Prevention of inductive coupling between components of a mobile communication device

• US 9,426,604 B1
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Cordes, Kevin R., Loman, Clinton H., Paczkowski, Lyle W., Steele, Kenneth R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US13/873,813
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0031 for data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• 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 method of organizing components of a mobile communication device. The method comprises orienting a radio frequency identity chip of the mobile communication device relative to a general purpose near field communication transceiver of the mobile communication device, locating the radio frequency identity chip in a null region of an electromagnetic field radiated by the general purpose near field communication transceiver, whereby, the null region of the electromagnetic field may be below a threshold required to activate the radio frequency identity chip.

Claims

1. A method for unlocking and engaging a radio frequency identity chip of a mobile communication device, comprising:

receiving a signal on the radio frequency identity (RFID) chip to unlock;

responsive to receiving the signal, unlocking the RFID chip;

responsive to unlocking the RFID chip, engaging the RFID chip with a near field communication (NFC) scanner, wherein the NFC scanner is a general purpose NFC transceiver of the mobile communication device;

transmitting a biographical digest from the RFID chip to the NFC scanner; and

subsequent to the transmission of the biographical digest, instructing, by the RFID chip, the general purpose NFC transceiver to ignore the RFID chip and locking the RFID chip.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal received by the RFID chip to unlock is encrypted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the NFC scanner uses a non-standard modification of initialization procedures prior to use of a transport protocol to unlock the RFID chip.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID chip does not transmit while locked.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal received by the RFID chip to unlock and the biographical digest transmitted from the RFID chip to the NFC scanner use a plurality of frequencies.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal received by the RFID chip to unlock uses a different transport media than that used by the general purpose NFC transceiver.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the different transport media comprises one of radio frequency, wired, or electromagnetic.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device is one of a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, or a tablet computer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another signal on the radio frequency identity (RFID) chip to unlock;

responsive to receiving the other signal, unlocking the RFID chip;

responsive to unlocking the RFID chip, engaging the RFID chip with a NFC scanner external to the mobile communication device;

transmitting the biographical digest from the RFID chip to the external NFC scanner; and

subsequent to the transmission of the biographical digest, locking the RFID chip.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the RFID chip, data from the NFC scanner in response to unlocking the RFID chip.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID chip does not transmit or receive data while locked.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a message to a central processing unit in response to unlocking the RFID chip.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising presenting, by an application executed by the central processing unit, the message in a display of the mobile communication device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising prompting, by the application, a user of the mobile communication device to approve the unlocking of the RFID chip before the RFID chip is unlocked.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting, by an application executed by a central processing unit, a message in a display of the mobile communication device after the transmission of the biographical digest and before the locking of the RFID chip.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising prompting, by the application, a user of the mobile communication device to approve the locking of the RFID chip before the RFID chip is locked.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the biographical digest comprises information about the mobile communication device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the information about the mobile communication device comprises one or more of a manufacturer identity, a device model identity, an initial hardware version identity, an initial software version identity, an initial preferred roaming list identity, a current software version identity, or a current preferred roaming list identity.