Remote deactivation of near field communication functionality

• US 9,420,403 B1
• Filed: 01/31/2012
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Annan, Brandon C., Belser, John E., Parsel, William Michael, Shipley, Trevor D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yun, Eugene
• Application Number:
  US13/363,369
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A mobile phone comprising a near field communication (NFC) radio transceiver; a near field communication radio antenna; and a coupling component that couples the near field communication radio antenna to the near field communication radio transceiver when selected to a first state and that decouples the near field communication radio antenna from the near field communication radio transceiver when selected to a second state.

Claims

1. A mobile phone, comprising:

a near field communication (NFC) radio transceiver included in the mobile phone;

an NFC radio antenna included in the mobile phone; and

a coupling component included in the mobile phone that;

couples the NFC radio antenna to the NFC radio transceiver when selected to a first state, and

decouples the NFC antenna from the NFC radio transceiver when selected to a second state in response to receiving an NFC deactivation request from a cellular wireless network, wherein the NFC deactivation request is sent in response to an indication that the mobile phone has been misplaced, and wherein the NFC antenna remains decoupled from the NFC radio transceiver in response to receiving the NFC deactivation request until an NFC radio system activation request is received from the cellular wireless network.

2. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the coupling component comprises a flip-flop that connects the NFC radio antenna to the NFC radio transceiver when in the first state and disconnects the NFC radio antenna from the NFC radio transceiver when in the second state.

3. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the coupling component comprises a radio frequency impedance matching network that is configured to match the NFC radio antenna to the NFC radio transceiver when selected to the first state and to unmatch the NFC radio antenna to the NFC radio transceiver when selected to the second state.

4. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the coupling component comprises a flip-flop that shorts out the NFC radio antenna when selected to the second state.

5. The mobile phone of claim 1, further comprising:

a processor;

a memory; and

an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor,

selects the coupling component to one of the first state or the second state based on the NFC deactivation request or the NFC activation request received by the mobile phone from the cellular wireless network.

6. The mobile phone of claim 5, wherein the application further evaluates a time-of-day criterion included in the NFC deactivation request, and wherein the application selects the coupling component to one of the first state or the second state based additionally upon the evaluation of the time of day criterion.

7. A method of operating a near field communication (NFC) radio system in a mobile phone, comprising:

receiving, by an application stored in a non-transitory memory of a mobile phone and executable by a processor of the mobile phone, a deactivate message via a cellular radio transceiver included in the mobile phone from a cellular wireless network, wherein the deactivate message requests deactivating a near field communication radio system included in the mobile phone, wherein the NFC deactivation request is sent in response to an indication that the mobile phone has been misplaced;

in response to the deactivate message, disabling, by the application, an antenna functionality of the NFC radio system included in the mobile phone until an activate message is received from the cellular wireless network;

receiving, by the application, the activate message via the cellular radio transceiver from the cellular wireless network, wherein the activate message requests enabling the NFC radio system included in the mobile phone; and

in response to the activate message, enabling, by the application, the antenna functionality of the NFC radio system included in the mobile phone.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the antenna functionality of the NFC radio system included in the mobile phone is disabled by one of creating an open circuit in the coupling between an NFC radio antenna included in the mobile phone and an NFC radio transceiver included in the mobile phone, shorting two terminals of the NFC radio antenna, reconfiguring an impedance matching network to detune an impedance match between the NFC radio antenna and the NFC transceiver, or by inputting a noise signal into the NFC radio antenna.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the antenna functionality is disabled for an NFC transmission operation mode of the NFC radio system but not disabled for an NFC reception operation mode of the NFC radio system in response to the deactivate message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the NFC reception operation mode is detected based on determining that the NFC radio system is generating a radio power signal to enable a passive NFC radio to transmit to the NFC radio system in the mobile phone.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the deactivate message is transmitted by a customer care center of a wireless communication service provider.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the deactivate message and the activate message are received according to one of a code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communication protocol, a global system for mobile communications (GSM) wireless communication protocol, a long-term evolution (LTE) wireless communication protocol, or a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) wireless communication protocol.

13. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a cellular communication radio transceiver included in the portable electronic device;

a near field communication (NFC) radio transceiver included in the portable electronic device;

an NFC radio antenna included in the portable electronic device;

a processor included in the portable electronic device;

a memory included in the portable electronic device; and

an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor,

based on the cellular communication radio transceiver receiving an NFC radio disable criterion message from a cellular wireless network, selectively disables the NFC radio antenna and enables the NFC radio antenna based on a criterion provided in the NFC disable criterion message from the cellular wireless network, wherein when the NFC radio antenna is disabled, the NFC radio transceiver is not able to transmit or receive NFC messages.

14. The portable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the portable electronic device is one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a media player.

15. The portable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the NFC radio transceiver and the NFC radio antenna are able to communicate over distances less than 20 inches.

16. The portable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the disable criterion message defines a time during which the NFC radio antenna is to be disabled.

17. The portable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the disable criterion message defines an NFC operation mode during which the NFC radio antenna is to be disabled.

18. The portable electronic device of claim 17, wherein the disable criterion message indicates that the NFC radio antenna is to be disabled during transaction NFC operation mode and enabled during other NFC operation modes.

19. The portable electronic device of claim 17, wherein the disable criterion message indicates that the NFC radio antenna is to be disabled during access NFC operation mode and enabled during other NFC operation modes.

20. The portable electronic device of claim 17, wherein the disable criterion message indicates that the NFC radio antenna is to be disabled during transaction and access NFC operation modes and enabled during other NFC operation modes.