Disablement of lost or stolen device

摘要

Active disablement of a target device that is reported as lost or stolen, even if the device no longer has a cellular link. A service assembles a list of target devices that have been reported as lost or stolen, and transmits at least a subset of the assembled list of target devices to candidate proximate systems. If one of the candidate proximate system receives an identification signal from a target device that is on the received list, the proximate system commands the target device to at least partially disable itself. The target device then disables as commanded, and the proximate system may acknowledge the same to the service.

主权项

1. A method for issuing a command to disable functionality of a target device that is suspected of being lost or stolen, the method being implemented at a computer system that includes one or more processors, the method comprising:
receiving information corresponding to a target device that has been reported as being lost or stolen, wherein the received information at least includes a last known location of the target device; based on the received information, selecting one or more candidate systems that are identified as having previously shared a relationship with the target device, wherein which candidate systems are included within the selected one or more candidate systems is determined by:
identifying a search area that includes a first subset of candidate systems and that corresponds to the last known location of the target device;determining an approximate amount of time that has passed since the target device was lost or stolen; andbased at least partially on the approximate amount of time that has passed, increasing a size of the search area such that the search area includes a second subset of candidate systems, the second subset at least including the first subset; receiving, from at least one of the one or more candidate systems, an identification signal that was sent from the target device to the at least one candidate system; and in response to receiving the identification signal from the at least one candidate system, initiating delivery of an active disable command to the target device, the active disable command being structured to be interpretable by the target device as a mandatory instruction to actively disable at least some functionality of the target device in a manner that persists across subsequent resets of the target device.