The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.
Described hereinafter are an apparatus and method for preventing the retrieving of a multimedia message when a subscriber identification module is altered in a mobile communication terminal. Here, the subscriber identification module denotes all modules including Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) and Universal Subscriber Identification Modules (USIM) in which user data is recorded. Hereinafter, the SIM will be described according to the present invention.
Referring to
The SIM card 202, which is detachable from the mobile communication terminal, has a microprocessor and a memory chip for storing the subscriber data, and especially for performing the function of outputting the stored telephone number to the controller 200.
After receiving the current telephone number of the SIM card 202 and the telephone number stored in the storage unit 206 through the controller 200, the SIM card comparing unit 204 compares the two telephone numbers and sends the result of whether one telephone number corresponds with the other to the controller 200.
The storage unit 206 stores the telephone number sent from the controller 200 according to the present invention.
The display unit 208 displays a limited number of characters or status information caused by the operation of the mobile communication terminal. In particular, the display unit 208 displays a message notifying that a user does not have authority to receive the MMS message under control of the controller 200.
The input unit 210, having many function keys, sends data corresponding to the key inputted by the user to the controller 200.
The communication module 212 transmits and receives radio signals of data received and transmitted via an antenna 214. For example, when transmitting, the communication module 212 channel-codes and spreads data to be transmitted, converts baseband signals into Radio Frequency (RF) signals, and transmits the RF signal via the antenna. Alternatively, when receiving, the communication module 212 converts received RF signals into baseband signals, de-spreads and channel-decodes the baseband signals to recover corresponding data.
Referring to
Thereafter, in step 305 the mobile communication terminal checks whether the event for receiving the multimedia message by a user's key operation occurs. At the moment when the event for receiving the multimedia message occurs, the mobile communication terminal checks the current telephone number in the SIM card 202 installed in the mobile communication terminal in step 307.
Then, in step 309 the mobile communication terminal checks whether the SIM card is altered by comparing the current telephone number in SIM card 202 with the telephone number stored in the storage unit 206. In other words, the mobile communication terminal checks whether the SIM card installed in the mobile communication terminal is altered from the time the MMS notification message is received to when the event for receiving the multimedia message occurs.
When the SIM card is not altered, the mobile communication terminal performs MMS retrieval to receive the multimedia message in step 311. When the SIM card 202 is altered, the mobile communication terminal notifies the user that the user does not have authority to receive the multimedia message and terminates the algorithm according to the present invention in step 313.
As described above, by determining whether to retrieve the multimedia message after checking if the SIM card is altered, the present: invention can prevent an unauthorized mobile communication terminal from connecting to the network unnecessarily and remove overhead caused by server authentication. Also, without connecting to the network, the present invention is able to provide a user with quick response by informing the user that the user is not authorized to receive the multimedia message.
In the above description, it is determined by using the telephone number in the SIM card whether the SIM card is altered. Also it can be determined by using other user data recorded in the SIM card.
While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-0052834 | Jun 2006 | KR | national |