1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mobile communication apparatus and, more particularly, to a mobile communication apparatus having anti-theft and auto-notification functions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the continuous development of technology, mobile communication apparatuses have become more and more multi-functional and expensive. When users lose their mobile communication apparatuses, it will cause them a lot of inconvenience and financial lost.
The mobile communication apparatus has a unique international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) to identification. When the mobile communication apparatus is lost, the position of the lost mobile communication apparatus can be traced via the IMEI-trace procedure provided by the TSP (Telecom service provider). However, if the original SIM (Subscriber identification module) card of the lost mobile communication apparatus is replaced, the TSP for the original SIM card will not be able to trace the position of the mobile communication apparatus via the IMEI-trace procedure. The owner can still find the position of the mobile communication apparatus by asking all the TSPs to perform the IMEI-trace procedure, but it is too expensive. However, if the lost mobile communication apparatus is taken overseas, it is impossible to find it back.
Some well-known mobile communication apparatus has GPS (global position system) facility installed, and the position of the lost mobile communication apparatus can be traced via the GPS. However, the cost of installing GPS facility is too high to aim the GPS facility at finding the lost mobile communication apparatus.
Some mobile communication apparatus of the prior art has some security function. For example, each SIM card has a PIN (personal identification number) as a password, and each mobile communication apparatus has several kinds of security codes for preventing the lost mobile communication apparatus from being misused and/or preventing the important information stored inside from being stolen. However, it will be impossible for the owner to find the lost mobile communication apparatus via the mentioned security function.
In the mobile communication apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,023, if it is not normally started (e.g. the wrong security code is entered), it will display the information about the owner of the mobile communication apparatus on the interface. Besides, the owner can also use remote control, such as short messages, to control the security settings of the lost mobile communication apparatus. However, if the SIM card of the lost mobile communication apparatus is replaced, the owner will have no idea about the new phone number of the lost mobile communication apparatus so that it is impossible for the owner to send the short messages to the lost mobile communication apparatus for security settings. Namely, the remote control function cannot be performed.
Hence, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication apparatus which has anti-theft and auto-notification functions to solve the above problems.
One objective of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication apparatus that has anti-theft and auto-notification functions and a method of signal detection and notification for the apparatus that can help the owner find the lost mobile communication apparatus.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication apparatus that has anti-theft and auto-notification functions; it also provides a method of signal detection and notification for the apparatus that can retrieve and send information about the user of the new substitute SIM card to the original owner when the mobile communication apparatus is lost and the SIM card of the mobile communication apparatus is replaced. The original owner can use the new communication number to set and trace the lost mobile communication apparatus.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication apparatus that has anti-theft and auto-notification functions; it also provides a method of signal detection and notification for the apparatus that can start the security functions to protect the original owner's personal data and to further send that personal data to the original owner.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication apparatus that has anti-theft and auto-notification functions and a method for information security for the apparatus that can make the original owner remotely change the security setting when the mobile communication apparatus is lost.
The mobile communication apparatus of the present invention that has anti-theft and auto-notification functions comprises a first SIM card, a transmission control circuit, and an anti-theft control circuit. The first SIM card is configured to be engaged with the mobile communication apparatus, and it has a corresponding first international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI). The transmission control circuit is used to send data or/and signal.
The anti-theft control circuit comprises a SIM-card-detection module and a subscriber information management module. The SIM-card-detection module is used to detect whether the first SIM card (i.e. the original SIM card) is replaced by a second SIM card (i.e. the substitute SIM card), and to generates a corresponding detection result. The subscriber information management module is used to store the corresponding first IMSI code of the first SIM card and contact information. When the SIM-card-detection module generates the detection result, the transmission control circuit will send a notice signal to the original owner according to the contact information stored in the subscriber information management module.
The mobile communication apparatus of the present invention that has anti-theft and auto-notification functions also comprises a security module. The security module comprises/provides a plurality of data security classes for setting and stores a third security code for protecting the data in the user's (original owner's) personal database correspondingly. When the transmission control circuit receives a remote message, the security module will determine whether the remote message is a predetermined legitimate remote control message according to the third security code. If YES, the data in the user's personal database is protected correspondingly by performing a data security procedure according to the remote control message.
The method of the present invention for signal detection and notification applied in a mobile communication apparatus comprises the following steps. To begin with, a first SIM card is provided to be coupled to the mobile communication apparatus, and the first SIM card comprises a corresponding first international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) code. Next, the fist IMSI code corresponding to the first SIM card and predetermined contact information are stored in the mobile communication apparatus. Then, it is detected whether the first SIM card is replaced by a second SIM card, and a corresponding detection result is generated. If a detection result is generated by the SIM-card-detection module, a notice signal will be sent to the user (the original owner) according to the predetermined contact information.
The method of the present invention applied in a mobile communication apparatus comprises the following steps. A plurality of data security classes are provided in the mobile communication apparatus for setting, and a third security code is provided for protecting the data in the user's (original owner's) personal database correspondingly. When a remote message is received by the mobile communication apparatus, the remote message is examined by using the third security code. After the remote message is confirmed to be the predetermined legitimate remote control message, the data in the user's personal database is protected correspondingly by performing a data security procedure according to the remote message.
Hence, the present invention is provided not only to effectively secure/protect the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus when the mobile communication is lost, but also to remotely control the setting of the lost mobile communication apparatus. Besides, when the original SIM card is replaced, user information of the substitute SIM card can be sent to the original owner via various transmission methods so that the original owner can continuously trace and set the lost mobile communication apparatus by using a new communication number provided in that user information. This helps the original owner to find back the lost mobile communication apparatus.
The advantage and spirit of the invention could be better understood by the following recitations together with the appended drawings.
Please refer to
The first SIM card 12 is coupled to the mobile communication apparatus 10, and it comprises a corresponding first international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) code 18 and a corresponding first phone number 52. The first SIM card 12 is placed in the mobile communication apparatus 10 and is connected with the communication circuit 17. The communication circuit 17 is configured to form a communication linkage. The transmission control circuit 16 is configured to transfer data and/or signal.
The SIM-card-detection module 20 is configured to detect whether the first SIM card 12 is replaced by the second SIM card 13, and to generate a corresponding detection result. The SIM-card-detection module 20 comprises a detector 26 and a comparator 28. The subscriber information management module is used to store the first international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) code 18 corresponding to the first SIM card 12 and to store a predetermined contact information 34.
Please refer to
The second SIM card 13 has a corresponding second phone number 42, and the notice signal 36 comprises the corresponding second phone number 42 of the second SIM card 13, wherein the second telephone number 42 further comprises a country code 38 and an operator code 40. Suppose the second phone number 42 is “+886928xxxx”, then the country code 38 is “+886” which represents Taiwan; the operator code 40 is “928” which represents Chung-Hwa Telecom, a communication service provider in Taiwan. Particularly, when the TSP of the second SIM card 13 and that of the first SIM card 12 are in the same country, the second phone number 42 may not show the country code 38.
Please refer to
If the mobile communication apparatus 10 is lost and the first SIM card 12 is replaced by the second SIM card 13, the mobile communication apparatus 10 will send a short message having the notice signal 36 automatically added by the TSP of the second SIM card 13 to the original owner according to the predetermined contact information designated by the owner, such as a telephone number and/or an e-mail address. In other words, when the original owner receives the phone call and/or the e-mail, the owner will know the related information of the second SIM card 13. Therefore, the original owner can trace the mobile communication apparatus 10 by that information.
As shown in
In some embodiment of the invention, when the mobile communication apparatus 10 is lost and the first SIM card 12 of the mobile communication apparatus 10 is replaced by the second SIM card 13, the SIM-card-detection module 20 will detect the replacement, and then the transmission control circuit 16 will send an e-mail according to the e-mail address 54 and will also transmit the data in the user's personal database 44 to the e-mail address 54 to be received by the computer system for storing. Therefore, even if the original owner cannot find back the lost mobile communication apparatus 10, the original owner can get back the phonebook records, schedule records etc in the user's personal database 44 stored in the lost mobile communication apparatus 10 via the mentioned data transmission.
In some embodiment of the invention, the predetermined contact information is the first phone number 52. When the SIM-card-detection module 20 generates the detection result 32 and transmits the detection result 32 to the security module 24, the security module 24 will notify the transmission control circuit 16. The transmission control circuit 16 will dial the first phone number 52 via the communication circuit 17, and the notice signal 36 will be automatically sent via the TSP. The notice signal 36 includes a second phone number 42. The second phone number 42 further comprises the country code 38 and the operator code 40. However, the user can disable the function of sending phone number for hiding the second phone number 42 while using the mobile communication apparatus 10. Under this situation, the security module 24 will enable/activate the function of sending phone number first, and then notify the transmission control circuit 16 to dial the first phone number 52 via the communication circuit 17, so as to send out the notice signal 36 that includes the second phone number 42.
When a subscriber (i.e. the original owner) wants to edit and/or to modify the predetermined contact information 34 in the subscriber information management module 22, a first security code must be correctly inputted. The first security code 56 is set by the subscriber and is stored in advance in the mobile communication apparatus 10. After the input first security code 56 is confirmed to be correct, the corresponding IMSI code of the SIM card currently coupled to the mobile communication apparatus 10 will be stored in the subscriber information management module 22.
The security module 24 has a plurality of data security classes for setting. When a subscriber (i.e. the original owner) wants to set and/or to modify the data security class of the mobile communication apparatus 10, a second security code 58 must be correctly inputted. Only when the input second security code is confirmed to be correct, the subscriber is allowed to set and/or to modify the data security class of the mobile communication apparatus 10. Besides, the user can disable the function of the anti-theft control circuit 14 by entering the second security code 58. In some embodiment of the present invention, the security module 24 provides four data security classes for user (i.e. subscriber) selection and setting. The four data security classes and their corresponding security actions are listed in table 1.
In some embodiment of the present invention, when the data security class of the mobile communication apparatus 10 is set to be Class 3 and is activated, all of the data in the user's personal database will be transmitted to the original owner. The data in the phonebook database 46 is packaged in the form of a virtual business card (vCard) for transmission, while the data in the schedule database 48 is packaged in the form of a virtual calendar (vCalendar) for transmission. In other words, when the data security class 3 is activated, the owner will receive the data in the form of a vCard, a vCalendar and e-mails, and can easily store the vCard, the vCalendar, and the e-mails (i.e. the data) into another mobile communication apparatus, such as a mobile phone, or other electronic apparatus, such as a personal computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
When the security module 24 receives the detection result 32, a data security procedure in the data security module 24 is activated, and the user's personal database 44 is protected and secured according to the set data security class. After sending out the notice signal 36, the security module 24 will wait for a confirmation signal for confirming that the notice signal 36 has been successfully transmitted to the predetermined contact information 34. If the security module 24 does not receive the confirmation signal in a predetermined period, it will send out the notice signal 36 again until the confirmation signal is received.
During and after the transmission control circuit 16 transmits the data in the user's personal database 44 to the predetermined contact information 34, the security module 24 will avoid displaying any information related to that data transmission. Furthermore, it will delete all of the records related to that data transmission. Similarly, no information related to the notice signal transmission and the confirmation signal reception will be displayed and recorded.
When the mobile communication apparatus 10 is lost, the data in the user's personal database 44 of the mobile communication apparatus 10 not only can be sent back to the original owner, but also any information related to that data transmission will not be displayed or I recorded, neither the notice signal transmission and the confirmation signal reception. Namely, the data security procedure, including the notice signal transmission, data locking, encryption and transmission, is performed in secret. Therefore, even if the lost mobile communication apparatus 10 is taken by others, the performing of the data security procedure will not be known. Furthermore, by applying the functions of signal detection and notification mentioned above, it is more possible for the original owner to find back the lost mobile communication apparatus 10.
As shown in
The data transmission module 62 will select a corresponding data transmission application program according to the selected transmission carrier for the data transmission. In the embodiment shown in
The invention also provides a method for signal detection and notification to be applied in a mobile communication apparatus. The mobile communication apparatus is coupled to the first SIM card, and stores a first IMSI corresponding to the first SIM card and predetermined contact information. In the signal detection and notification method for the mobile communication apparatus of the invention, it will be detected whether the first SIM card is replaced by the second SIM card, and a corresponding detection result will be generated. Then, a short message having the notice signal automatically added by the TSP is sent to the predetermined contact information.
Please refer to
Step 100: Detecting the second SIM card 13 currently engaged with the mobile communication apparatus 10, and then obtaining a corresponding second IMSI 30.
Step 102: Comparing the second IMSI 30 with the first IMSI 18 stored in the subscriber information management module 22 to identify whether the second IMSI 30 and the first IMSI 18 are the same. If yes, go to step 108; if not, go to step 104.
Step 104: Generating detection result 32 which represents the second IMSI 30 is different from the IMSI 18.
Step 106: Sending the notice signal 36 to the predetermined contact information 34.
Step 108: End.
Please refer to
The remote message 68 is sent by a remote electronic apparatus (not shown). The electronic apparatus comprises an interface program to receive an inputted fourth security code, and the electronic apparatus will use the fourth security code to compile and/or encode the remote message 68 to be the predetermined legitimate remote control message. After receiving the remote message 68, the security module 24 will use the stored third security code 66 to decompile/decode the remote message 68. If the fourth security code (not shown) and the third security code 66 are the same, the remote message 68 can be successfully decoded and be identified to be the predetermined legal remote control message. After recognizing the remote message as the predetermined legal remote control message, the data in the user's personal database 44 is secured according to the remote message 68.
In some embodiment of the invention, the electronic apparatus sending the remote message 68 is another mobile communication apparatus. In this embodiment of the invention, when the original owner of the mobile communication apparatus 10 loses the mobile communication apparatus 10, the original owner can use another mobile communication apparatus to send a short message as a remote message 68 for remotely controlling the lost apparatus 10. After the mobile communication apparatus 10 receives the remote message 68, it will use the stored third security code 66 to decode the remote message 68. After the remote message 68 is confirmed to be a predetermined legitimate remote control message, the data in the user's personal database 44 is correspondingly secured according to the remote message 68. In this embodiment, the following actions/operations for data security may be performed according to the remote message 68: changing/setting the security class, locking all of the personal data from being accessed/modified/detected, modifying the phone numbers and e-mail addresses stored in the contact information, and changing the security code(s).
The remote message 68 comprises a first contact information 70 inputted via the interface program of the electronic apparatus. The security module 24 will set/modify the security actions corresponding to each of the data security classes according to the first contact information 70, as shown in Table 2.
The subscriber data management module 22 may further store another predetermined second contact information. In some embodiment, the second contact information is the predetermined contact information 34 pre-stored in the subscriber data management module 22. The security module 24 will then set/modify the security actions corresponding to each of the data security classes according to the second contact information, as shown in Table 3.
The mobile communication apparatus 10 comprises a display panel (not shown). According to some embodiment of the invention, the remote message 68 received by the transmission control circuit 16 is a short message. If the security module 24 recognizes the remote control short message as a predetermined legal remote control message, the remote control short message will not be displayed on the display panel, so as to prevent the current user, probably an illegal user, of the lost mobile communication apparatus from being aware of the existence of the remote control short message.
Please refer to
Step 200: A plurality of data security classes are provided and a third security code 66 is stored in the mobile communication apparatus 10.
Step 202: The mobile communication apparatus 10 receives a remote message 68.
Step 204: The mobile communication apparatus 10 examines whether the remote message 68 is a predetermined legitimate remote control message according to the third security code 66. If YES, go to step 206; if NOT, go to step 208.
Step 206: The data in the user's personal database 44 is protected correspondingly according to the remote message 68.
Step 208: End
In some embodiment of the invention, in the following scenario, the original owner loses his/her mobile communication apparatus 10, and the data security class of the lost mobile communication apparatus 10 is set to be Class 2. Then, the original first SIM card 12 of the lost mobile communication apparatus 10 is replaced by the second SIM card 13. The original owner will receive a notice signal 36 first. However, the data in the user's personal database 44 will not be sent back to the original owner since the data security class 2 provides no security action of that data transmission. The original owner can then further send a remote message 68 to the lost mobile communication apparatus 10 to change the data security class to be Class 3. Therefore, the lost mobile communication apparatus 10 will then perform the security action of sending all the data in the user's personal database 44 back to the original owner according to the predetermined contact information. In other words, no matter what the original setting of the security class and the contact information are, the original owner can easily change that via remote control.
Compared with the prior art, the present invention is provided not only to effectively secure/protect the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus when the mobile communication is lost, but also to remotely control the setting of the lost mobile communication apparatus. Besides, when the original SIM card is replaced, user information of the substitute SIM card can be sent to the original owner via various transmission methods so that the original owner can continuously trace and set the lost mobile communication apparatus by using a new communication number provided in that user information. This helps the original owner to find back the lost mobile communication apparatus.
With the example and explanations above, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
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