Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W8/00—Network data management
  • H04W8/22—Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F15/00—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general
  • G06F15/16—Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs

Definitions

• the characteristics of the operational environment may vary from one geographic region to another, and it may be desirable for an appliance to be usable in either location.
• an electric razor manufactured in Europe will be of little use in North America if it cannot be adjusted to utilize the supply voltage that is predominant in North America.
• An ability to reconfigure ⁇ > the appliance to accept 110 volts makes the electric razor more useful to a user in North America, thus making the product more portable by extending its usefulness across multiple regions.
• a communications device such as a television or a cellular telephone is designed to receive and/or send signals having particular characteristics.
• the device may be rendered obsolete (e.g. unable to take advantage of available features) or even unusable.
• An appliance as first released to the market will not be useful unless the manufacturer configures it to comply with the applicable standards or accepted practices currently in effect.
• the characteristics of the operating environment may vary, leading to a lack of compatibility and a resulting high rate of obsolescence for consumer appliances such as cellular telephones, computer equipment and peripherals, and entertainment and communications products. It is not uncommon for technically advanced products to become obsolete within a few years or even months simply because they are unable to comply with a new version of the interface between the appliance and the environment.
• FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 2 shows an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.
• an apparatus 110 according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a processor 120 and a nonvolatile storage area 130.
• Processor 120 receives a configuration string, verifies that the string is valid, and outputs configuration information based at least in part on the configuration string.
• FIG. 1 In the example of FIG.
• the appliance may be initialized to have a base configuration.
• a configuration string may be provided (e.g. by the manufacturer or by a service provider) to the subsequent possessor, who enters the configuration string to reconfigure the appliance. Correctness of the new configuration information is established by verification of the configuration string.
• a cellular phone is reconfigured to alter or update its capabilities.
• a technique called enhanced variable rate codec (EVRC) has been developed to maximize capacity on a wireless cellular telephone network by switching between coding rates based in part on signal activity. This technique is described, for example, in the Interim Standard 127 (IS -127) document entitled "Enhanced Variable Rate Codec, Speech Service Option 3 for Wideband Spread Spectrum Digital Systems,” published by the Telecommunications Industry Association Electronics Industry Association, July 19, 1996.
• EVRC As EVRC is an emerging standard, it is not currently available in all markets. Some telephone networks are capable of supporting EVRC, while other networks recognize ENRC as a valid service option (i.e. are 'EVRC-aware') but cannot support it and will ignore a request for ENRC service. In yet other networks, however, a request for EVRC service will be interpreted as an invalid transmission, causing the network to drop the connection which issued the request.
• the current state of EVRC-readiness among wireless networks (or mobile phones) thus includes at least the following possibilities: (1) ENRC-capable; (2) ENRC-aware; or (2) EVRC-unaware.
• this configuration option may be set to conform to those capabilities.
• the value of this configuration option may also be specified on the basis of other factors as well, such as a particular user's rate schedule.
• the home origination option has a value indicating 'low' (e.g. a transmission rate of 8 kilobits/second [kb/s]), 'high' (e.g. a transmission rate of 13 kb/s), or 'EVRC • Roam Origination:
• the roam origination configuration option determines the characteristic of the coding indication transmitted to the foreign base station.
• the roam origination service option in the exemplary application has a value indicating 'low,' 'high,' or 'EVRC
• the cellular phone will respond with the indicated service option if the phone supports it. For example, if an EVRC-capable cellular phone receives a network page indicating a service option 'low,' and the value of the home page service option does not indicate 'low,' then the phone will respond in accordance with the service option 'low'.
• each of the first four symbols of the configuration string may correspond to a different configuration option.
• the range of possible input symbols may be mapped to this valid range (i.e. more than one input symbol may specify the same option). Alternatively, certain possible input symbols may be rejected as invalid.
• a mapping function includes a set of functions/, and each function/ is applied to a single corresponding symbol of the configuration string to obtain zero, one, or a plurality of symbols of the configuration options.
• the input device In an appliance where the input device is also used for other operating functions, it may be desirable to distinguish a programming mode, in which the appliance is ready to receive and process a configuration string, from an operating mode, in which the appliance may perform various other functions (some or all of which may be affected by stored configuration information).
• the keypad In a cellular telephone, for example, the keypad may be used to input the configuration string (in a programming mode) or to input a telephone number (in an operating mode).
• the configuration string is verified under the third approach by using a checksum function to calculate a checksum sequence from a portion of the configuration string.
• the checksum function may include factors that are prime numbers in order to minimize the occurrence of zeros in the result.
• the configuration string is six characters long, the last two characters being checksum characters.
• each character in the configuration string is represented by the ASCII value for that character. For example, if the first character of the configuration string is the number '0', the checksum calculation uses a value of 48 (the ASCII representation for the character '0') to represent the first digit in the calculation.
• the checksum function uses a value of 48 (the ASCII representation for the character '0') to represent the first digit in the calculation.
• the checksum function By applying the checksum function to the first four characters of the configuration string, the anticipated character values for the fifth and sixth characters are obtained. If the fifth and sixth characters of the configuration string coincide with the checksum-calculated values, the configuration string is successfully verified. On the other hand, if the fifth and sixth characters in the configuration string do not coincide with the checksum-calculated values, the verification procedure fails.
• checksum_value_l ([(ASC[1] x a) + (ASC[2] x b) + (ASC[3] x c) + (ASC[4] x d)]/i) mod j
• checksum_value_2 [(ASC[1] x e) + (ASC[2] x f) + (ASC[3] x g) + (ASC[4] x h)] mod m
• checksum_value_l and checksum_value_2 correspond to the values of the fifth and sixth characters of the configuration string, respectively; and ASC[1], ASC[2], ASC[3], and ASC[4] are the ASCII values of the first four characters of the configuration string, respectively.
• one or more of the factors a through h may be prime numbers.
• Nonvolatile storage 130 may comprise any storage device that retains information after external power is removed, such as a semiconductor memory unit (such as a flash random-access memory [RAM], a field-programmable gate array [FPGA], or a RAM with battery backup) or a magnetic, optical, and/or phase-change storage medium (such as a hard, floppy, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD disk).
• a semiconductor memory unit such as a flash random-access memory [RAM], a field-programmable gate array [FPGA], or a RAM with battery backup
• a magnetic, optical, and/or phase-change storage medium such as a hard, floppy, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD disk.
• the configuration information may remain in effect until it is erased or overwritten with new configuration information, or it may be retained permanently.
• nonvolatile storage area 130 In the case of a small, portable device having relatively limited nonvolatile storage requirements, it may be desirable to use flash or ferroelectric RAM for at least a portion of nonvolatile storage area 130, as such RAM consumes relatively little space, requires relatively little energy for reading and writing, and may be easier and less expensive to incorporate into the fabrication process than alternatives such as microminiature Winchester drives. If the results of the checksum indicate that the configuration string received is not valid, the configured options may remain unchanged, and an error indication may also be returned. In an alternative implementation, another set of configuration options is stored to nonvolatile storage area 130 in the event of a verification failure. This set of options may cause the device to provide assistance to the user, may cause the device to sound an alarm locally and/or transmit an alarm indication to a remote location, or may cause certain capabilities of the device to become disabled.
• the configuration information may be stored even before the configuration string has been verified. If the configuration string then fails the verification procedure, the new configuration information may be erased. Such operation may be used, for example, to disable the device (e.g. for reasons of security) in response to an unsuccessful reconfiguration attempt.
• FIGURE 3 shows a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.
• a configuration string is received, e.g. from an input device such as a telephone keypad.
• configuration options are calculated from at least a portion of the configuration string.
• a checksum is calculated from at least a portion of the configuration string as described above.
• FIGURE 4 shows a flowchart of an alternative implementation in which the configuration options are not calculated until the string has been verified.
• task P020 may be performed in parallel with tasks P030 and/or P040.
• a single appliance may contain multiple sets of configuration options.
• a cellular phone may have several number assignment modules (NAMs), with a different configuration being associated with each NAM.
• NAMs number assignment modules
• an appliance is reconfigured to select a particular software application (such as a web browser) from among multiple such applications available. For example, the user may enter a configuration string to choose a particular web browser. Upon verification of the configuration string, the appliance is reconfigured to use the selected browser.
• a particular software application such as a web browser
• the appliance is reconfigured to use the selected browser.
• a user interface of an appliance is customized.
• a reseller of a device may wish to substitute a customized user interface (e.g. one that displays the logo of the reseller in each menu) for a default interface provided by the manufacturer.
• the reseller may work with the manufacturer during the manufacturing stage to develop and incorporate a user interface that is specific to the reseller, and/or the reseller may download such configurability into the appliance after manufacture.
• the reseller may then reconfigure the appliance to display the customized interface by entering the appropriate configuration string locally and/or remotely before retail sale.
• an appliance is reconfigured to alter a menu such that certain menu items are revealed or hidden.
• the service provider may provide a code (i.e. a configuration string) by which the user may reconfigure the appliance so that a menu item or items corresponding to that feature that were previously hidden are now available.
• a code i.e. a configuration string
• the additional feature is enabled.
• continued support for a particular feature may require a new configuration string (supplied, for example, by subscription) to be inputted periodically, such that unless the configuration information is updated as required, the appliance will revert to a default configuration, thus hiding or otherwise disabling the feature.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Software Systems (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Telephone Function (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=24730288

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Families Citing this family (1)

Family Cites Families (10)

• 2001
  • 2001-10-02 WO PCT/US2001/030801 patent/WO2002030143A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2001-10-02 EP EP01977356A patent/EP1323322A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-10-02 CN CNA018169341A patent/CN1468497A/zh active Pending
  • 2001-10-02 AU AU2001296482A patent/AU2001296482A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-10-02 KR KR10-2003-7004853A patent/KR20030091936A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events