Mobile communication apparatus having anti-theft and auto-notification functions

• US 7,574,235 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2005
• Issued: 08/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Tu, Guan-Hua
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US11/189,151
• Publication Number:
  US 20060025177A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,478 Days
• Field of Search: 455/558, 455410-411, 455/406, 455/466, 235/380, 235/382.5, 380/247, 713/182, 379/357.01, 340/568.7, 902/26
• US Class Current: 455/558
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/66 with means for preventing unauthorised or fraudulent calling verifying user identity or authority in secret or secure digital communications H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A mobile communication apparatus comprises a first SIM card, an anti-theft control circuit, and a transmission control circuit. The first SIM card is engaged with the mobile communication apparatus and has a corresponding first IMSI code. The anti-theft control circuit has a SIM-card-detection module and a subscriber information management module. The SIM-card-detection module is used for detecting whether the first SIM card is replaced by a second SIM card and generating a corresponding detection result. The subscriber information management module is used for storing the corresponding first IMSI code and predetermined contact information. The transmission control circuit is used for transmitting data and/or signals. When the SIM-card-detection module generates the detection result, the transmission control circuit will send a notice signal according to the predetermined contact information.

Claims

1. A mobile communication apparatus comprising:

a first Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, comprising a corresponding first international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) code, being coupled to the mobile communication apparatus;

an anti-theft control circuit comprising;

a SIM-card-detection module for detecting whether the first SIM card is replaced by a second SIM card comprising a corresponding second IMSI code, and for generating a corresponding detection result if the second IMSI code is compared to be different from the first IMSI code; and

a subscriber information management module for storing the corresponding first IMSI code and a predetermined contact information wherein the subscriber information management module comprises a user'"'"'s personal database;

a security module providing a plurality of data security classes for setting, wherein a subscriber needs to input a second security code before setting and/or modifying the data security class, and only after the imputed 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; and

a transmission control circuit for transmitting data and/or signal;

wherein when the SIM-card-detection module generates the detection result, the transmission control circuit sends out a notice signal and transmits at least a portion of data in the user'"'"'s personal database to a designated electronic apparatus according to the predetermined contact information stored in the subscriber information management module.

2. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein a subscriber needs to input a first security code before storing and/or modifying the predetermined contact information defined by an end-user and stored in the subscriber information management module;

and wherein after the inputted first security code is confirmed to be correct, the corresponding IMSI code of the SIM card currently coupled to the mobile communication apparatus will be stored and/or modified in the subscriber information management module.

3. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user'"'"'s personal database comprises a phonebook database, a schedule database, and an e-mail database.

4. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 3, wherein the contact information is an e-mail address stored in the subscriber information management module in advance;

and wherein the transmission control circuit sends out an e-mail to be the notice signal according to the e-mail address and transmits the data in the user'"'"'s personal database to the electronic apparatus which receives the e-mail.

5. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, the SIM-card-detection module comprising:

a detector for detecting a second SIM card currently coupled to the mobile communication apparatus to get a corresponding second IMSI code; and

a comparator for comparing the second IMSI code with the first IMSI code stored in the subscriber information management module;

a transmission control circuit for transmitting data and/or signal;

wherein the SIM-card-detection module generates the corresponding detection result if the second IMSI code is different from the first IMSI code.

6. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 5, wherein the second SIM card has a corresponding second phone number which comprises a country code and an operator code, and the notice signal comprises the second phone number.

7. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the subscriber is able to disable the function of the anti-theft control circuit through inputting the second security code.

8. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the security module receives the detection result, a data security procedure in the security module is enabled to protect the data in the user'"'"'s personal database of the subscriber information management module according to the set data security class.

9. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the security module comprises four data security classes for setting and the data security classes comprises:

a data security class 3;

sending out the notice signal according to the predetermined end-user contact information, locking up and encrypting all data in the user'"'"'s personal database stored in the subscriber information management module, and sending all of the data according to the predetermined end-user contact information;

a data security class 2;

sending out the notice signal according to the predetermined end-user contact information, locking up and encrypting all data in the user'"'"'s personal database stored in the subscriber information management module;

a data security class 1;

locking up and encrypting all data in the user'"'"'s personal database stored in the subscriber information management module; and

a data security class 0;

doing nothing.

10. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication apparatus further comprises a communication circuit for establishing a communication linkage, and the first SIM card has a corresponding first phone number serving as the predetermined end-user contact information;

and wherein when the SIM-card-detection module generates the detection result and transmits the detection result to the security module;

the security module informs the transmission control circuit to dial the first phone number via the communication circuit for sending out the notice signal automatically.

11. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein after the notice signal is sent out, the security module waits for a confirmation signal to confirm that the notice signal has been transmitted according to the predetermined end-user contact information successfully, and wherein if the security module does not receive the confirmation signal in a predetermined period, the security module repetitiously sends the notice signal until the confirmation signal is received.

12. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 4, wherein when and/or after the transmission control circuit sends out the data in the user'"'"'s personal database according to the predetermined end-user contact information, the security module avoids the showing of information related to that data transmission or/and deletes all corresponding records of that data transmission.

13. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 11, wherein when and/or after the notice signal is transmitted, the security module avoids the showing of information related to that notice signal transmission or/and deletes all corresponding records of that notice signal transmission;

and wherein when and/or after the confirmation signal is received, the security module avoids the showing of information related to that confirmation signal reception or/and deletes all corresponding records of that confirmation signal reception.

14. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, the transmission control circuit comprising:

a carrier control module for selecting one available carrier from a plurality of carriers for transmitting data; and

a data transmission module for selecting a corresponding data transmission application program for transmitting data according to the carrier that has been selected;

wherein the carrier control module selects the carrier based upon the size of the data to be transmitted.

15. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 13, wherein the carriers are provided in a communication system, and the communication system is one of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and CDMA2000;

and wherein the data transmission application program is one of an e-mail application program, a short message service (SMS) application program, and a multimedia message service (MMS) application program.

16. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication apparatus comprises a unique international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) for identification.

38. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said predetermined contact information is defined by an end-user and comprises a mobile telephone number and/or an e-mail address.

17. A mobile communication apparatus comprising:

an anti-theft control circuit comprising;

a subscriber information management module for storing a user'"'"'s personal database; and

a security module providing a plurality of data security classes for setting and having a third security code to perform one of a corresponding plurality of data security procedures on the data in the user'"'"'s personal database, wherein the corresponding data security procedure is determined according to the set data security class; and

a transmission control circuit for transmitting data and/or signals;

wherein when the transmission control circuit receives a remote message with compiled and/or encoded content, the security module examines whether the remote message is a predetermined legitimate remote control message by decoding the content of the remote message according to the third security code stored on the mobile communication apparatus;

wherein if the remote control message is legitimate, the corresponding data security procedure is performed on the data in the user'"'"'s personal database according to the decoded content of the remote message.

18. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 17, wherein the remote message is sent from a remote electronic apparatus, comprising an interface program for receiving an inputted fourth security code, and the remote message is compiled and/or encoded by the remote electronic apparatus to be the predetermined legitimate remote control message based upon the fourth security code;

wherein when the security module receives the remote message, the content of the remote message is decoded based upon the third security code stored in the security module;

wherein if the fourth security code is same as the third security code, the content of the remote message is decoded successfully, and then the remote message is confirmed to be the predetermined legitimate remote control message.

19. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 18, wherein the security module comprises four data security classes for setting, and the data security procedure is determined according to the set data security class, the data security classes comprises:

a data security class 3;

sending a notice signal according to the contact information, locking up and encrypting all data in the user'"'"'s personal database stored in the subscriber information management module, and transmitting all of the data according to the contact information;

a data security class 2;

sending the notice signal according to the first contact information, locking up and encrypting all data in the user'"'"'s personal database stored in the subscriber information management module;

a data security class 1;

locking up and encrypting all data in the user'"'"'s personal database stored in the subscriber information management module; and

a data security class 0;

doing nothing;

wherein the contact information is one of a first contact information included in the remote message and a second contact information stored in the subscriber information management module.

20. The mobile communication apparatus of claim 17, wherein the mobile communication apparatus further comprises a display panel, and the remote message received by the transmission control circuit is a remote control short message;

wherein if the security module confirms that the remote control short message is the predetermined legitimate remote control message, the security module will prevents the remote control short message from being displayed on the display panel so as to keep the user currently using the mobile communication apparatus from being aware of the existence of the remote control short message.

21. A method for signal detection and notification applied in a mobile communication apparatus, the mobile communication apparatus comprising a user'"'"'s personal database, the method comprising:

(a) providing a first Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card to be coupled to the mobile communication apparatus, the first SIM card comprising a corresponding first international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) code;

(b) storing in the mobile communication apparatus the first IMSI code corresponding to the first SIM card and a predetermined contact information, wherein the mobile communication apparatus provides a plurality of data security classes for setting;

(c) detecting whether the first SIM card is replaced by a second SIM card comprising a corresponding second IMSI code, and generating a corresponding detection result if the second IMSI code is compared to be different from the first IMSI code; and

(d) when the detection result is generated, performing a data security procedure on the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus according to the set data security class and sending out a notice signal and transmitting at least a portion of data in the user'"'"'s personal database to a designated electronic apparatus according to the predetermined contact information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein a subscriber needs to input a first security code before storing or/and modifying the predetermined contact information defined by an end-user;

and wherein after the inputted first security code is confirmed to be correct, the corresponding IMSI code of the SIM card currently coupled to the mobile communication apparatus is stored or/and modified.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the contact information is an e-mail address, and an e-mail is sent out according to the e-mail address to be the notice signal, and the data stored in the user'"'"'s personal database in the mobile communication apparatus is transmitted to the electronic apparatus which receives that e-mail.

24. The method of claim 22, the step (c) further comprising:

(c1) detecting a second SIM card presently coupled to the mobile communication apparatus to get a corresponding second IMSI code;

(c2) comparing the second IMSI code with the first IMSI code stored in the mobile communication apparatus; and

(c3) generating the corresponding detection result when the second IMSI code is different from the first IMSI code.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the second SIM card has a corresponding second phone number which comprises a country code and an operator code, and the notice signal comprises the second phone number.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein a subscriber needs to input a second security code before setting or/and modifying the data security class, and only after the inputted second security code is confirmed to be correct, the subscriber is allowed to set or/and to modify the data security class of the mobile communication apparatus.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the mobile communication apparatus provides four data security classes for setting, and the data security classes comprises:

a data security class 3;

sending out the notice signal according to the predetermined end-user contact information, locking up and encrypting the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus, and transmitting the data according to the predetermined end-user contact information;

a data security class 2;

sending out the notice signal according to the predetermined end-user contact information, locking up and encrypting the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus;

a data security class 1;

locking up and encrypting the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus; and

a data security class 0;

doing nothing.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein after the notice signal is sent out, the mobile communication apparatus waits for an confirmation signal to confirm that the notice signal has been transmitted according to the predetermined end-user contact information successfully;

and wherein if the mobile communication apparatus does not receive the confirmation signal in a predetermined period, the mobile communication apparatus repetitiously sends the notice signal until the confirmation signal is received.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the first SIM card has a corresponding first phone number serving as the predetermined end-user contact information;

and wherein when the detection result is generated, the mobile communication apparatus will dial the first phone number for sending out the notice signal automatically.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein when and/or after the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus is transmitted according to the predetermined end-user contact information, the information related to that data transmission will be prevented from being shown and all records related to that data transmission will be deleted.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein when and/or after the notice signal is transmitted, the information related to that notice signal transmission is prevented from being shown and all corresponding records of that notice signal transmission will be deleted;

and wherein when and/or after the confirmation signal is received, the information related to that confirmation signal reception will be prevented from being shown and all corresponding records of that confirmation signal reception will be deleted.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the mobile communication apparatus will select one available carrier from a plurality of carriers for data transmission, and will select a corresponding data transmission application program according to the selected carrier;

wherein the mobile communication apparatus selects the carrier based upon the size of the data to be transmitted.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the carriers are provided in a communication system, and the communication system is one of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and CDMA2000;

and wherein the data transmission application program is one of an e-mail application program, a short message service (SMS) application program, and a multimedia message service (MMS) application program.

39. The method of claim 21, wherein said predetermined contact information is defined by an end-user and comprises a mobile telephone number and/or an e-mail address.

34. A method for data security applied in a mobile communication apparatus, the method comprising:

setting one of a plurality of data security classes and storing a third security code;

receiving a remote message with compiled and/or encoded content, and examining the remote message by applying the third security code;

confirming the remote message to be a predetermined legitimate remote control message by decoding the content of the remote message according to the third security code stored on the mobile communication apparatus; and

performing a data security procedure on the data stored in the mobile communication apparatus according to the decoded content of the remote message and corresponding to the set data security class.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the remote message is sent out from a remote electronic apparatus, comprising an interface program for receiving a fourth security code, and the remote message is compiled and/or encoded by the remote electronic apparatus to be the predetermined legitimate remote control message based upon the fourth security code;

wherein when the remote message is received by the mobile communication apparatus, the content of the remote message will be decoded based upon the third security code stored in the mobile communication apparatus;

wherein if the fourth security code is same as the third security code, the content of the remote message will be decoded successfully, and the remote message is confirmed to be the predetermined legitimate remote control message by the mobile communication apparatus.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the mobile communication apparatus comprises four data security classes for setting, and the data security classes comprises:

a data security class 3;

sending a notice signal according to the contact information, locking up and encrypting all data stored in the mobile communication apparatus, and transmitting all of the data according to the contact information;

a data security class 2;

sending the notice signal according to the first contact information, locking up and encrypting all data stored in the s mobile communication apparatus;

a data security class 1;

locking up and encrypting all data stored in the mobile communication apparatus; and

a data security class 0;

doing nothing;

wherein the contact information is one of a first contact information included in the remote message and a second contact information stored in the mobile communication apparatus.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the mobile communication apparatus further comprises a display panel, and the remote message received by the mobile communication apparatus is a remote control short message;

and wherein if the remote control short message is confirmed to be the predetermined legitimate remote control message, the remote control short message will be prevented from be displayed on the display panel so as to keep the user currently using the mobile communication apparatus from being aware of the existence of the remote control short message.