Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1 - 2045057
REMOTE PROGRAMMING OF A RADIOTELEPHONE
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of
communications and particularly to cellular radiotelephones.
B~k~round of the Invention
A radiotelephone has two unique numbers ~si~ned to
it to identify that particular unit to the cellular carrier: a
15 telephone number and an Electronic Serial Number (ESN).
The radiotelephone must be programmed with the telephone
number prior to use and can be reprogrammed later. The
ESN is programmed when the unit is manufactured and
typically stays with that particular unit throughout its service
a~ life.
In order to assign a telephone number to the
radiotelephone, the cellular radiotelephone carrier must
know the radiotelephone's ESN. Since both the ESN and the
telephone number are transmitted to the carrier when the
25 radiotelephone requests service, the radiotelephone will not be
allowed access to the cellular system if the telephone number
does not correspond to the correct ESN.
When the telephone number is programmed into the
radiotelephone, the programmer tells the carrier the ESN and
30 the carrier responds with the new telephone number ?~ssi~ned
to that ESN. This progr~mming process can cause problems.
If the programmer _isreads the ESN while informing the
carrier or if the carrier copies it incorrectly, the
radiotelephone will be denied access to the cellular system
'~'
204~057
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since the telephone number and ESN stored in the
radiotelephone will not match the nllmbers in the carrier's
data base. Additionally, access can be denied if the telephone
number is programmed incorrectly. There is a resulting need
5 for a more reliable method of progr~mming a telephone
number into a radiotelephone.
Sllmm~ry of the Invention
The present invention enables the progr~mming of a
radiotelephone from a remote location. The present invention
is co,~ ised of a computer coupled to a data transceiving
device such as a modem. The data transceiving device
couples the computer to the telephone lines. The
15 radiotelephone to be programmed is coupled to an interface
box that couples the radiotelephone to the telephone lines. The
computer can communicate with the radiotelephone to be
programmed through the telephone lines.
The present invention en~bles point of sale (POS)
20 progr~mming of the radiotelephone's telephone number, the
system ID of the system in which the radiotelephone will be
used, the unlock code, radio diagnostics, and other data. The
computer, located at the carrier, interrogates either the POS
operator or the radiotelephone, depending on the information
25 needed. The POS operator responds using a telephone keypad
while the radiotelephone responds automatically, acting like a
peripheral of the computer. Using the present invention, the
carrier's computer can read the radiotelephone's ESN and
program the new telephone number automatically,
30 substantially reducing or eliminating errors made during
manual progriqmming.
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Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the present
invention.
Figures 2A and 2B show a flow chart of the procedure
used by the interface box.
Figures 3A and 3B show a flow chart of the procedure
followed by the base computer.
Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the interface box.
Figure 5 shows an alternate embodiment of the present
invention using RF tr~nsmission for progr~mming the
radiotelephone.
Figure 6 shows an alternate embodiment of the present
invention using the cellular system to program the
radiotelephone.
Figure 7 shows an alternate embodiment of the present
invention using DTMF to progr~m the radiotelephone.
T)etailed Descril~tion of the P~efelled Emhodiment
ao
The present invention provides progr~mming of a
radiotelephone from a remote location, such as the cellular
carrier. By allowing the carrier to communicate with and
program the radiotelephone over telephone lines or the
cellular system, the chance for error is substantially reduced.
The point of sale (POS) progr~mming network,
illustrated in Figure 1, is comprised of a computer (102) and
modem (103) located at the cellular carrier's location. The
co l~uler (102), hereinafter referred to as the base, has
digitized voice comm~nll~ stored on its disk. These
comm~n-l~ are sent over the telephone lines or cellular system
at the appropriate time to request information from the POS
operator. The modem (103) couples the computer (102), via the
telephone lines, to the progr~mmer's location. If the
radiotelephone is progr?.mme-1 through the telephone line, the
20~0~7
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telephone line is interfaced to the radiotelephone (104) being
programmed by a POS interface box (100).
The POS interface box (100), illustrated in Figure 4, is
comprised of a telephone interface (401), modem (402), and bus
6 interface (404) coupled to a microprocessor (403). The
telephone interface (401) couples the outside telephone lines
and a telephone (101) to the interface box (100). The telephone
(101), having an integral keypad, is used to respond to certain
requests for information by the base. The bus interface (404) is
10 a three-wire bus interface that couples the radiotelephone
(104) being programmed to the interface box (100). For more
information on the three-wire bus interface, see Kowalski,
U.S. Patent No.4,654,655, Byrns U.S. Patent No. 4,369,516, and
Wilson et al., U.S. Patent No. 4,616,314, all ~signed to
15 Motorola, Inc.
The progr~mming procedure followed by the base
computer (102) is illustrated in Figures 3A and 3B. The base
first checks for an incoming call (301) from a POS
progr~mming location. Once the call is established, the base
ao requests a hardware identification number (302) from the POS
interface box. Each interface box has a unique ID number
assigned to it to ~evellt unauthorized access to the base
computer. If the interface box responds with an invalid ID
number (303), the progr~mming procedure ends without
25 allowing the radiotelephone to be programmed. The base then
requests the customer's credit information (304). This can
consist of a credit card or other financial information used for
billing and verification of the customer's identity. The base
next verifies the credit information with a credit validation
30 service and receives a validation code (306).
If the code is valid, the base prompts the POS operator
for the security code and unlock code (306) that the customer
wants ~ssigned and programmed into the radiotelephone.
The unlock code is a sequence of digits that must be input to
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allow operation of the radiotelephone if it has been previously
locked. The security code i8 another sequence of digits that
must be input by the cll~tomer whenever certain features of
the radiotelephone, such as the unlock code, are changed.
The base next prompts the POS operator for the system
irlsnt;fic~t;on number (307). The POS operator then responds
with the system ID of the system in which the customer has
chosen to operate. This system ID will be different for each
carrier. For example, in the Chicago area, Ameritech Mobile
Communications has a system ID of 20 and Cellular One has
a system ID of 1.
If the system ID is a valid number (308), the base next
reads the radiotelephone's Number A~sienment Module
(NAM) data from the radiotelephone (309). The NAM data
contains the system ID number, security codes, station class
mark, and group ID mark in addition to the telephone
number assigned to that particular radiotelephone. Once the
base has the NAM data, it searches its data base for a new
telephone number to be ~siene-l to the radiotelephone (310).
ao The base then reads the ESN from the radiotelephone (311).
The ESN is encrypted, using a conventional encryption
routine, by the interface box before being sent over the
telephone lines. This will l~revel,t unauthorized access to the
customer's telephone number. The ESN read will now be
associated with the new telephone nllmber. The NAM data is
~p~3~ted (312) with the new telephone number and
programmed into the radiotelephone. To complete the
progr~mmine, the base reads the NAM data again (313) to
verify proper progr~mming.
The procedure followed by the interface box is
illustrated in Figures 2A and 2B. The microprocessor initially
checks for an offhook signal from the telephone (201)
indicating that the POS operator is c~llin~ the base computer.
If the telephone is off hook, the procedure waits until a carrier
- 6 - 204~0~7
(202) from the base is detected by the modem. Once the carrier
is detected, contact with the base has been est~blished and the
microprocessor waits for a message from the base.
An incoming message is checked to determine if it is
one of the mess~ges allowed by the progr~mming procedure
(203). Once it i8 determined that the meSsAge is within this
range of messages, the procedure determines what the
m9SS~Fe i8 and how to respond. If the base requests the
interface box ID number (204), the interface box responds. If
the base requests the customer's credit information (205),
system ID (207), unlock code (207), security code (207), or to
power up (206) or down (208) the radiotelephone, the POS
operator is prompted by voice comm~n~l over the telephone
and can respond by either plmchin~ in the data on the
telephone's keypad or pulling a credit card through a card
reader. If the base requests radiotelephone data such as the
NAM data or ESN, this request is passed on to the
radiotelephone which then responds to the base.
In addition to progr~mming a radiotelephone, the
ao present invention enables a technician at a remote site to
troubleshoot a defective radiotelephone. The technician can
determine the radiotelephone's condition by requesting the
radiotelephone to respond with failure codes stored within the
radiotelephone.
While the preferred embodiment of the present
invention uses a telephone's integral keypad to respond to base
comm~nds, an alternate embodiment uses the keypad
integral to the radiotelephone being programmed. Another
alternate embodiment, illustrated in Figure 5, uses an RF link
(501 and 502) between the base colllp~lter (102) and the POS
interface box (100) instead of the telephone line link using the
modem. Yet another alternate embodiment would allow
progr~mming of the radiotelephone over the cellular system.
In this embodiment, illustrated in Figure 6, the POS interface
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box C;lC~ can be built into the radiotelephone (601). In
another alternate embodiment, illustrated in Figure 7, the
modem of the preferred embodiment is replaced by a DTMF
encoder/decoder (703) and the interface box (700) contains a
5 DTMF encoder/decoder in place of the modem allowing the
radiotelephone (104) to be programmed using DTMF.
In sllmm~ry, the present invention provides remote
progr~qmming of a radiotelephone. This reduces or elimin~tes
the errors that commonly occur during manual
10 progr~mming. An additional benefit is that the present
invention allows a customer to use the radiotelephone
immediately after purchase instead of waiting to have the unit
progr~mmed in a different location.
