular concerns amongst parents, teachers and medical experts about the effect that significant amounts of such use (or "screen time") are having on children's education and wellbeing. Some suggest that screen time should be simply limited to a maximum amount of time per day.

However, computers, and particularly portable computing devices such as smart phones and tablet computers are increasingly being used as part of a rich, multimedia education experience and as an indispensable part of young people's social interaction with their peers. In addition, due to multi-functional nature of modern computer devices, the same devices are being used for both work and non-work actions. Furthermore, there is a trend towards "Bring Your Own Device" in schools where young people supply their own computer for use within lessons. It is also extremely common for children to bring devices into school that they may be allowed to use in one manner during break periods, but in a restricted manner during lesson time. In another context, there are also challenges within certain work environments where cameras, for example, are not allowed into restricted areas. Such restrictions result in the need to confiscate devices before a person enters a restricted area. The ability to control the function of a device during working hours, or within a given geographic location would be extremely useful for both employers and employees in such a situation. Being able to control use of an electronic computer device on the basis of predetermined timings, functions and the like is desirable, but difficult to achieve with existing functionality, especially in portable devices, for various reasons (including but not limited to security, performance (speed and power consumption), deliberate restriction of the operating system capability to limit third party usage or simply because it was never written into the operating system. In general, in mobile operating systems, such as Android® from Google® and iOS® from Apple® it is considered that each application should provide functionality in its own right to accomplish a specific task or tasks and not interfere in the operation of another application (other than through specifically designed conduits such as for the sharing of documents). As such there is no way in which one application can determine and control what is happening within another application.

One specific use of such a device is accessing the Internet or web content using a web browser application. It can be desirable to restrict the content being accessed by the user, for example in time or with reference to the content itself. In order to provide such control, it is possible to access a list of visited content (or pages). However, such an approach is limited in effect, due to the need for the list to be updated in real time, and due to the fact that many browsers provide a private (or "incognito") browsing mode in which web browsing history is not recorded.

It is, therefore, desirable to provide a control technique that enables control of an electronic computer device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention makes use of an Accessibility Application

Programming Interface (API) to provide a link to control software that meets some or all of the real world requirements described above, to determine the actions that a user is taking on a device in real time, or near real time, for the purpose of providing the control described.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling an electronic computer device which includes at least one functional component, the method comprising: detecting use of a functional component of the electronic computer device by communicating with an accessibility controller of the electronic computer device, the accessibility controller being operable to provide accessibility features for the device;

retrieving access control data relating to the functional component; and controlling operation of the functional component in dependence upon the retrieved access control data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic computer device comprising a functional component; an accessibility controller operable to control the functional component to provide accessibility features for the computer device; and an access control means operable to communicate with the accessibility control means, to detect operation of the functional component from such communication, to retrieve access control data relating to the functional component, and to control operation of the functional component in dependence upon the retrieved access control data.

In one example, the accessibility control means is provided by an accessibility application programming interface.

In one example, the functional component of the electronic device is a software application, which may be an Internet browser.

In one example, the functional component is provided by at least one hardware functional component. The hardware functional component may be at least one of a display unit, a data storage unit, a camera, a microphone, a loudspeaker and an input/output device.

In one example, retrieving access control data comprises accessing a database external to the electronic device.

The electronic computer device may be a portable telephone, a smartphone, a tablet computer or a laptop computer. In one particular example, control of the computer device takes the form of disabling an application (for example, a widget in an Android ® device) by covering or hiding the display of that application on the display device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a network including a control system embodying one aspect of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic device;

Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating operation of a control system in

accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a network including a control system embodying one aspect of the present invention. The system 1 comprises a plurality of client devices, such as a portable telephone 2, a tablet computer 4 and a conventional computer 6. The client device may be any appropriate electronic computer device such as those listed above, a wearable device such as a smart watch or a games console device. The client devices 2, 4, 6 communicate with Internet content 10 over a communications network 8, such as that provided by the Internet. A control device 12 operates to control operation of the client devices 2, 4, 6, and access to Internet content 10 by those client devices, and itself communicates using the communications network 8. A control database 14 provides control information for the controller 12 and client devices 2, 4, 6. The control database 14 May have any number of sub databases 14a, 14b and 14c.

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of a client device 2, 4, 6 shown in figure 1 . It will be readily appreciated that the client device illustrated in figure 2 is merely exemplary, and is described here in order to aid understanding of the present invention. It will also be readily appreciated that any type of client device may be used in accordance with the principles of the present invention, described below.

The client device 2, 4, 6 illustrated in figure 2 includes a controller unit 18, for example, provided by central processing unit, or similar processing device, a display unit 20, which may be provided by an LCD or LED display unit, and a data storage unit 22, for example, provided by an integrated memory unit. In addition, the client device 2, 4, 6 may be provided with any number of peripheral or input/output units. For example, the client device 2, 4, 6 may be provided with a camera 24, a microphone 26 and a loudspeaker 28. In addition, an input/output connector 30 may be provided for connecting the client device 2, 4, 6 to other peripherals and/or charging devices. The input/output connector 30 may be a wired connector or may be a wireless connector. The client device 2, 4, 6 may also be provided with a user input device, such as a touch screen or keyboard. The display unit 20, the data storage unit 22, the camera 24, the microphone 26, the loudspeaker 28 and the input/output connector 30 provide a range of functional components of the client device 2, 4, 6. Other functional components may be provided by hardware units, software applications, or a combination of the two. For example, one or more sensors, such as a heart rate sensor, temperature sensor, or other fitness sensor may be provided.

Detailed description of the general operation of the client device 2, 4, 6 will be omitted here for the sake of clarity, but it will be readily understood that the device 2, 4, 6 operates in accordance with known devices. For example, a user may use the user input device to control the control unit 18 in order to capture a photograph using the camera 24, and then to store that photograph in the data storage unit 22 for transmission to a friend or colleague using the input/output connection 30. In another example, the user may use a web browser application to access Internet content using an appropriate communications network. The use of such electronic devices to access remote content, and to record audio, video, and still photographs, amongst many other functions, is well-known.

However, as described above, it is seen as desirable for the use of such electronic computer devices to be restricted in some circumstances, particularly for children, and for such restrictions to be controlled separately from the electronic computer device itself.

Accordingly, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the client device 2, 4, 6 is able to be controlled by the control device 12 of Figure 1 , as will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 3.

The control device 12, which may itself be a portable electronic computer device is used to set access control parameters on an access control database 14. The access control database 14 may have several sub-databases, for example, covering time of use 14a, Internet content 14b, location services, 14c, etc.. The access control database 14 is accessed and updated using the control device 12 using, for example, a user account which provides a specific user with specific settings. Detailed description of such a user account and settings will not be included here for the sake of brevity, but it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the database 14 may be configured appropriately on a per user basis.

Each client device 2, 4,6 to be controlled has a control application installed so that control parameters defined and stored on the access control database 14 can influence the operation of the client device 2, 4, 6. This technique is most appropriate to portable electronic computer devices such as mobile telephones, smart phones and tablet computers, since the manner in which these devices are operated means that interaction and control of individual applications running on those devices can be limited.

The example to be described with reference to figure 3, is when a user of the client device 2, 4, 6, wishes to access Internet content 10 via the communications network 8 using a web browser 32 running on the client device 2, 4, 6. The user makes a content request 34 in the browser 32 (usually in the form of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)) and this content request is transmitted 36 to the Internet content servers 10 by the communications network 8. The Internet content servers 10, in conventional manner, return 38 content data to be displayed on the display device 20 of the client device 2, 4, 6. The browser 32 then operates to display the page 40.

Electronic computer devices include an accessibility controller 42, often in the form of a separate application or operating system component, which is able to control many aspects of the electronic computer device in order to provide increased accessibility for the user by providing accessibility features for the device. For example, if a user has impaired vision, then the display unit may be controlled to present images on that unit in an enhanced way, for example, using enlarged text, or images having high contrast. The accessibility controller 42 has access to fundamental parts of the operating system of the device, such as direct control of the display and other input/output units.

"Accessibility" refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities. The general concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e. unassisted) and "indirect access" meaning compatibility with a person's assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers).

In the case of electronic computer devices, such as mobile telephones, smart phones and tablet computers, accessibility relates to features that allow devices to be used more easily by users with impaired vision, hearing or motor skills. For example, use of inverted colours on a display can help a user with impaired vision to see what is on the display, a screen reader converts text on a display to spoken words for those who are not able see the display. Further examples include motion and gesture support to makes things more user- friendly for those who might not be able to hold a device tap controls at the same time.

Many other accessibility functions are available. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access", and benefit from, a function, or device. The concept focuses on enabling access for people with disabilities, or special needs, or enabling access through the use of assistive technology.

Accessibility is not to be confused with usability, which is the extent to which a product (such as a device, service, or environment) can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use. In addition, Accessibility is not to be confused with access control per se, that is the control of access to functions on some predefined basis.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the client device 2, 4, 6 includes an access control unit 44. The access control unit 44 interacts with the accessibility controller 42 in order to determine whether operation according to the user's input can proceed. In the example of figure 3, the access control unit 44 determines the Internet content being accessed by the user by interrogating the accessibility controller 42. The access control unit 44 communicates 46 with the access control database 14 over the communications network 8 in order to determine whether the desired Internet content should be available on the client device 2, 4, 6. The access control database 14 returns 48 control data 52 to the access control unit 44. The access control unit 44 determines 52 whether the Internet content being requested to be displayed 54 or not displayed 56, for example by selectively blanking all or some of the display unit, or by displaying an appropriate message thereon.

The access control unit 44 may operate to control access to other features of the client device 2, 4, 6. For example, when the user operates the camera of the device. The access control unit 44 can request location restriction information from the access control database 14 to determine whether the camera may be used in the current location of the client device 2, 4, 6.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the accessibility controller 42 preferably provides an accessibility API (application programming interface) with which the access control unit 44 is able to communicate. In addition, in accordance with the principles of the present invention, the access control unit 44 is provided by a software application running on the client device 2, 4, 6. The application interacts with the accessibility API, and through that API controls the functional units of the client computer device in dependence upon the control data received from the access control server 14. The access control data, or a copy thereof, may be wholly or partially stored on the device itself, or on the database 14. In one particular example, control of the client device takes the form of disabling an application (for example, a widget in an Android ® device) by covering or hiding the display of that application on the display device.

In such a manner, a control technique according to the principles of the present invention is able to be applied to existing electronic computer devices, such as mobile telephones, smart phones and tablet computers, without the need for additional application support, or additional hardware.