Systems and methods for remotely controlling mobile stations

• US 8,155,636 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2006
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Cheng, Jing Ru
• Primary Examiner(s): Batista, Marcos
• Application Number:
  US11/381,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20070259657A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,167 Days
• Field of Search: 455/419, 455/416, 455/420, 455/14.1, 370259-261
• US Class Current: 455/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances

Abstract

Methods for remotely controlling a mobile station by a controller are provided. An embodiment of a method performed by the mobile station comprises the following steps. An action request comprising a remote control instruction issued by the controller is received. The remote control instruction is acquired from the received action request. The remote control instruction is executed to activate or deactivate a particular function resident on the mobile station or return data stored by the mobile station. The action request is received through a wireless network.

Claims

1. A method for remotely controlling a mobile station by a peer terminal station, the method performed by the mobile station and comprising:

receiving an action request comprising a remote control instruction to activate or deactivate a particular function resident on the mobile station, the remote control instruction issued by the peer terminal station;

acquiring the remote control instruction from the received action request; and

executing the remote control instruction to activate or deactivate the particular function resident on the mobile station,

wherein the action request is received through a wireless telephony network, and is carried by a calling party sub-address field, a called party sub-address field, or a user-user field of a call control (CC) setup message in place of one or more CC setup parameters, and the CC setup message initiates a mobile originating call establishment.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a remote control request indicating that a remote control procedure is initiated by the peer terminal station;

transmitting an authentication request indicating that an authentication procedure is initiated for the remote control procedure to the peer terminal station;

receiving an authentication response corresponding to the authentication request and comprising authentication data from the peer terminal station;

determining whether the remote control procedure is authenticated by verifying the authentication data;

if so, transmitting a remote control acknowledgement indicating that the remote control procedure is authenticated to the peer terminal station;

wherein the remote control acknowledgement is transmitted before receiving the action request corresponding to the remote control acknowledgement, the remote control request and the authentication response are received through the wireless network, and the authentication request and the remote control acknowledgement are transmitted via the wireless network.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the-remote control request, authentication request, authentication response or remote control acknowledgement is carried by a CC setup message initiating a mobile originating call establishment.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the remote control request, the authentication request, the authentication response or the remote control acknowledgement is carried by a short message, an enhanced message or a multimedia message.

5. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the remote control request, the authentication request, the authentication response or the remote control acknowledgement is carried by a text message or a file attachment of an e-mail.

6. The method claimed in claim 2 wherein the remote control request, the authentication request, the authentication response or the remote control acknowledgement is carried by a data file.

7. The method claimed in claim 2 wherein the remote control request, the authentication request, the authentication response or the remote control acknowledgement is carried by digital text in multiple-octet coded character set (USC) or Baudot type character set.

8. The method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising:

after the remote control procedure is authenticated, image data corresponding to a man-machine interface (MMI) displayed on a screen of the mobile station is transmitted to the peer terminal station,

wherein the peer terminal station displays an MMI on a screen of the peer terminal station according to the received image data, enabling an user to provide the remote control instruction by interacting with the MMI displayed on the screen of the peer terminal station.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the remote control instruction is encoded in an AT command line, and the remote control instruction is acquired by parsing the AT command line.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the remote control instruction is contained in digital voice data, the remote control instruction is recognized by comparing the digital voice data with a plurality of predefined voice patterns stored by the mobile station, and one of the predefined voice patterns corresponds to the remote control instruction.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the remote control instruction is represented by at least one dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signal corresponding to a combination of key strokes on a keypad of the peer terminal station, and the remote control instruction is acquired by detecting the DTMF signal.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the function is activated to start an automated conferencing procedure and the action request comprises a callback telephone number corresponding to the peer terminal station.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 further comprising:

after starting the automated conferencing procedure, receiving an incoming call from another mobile station;

after receiving the incoming call, automatically answering the incoming call, and calling back to the peer terminal station according to the callback telephone number; and

after receiving an answer call from the peer terminal station for answering the callback call, executing a conferencing command to enable the peer terminal station and the mobile station making the incoming call to communicate therebetween.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the remote control instruction is represented by a menu traversal path containing a series of menu items in a man-machine interface (MMI), and the remote control instruction is acquired by parsing the menu traversal path.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the remote control instruction is represented by a function code, and the remote control instruction is acquired by parsing the function code.

16. A method for remotely controlling a mobile station by a peer terminal station, the method performed by the peer terminal station and comprising:

providing a remote control instruction to activate or deactivate a particular function resident on the mobile station; and

transmitting an action request comprising the remote control instruction to the mobile station, thereby directing the mobile station to execute the remote control instruction,

wherein the action request is transmitted via a wireless telephony network, and is carried by a calling party sub-address field, a called party sub-address field, or a user-user field of a call control (CC) setup message in place of one or more CC setup parameters, and the CC setup message initiates a mobile originating call establishment.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16 further comprising:

transmitting a remote control request indicating that a remote control procedure is initiated by the peer terminal station to the mobile station;

receiving an authentication request indicating that an authentication procedure is initiated for the remote control procedure from the mobile station;

transmitting an authentication response corresponding to the authentication request and comprising authentication data to the mobile station;

transmitting the action request to the mobile station after receiving a remote control acknowledgement indicating that the remote control procedure is authenticated and corresponding to the authentication response from the mobile station.

18. A system for remote mobile station control comprising:

a mobile station coupling to a controller via a telephony wireless network, receiving an action request comprising a remote control instruction and a callback telephone number from the controller, acquiring the remote control instruction from the received action request, executing remote control instruction to activate a function resident on the mobile station to start an automated conferencing procedure in response to a future incoming call from another mobile station,

wherein the action request is received through a wireless telephony network, and is carried by a calling party sub-address field, a called party sub-address field, or a user-user field of a call control (CC) setup message in place of one or more CC setup parameters, and the CC setup message initiates a mobile originating call establishment; and

wherein the automated conferencing procedure is responsible for automatically answering the future incoming call, and subsequently calling back to the controller according to the callback telephone number, and executing a conferencing command to enable the controller and the mobile station making the incoming call to communicate therebetween after the controller answers the callback call.

19. The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the mobile station further receives a remote control request indicating that a remote control procedure is initiated by the controller, transmits an authentication request indicating that an authentication procedure is initiated for the remote control procedure to the controller, receives an authentication response corresponding to the authentication request and comprising authentication data from the controller, determines whether the remote control procedure is authenticated by verifying the authentication data, and, if so, transmits a remote control acknowledgement indicating that the remote control procedure is authenticated to the controller, the remote control acknowledgement is transmitted before receiving the action request corresponding to the remote control acknowledgement, the remote control request and the authentication response are received through the wireless network, and the authentication request and the remote control acknowledgement are transmitted via the wireless network.

20. The system as claimed in claim 19 wherein the action request, the remote control request, the authentication request, the authentication response or the remote control acknowledgement is carried by a call control (CC) setup message initiating a mobile originating call establishment.

21. The system as claimed in claim 19 wherein the action request, remote control request, authentication request, authentication response or remote control acknowledgement is carried by a short message (SM), an enhanced message (EM) or a multimedia message (MM), and transmitted via a plurality of intermediary devices supporting SM, EM or MM services.

22. The system as claimed in claim 19 wherein the action request, the remote control request, the authentication request, the authentication response or the remote control acknowledgement is carried by a data file and the data file is transmitted via a plurality of intermediary devices supporting file transfer protocol (FTP).

23. The system as claimed in claim 19 wherein the action request, the remote control request, the authentication request, the authentication response or the remote control acknowledgement is carried by digital text in multiple-octet coded character set (USC) or Baudot type character set and is received by a cellular text telephone modem (CTM) of the controller or the mobile station.

24. The system as claimed in claim 19 wherein the mobile station further transmits image data corresponding to a man-machine interface (MMI) displayed on a screen of the mobile station to the controller after the remote control procedure is authenticated, and the controller displays an MMI on a screen of the controller according to the received image data, enabling an user to provide the remote control instruction by interacting with the MMI displayed on the screen of the controller.

25. The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the remote control instruction is encoded in an AT command line, represented by a menu traversal path containing a series of menu items in a man-machine interface (MMI), or represented by a function code, and the mobile station acquires the remote control instruction by parsing the AT command line, the menu traversal path or the function code.

26. The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the remote control instruction is contained in digital voice data, mobile station recognizes the remote control instruction by comparing the digital voice data with a plurality of predefined voice patterns stored by the mobile station, and one of the predefined voice patterns corresponds to the remote control instruction.

27. The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the remote control instruction is represented by at least one dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signal corresponding to a combination of key strokes on a keypad of the controller, and the mobile station acquires the remote control instruction by detecting the DTMF signal.