Portable wireless terminal and its security system

• US 20070281664A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Kaneko, Takashi, Tanaka, Tadaaki, Nagasaka, Masaaki, Kobayashi, Keita
• Granted Patent: US 8,208,897 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

The present invention relates to a portable wireless terminal, and in particular, a portable wireless terminal such as a cellular phone, etc., and its security system that can reliably prevent, by remote control, improper use of the portable wireless terminal by a third party when it is lost or stolen. The portable wireless terminal that uploads backup data to a center by remote control from the center via a wireless network includes: a data access control section 1-1 that, in response to an instructions from the center, prohibits access to the backup data retained by a portable wireless terminal or deletes the backup data; an encryption section 1-5 that encrypts the backup data by using a public key notified from the center or a public key owned by the portable wireless terminal itself in response to instructions from the center; and a data transmission section 1-2 to 1-4 that transmits the backup data split into a plurality of data fragments on a plurality of communication paths to the center according to transmission priority of the backup data that is notified from the center or owned by the portable wireless terminal itself.

Claims

1. A security system for a portable wireless terminal that is comprised of:

a wireless network;

the portable wireless terminal; and

a center that remotely controls said portable wireless terminal and stores backup data uploaded from said portable wireless terminal,

wherein said center comprises a table containing identification information of communication terminals owned by group members of said portable wireless terminal, authenticates one of said group members accessing by using the communication terminals based on detection of a match with the identification information in said table and, in response to a request from the group member authenticated successfully, performs a backup process of the data stored by the portable wireless terminal of such group member.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said table further contains transmission priority information of said uploaded data,

said center notifies said portable wireless terminal of the transmission priority information in said backup process and, according to the notified transmission priority information, said portable wireless terminal transmits the backup data to said center.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein said portable wireless terminal splits the backup data to be transmitted to said center into a plurality of data fragments and transmits the backup data to said center in the form of the split data fragments that are transmitted cyclically in a distributed manner on a plurality of communication paths communicatable at present.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein each of said plurality of communication paths is implemented as a VPN.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein said center notifies said portable wireless terminal of a public key and,

in place of or along with said backup process, said portable wireless terminal encrypts said retained data by the notified public key.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein, after said backup process is completed, said center instructs said portable wireless terminal to delete the backup data that has been transmitted.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein, before said backup process starts, instructs said portable wireless terminal to perform a dial-lock process.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein said portable wireless terminal performs a wake-up process periodically at a predetermined time period to accept said backup process from said center.

9. A backup center that remotely controls a portable wireless terminal via a wireless network and stores backup data uploaded from said portable wireless terminal, said backup center comprised of:

a table that contains identification information of communication terminals owned by group members of said portable wireless terminal and transmission priority information of said uploaded data;

an authentication section that authenticates one of said group members accessing by using said communication terminals based on detection of a match with the identification information in said table; and

a backup processing section that, in response to a request from the group member that has successfully authenticated performs a backup process of the data retained by the portable wireless terminal of a group member.

10. A backup center according to claim 9, further including a data assembly section that, in said backup process, when the backup data based on said transmission priority information is further split into data fragments and transmitted on a plurality of communication paths, assembles the split data fragments and restores the original backup data.

11. A portable wireless terminal that uploads backup data to a center by remote control from said center via a wireless network, said portable wireless terminal having:

a data access control section that, in response to an instruction from said center, prohibits access to the backup data retained by said portable wireless terminal or deletes the backup data; and

an encryption section that encrypts said backup data by using a public key notified from said center or a public key owned by said portable wireless terminal itself in response to the instruction from said center.

12. A portable wireless terminal according to claim 11, further including a data transmission section that transmits the backup data to said center according to transmission priority of the backup data that is notified from said center or owned by said portable wireless terminal itself.

13. A portable wireless terminal according to claim 12, wherein the data transmission section splits the backup data to be transmitted to said center into a plurality of data fragments and transmits the split data fragments to said center cyclically in a distributed manner on a plurality of communication paths communicatable at present.

14. A portable wireless terminal according to claim 13, further including an encryption section that implements each of said plurality of communication paths as a VPN.

15. A portable wireless terminal according to claim 11, further including a wake-up section that performs a wake-up process periodically at a predetermined time period to accept the backup process from said center.