Patent Application
20080090520
Specific exemplary embodiments of the invention now will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. The terminology used in the detailed description of the particular exemplary embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings is not intended to be limiting of the invention. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “comprises,” “including” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein may include wirelessly connected or coupled. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
Some embodiments and examples herein are presented using near-field-communication (NFC) as an interface supporting close-range communication. NFC, as defined by the NFC forum and standards ISO/IEC 14443, uses a low-frequency 13.56 MHz carrier and magnetic coupling to transfer data. NFC can be operative in a variety of modes. In one NFC mode, one device may remain passive. In this mode, the passive device (e.g. NFC tag) is powered by the magnetic field induced by the other device (e.g. reader/writer). An NFC device operating in passive mode within a portable device has significant advantages in terms of power savings since the NFC transceiver uses no power in its standby mode. Low frequency communication, such as defined above, can be typically limited in range to a few inches. This can be considered an advantage in many contexts as there is an inherent security associated with the close range.
Although NFC close-range communication methods are presented in significant detail, other close range technologies can be used within the scope and spirit of this invention. For example, low-power radio frequency (RF) communications and/or infrared communications can be used. The power advantages of NFC over the alternate technologies, however, render NFC as an ideal non-limiting example of close-range communication in the context herein.
Some embodiments of the invention nay arise from the recognition that where a mobile terminal includes a short-range receiver, determining when a short-range communication function should be enabled can be cumbersome and/or can consume power thereby reducing battery life of the mobile terminal. Accordingly, some embodiments use near-field-communication (NFC) to enable a short-range communication link. A mobile terminal can be configured to include a mobile NFC transceiver and a mobile short-range communication transceiver. A network can include a network NFC transceiver configured to provide access data to the mobile NFC transceiver. The network can further include a network short-range transceiver configured to communicate with the mobile short-range transceiver using the access data provided through the NFC. In this manner, the mobile short-range function is enabled using access data received from the network through the NFC.
Systems and methods according to some embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the block diagram of
The network 150 can be a public network provided for the use of visitors, customers, employees, and/or clients. The network 150 of some embodiments may be a private network configured to be accessed by and/or to serve specific system clients, such as employees, for example. In some embodiments, the network 150 may include connections to a local-area-network (LAN) and/or a wide-area-network (WAN).
The network NFC transceiver 152 can be configured to exchange data with the mobile NFC transceiver 102 and to transmit access data to the mobile NFC transceiver 102 in response to that data exchange. In some embodiments, the network NFC transceiver 152 may be a stand-alone device that is communicatively isolated from other components of the network 150 and/or may unidirectionally communicate data to the mobile NFC transceiver 102. The access data can be used by the short-range transceiver 104 to establish a short-range communication link to the network 150 through a wireless access point 154.
The access data is received by the mobile NFC transceiver 102 and sent to the mobile short-range transceiver 104. The access data can include information that identifies an identity of the wireless access point 154, its availability, and conditions/terms of the availability. The conditions/terms of availability identified by the access data may include cost information to allow a mobile terminal user to purchase access to the network 150. The access data information may identify a network address such as, an internet protocol (IP) address and/or a media access control (MAC) address to be used by the mobile short-range transceiver 104 to establish communications with the wireless access point 154. In some further embodiments, the access data information can include authentication and/or validation data for a user to access a private network through the wireless access point 154.
In some embodiments, the mobile short-range transceiver 104 can be activated (e.g. powered on) in response to receiving access data through the mobile NFC transceiver 102. Accordingly, the access data can be used by the mobile short-range transceiver 104 to activate, detect, communicate with, and/or log onto the network 150 through the wireless access point 154. In this manner, the mobile terminal 100 can minimize power consumption until triggered by the access data to utilize the resources provided through the network 150, and related components, peripherals, and/or systems.
Reference is now made to
In some embodiments, the network NFC transceiver 152 can transmit other information to the network processor 156, such as mobile terminal identification information, user account information, and/or payment information. In some embodiments, the routing data and/or other information can be transmitted from the mobile terminal 100 to the network 150 via the mobile short-range transceiver 104 and the wireless access point 154.
Methods/systems for managing mobile communications in a mobile terminal according to some embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the block diagram of
The routing data can be used by the telecommunication network 160 to route and/or reroute communications, such as telephone calls and/or data transmissions, to the mobile terminal 100 through the wireless access point 154 and the short-range receiver 104. In this manner, the mobile terminal 100 can take advantage of potential cost and/or signal quality benefits that may be available compared to using the long-range transceiver 106. In the case of a private network, the rerouting of incoming and outgoing communications to and from the mobile terminal may result in preferential service properties such as pricing, quality of service, etc. For example, a user may have an NFC transceiver in a residential setting that reroutes communications through a home network when the user is at home.
Reference is now made to
In use and operation of the some embodiments herein, a user may swipe a client mobile terminal 220 in close proximity to a NFC device 202 in a coverage area 206. The client mobile terminal 220 can access the enterprise network 200 via the WAP 204 in that coverage zone 206. The network resources 210 in that coverage area can be allocated for any client mobile terminal 220 operations that occur while the user is in that specific coverage zone 206. If the user moves to another coverage zone 206, the communications with the enterprise network 200 can be continued and/or resumed using a different WAP 204 and different network resources 210 can be allocated.
Reference is now made to
Using the access data, a short-range communication link is initiated between the mobile terminal and the LAN (block 304). The short-range communication link can be used by the mobile terminal to access the LAN and/or other resources connected to and/or by the LAN. For example, the short-range communication link can be used by the mobile terminal to access the internet or other external resources linked to the LAN. The short-range communication link can also be used to transmit routing and/or rerouting data for incoming communications to the mobile terminal. The routing data can be transmitted to a telecommunication network (block 306). For example, if the mobile terminal includes a cellular telephone, the rerouting data can be used to direct incoming calls through the LAN via the short-range communication link instead of using the long-range transceiver that can be typical of cellular communications. Additionally, the short-range communication link can be used to exchange authentication information, account information, and/or payment information between the mobile terminal and the LAN.
Reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
In some embodiments, the short-range communication can be updated to a different short-range transceiver that may be part of the same or a different network. This can occur when a user enables the new short-range wireless connection by accessing a network NFC transceiver. In some embodiments, the short-range communication can be transferred to different short-range transceivers within the same network without accessing another network NFC transceiver. For example, the enabling performed using an NFC (block 340) can include exchanging data that includes network short-range transceiver address information for several and/or all of the available short-range transceivers in the network.
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, circuit or communication system. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects, all generally referred to herein as a “circuit.”
Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java®, Smalltalk or C++, a conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language, or lower-level code, such as assembly language and/or microcode. The program code may execute entirely on a single processor and/or across multiple processors, as a stand-alone software package or as part of another software package.
The present invention is described above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block and/or flow diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart and/or block and/or flow diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable processor to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processor to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable processor to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable processor provide steps for implementing the functions or acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined by the following claims.
