Patent Application
20090165093
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-331083, filed Dec. 21, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
One embodiment of the present invention relates to an identification technology of a connected communication unit, and in particular, relates to an information processing apparatus and an identification control method capable of preventing the use of invalid communication units.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in general, information terminal apparatuses to which mobile phones can be connected are increasingly used. A technology is disclosed (see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-168574) by which identification information of mobile phones is held inside such information terminal apparatuses and identification information of a connected mobile phone is verified, and if the identification information does not match, the connected mobile phone is locked to restrict the use thereof.
However, the technology described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-168574 can only restrict the use of a mobile phone by locking the mobile phone when identification information verification does not match.
A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.
Various embodiments according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In general, according to one embodiment of the invention, an information processing apparatus includes: a cabinet; a first storage module contained in the cabinet; a communication unit which is detachably inserted into the cabinet, equipped with a second storage module, and used for connecting to a communication line; a verification module which verifies identification information of the communication unit stored in the first storage module against that of the communication unit stored in the second storage module after receiving an instruction of activation of the information processing apparatus; a limited processing module which performs determination processing by accessing a predetermined server unit through the communication unit via the communication line if the verification module determines that the identification information of the information processing apparatus and that of the communication unit do not match, performs processing to limit use of the information processing apparatus if the instruction of activation is determined to be an instruction from the predetermined server unit, performs verification of the identification information of a communication unit stored by the predetermined server unit against that of the communication unit if the instruction of activation is determined not to be an instruction from the predetermined server unit, and performs processing to limit activation of the information processing apparatus if use of the communication unit is determined to be not matching; and a registration module which registers with the predetermined server unit for use of the communication unit when verification is performed against the identification information of the communication unit stored in the predetermined server unit and the use of the communication unit is determined to be matching.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
First, the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The display unit 12 is mounted freely rotatably between an open position and a closed position on the computer main body 11. The computer main body 11 has a thin box-shaped cabinet and has a keyboard 13 on the upper surface thereof, a power button 14 for turning on/off the computer 10, an input operation panel 15, a touch pad 16, speakers 18A/18B, a DVD drive 112, and a SIM (subscriber identity module) card slot 20 housing a SIM card contained in a 3G module (communication unit which is to be described later) 200 arranged thereon.
The input operation panel 15 is an input unit for inputting an event corresponding to a pressed button, and a plurality buttons are provided to start each of a plurality of functions.
Next, the system configuration of the computer 10 will be described with reference to
As shown in
The speakers 18A/18B output a sound played by the computer 10.
The CPU 101 is a processor controlling operations of the computer 10 and executes an operating system and various kinds of applications loaded from the hard disk drive (HDD) 111 into the main memory 103. The CPU 101 also executes the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) stored in the BIOS-ROM 109. The BIOS is a program for hardware control.
The north bridge 102 is a bridge device connecting a local bus of the CPU 101 and the south bridge 104. The north bridge 102 also contains a memory controller controlling access to the main memory 103. In addition, the north bridge 102 has a function to perform communication with the GPU 105 via a serial bus of the PCI Express standard or the like.
The GPU 105 is a display controller controlling the LCD 17 used as a display monitor of the computer 10. A display signal generated by the GPU 105 is sent to the LCD 17.
The south bridge 104 controls each device on an LPC (Low Pin Count) bus and each device on a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus. The south bridge 104 also contains an IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) controller to control the HDD 111.
The embedded controller/keyboard controller IC (EC/KBC) 116 is a one-chip microcomputer in which an embedded controller for power management and a keyboard controller for controlling the keyboard (KB) 13 and the touch pad 16 are integrated. The embedded controller/keyboard controller IC (EC/KBC) 116 has a function to turn on/off the computer 10 in accordance with an operation of the power button 14 by a user.
Next, the main configuration of the computer 10 will be described with reference to the block diagram of
The 3 G module 200 is detachably contained in the computer 10. The BIOS-ROM 109 of the computer 10 holds the ID (identification information) of the connected 3G module (communication unit) 200 in an ID storage area (first storage module) 109a in advance.
The 3 G module 200 detachably contained in the computer 10 has an ID storage area (second storage module) 200b holding the ID (identification information) of a SIM card 200a and a SIM card 200a. The SIM card 200a performs communication with a server 202 of a contracted mobile phone operator via a communication line 201. The server 202 also has the ID of a 3 G module and that of the computer 10 using the registered 3 G module registered therewith being associated with each other. Further, the server 202 has a database (DB) 202a of customer information and predetermined members.
Next, a function performed by the BIOS-ROM will be described with reference to the block diagram in
The BIOS-ROM 109 includes a communication module 50, a registration module 51, a control module 53, and a storage module 52. The communication module 50 performs communication via a communication line of a 3 G communication operator. The registration module 51 registers the ID of the communication module 50 permitted after matching of ID verification for use with the server 202 of the 3 G communication operator via a communication line. The computer 10 to be used is also registered during the registration. The storage module 52 stores the ID of the communication module 50. The control module 53 checks the ID of the connected communication module 50 during activation or operation of the computer 10. That is, the ID of the communication module 50, which is stored by the computer 10 in advance, is verified against the ID of the connected communication module 50.
Next, an identification control method that utilizes an information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart in
After receiving an instruction to activate the computer 10 (Block S101), the BIOS-ROM (verification module, limited processing module) 109 reads the ID of the 3 G module 200 from the ID storage area 200b of the 3 G module 200 currently connected and further reads the ID of the 3 G module stored in advance and registered for use from the ID storage area 109a of the BIOS-ROM 109 of the computer 10 to verify these IDs (Block S102). If verification by the BIOS-ROM 109 shows that both IDs match, the computer 10 is normally activated (Block S103).
If, on the other hand, verification by the BIOS-ROM 109 shows that both IDs do not match (when, for example, after moving into a country, a 3 G module of the country is mounted for the first time), whether or not any instruction of activation has been sent (3 G Wake-up) from the server unit 202 accessible by the 3 G module 200 via the communication line 201 (Block S104). If the BIOS-ROM 109 determines that an activation instruction has been sent from the server unit 202 at Block S104 (Yes at Block S104), predetermined processing is performed (Block S105). The predetermined processing at this point includes, for example, “Lock the computer 10 so that the computer cannot be activated”, “Shut down the Computer 10”, “Permit only activation (booting)”, and “Activate the computer 100 normally”. Such processing can be set to the BIOS-ROM 109 or the like in advance.
If, on the other hand, if the BIOS-ROM 109 determines that no activation instruction has been sent from the server unit 202 at Block S104 (No at Block S104, for example, the power button 14 is pressed), the BIOS-ROM 109 accesses the server unit 202 via the communication line 201 to determine whether or not the connected 3 G module 200 is matching for use (Block S106, see the flowchart in
If, on the other hand, the BIOS-ROM 109 determines that the connected 3 G module 200 is matching for use, predetermined processing is performed (Block S108). The predetermined processing performed at this point is, for example, to update ID of the 3 G module 200 determined to be matching for connected use and that of the computer 10 to be used of IDs registered with the server unit 202 by overwriting the previous registration. Incidentally, the ID of the 3 G module 200 determined to be matching for connected use to the previous registration and that of the computer 10 to be used may be added. Also, processing at Block S S102, S104, and S106 may be performed after OS activation.
Processing when determining whether or not the connected 3 G module 200 is matching for use after the BIOS-ROM 109 accesses the server unit 202 via the communication line 201 at Block S106 is shown as a flowchart in
After receiving a request of ID verification from the BIOS-ROM 109 (Block S201), the server unit 202 searches the DB 202a of the server unit 202 and if the ID for which verification is requested is present (Yes at Block S202), predetermined processing is performed (Block S203). The predetermined processing performed at this point is like the processing at Block S108 described above.
At Block S202, a list of IDs permitted for registration to use the 3 G module 200 (white list) and a list of IDs not permitted for registration to use the 3 G module 200 (black list) are used. Also, determinations can be made about the following items. Whether or not a SIM card is registered by subscribing to the same service as a predetermined service (provided by a communication operator of the 3 G module 200) to which a user of the 3 G module 200 is subscribing is determined. Further, use of IDs such as “ID of an owner of a SIM card”, “ID of a member registered for the same service”, and “ID of another user” can be set to be usable or not usable. Determination of those IDs is performed using the registration information registered at DB 202a of the server apparatus 202.
In the processing at Block S107, the ID of the simply connected 3 G module may not be registered or may be registered in a black list. Further, when the ID of an old 3 G module is deleted at Block S107, the ID of the old 3 G module 200 may temporarily be stored so that when the same 3 G module 200 is inserted into the same computer 10 next time, the 3 G module 200 can be permitted to be registered for use without communication to the server unit 202 as a previously registered communication module.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus that can be used by registering identification information of a replaced communication unit, in addition to identification information of a connected communication unit being pre-registered, and an identification control method.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, if verification of identification information of the connected communication unit matches, registration with a connected server can easily be performed for use. Further, in addition to registered communication modules, a communication module replaced by a user can safely and automatically be registered, realizing both convenience and safety.
Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. The present invention can be embodied in an implementation phase by changing components thereof without departing from the spirit thereof.
Also, by properly combining a plurality of components disclosed by the above embodiment, various inventions can be formed. For example, some components may be eliminated from all components shown in the embodiment. Further, components from different embodiments may properly be combined.
While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-331083 | Dec 2007 | JP | national |
