GB2368702A

GB2368702A - Mobile telephone provided with a microcircuit card reader

Info

Publication number: GB2368702A
Application number: GB0113491A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jean-Louis Sarradin
Original assignee: Sagem SA
Current assignee: Sagem SA
Priority date: 2000-06-06
Filing date: 2001-06-04
Publication date: 2002-05-08
Anticipated expiration: 2021-06-04
Also published as: GB0113491D0; GB2368702B; DE10126803B4; FR2809920A1; DE10126803A1; FR2809920B1

Abstract

A mobile telephone is provided, in a battery pack 3, with a microcircuit support reader 5, for example a smart card reader. All the electronic circuits needed for the operation of an application managing smart cards are soldered to the electronic circuits of the main pack 2 of the telephone or in the circuits of the battery pack. Thus, the miniaturization of a mobile telephone is facilitated.

Description

MOBILE TELEPHONE PROVIDED WITH A MICROCIRCUIT CARD

READER

An object of the invention is a mobile telephone provided with a 5 microcircuit card reader. The field of application of the invention is mobile

telephony in terms of both speech communication and data communication.

The aim of the invention is to facilitate the miniaturizing of a mobile telephone provided with a microcircuit card reader.

There are known three-connector or trislot mobile telephones. In a 10 mobile telephone of this kind, a first connector is intended for a card known as a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card. A second and third connector are respectively designed for a first smart card managing an application, for example a banking application, and for a smart minicard used to manage the link between the first card and the telephone circuit. An updating of the 15 application is then achieved through the detachable nature of the minicard.

However, with the miniaturization of mobile telephones, a problem of space requirement arises. The cost in terms of space due to the connectors is then a parameter that has to be taken into account.

One approach to overcome the problem of space requirement is the 20 use in a mobile telephone of a special card known as a SIM TOOLKIT. This special SIM card is a SIM card that includes a set of functions and especially functions needed to set up transactions with smart card operators. It is then possible to consider integrating a management program into the SIM TOOLKIT card. This is a program for managing the relationship between a 25 bank card and the mobile telephone. However, this approach not only raises a problem of independence of service providers, such as for example bankers, but also a problem of the memory capacity of the SIM TOOLKIT card. To resolve these problems, the invention proposes to eliminate the 30 third connector and replace it with an electronic circuit directly soldered into the telephone. The electronic circuit is made either in the pack of the battery of the telephone or in a mobile telephone itself. Thus, the connector dedicated to the minicard is eliminated and, then, the detachable nature of the management minicard is eliminated. The electronic circuit is actually an 35 integrated circuit, or an equivalent assembly of electronic components that is

/ then directly incorporated into the circuits of the battery of the telephone or into the circuits of the telephone itself. The updating of the application is then possible according to a known principle by means of a baby-bottle type of downloading card. This card is inserted into the smart-card reader. The 5 updating is also possible by means of an OTA (Over the Air) procedure, namely by radioelectric means.

The downloading or baby-bottle cards are used to update the operating systems of already existing applications or they overwrite already installed operating systems. And thus, a new operating system is installed.

10 The invention therefore relates to a mobile telephone comprising a main pack and a battery pack, the main pack comprising: - a fixed mother card provided by soldering with a first microprocessor to make the mobile telephone work, and - a detachable circuit linked to the first microprocessor, this detachable 15 circuit being provided with a second microprocessor to interact in the operation of the first microprocessor, the battery pack comprising a microcircuit card reader, wherein - the fixed mother card or the battery pack is provided, by soldering, 20 with a third microprocessor to interact on the microcircuit reader card, and wherein the telephone comprises - a first program memory of the first or second microprocessor to update the contents of a third program memory of the third microprocessor.

The invention will be understood more clearly from the following 25 description and the appended figure. This figure is given purely by way of an

indication and in no way restricts the scope of the invention. The single Figure 1 shows a mobile telephone according to the invention.

Figure 1 shows a mobile telephone 1 comprising a main pack 2 and a battery pack 3. The battery pack 3 has a battery 4 and a microcircuit card 30 reader 5. The microcircuit card reader 5 may, for example, be a smart card reader. The battery 4 and the reader 5 are connected by means a bus 6 to an interface 7. This interface 7 is linked by means of a bus 8 with an interface 9 of the main pack 2 of the mobile telephone 1.

The main pack 2 has a fixed mother card 10. A first microprocessor 35 11 is soldered to this fixed mother card 10. This first microprocessor 11

manages the general operation of the mobile telephone 1. In particular, it manages the general telephony system. The function of the general telephony system is defined by a program 12 of a program memory 13.

A transceiver 14 of the mobile telephone 1 communicates with a base 5 station 15 of a mobile telephony operator and is connected by means of a bus 16 to the microprocessor 11.

The mother card 10 has a connector in contact with a connector of a SIM card 17. The card 17 has elements characterizing the relationship between a mobile telephony operator and a telephone user 1.

10 The method of putting a telephone 1 into operation is known. The user must use the keypad 18 of the telephone 1 to dial a code known as a PIN code. This code is transmitted by means of the bus 16 to the SIM card 17 by means of a program 19 for putting the telephone into operation. This program 19 is contained in the program memory 13.

15 The card 17 has a microprocessor 20, a program memory 21 and a data memory 22 connected to each other by means of a bus 23. The buses 16 and 23 are connected to each other by means of the connector of the mother card 10 and the connector of the SIM card 17.

Once the PIN code has been transmitted to the card 17, a program 24 20 of the program memory 21 is executed under the control of the microprocessor 20. The PIN code is compared with a code memorized in a memory space 25 of the data memory 22. If the comparison is positive, the activation of the telephone is authorized.

Then, a subscription identity information element IMSI contained in a 25 memory space 26 of the data memory 22 is sent to the base station 15 by means of the bus 23, the bus 16 and the transceiver 14.

The base station 15 processes the IMSI information element. If the user is recognized, at the end of the processing, as a person authorized to use the network, the mobile telephone 1 is incorporated into the network.

30 The telephone 1 may then enter into communication with another partner.

The microprocessor 20 may interact on the operation of the microprocessor 11. Thus, if the user is not recognized as an authorized person, no communication can be set up between the telephone 1 and another partner.

35 According to one embodiment of the invention, the main pack 2 has a

third microprocessor 27 soldered to the mother card 10. The microprocessor 27 is a microprocessor that interacts with the microcircuit card reader 5. The reader 5 has feelers designed to come into contact with metallizations of a chip 28 of a smart card 29.

5 In the invention, the smart card 29 may be a data-loading card, namely a baby-bottle card.

This card 29 is then used to update an application requiring a smart card such as, for example, a bank card. In this case, the card 29 comprises a program data memory 30 in which program data of the application are 10 stored.

The manufacturer seeks to parametrize, for example, the telephone 1 in such a way that it comprises a bank application.

He inserts the card 29 into the reader 5. A program 31 of a program memory 32 of the card 29 is then executed under the command of a 15 microprocessor 33 of the card 29 by means of a bus 34. This program 31 activates an downloading program 35 of the memory program 13. The downloading program 35 downloads program data contained in the data memory 30 into a program data memory 41. Once this program data has been downloaded, the program 35 reloads the program data into a program 20 memory 36 included in the mother card 10.

Programs of the program memory 36 are then executed under a command of the microprocessor 27.

Should it be necessary to secure program data, an encryption program 37 is designed in a program memory 38 of the card 29 or in the program 25 memory 13 of the main pack 2. The memory 38 may be the memory 31.

In the case of a bank application, the program data will be encrypted to ensure a securing of the operating system of the application used by a bank card.

A downloading can also be done into the mobile telephone 1 by 30 means of a radioelectrical link. The program data elements are sent for example in the form of SMS messages to the mobile telephone 1.

The program 35 is then a remote-loading program and, in this case, does not have the same characteristics as those described here above.

Indeed, the program 35 does not download the program data from a memory 35 space of program data. It receives them in the form of SMS messages. The

program 35 then has an algorithm for the description of the program data and

an algorithm for the encryption of the data such that the program data thus encoded can be interpreted by the microprocessor 27. Once the program data elements are received in the form of SMS messages and have been put 5 through these two algorithms, they are loaded into the memory 36.

To avoid problems of competition between the different microprocessors, a preferential system for the execution of the commands by the different microprocessors is set up. Thus, the third microprocessor 27 is implemented as soon as the data has been downloaded into the program 10 memory 36. If commands do not correspond to the first microprocessor 11 or to the second microprocessor 20, namely if they are not decodable by the microprocessor 11 or the microprocessor 20, they are directly sent to the third microprocessor 27.

The downloaded program data can be used to update the operating 15 system already in existence and overwrite the old operating system, thus establishing a new operating system of the small cards which will be read by the smart card reader.

The use of downloading cards enables smart card service providers to maintain their independence from mobile telephony operators and mobile 20 telephony manufacturers. If the loading data is sent in the form of SMS type short messages, the problem of the independence of the service providers is resolved by the installation of private lines between the service provider and the user.

According to another embodiment, the third microprocessor 27 and the 25 different programs enabling the downloading and reloading of the program data will be integrated into the battery pack.

The program 35 for downloading and loading the program data must be contained either in a program memory driven by the first microprocessor 11 or by a program memory driven by the second microprocessor 20.

30 However, the program memory that comprises the program 35 for downloading and loading data must be integrated into the mother card 10.

According to another embodiment, the card 29 could have the dimensions of the card 17. The card 29 will then be inserted instead of a detachable card 17.

35 The user decides to use his bank card. He inserts his bank card into

the reader 5 and presses the button of the control keypad 18. The program data forms a program 39 of the memory program 36 that runs under the command of the microprocessor 27. A menu, proposing different banking operations to the user, appears on the screen 40. All that the user has to do 5 then is to validate his choices by means of the keys of the control keypad 18.

Claims

1. A mobile telephone comprising a main pack and a battery pack, the main pack comprising: 5 - a fixed mother card provided by soldering with a first microprocessor to make the mobile telephone work, and - a detachable circuit linked to the first microprocessor, this detachable circuit being provided with a second microprocessor to interact on the operation of the first microprocessor, 10 - the battery pack comprising a microcircuit card reader, wherein - the fixed mother card or the battery pack is provided, by soldering, with a third microprocessor to interact on the microcircuit reader card, and wherein the telephone comprises 15 - a first program memory of the first or second microprocessor to update the contents of a third program memory of the third microprocessor.

2. A telephone according to claim 1, wherein the first memory program is soldered to the mother card.

3. A telephone according to any of the claims 1 to 2, wherein the 20 microcircuit card reader is a smart card reader.

4. A telephone according to any of the claims 1 to 3, comprising an downloading card provided with an downloading memory to be inserted into a inserted into the microcircuit card reader or instead of the detachable card and, in the first program memory, an downloading sub-program to download 25 program data contained in this downloading memory and reload it into the third program memory.

5. A telephone according to claim 4, wherein the downloading card and/or the first program memory comprise a sub-program for the encryption of the program data to be downloaded and reloaded.

30

6. A telephone according to any of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the first program memory comprises a sub-program for downloading from a mobile telephone communication.

7. A telephone substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.