AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION OF A TERMINAL

• US 20110297740A1
• Filed: 02/24/2010
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Orange S.A.
• Original Assignee: Orange S.A.
• Inventors: Fourreau, Laurent, Raffard, Remi
• Granted Patent: US 8,668,135 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for requesting configuration of a terminal connected to a subscriber card that contains at least one application. The terminal is adapted to receive via a second communications interface a response to a request including configuration information of the terminal, to act for at least one application of the subscriber card to determine whether an interface application associated with the at least one application is or is not present in the terminal. The terminal is adapted to send via a first telecommunications interface at least one command for downloading the interface application, if the interface application not present. A configuration method and apparatus are also provided for sending configuration information in response to a request, to receive at least one download command and to transmit it to a remote server, and to update the configuration information, after downloading the interface application specified in the command.

Claims

1. A configuration request method for a terminal connected to a subscriber card, said card containing at least one application, the method comprising:

after a step of exchanging initialization information between said terminal and said subscriber card via a first communications interface, performing the following steps;

a send step of sending a request for configuration information of the terminal via a second communications interface;

a receive step of receiving via the second communications interface a response to the request, the response including configuration information of said terminal;

for at least one application of the subscriber card, a determination step acting as a function of the received configuration information to determine whether an interface application associated with said at least one application is or is not present in the terminal; and

a send step of sending via the telecommunications interface, at least one command for downloading said interface application, if not present.

2. The configuration request method according to claim 1, wherein the interface application is suitable for managing all of the interface applications present in the terminal.

3. The configuration request method according to claim 1, wherein the request includes an address of a register of a contactless communications module of the terminal, and the response contains at least a portion of the content of said register.

4. The configuration request method according to claim 3, wherein the register contains information concerning the presence or absence of at least one interface application.

5. A configuration method for configuring a terminal connected to a subscriber card, said card containing at least one application, the method comprising:

after an exchange of initialization information between said terminal and said subscriber card via a first communications interface, performing the steps of;

a receive step of receiving via a second communications interface a request for configuration information of the terminal;

a send step of sending a response to the request via the second communications interface, the response including configuration information of said terminal; and

if at least one interface application associated with an application of the subscriber card is not present in said terminal;

a receive step of receiving via the first telecommunications interface at least one command for downloading an interface application associated with said application of the subscriber card;

a transmit step of transmitting said at least one command to a remote server; and

an updating step of updating the configuration information after downloading the interface application specified in the command.

6. The configuration method according to claim 5, wherein the configuration information is contained in a register of a contactless communications module of the mobile terminal.

7. The configuration method according to claim 5, wherein the request includes an address of a register of a contactless communications module of the terminal, and the response contains at least a portion of the content of said register.

8. The configuration method according to claim 5, wherein the interface application is suitable for managing all of the interface applications present in the terminal.

9. The configuration method according to claim 5, wherein the updating step of updating the configuration information includes sending a command to a contactless communications module of the terminal via a third communications interface.

10. The configuration method according to claim 5, wherein the step of updating the configuration information is reiterated while the terminal is downloading a new interface application.

11. A subscriber card comprising:

at least one application contained in the card;

a configuration suitable for being inserted in a terminal;

a first data send/receive module configured for exchanging initialization information with the terminal via a first communications interface;

a second data send/receive module configured for sending a request for configuration information of the terminal via a second communications interface, and configured for receiving a response to the request via the second communications interface, the response including configuration information of said terminal;

determination means for acting for at least one application of the subscriber card and as a function of the received configuration information to determine whether an interface application associated with said at least one application is or is not present in the terminal; and

wherein the first data send/receive module configured for sending at least one command for downloading said interface application, if not present, via the first telecommunications interface.

12. A terminal comprising:

a configuration suitable for being connected to a subscriber card containing at least one application;

a first data communications module configured for exchanging initialization information with the subscriber card via a first communications interface;

a contactless communications module containing a first data send/receive module configured for receiving a request for configuration information of the terminal via a second communications interface, and for sending a response to the request via the second communications interface, the response including configuration information of said terminal;

said first communications module of the terminal being configured for receiving at least one command for downloading an interface application associated with an application of the subscriber card via a first telecommunications interface;

transmit means for transmitting said at least one command to a remote server; and

updating means for updating the configuration information after downloading the interface application specified in the command.

13. A system comprising the terminal according to claim 12 and the subscriber card, wherein the subscriber card comprises:

the at least one application;

a configuration suitable for being inserted in the terminal;

a first data send/receive module configured for exchanging initialization information with the terminal via the first communications interface;

a second data send/receive module configured for sending the request for configuration information of the terminal via the second communications interface, and configured for receiving the response to the request via the second communications interface;

determination means for acting, for at least one application of the subscriber card and as a function of the received configuration information, to determine whether the interface application associated with said at least one application is or is not present in the terminal; and

wherein the first data send/receive module is configured for sending said at least one command for downloading said interface application, if not present, via the first telecommunications interface.

14. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory memory that is readable by a processor and includes instructions for implementing the steps of a configuration request method for a terminal connected to a subscriber card, said card containing at least one application, when the program is loaded and executed by the processor, wherein the method comprises:

after a step of exchanging initialization information between said terminal and said subscriber card via a first communications interface performing the following steps;

a send step of sending a request for configuration information of the terminal via a second communications interface;

a receive step of receiving via the second communications interface a response to the request, the response including configuration information of said terminal;

for at least one application of the subscriber card, a determination step acting as a function of the received configuration information to determine whether an interface application associated with said at least one application is or is not present in the terminal; and

a send step of sending via the telecommunications interface, at least one command for downloading said interface application, if not present.

15. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory memory that is readable by a processor and includes instructions for implementing the steps of a configuration method for configuring a terminal connected to a subscriber card, said card containing at least one application, when the program loaded and executed by the processor, wherein the method comprises:

after an exchange of initialization information between said terminal and said subscriber card via a first communications interface, performing the steps of;

a receive step of receiving via a second communications interface a request for configuration information of the terminal;

a send step of sending a response to the request via the second communications interface, the response including configuration information of said terminal; and

if at least one interface application associated with an application of the subscriber card is not present in said terminal;

a receive step of receiving via the first telecommunications interface at least one command for downloading an interface application associated with said application of the subscriber card;

a transmit step of transmitting said at least one command to a remote server; and

an updating step of updating the configuration information after downloading the interface application specified in the command.