Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
204580 1
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- METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTELY
PROGRAMMING A MOBILE DATA TELEPHONE SET
Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to pro~l~nlllhlg of mobile
5 telephone sets and, more particularly, to a method and a~lus for remotely
downloading Number Assignment Module (NAM) designation parameters into a
mobile data telephone set.
Back~round of the I~ ..lion
The use of cellular mobile telecomlllullications has undergone
10 substantial growth over the past few years. Due to a growing cll~tomt~r base, cellular
mobile telephone service providers and cellular mobile telephone service resellers
are faced with serving an increased number of new subscribers dem~n-ling
divel~irled cellular services which include voice and/or data co""u~ ication. Also, a
growing number of existing cellular mobile subscribers tend to switch back and forth
15 between various voice and data service providers depending on the marketing and
sales incentives offered by any one of such providers to newly signed-up cellular
mobile subscribers. The foregoing shifts and variations in customer - supplier and
customer - reseller relationships require progl~llmillg, as well as repro~ nllllillg, of
the cellular data telephone sets each time a customer subscriber desires a change.
Typically, cellular service providers require that any prospective
customer take the cellular telephone set, after purchasing it, to an authorized service
center for prog~m,llillg so that such telephone set becomes an authoriæd cellular
service user set. In the case of cellular service resellers, prospective subscribers are
often asked to send the telephone set, after purchasing it, to an authoriæd agent for
25 programming. In either case, the procedure is cumbersome and costly to the
customer, as well as to the provider or reseller, because delays are encountered prior
to the start of service. Therefore, there exists a need for a method and an appa~alus
for pro~ ml~ g mobile data telephone sets in a manner that quickly, reliably andcost-effectively provides voice and data service to new or existing customers.
30 Summary of the Invention
The foregoing need is met in an illustrative embodiment wherein a
method for pro~,l~llllling a mobile data telephone set comprises the steps of
establishing wireless bidirectional voice and data co"-",l-l-iration paths between the
mobile data telephone set and a control center; activating the telephone set to enable
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hr~n~mi~sion and reception of data to and from the conhrol center over the voiceco--"~ ic~tion path; receiving, over the voice co-"""l~-içation path, a set of
predetermined teleco"" - I-~ication service authorization coded signals allocated to
the telephone set; and storing in the telephone set the received service authorization
S coded signals.
In accordance with another embodiment, a remotely pro~ ulllllable
mobile data telephone set comprises means including a radio hransceiver and a
modem connected thereto for establishing wireless bidirectional voice and data
cu""~ l-ication paths between the mobile data telephone set and a conhrol center,
10 actuating means for selectively bridging the modem of the telephone set onto a voice
culllmullication path; means responsive to the actuating means for enabling the
modem to receive, over the voice co"""ui-içahnn path, a set of predetermint-d
service allthori7~tion signals allocated to the mobile data telephone set; and means
for storing in the mobile data telephone set the received service authorization
15 signals.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a method for remotely
authorizing teleco~-lnul-içation service to a mobile data telephone set from a control
center comprises the steps of establishing wireless bidirectional voice and datacu,l"llunication paths between the conhrol center and the mobile data telephone set
20 for hr~ncmitting and receiving data signals therebetween over the voice
conllllullication path; receiving, at the conhrol center, predetermined idenfifi~tion
indicia associated with the telephone set; and h-~n~mitting from the conh ol center,
over the voice co"-",llnication path in response to the received identificatinn indicia,
teleco,--",ll"ication service authorization coded signals allocated to the telephone set.
In accordance with a particular illushrative embodiment of the invention,
a mobile telephone set for hr~n~mitting and receiving voice and data signals over
cullllllunications channels includes a radio hransceiver, a modem connected to the
radio transceiver; actuating means for selectively bridging the modem onto a voice
colllmullication channel; means responsive to the actuating means for enabling the
30 modem into a data commllni~ation mode, via the hransceiver, over the voice
cn,--",llnication channel; means for receiving service allthori7~tion codes associated
with the mobile telephone set; and means for storing the received service
authorization codes.
20458~ 1
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Brief Description of the Drawin~
Further features and advantages of the present invention will become
apparent from the following detailed description taken together with the drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram r~l~,sGnt:~tion of a mobile data
telephone co~ ication configuration in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention; and
FM. 2 is a block diagram configuration of a mobile data telephone set in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.
10 Detailed Description
Shown in FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a mobile data
telephone c~-mm-lnication configuration which illustratively includes a mobile
telephone switching office (MTSO) 100 which is adapted to link a mobile data
telephone set 101 into a regional or nationwide telephone network (not shown). A15 cellular base station 102, coupled to the MTSO 100, via a bidirectional voice and
data co,~ "lniçation link 103, is arranged to be in radio frequency c~ """"niçati~n
with the mobile data telephone set 101 via a radio frequency antenn~ 104. Also
shown in schematic form, is a cellular co~ unications service provider center 105
adapted to be coupled to the MTSO 100 via another bidirectional voice and data link
20 106. The service provider center 105 includes, inter alia, a telephone private branch
exchange (PBX) 107, and a service attend~nt station 108 coupled to the PBX 107.
As shown, the mobile data telephone set 101 comprises a radio transceiver 109, abuilt-in modem 110, and a voice handset 111.
The principles and features of the present invention shall be hereafter
25 described in connection with FIG. 1. Upon the purchase or lease of the mobile data
telephone set 101, a prospective subscriber would be assigned by the vendor or
lessor a valid mobile telephone nulllbel which typically would include an area or
regional code number followed by a station number. In order for the subscriber to be
able to use the mobile data telephone set 101, a telephone service provider or
30 reseller, of the subscriber's choice, must auth~ ri7e such use by programming the set
101 so that it is identifiable within the cellular communications' network as anauthoriæd and le~itimate cellular mobile service subscriber/user. The pro~ ."" ,i ng
of the set 101 is achieved by having the subscriber dial, out of the set 101, a
predetermined service center number to first establish a voice and data
35 co~--",~ içation path with the cellular service provider center 105 via the radio
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antenn~ 104 and cellular base station 102, the bidirectional link 103, the MTSO 100
and the other bidirectional link 106. Once the voice and data c~ -ication path is
established between the telephone set 101 and the service provider center 105, the
subscriber/user can verbally, or by means of the telephone set dial, convey to an
5 opelalol located at the service ~ttendant station 108 any requested subscriber-specific
information. In accordance with an illustrative embodiment, the telephone set 101 is
equipped with a program activating key 112 adapted to bridge the modem 110
located within the telephone set 101, onto the then ;wl~ltly established voice
co--..--~ tion path with the cellular service center 105. In turn, the o~el~lor at the
10 attendant station 108 would bridge, via a modem, a data tr~n~mitter located at the
cellular service center onto the voice co------l-nication path. The foregoing in effect
couples the modem at the center 105 with the modem 110 of the mobile data
telephone set 101 so that the modems operate in the data mode. Next, the serviceOpeld~Ol can remotely enter information directly into a memory circuit of the mobile
15 data telephone set 101.
As mentioned above, the infullllation intended to be entered and stored
in the mobile data telephone set 101 is specific to the mobile subscriber owner or
lessee and to the desired service for such set. In cellular mobile co.~ ication
services, such information is referred to as Number A~signmtont Module (NAM)
20 designation p~lle~el~. A sample of such NAM 11esign~tions that can be remotely
downlo~de-l into the telephone set 101 are listed in the following table:
System Identific~tion 00022
Telephone Number 2013866366
Access Overload Class 06
Group Identifi-~tion 10
Initial Paging Channel 0334
Security Lock Code 6366
Local Use Flag
A/B System Selection
Min Mark Flag
For the above sample of NAM designation p~lle~l~, the total number
of characters needed to be ~ s--.i~l~d is ~ploxi~ tely 30 bytes in length, with each
NAM designation entry having a value in the range of 0 through 9. With the
addition of a special initial character, an ending character, and a 1 byte cyclic
35 redundancy check (CRC) coding segment, the total number of bytes is 33 or less in
most cases. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, a 7-bit ASCII code is used
2~58~:~
s
in the tr~n~mi~ion of the NAM designating parameters from the cellular service
provider center 105 to the mobile data telephone set 101. The download sequence
over a cellular voice channel begins with a start of download character "STX" (i.e.,
ASCII character 002 in octal code) which in(lic~ttqs to the software controller inside
5 the telephone set 101 to accept the subsequent 30 bytes as NAM ~esign~tion
parameters. An end of download character "ETX" (i.e., ASCII character 003 in octal
code) is next tr:~n~mitted to indicate that the tr~n~mi~sion of NAM ~ elel~ is now
complete, to check the CRC checksum of all the digits received and to store all the
NAM designation palalllelel~ in the permanent memory within the telephone set
10 101. A subsequent string of characters "EOT" (ASCII character 004 in octal code) is
indicative that the downloading is completed, and that the mobile data telephone set
may now start, or alternatively resume, cellular service operation and use.
Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown in functional block diagram
form, a mobile data telephone set 200 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of
15 the invention. The mobile data telephone set 200 comprises a radio transceiver
portion 201 which includes a radio frequency receiver/tr~n~mitter 202 coupled to an
antenna 203 and adapted to receive and transmit signals from and to a mobile base
station, e.g. a mobile cell site, or another mobile telephone. Coupled to the
receiver/tran~mitter 202, via a bidirectional message connection lead 204, is a
20 processor 205 capable of receiving and processing system message-type signals.
Also coupled to the receiver/tr~n~mittçr 202, via another bidirection~l lead 206, is a
processor 207 adapted to process data signals as well as audio signals originating or
received at the mobile data telephone 200. Audio and data signals present on lead
206 are those signals intended for and derived from the antenna 203.
Within the radio transceiver 201, a controller 208 is coupled to the
message processor 205 and the audio processor 207, via a control bus 209, which is
also coupled to the receiver/tran~mitter 202, and to a modem and modem controller
circuit 210. A handset interface circuit 211 interconnects the audio processor 207
and a telephone h~n~lset 212. In accordance with one illustrative embodiment,
interposed between the handset interface 211 and the radio transceiver 201 is a mode
switch 213, which in turn is coupled to the modem circuit 210. During the remoteprogramming, or NAM parameters downloading, of the telephone set 200, the mode
switch 213 diverts a stream of signals received at the ~ntenna 203 and present on
output lead 214 of the audio processor 207 to the modem circuit 210. In such case,
35 rather than receiving such signals and delivering them out to a modem user intçrface
216 (e.g., an EIA RS-232 port), the modem controller diverts the stream of signals,
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via the control bus 209, to the transceiver controller 208 where they are retained and
stored within a permanent memory circuit 215.
As mentioned in connection with the above illustrative embodiment, the
stream of signals comprises a STX character, approximately 30 bytes of NAM
5 infollllation, an ETX character and a checksum character. Upon receipt of thisstream of signals, the mobile data telephone 200 is pro~ led to respond back to
the cellular service provider center (105 in FIG. 1) by either tr~n~mitting an
acknowl~dgem~nt signal "ACK" (i.e., ASCII character 006 in octal code) or a
"NAK" signal (i.e., ASCII character 025 in octal code) in-lie~ting that an error- 10 occurred during tr~nsmi~ion and that the opela~ol at the cellular service provider
should reiniti~te the NAM hlfollllation downloading. Upon successfully completing
a downloading operation, the cellular service provider center transmits a series of
EOT characters which, when received at the mobile data telephone 200, cause the
modem 210 and mode switch 213 to revert to a voice mode thereby interconnecting
15 the handset 212 and its interface 211 to the audio processor 213. At this point, the
opel~lor at the cellular service provider center can verbally inform the telephone
subscriber that the mobile data telephone set 200 is now fully programmed and ready
to be used.
Although the present invention has been described in connection with
20 particular embodiments thereof, additional embodiments, modific~ions and
applications which will be ~palcnt to those skilled in the art are included within the
spirit and scope of the invention. For example, although the remote pro~l"~illg of
a mobile data telephone is described above with reference to cellular analog FM
channels, remote downloading of NAM designation parameters in Time Division
25 Multiple Access (TDMA) systems and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
systems may be readily achieved based on the above description. One way of
accompli~hing such downloading is to send the NAM information as user data,
which in essence is similar to sending data to a host colll~u~l on the public switched
telephone network over a digital cellular system. Another way of achieving such
30 NAM downloading is to first adopt a unique signaling m~ss~ge - similar to hand-off
requests, RF power adjllstm~onts, blank/burst, etc. - which the mobile data telephone
set responds to, and to have such mt-ss~ge defined and sent out by a cell site at the
request of the MTSO. Once a data path is established, the lc~ i ng operations and
steps are identical to those described above in connection with an analog cellular
35 system.
