MOBILE DEVICE WITH RFID CAPABILITY AND CORRESPONDING BOOT SEQUENCE

• US 20140191846A1
• Filed: 02/05/2013
• Published: 07/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Hong, Aerrabotu, Naveen, Sinha, Rohit
• Granted Patent: US 9,159,013 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer

Abstract

An electronic device (100) includes a control circuit (108) that is operable with a memory or storage device (120). The electronic device includes an RFID tag (113) having a second memory (118). The RFID tag can be read from, or written to, by a RFID communication device (114) when the electronic device is OFF. Device personalization can be achieved when the control circuit accesses the second memory to retrieve the device configuration data during a boot sequence and configures the electronic device in accordance with the device configuration data retrieved from the second memory during the boot sequence. Device information can be made available when the electronic device is OFF by writing the device information to the second memory.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a first memory;

a control circuit to execute a boot sequence stored within the first memory; and

an RFID tag embedded in the electronic device and comprising a second memory to store device configuration data received from an RFID communication interface;

the boot sequence to instruct the control circuit to;

access the second memory to retrieve the device configuration data during the boot sequence; and

configure the electronic device in accordance with the device configuration data retrieved from the second memory during the boot sequence.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, the boot sequence further to instruct the control circuit to:

cause a communication circuit of the electronic device to initiate communication with a network;

operably connect the communication circuit to the network using a network credential from the device configuration data; and

download data from the network.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, the device configuration data comprising data received from the RFID communication interface when the control circuit is powered OFF.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, the boot sequence to instruct the control circuit to access the second memory to retrieve the device configuration data upon powering ON.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, the device configuration data comprising information received from a remote RFID communication device.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, the remote RFID communication device comprising one of a kiosk or a point of sale terminal.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, the device configuration data comprising one or more of a ringtone, wallpaper, or video created at the one of the kiosk or the point of sale terminal.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, the device configuration data received from a user portal across a network.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, the device configuration data comprising one of a user name, a user wallpaper preference, a user ringtone preference, a user home screen arrangement preference, a region preference, a language preference, or combinations thereof.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, the device configuration data comprising one or more of network login credentials or application login credentials.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, the application login credentials comprising an electronic mail login credential.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, the device configuration data comprising information retrieved from another electronic device.

13. A method of configuring an electronic device, comprising:

determining device personalization data for the electronic device; and

delivering, with an RFID communication device, device personalization data to a RFID communication interface while the electronic device is powered OFF.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the delivering occurs while the electronic device is disposed within packaging.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising omitting opening the packaging prior to the delivering.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining comprises retrieving the device configuration data from one of a kiosk or a server operable with a user accessible configuration portal.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining comprises reading, with a RFID communication device, the device configuration data from another electronic device prior to the delivering.

18. A method of configuring an electronic device, comprising:

receiving device configuration data via a RFID communication interface while a control circuit of the electronic device is OFF; and

powering the control circuit ON;

executing, with the control circuit, a boot sequence retrieved from a first memory to boot the control circuit;

retrieving, with the control circuit, the device configuration data from a second memory operable with the RFID communication interface; and

configuring, with the control circuit, the electronic device in accordance with the device configuration data during the boot sequence.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the device configuration data comprises one or more of a user configuration preference, user context information, user location information, a user uniform resource locator, or a user login credential.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising reconfiguring the electronic device in response to an interrupt actuated when updated device configuration data from the RFID communication interface is received.