AU1859899A

AU1859899A - A method of down-loading of over-the-air reprogramming data

Info

Publication number: AU1859899A
Application number: AU18598/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Christophe Max Jean Jouin
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 1998-03-05
Filing date: 1999-03-04
Publication date: 1999-09-16
Also published as: GB9804711D0; GB2335114A; JP3314808B2; JPH11249884A; GB2335114B

Description

S F Ref: 455667

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

S

Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: NEC Corporation 7-1, Shiba Minato-ku Tokyo

JAPAN

Christophe Max Jean Jouin Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia A Method of Down-loading of Over-the-air Reprogramming Data

S

The following statement is a full description of this invention, Including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5845 A METHOD OF DOWN-LOADING OF OVER-THE-AIR

REPROGRAMMING

DATA

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to radio transmitter/receivers and in particular it relates to a 10 method of reprogramming radio transmitter/receivers overthe-air.

2. Description of the Related Art A radio transmitter/receiver(transceiver) such as a 15 radiotelephone is desired for operation with particular type of networks such as GSM900 or DCS1800.

Intended use of the radiotelephone with a particular networks in a restricted geographical area, however, requires that the telephone be configured so as properly to communicate with the particular networks.

The user of a radiotelephone will usually have a telephone which has been configured for communication with a so called "home network". The home network is the local network usually most used by the subscriber.

The area within which a user of e.g. a GSM radiotelephone may operate, however, is considerable and is not limited to the home network but may be used on many other networks throughout the world. Use of a radiotelephone outside the home network is known as Mroaming".

When the radiotelephone is to be used for roaming it is often necessary for it to have a configuration different to that for use with the home network. It is possible for re-configuration of radio transmitter/receivers to be effected by means of signals 10 received across the air interface. It is also convenient go for the radio to be re-configurable over the air interface so as to support different types of communication and user applications e.g. addition of address book manager, whether or not it is located in the a 15 home network.

Over-the-air reprogramming of radio receivers is a. *a well known and reference may be made to US patent 5381138 for example. The capability to obtain programming data from a network is particularly useful for a roaming radio transmitter/receiver.

Dual or multi-mode radio transceivers for use with more than one network are well known. These dual or multi-mode transceivers may be manufactured either for use as single unit or provided as separate units to be linked together or to be used in conjunction with each other.

Presently over-the-air reprogramming is limited to a single network. That is to say that a cellar network will reprogram only that part of the transceiver which operates with that cellar network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object the present invention to provide a method of downloading of over-the-air reprogramming data 10 which is able to use over-the-air reprogramming for more than one network for a dual mode or multi-mode transceiver.

According to the invention there is provided method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data for 15 installation in a first radio transceiver configured for operation with a first network, the reprogramming data being supplied from a second network to a second radio transceiver operating with the second network and forward to the first radio transceiver for installation.

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description based on the accompanying drawing which illustrate examples of preferred embodiments of the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 shows a network to explain the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One example of the invention will now be described with reference to the sole figure 1 which is a pictorial representation of a dual mode transceiver operable with cellular and satellite networks.

A dual mode transceiver 1 is shown in figure 1. The 00 transceiver 1 comprises a "stand alone" unit 2 which is a cellular phone and a satellite unit 3. The satellite unit 3 operates with a satellite network 4. The cellular unit 2 may be removed from and operate separately from the 15 satellite unit 3. The two units are connectable, however, 00 0 so as to available e.g. the power supply from one unit may be used to supplement or replace the power supply from the other unit.

Additionally the two units may be linked by optical means e.g. IR(infrared). When the need or desire for reprogramming arises a request for a programming module download is passed from the cellular unit 2 to the cellular network 5 or from the satellite unit 3 to the satellite network 4. The programming module requested could be required for a reconfiguration to allow use of the phone in the locality to which it has roamed.

Alternatively the request may be for an additional user application module to be downloaded such as an address book manager.

In this example, however the requirement is for the satellite unit 3 to be reprogrammed to provide for operation of the cellular unit 2, in combination with the satellite unit 3, with the satellite network 4.

The cellular unit 2 request a download from the cellular network 5 and prepares to receive and transfer data. The nature of the transmission of the requested module will depend upon the amount of data to be received the cellular unit 2, the bandwidth of the communication channel and the amount of memory available in the receivers.

The communication of the data module from cellular unit 2 to satellite unit 3 will also depend on the linkage existing between the two units. When connected together e.g. via plug and socket connection (a wire link), the transfer of the reprogramming module from one unit to the other may be at radio frequency(RF) and reduction of the reprogramming module to baseband frequency will not be required.

Where units are physically separated and an optical linkage exists between the two units then in order to transmit the reprogramming module, the incoming

RF

signals from the network will need to be reduced to baseband frequency.

Both cellular unit 2 and satellite unit 3 have memory stores, such as flash EPROM, capable of being written to by incoming data. The incoming data for reprogramming is received and stored by cellular unit 2.

The reprogramming data in the memory of cellular 2 is then transferred to the memory of satellite unit 3.

When reception of the reprogramming data in memory of satellite unit 3 is complete the reprogramming data is installed in satellite unit 3 at all levels. With 0@ suitable buffering and control the memories of both of the units 2 and 3 may be shared.

S..

Whilst in the above example the two unit are separable, in some dual mode designs a single 00 0e radiotelephone unit mode is constructed for use with two types of network.

A dual mode phone therefore may be of unitary ease construction and include in its design many features common to both modes of use. This is to say that many of 0000 the component parts of the phone such as the keypad, power supply and some memory will effectively be shared between the two modes of use.

The method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data described herein is also applicable to dual mode radiotelephones where a first radio transceiver is that part of the radiotelephone operable with a first network and the second radio transceiver is that part of the radiotelephone operable with a second network.

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described using specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.

9 9. 9 9

Claims

1. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data for downloading reprogramming data for installation in a first radio transceiver configured for operation with a first network is comprising the steps of: supplying said reprogramming data from a second network to a second radio transceiver operating with the second network, 00 supplying said reprogramming data to said first radio transceiver, and installing said reprogramming data in said first radio transceiver.

2. A method of downloading over-the-air 0. reprogramming data according to claim 1, wherein said first radio transceiver is that part of a dual mode radiotelephone operable with said first network and said second radio transceiver is that part of a radiotelephone operable with said second network.

3. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 1, wherein said first network is a cellular network and said second network is a satellite network.

4. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 2, wherein said first network is a cellular network and said second network is a satellite network.

A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 1, wherein said first network is a satellite network and said second network is a cellular network.

6. A method of downloading over-the-air S. reprogramming data according to claim 2, wherein said first network is a satellite network and said second network is a cellular network.

7. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 1, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via a wire link.

8. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 2, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via a wire link.

9. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 3, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via a wire link.

A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 4, 0* wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio C. 5 transceiver via a wire link. *5 C

11. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio 5 transceiver via a wire link. S

12. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 6, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via a wire link.

13. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 1, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via an infrared link.

14. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 2, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio .o 5 transceiver via an infrared link. 4

15. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 3, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio S S 5 transceiver via an infrared link.

16. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 4, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded 'from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via an infrared link.

17. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim -12- where said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via an infrared link.

18. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data according to claim 6, wherein said reprogramming data is forwarded from said second radio transceiver to said first radio transceiver via an infrared link.

19. A method of downloading over-the-air reprogramming data substantially as described herein with reference to Fig. 1. DATED this Fourth Day of March 1999 S•NEC Corporation Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON s* [R:\LIBL]02209.doc:JJP