Method and apparatus for processing an embedded message at a wireless mobile station which includes a subscriber identity module

• US 6,571,112 B1
• Filed: 08/03/2000
• Issued: 05/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramaswamy, Satyanarayanan
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William
• Application Number:
  US09/631,817
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/415, 370/522, 703/17
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/052 software update
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing embedded messages at a mobile station including a subscriber identity module (SIM) identifying the subscriber, for example, a GSM or a non-GSM wireless telephone. The process includes receiving a message having a protocol identifier, transferring at least a portion of the message to the subscriber identity module if the protocol identifier satisfied a condition, extracting information from the at least portion to of the message at the subscriber identity module if a protocol identified by the protocol identifier is supported by the subscriber identity module.

Claims

1. A method for processing an embedded message at a GSM mobile station, the GSM mobile station including a subscriber identity module, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an encapsulating message at the GSM mobile station, the encapsulating message including the embedded message, the encapsulating message having a protocol discriminator indicative of a communications protocol;

determining if a protocol identifier included in the encapsulating message is a predetermined protocol identifier, the protocol identifier identifying a particular protocol;

transferring the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module if the protocol identifier included in the encapsulating message is the predetermined protocol identifier;

determining if the particular protocol identified by the protocol identifier is supported by the subscriber identity module;

extracting the embedded message from the encapsulating message at the subscriber identity module if the particular protocol is supported by the subscriber identity module; and

processing the embedded message at the subscriber identity module.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving an encapsulating message at the GSM mobile station includes the step of receiving an SMS-deliver message.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the SMS-deliver message includes a protocol discriminator indicative of a TIA/EIA-136 protocol.

4. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the step of receiving an SMS-deliver message includes receiving an SMS-deliver message having an escape flag, the escape flag being indicative of a desire to transfer the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving an encapsulating message includes receiving an encapsulated message having an embedded TIA/EIA-136 message.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of determining if a protocol identifier included in the encapsulating message is a predetermined protocol identifier includes the step of determining if the protocol identifier included in the encapsulating message is indicative of a tunneling message.

7. A method for processing an embedded message at a non-GSM mobile station, the non-GSM mobile station including a subscriber identity module, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an encapsulating message at the non-GSM mobile station, the encapsulating message including a protocol identifier, a protocol discriminator, a subscriber identity module escape flag, and the embedded message;

determining if the protocol discriminator is indicative of a protocol supported by the non-GSM mobile station;

determining if the protocol identifier identifies a predetermined protocol if the protocol discriminator is indicative of the protocol supported by the non-GSM mobile station;

determining if the subscriber identity module escape flag indicates a desire to transfer the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module if the protocol identifier identifies a predetermined protocol;

extracting the embedded message from the encapsulating message at the non-GSM mobile station if the subscriber identity module escape flag does not indicate a desire to transfer the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module; and

processing the embedded message at the non-GSM mobile station.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

transferring the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module if the protocol discriminator is indicative of a protocol not supported by the non-GSM mobile station;

determining if the particular protocol identified by the protocol identifier is supported by the subscriber identity module;

extracting the embedded message from the encapsulating message at the subscriber identity module if the particular protocol is supported by the subscriber identity module; and

processing the embedded message at the subscriber identity module.

9. A method as defined in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

transferring the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module if the subscriber identity module escape flag indicates a desire to transfer the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module;

determining if the particular protocol identified by the protocol identifier is supported by the subscriber identity module;

extracting the embedded message from the encapsulating message at the subscriber identity module if the particular protocol is supported by the subscriber identity module; and

processing the embedded message at the subscriber identity module.

10. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of receiving an encapsulating message at the GSM mobile station includes the step of receiving a SMS-deliver message.

11. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of determining if the protocol identifier identifies a predetermined protocol includes the step of determining if the protocol identifier is indicative of a tunneling message.

12. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of determining if the protocol discriminator is indicative of a protocol supported by the non-GSM mobile station includes the step of determining if the protocol discriminator indicative of a TIA/EIA-136 protocol.

13. A GSM mobile station for processing an embedded message, the GSM mobile station comprising:

a receiver for receiving an encapsulating message, the encapsulating message including a protocol identifier and the embedded message;

a first memory for storing a first software program;

a first processing unit operatively coupled to the receiver and the first memory, the first processing unit executing the first software program, the first processing unit receiving the encapsulating message from the receiver, the first processing unit determining if the protocol identifier is a predetermined protocol identifier;

a subscriber identification module operatively coupled to the first processing unit, the subscriber identification module including a second memory and a second processing unit, the second memory storing a second software program, the second processing unit executing the second software program, the subscriber identification module receiving the encapsulating message from the first processing unit if the protocol identifier is the predetermined protocol identifier, the second processing unit determining if a particular protocol identified by the protocol identifier is supported by the subscriber identity module, the second processing unit extracting the embedded message from the encapsulating message if the particular protocol is supported by the subscriber identity module, and the second processing unit processing the embedded message at the subscriber identity module.

14. A GSM mobile station as defined in claim 13, wherein the encapsulating message comprises an SMS-deliver message.

15. A GSM mobile station as defined in claim 14, wherein the SMS-deliver message includes a protocol discriminator indicative of a TIA/EIA-136 protocol.

16. A GSM mobile station as defined in claim 14, wherein the SMS-deliver message includes an escape flag, the escape flag being indicative of a desire to transfer the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module.

17. A GSM mobile station as defined in claim 13, wherein the embedded message comprises a TIA/EIA-136 message.

18. A GSM mobile station as defined in claim 13, wherein the protocol identifier included is indicative of a tunneling message.

19. A non-GSM mobile station for processing an embedded message, the non-GSM mobile station comprising:

a receiver for receiving an encapsulating message, the encapsulating message including a protocol identifier, a protocol discriminator, a subscriber identity module escape flag, and the embedded message;

a first memory for storing a first software program;

a first processing unit operatively coupled to the receiver and the first memory, the first processing unit executing the first software program, the first processing unit receiving the encapsulating message from the receiver, the first processing unit determining if the protocol discriminator is indicative of a protocol supported by the non-GSM mobile station, the first processing unit determining if the protocol identifier identifies a predetermined protocol if the protocol discriminator is indicative of a protocol supported by the non-GSM mobile station, the first processing unit determining if the subscriber identity module escape flag indicates a desire to transfer the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module if the protocol identifier identifies a predetermined protocol, the first processing unit extracting and processing the embedded message from the encapsulating message if the subscriber identity module escape flag does not indicate a desire to transfer the encapsulating message to the subscriber identity module; and

a subscriber identification module operatively coupled to the first processing unit, the subscriber identification module including a second memory and a second processing unit, the second memory storing a second software program, the second processing unit executing the second software program, the subscriber identification module receiving the encapsulating message from the first processing unit, the second processing unit determining if a particular protocol identified by the protocol identifier is supported by the subscriber identity module, the second processing unit extracting and processing the embedded message from the encapsulating message if the particular protocol is supported by the subscriber identity module.

20. A method in a mobile station having a subscriber identity module, the method comprising:

receiving a message including a protocol identifier, a protocol discriminator at the mobile station, and a subscriber identity module escape flag;

determining if the protocol identifier identifies a predetermined protocol if the protocol discriminator is indicative of a protocol supported by the mobile station;

extracting information from the message at the mobile station if the subscriber identity module escape flag does not indicate that the message should be transferred to the subscriber identity module.