FR2811796A1 - Anti theft/loss secure mobile telephone having separate alarm module having transmitter mobile telephone receiver detecting and setting secure mode. - Google Patents

Abstract

The secure mobile telephone has a portable module (2) and an alarm module (8). The alarm module has a transmitter (10) which is detected by a receiver (4) on the mobile telephone. A control and processing mechanism commands the mobile telephone secure mode.

Description

The present invention relates to a secure portable assembly.

  In the particular case of mobile telephony, for example, such sets generally consist of a cellular telephone set, access to the various functions of which is subject to the registration by the user of a personal secret code, called PIN code ( Personal

Identification Number).

  Thus, when the cellular telephone set is in locked mode, only the user who knows the PIN code can put it in working condition. On the other hand, when the various functions of the cellular telephone set are unlocked, following the registration of the code

  PIN, the telephone set is no longer protected.

  However, today, the number of thefts from cell phones is growing rapidly. Likewise, if a user forgets or loses their mobile phone in unlocked mode, it can be used by

any other person.

  The invention aims to remedy these drawbacks by creating a

  portable set effectively protected against theft or oblivion.

  The subject of the invention is therefore a secure portable assembly, characterized in that it comprises a module forming a portable object and an alarm module, separate from the portable object, and in that said modules comprise one, one wave transmitter and the other, a corresponding wave receiver and means for controlling and managing the reception of these waves, adapted to control the initiation of operation

security means.

  Thus, a user provided with such a secure portable assembly, permanently carries the alarm module with him and can be warned of theft or of forgetting his personal portable object, when the receiver is no longer in operation.

  able to receive the incident waves.

  The secure portable assembly according to the invention may also include one or more of the following characteristics: - the portable object module is a cellular telephone set suitable for establishing wireless telephone communications - the module provided with a transmitter comprises a coder suitable for coding by modulation of the transmitted wave and the module provided with a receiver includes a corresponding decoder; the transmitter and the receiver are suitable for the exchange of high frequency electromagnetic waves; - the transmitter and the receiver are suitable for exchanging ultrasonic waves; - the module fitted with a transmitter is the alarm module and the module fitted with a receiver is the portable object module; - the alarm module includes a rechargeable electrical energy source; the module forming a portable object comprises a circuit for managing elements for executing predetermined functions of said module connected to the wave reception management means and suitable for activating or inhibiting at least part of these elements depending on the reception or failure to receive waves from the alarm module; - The module fitted with a transmitter includes a sequencer coupled to the transmitter, suitable for controlling successive emission of waves; - The module fitted with a transmitter includes means for controlling the inhibition of the sequencer, which can be actuated manually by a user, for the emission of a continuous wave; and - the alarm module is integrated into an element chosen from a key ring, a pen, a smart card and a device for transmitting

wireless data.

  The invention will be better understood using the description which follows.

  follow, given only by way of example in the particular case of a mobile telephone set and made with reference to the appended drawings in which: - Figure 1 shows a secure mobile telephone set according to the invention; - Figure 2 shows schematically different elements integrated into the assembly presented in Figure 1; FIG. 3 represents the functional diagram of the device for managing the emission of waves of a set of secure mobile telephony according to the invention; and FIG. 4 represents the functional diagram of the device for managing wave reception of a secure mobile telephone set

according to the invention.

  The secure mobile telephone assembly shown in FIG. 1 includes a cellular telephone set 2 provided with a receiver 4 of electromagnetic waves and with a rechargeable energy source 6 of the conventional l0 type. The assembly also includes an alarm module 8 provided with an emitter 10 of electromagnetic waves and a rechargeable energy source 12, of the same type as the energy source 6 of the telephone set 2. The module d alarm is also fitted with a push button

  14, forming an inhibitor, the function of which will be detailed during the description of

lafigure3.

  Part of the constituent elements of the secure mobile telephony assembly described above is shown schematically in the

figure 2.

  Thus, the transmitter 10 of the alarm module 8 comprises a transmission management device 16, provided with a sequencer 18. Their operation will be

  detailed during the description of FIG. 3.

  The transmitter also includes an encoder 20 connected to the transmission management device 16, controlled by the latter and connected to transmission means 22 for waves. The encoder 20 is adapted to supply the transmission means 22, in a conventional manner, an electrically coded signal.

  unique around a predetermined carrier frequency.

  The transmission means 22 are adapted to transform this electrical signal into an electromagnetic wave and transmit it, in a conventional manner. The emission power of the electromagnetic wave is by

  example less than 1 mW, thus limiting its range to a few meters.

  For its part, the receiver 4 comprises reception means 24, adapted to receive an electromagnetic wave and transform it into a

electrical signal.

  The receiver 4 also comprises means for controlling reception of waves received from the transmission means 22, arranged in the form of a decoder 26, connected to the reception means 24 and also connected to a reception management device 28. Conventionally, the decoder 26 is adapted to supply the reception management device 28 with a validation signal, only if the signal received by the receiver has been coded by the coder 20, corresponding to the decoder 26. Thus, the receiver 4 and the transmitter 10 are associated in a unique way, so that any transmitter of electromagnetic wave does not

  can be used as a decoy for the receiver 4.

  The reception management device 28 is in turn provided with a

  timer 30. Their operation will be detailed during the description of

Figure 4.

  The cellular telephone set 2 also includes a management circuit 32 of elements for executing telephony functions connected to the receiver 4 and adapted to receive, from the reception management device 28, activation or inhibition of at least some of these elements, such as, for example, a ringing instruction for the cellular telephone set, a search signal triggering instruction or a locking instruction

from the terminal.

  The operation of the transmission management 16 and reception 28 devices of the secure mobile telephony assembly described

  previously will now be described.

  The operation of the emission management device 16 follows a

  process shown in Figure 3.

  This transmission method includes a step 34 of transmitting a coded signal. During this step, an inhibition test 36 is permanently activated to detect the state of the push button 14. As long as a user of the alarm module presses the push button 14, the transmitter

  is in timer inhibit mode and the test result is positive.

  In this case, the transmission step 34 is extended. Otherwise, when the result of the inhibition test 36 is negative, the emission step 34 is stopped beyond a duration of, for example, one second and the emission method is

  carried over to a time delay step 38.

  During this time delay step 38, the transmitter 10 is inhibited by the activation of the sequencer 18 of the conventional type, for a predetermined duration of, for example, two seconds. Following this period of

  time delay, the transmission method is carried over to the transmission step 34.

  The operation of the reception management device 28 follows a

  process shown in Figure 4.

  This reception method comprises a first initialization step 40 constituted by the reception of a validation signal in

from decoder 26.

  Following this step, a test 42 for receiving a second validation signal from the decoder 26 is activated. If the test result is negative, the reception method is carried over to a step 44 of

delay.

  This timing step 44 activates the timer 30, the function of which is identical to that of the sequencer 18, for a slightly longer duration.

  greater than the transmitter delay time.

  Following this step, a reception test 46 of a validation signal from the decoder 26 is activated. If the result of this reception test 46 is positive, the reception method is carried over to the reception test 42. If the result of the reception test 46 is negative, the reception process is carried over to a time delay step 48, identical to step 44. Following this timing step 48, a reception test 50 of a validation signal from the decoder 26 is activated. If the result of this reception test 50 is positive, the reception method is carried over to the reception test 42. If the result of the reception test 50 is negative, the reception process is carried over to a step 52 of triggering

alarm.

  During this step 52 of ringing triggering, the reception management device 28 transmits to circuit 32 an instruction to

  ringing of the cellular telephone set 2.

  During this step 52 also, the reception management device 28 permanently activates a reception test 54 of a validation signal from the decoder 26, for a duration of, for example, one minute. If the result of the reception test 54 becomes positive during this period of one minute, the reception process is postponed to a

step 56 to stop ringing.

  During this step 56 of ringing stop, the reception management device 28 transmits to circuit 32 an instruction to stop ringing the cellular telephone set 2. The reception process is then

carried over to test 42.

  If the result of the reception test 42 is positive, the reception method is carried over to a step 58 of triggering the signal

research 58.

  During this step 58, the reception management device 28 transmits to the circuit 32 an instruction for triggering a search signal. Following step 58, a reception test 60 of at least 5 validation signals from the decoder 26 is activated. If the result of this reception test 60 is negative, the reception method is carried over to the time delay step 44. Otherwise, the reception process is carried over to another

time delay step 62.

  This timing step 62 activates the timer 30 for a

  duration of, for example, one second.

  Following this step, a test 64 of reception of a validation signal from the decoder 26 is activated. If, during a delay of, for example, 4 seconds, the result of the reception test 64 remains negative, the reception method is carried over to the time delay step 44. If, within 4 seconds, the result of the reception test 64 becomes positive, the

  reception process is carried over to a stop step 66.

  Following this stop step 66, the reception method can only be reactivated from the initialization step 40, upon receipt of a

  new validation signal from decoder 26.

  If the result of the acceptance test 54 is negative, a deactivation test 68 is activated. During this deactivation test 68, the reception management device 28 transmits to the circuit 32 a test test instruction.

  manual deactivation of the cellular telephone ringer.

  This test carried out by circuit 32 is considered to be conventional and will not be detailed below. It simply consists in allowing the user of the secure mobile telephone set to manually deactivate the ringing of the cellular telephone set triggered during step 52. If the result of this deactivation test 68 is positive, the

  reception process is carried over to stop step 66.

  Otherwise, the reception process is carried over to a blocking step 70. During this step, the reception management device 28 transmits to the

  circuit 32, an instruction to lock the cellular telephone set 2.

  It appears that a set of secure mobile telephones according to the invention significantly improves its protection against theft or oblivion. Indeed, the user of such an assembly carries with him, at all times, the small alarm module which checks, either permanently or intermittently, the proximity of the cellular telephone set 2. When the two modules are separated by a distance greater than a predetermined maximum distance, the assembly can trigger an alarm, a locking of the cellular telephone set, or any other protection function. It will also be noted that the invention is not limited to the mode of

realization described.

  In particular, a secure portable assembly according to the invention does not necessarily include a cellular telephone set. It can include any portable object, electronic or not, such as a computer

  laptop, camera, pouch or bag for example.

  Also in a variant, the emission means 22 of an electromagnetic wave can be replaced by emission means 22 of an ultrasonic wave. In this case, the receiving means 24 of an electromagnetic wave are replaced by receiving means 24

of an ultrasonic wave.

  Finally, as a variant, the transmitter 10 can be integrated into the cellular telephone set 2 and the receiver 4 into the alarm module 8. In this case, the alarm module 8 no longer has a push button 14 but a signal transmitter alarm, activated when the alarm module 8 is far from the cellular telephone 2.

Claims (11)

  1. Secure portable assembly, characterized in that it comprises a module forming a portable object (2) and an alarm module (8), separate from the portable object (2), and in that said modules include the one, a transmitter (10) of waves and the other, a receiver (4) of corresponding waves and means of control (26) and management (28) of the reception of these waves, adapted to control the triggering of the functioning of security means.   2. A secure portable assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the portable object module (2) is a cellular telephone set suitable for establishing telephone communications. wireless.   3. Portable secure assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the module provided with a transmitter (10) comprises an encoder (20) suitable for coding by modulation of the transmitted wave and in that the module provided of a receiver (4) comprises a corresponding decoder (26).   4. Portable secure assembly according to one of claims 1 to   3, characterized in that the transmitter (10) and the receiver (4) are suitable for   the exchange of high frequency electromagnetic waves.   5. Secure portable assembly according to one of claims 1 to   3, characterized in that the transmitter (10) and the receiver (4) are suitable for the exchange of ultrasonic waves.   6. Secure portable assembly according to one of claims 1 to   5, characterized in that the module provided with a transmitter (10) is the alarm module (8) and in that the module provided with a receiver (4) is the module forming a portable object (2).   7. secure portable assembly according to claim 6, characterized in that the alarm module (8) comprises a source of electrical energy (12) rechargeable.   8. Secure portable assembly according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the module forming a portable object (2) comprises a management circuit (32) of elements for executing predetermined functions of said module connected to the management means (28 ) wave reception and suitable for activating or inhibiting at least part of these elements depending on the reception or failure to receive waves in from the alarm module (8).   9. Secure portable assembly according to one of claims 1 to   8, characterized in that the module provided with a transmitter (10) comprises a sequencer (18) coupled to the transmitter (10), suitable for control successive wave transmissions.   10. Secure portable assembly according to claim 9, characterized in that the module provided with a transmitter (10) comprises control means (14) of the inhibition of the sequencer (18), actuable   manually by a user, for the emission of a continuous wave.   11. Secure portable assembly according to one of claims 1 to   , characterized in that the alarm module (8) is integrated into an element chosen from a key ring, a pen, a smart card and a   wireless data transmission device.