Selective Mobile Communication in Socially Sensitive Environments

In certain environments, the use of mobile phones must be curtailed for the sake of security or out of respect for others. We present a novel method for selectively controlling mobile phone services in such areas using a base station controller and a sequence of detection steps to identify when the mobile device is within the coverage area. A prototype for the method has been developed using commercial off-the-shelf and custom designed hardware and software subsystems. Key components in the prototype system are two directional antennas located at the entry to the controlled area with one antenna facing outwards and the other inwards. By using the proposed detection method, the base station controller is able to detect when a mobile station enters or leaves the controlled area. Experiments using a variety of detection sequences by the two directional antennas and associated white- and blacklists of allowable and disallowed devices, respectively, confirm that the prototype system is able to effectively control the use of mobile devices within the coverage area.