<< Cell phones may be nearly ubiquitous in today's world, but the number of people who have adopted proper cell phone etiquette (or gadget etiquette in general) often seems to be far smaller. Microsoft has filed for a patent (patent application 2008/125,102) on technology it feels could address such situations via the use of what the company refers to as a "digital manners policy," or DMP for short. The patent abstract states:

The present invention includes methods and technologies for defining and administering device manners policy ("DMP"), propagating DMP, reception and recognition of, and compliance with DMP. Such policy may be used to communicate to various mobile and other devices the "manners" with which compliance is expected or required. Similar to some of the social manners honored among people, such as with "no smoking" or "employees only" zones, "no swimming" or "no flash photography" areas, and scenarios for "please wash your hands" or "no talking out loud", devices may recognize and comply with analogous "device manners" policy. >>

<< The patent also notes that a digital manners policy could also be used in museums or locker rooms as a means of preventing photography, and could even potentially function as an additional layer of wireless security by preventing unapproved devices from even detecting the existence of a wireless network. >>

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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080611-microsoft-patent-brings-miss-manners-into-the-digital-age.html

Patent Application:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220080125102%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080125102&RS=DN/20080125102