GB2383235A

GB2383235A - A sim card having a memory configured and operable to store additional data other than telephone numbers and names

Info

Publication number: GB2383235A
Application number: GB0130077A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alon Yannay; Avishai Yacobi; David Bar-On
Original assignee: Motorola Inc
Current assignee: Motorola Solutions Inc
Priority date: 2001-12-15
Filing date: 2001-12-15
Publication date: 2003-06-18
Anticipated expiration: 2021-12-15
Also published as: GB2383235B; GB0130077D0

Abstract

A subscriber identification card for use in conjunction with a mobile communications station operable in a mobile communications system, the card including a memory for storing data relating to records of telephone numbers of interest to the user and optionally corresponding contact names associated with such numbers and characterised in that the memory is configured and operable to store additional data useful to the user in operation of the mobile station other than telephone names and contact numbers. Also described is a method of storing information of a user of a mobile station operable within a mobile communications system which includes connecting the subscriber identification card to the mobile station, entry by the user of data into the mobile station via a user data input interface, transfer of the data to the card and insertion of the data into the memory of the card for storage therein, wherein the data includes data useful to the user in operation of the mobile station other than contact names and telephone numbers. The mobile station may be operable in a GSM or TETRA system operating in trunked and/or direct operational mode.

Description

TITLE: SUBSCRIBER IDENTIFICATION CARDS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to subscriber identification cards and particularly their use with mobile communications stations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Subscriber identification cards often referred to as SIM (subscriber identity module) cards are widely employed in conjunction with subscriber mobile stations for use in mobile radio communications systems. In this specification the expression'subscriber'includes members of a user group who are collectively or individually permitted to use the system, e. g. because they belong to a common company or organisation for whose benefit the system is operated, as well as individuals who subscribe directly to an operator of the system. Certain communication units are commonly

referred to as'mobile stations'. In this specification the expression'mobile station' ('M8') is intended to include within its meaning mobile and portable telephone units and mobile and portable radio units and the like.

In this specification, mobile communications system' means a system providing communication between two or more radio commuincations units at least one of which is a mobile station including communication via one or more fixed installations such as base transceiver stations as well as communications directly between two or more mobile stations.

Many mobile communications systems operate according to the GSM (Global System for Mobile) communication standards. In particular, the standard GSM 11.11 : 'Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+): Specification of the Subscriber Identity Module-Mobile Equipment (SIM-ME) Interface'defines the specification of SIM cards to be used in conjunction with mobile stations for use in GSM systems. SIM cards in accordance with this standard are also proposed for use in certain systems operating according to other standards for example TETRA standards. TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) is a set of standards specified by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Many millions of SIM cards are in use and configured according to the aforementioned GSM standard. Such cards currently in use have the drawback that because of their fixed configuation to be in accordance with the GSM standard, the subscriber user information stored by them (in their memory) is limited to information relevant to the subscriber's identification for use only in a specific communications system and information relating to telephone numbers or contact names.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION According to the present invention in a first aspect there is provided a subscriber identification card for use in conjunction with a mobile station operable in a mobile communications system, the card including a memory for storing data relating to use of the mobile station including records of telephone numbers of interest to the

user and optionally corresponding contact names associated with such numbers and characterised in that the memory is configured and operable to store additional data, other than telephone names and contact numbers, which may be entered and/or selected by a user and useful to the user in operation of the mobile station.

The said additional stored data may include data stored in one or more database fields which are linked to one or more records of one or more telephone lists incorporated in the memory. Each such telephone list generally records a plurality of telephone numbers or telephone number/contact name combinations. For example the data may describe one of a plurality of sets or types of contact name or telephone number in which a given contact name or a given telephone number is included. Thus, the memory field in which such additional stored data is stored may be a'number type'field.

The one or more fields may be provided by linear fixed extension files rooted to one or more files of the memory in which telephone numbers and optionally related contact names are stored. For example, the extension files may be configured to form a concatenated chain rooted to a file storing one or more telephone numbers. The file storing telephone numbers may be one of the following known kinds of file employed in a known standard GSM SIM card database configuration: ADN, MSISDN, LND, FDN, SDN, and BDN.

The card may be one of a set of cards each for use in conjunction with a mobile station in a given mobile communications system wherein the set of cards all have the same configuration such that the type of data which may be stored in the said additional field (s) is predefined for all cards to be used in mobile stations in a given mobile

communications system, e. g. a system designed for use by a particular user group.

Examples of the kinds of data fields in which the said additional data may be stored are as follows.

In a first example, there may be descriptors (e. g. at least four descriptors) of different sets or types of telephone number stored. The additional data comprises the descriptors. Examples of descriptors of the different sets or types are: home number, mobile number, office number and facsimile number. The database provided by the memory may be configured so that there is a link from each telephone number record to one of the records of the descriptors.

In a second example, there may be descriptors of different sets or types of contact name stored. Examples of the sets or types are different departments or units of the user's organisation. The database provided by the memory may be configured so that there is a link from each contact name record to one of the records of the descriptors.

In a third example, there may be other sets or types of contact name stored and the descriptors may be of the other sets or types. Examples of the other sets or types are: work colleagues, business contacts, family, and friends. The database provided by the memory may be configured so that there is a link from each telephone number record to one of the records of the descriptors.

In a fourth example, the data may designate a group identity, e. g. an identifier number, relating to one or more stored telephone numbers or name/telephone number pairs which form a given contact or talk group. The database provided by the memory may be configured so that there is a link from each telephone number or name/number combination recorded to the group identity data.

In a fifth example, the data may comprise one or more records of e-mail addresses. Each e-mail address stored may be linked in the memory to a given name/telephone number combination also stored. Alternatively, a set of e-mail addresses may have one link to a set of records comprising a telephone list.

In a sixth example, the data may relate to a configuration type for use of the mobile station (with which the card is to be used) as selected by the user. For example, the data may describe how incoming messages are to be announced to a user, e. g. by ringtone, vibration or one or more tunes. Alternatively, or in addition, the data may describe a message volume level to be selected by the user.

Alternatively, or in addition, the data may describe a language of information to be presented to the user as selected by the user. Alternatively, or in addition, the data may be such as to indicate that the user wishes to receive results of certain sports events received by the mobile station. Alternatively, or in addition, the data may relate to a method or configuration selected by the user of using the mobile station in a given situation, e. g. in a meeting, outdoors, in the car etc. In these various forms of the sixth example, the mobile station may, when receiving the additional data stored by the card, be operable in accordance with the configuration type selected.

The card according to the first aspect of the invention, which may for example be a SIM card, may also include a processor via which data may be entered into and retrieved from the memory. The memory and processor may be provided on the card in the form of separate devices

electrically connected together or their functions may be combined in a single unit, e. g. a single microprocessor.

The additional data which may be stored in the memory of the card may include data selectable and/or entered by the user via a user interface to the mobile station when the card is connected thereto, e. g. by insertion therein in a known manner. In this case the data may be transferred from the mobile station to the card via an interface between the two.

When the card is connected to the mobile station the additional data stored in the memory of the card may be retrieved by the processor of the card, transferred to the mobile station and displayed or otherwise used by the mobile station in its operation, e. g. operation in one of the ways of the sixth example described above, as defined by the data.

The amount and format of user entered and/or selected data which may be stored by the memory of the card is determined by the capacity of the memory, the capability of the processor and the operational database configuration employed by the memory and the processor.

According to the present invention in a second aspect there is provided a method of storing information of a user of a mobile station operable within a mobile communications system which includes connecting a subscriber identification card according to the first aspect to the mobile station, entry by the user of data into the mobile station via a user data input interface, transfer of the data by the mobile station to the card and entry of the data into the memory of the card for storage therein, wherein the data includes data useful to the user in

operation of the mobile station other than contact names and telephone numbers.

The mobile station may for example be a radio telephone, especially one which is operable in a cellular communications system which is a GSM or a TETRA system. The mobile system in which the mobile station is operable may be a system operating in a trunked mode in which communications are sent via one or more fixed installations such as base transceiver stations or a system operating in a direct mode in which two or more mobile stations may communicate directly or a system operating in both of these two modes (one mode at a time).

Beneficially, the present invention allows user entered and/or selected operational data, other than telephone numbers and contact names, of personal interest to the user to be stored in the memory of the card and to be readily retrievable via a mobile station when the card is connected thereto. Such data may not be stored in cards currently available commercially because the conventional database configuration of such cards does not permit such data to be stored. In some cases, the mobile station operated in conjunction with a card according to the invention may be operable in a particular manner, e. g. in one of the ways described earlier, when receiving the data from the card according to the invention. The memory of the card may be used for example to store data which is useful in another mobile station or to avoid loss of data when the mobile station switches to use of another card. The conventional database configuration employed in the memory of currently available SIM cards designed to be in accordance with the GSM standard may beneficially be modifed in a simple and inexpensive manner to accommodate

the additional fields required to store the additional data.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic block circuit diagram of a SIM card connected to a mobile telephone.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION As shown in Figure 1, a mobile telephone unit 1 has a SIM card inserted therein and connected thereto via an interface 5. The card 3 has a memory 7 in which data may be stored and a processor 9 which is operable to enter data into the memory 7 and retrieve data from the memory as required. A power supply 11 energises components of the unit 1 and of the card 3. The unit 1 includes a processor 13 which controls operation of the unit 1, and a memory 21 for storing information relating to operation of the unit 1 in a known manner. A transceiver 15 connected to the processor 13 is provided for transmitting and receiving via an antenna 16 radio communication signals sent between the unit 1 and other telephones (not shown) via a cellular network including at least one base station. The unit 1 also includes an audio circuit 17 connected to the transceiver 15 and the processor 13 by which speech information of a user may be input and by which speech information received by the unit 1 may be heard by the user. The unit 1 also includes a display 19 connected to

the processor 13 for displaying information to the user and a keypad 23 connected to the processor 13 via which data and control information may be entered into the unit 1 by the user in a conventional manner.

The memory 7 of the SIM card 3 provides a database which is structured in a manner similar to that of a conventional GSM phone SIM card database except where modifications embodying the invention are applied as explained later to permit storage of information not storable with cards currently available. The database has a hierarchical structure including one root called MF (master-file), a plurality of directories (called DF) and a plurality of files (called EF). In general terms, the hierarchy is as defined in the GSM standard as defined earlier. Every file is either a list of records (a linearfixed EF) or a single record (a transparent EF). All fields of a record have predefined names and values.

Use of this type of database structure strictly according to the procedures defined in the GSM standard, and as applied in currently available SIM cards does not allow files to be made relating to other information of personal interest to the user as described earlier.

In the currently available file structure there are extension-files available to extend the storage area of the dialling-number files. These are called ADN, MSISDN, LND, FDN, SDN, BDN files which are located under the DF TELECOM directory.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the existing file structure is modified to use extensions of the EF files for storage of additional personal data.

These extensions, EXT1, EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, are also

stored under a DF directory, e. g. DF TELECOM. Each of these four EF extensions is a linear-fixed file. The maximum number of records possible in each EF extension file is 255 records. The maximum number in practice may be a smaller number defined by the card supplier.

The structure of a record in each of the EXTs (where 'bx'where x is 1 to 8) represents a bit number is as in Table 1 as follows: Table 1

Name Description Length Record type b8-b3 (bits 3-8) are RFU (reserved 1 byte for future use) ; b2bl ='01' means"called-party-subaddress" ; b2bl ='10'means "additional-data" ; and the value which interests us most, b2bl ='00'means"unkown".

Extension 11 bytes of data. The format is 11 Data defined by the record-type bytes Identifier An index to another record in the 1 byte same EXT. This allows linking a chain of records. Equals'FF'if no record is linked The important fields of a record in a dialling-number EF (ADN, MSISDN...) are as defined in Table 2 as follows:

Table 2

Name Description Length Length Size in bytes of the TON+NPI and the 1 byte Data fields. 0 means empty record TON+NPI Numbering scheme, or'FF'if the 1 byte data is not a dialled number Data A dialling-number or control-string 10 bytes Extension Index to a record in the EXT file, 1 byte record or'FF'if none. identifier

The ADN file and its EXT1 extension can as an example be used to store user personal information. One record in ADN is allocated with the values: Length = 1 ;

TON+NPI ='FF' ; content in Data is irrelevant. One record in EXT1 is allocated for the purpose of storing the proprietary data. The Ext-rec-identifier field in the ADN file receives the index of the EXT1 record. In the EXT1 record the values may be : Record-type = "unknown"and Extension data holds the personal data.

More EXT1 records can be allocated and linked to create a chain of EXT1 records each holding personal data. The chain is created by storing the record number of the next link in the Identifier field. The last record in

the chain will have the Identifier ='FF'.

The ADN record serves as an anchor for the EXT1 records. Without it there is a danger that EXT1 records will be overwritten. The Length field in ADN must not equal 0 since this denotes an empty record. It must

equal 1 to declare that the ADN record does not hold a number/string. The TON+NPI field must equal'FF'to denote that no dialling number is stored there. These values ensure two important conditions are met: (1) the record will not be deleted, and (2) the record will not be interpreted-by an application that does not understand the personal information.

The four EXT files with 255 records each, with 11 bytes of data in each record, gives a total or possible maximum capacity of 11220 bytes for storage of personal data in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

In practice, not all EXT files may be available on a SIM card, and 255 records may not be allocated. However, even with a smaller capacity, data of considerable interest to the user can be stored.

Using the file structure method described above, a chain of 4 EXT1 records can be allocated to the additional data. For example, the extension data fields can hold, respectively, telephone number descriptors for home, mobile, office and facsimile (or initially undefined) telephone numbers types. The database may contain a link for each telephone number stored in the database to its related type descriptor. The database may have been pre-configured so that the descriptors from which a given descriptor may be chosen by a user are pre-defined. A user organisation and/or operator of the mobile communication system may have specified the available options in the pre-configuration.

The database thereby stores a list of telephone numbers of each type denoted by the descriptors. The information to be entered by the user into the database

can be entered via the keyboard 23 (Figure 1) and retrieved for viewing on the display 19 by suitable user entry of control data also via the keypad 23. There may be presented to the user on the display 19 a menu showing available pre-defined descriptor types which may be chosen for a given record being entered by the user.

The data entered may be permanently stored in the memory of the SIM card 3 unless deleted e. g. to be changed, by the user.

Other kinds of data entered or seleted by the user may be stored in the memory 7 in a similar manner.

Claims

1. A subscriber identification card for use in conjunction with a mobile communications station operable in a mobile communication system, the card including a memory for storing data relating to records of telephone numbers of interest to the user and optionally corresponding contact names associated with such numbers and characterised in that the memory is configured and operable to store additional data, other than telephone names and contact numbers, which may be entered and/or selected by a user and useful to the user in operation of the mobile station.

2. A card according to claim 1 and wherein the said additional stored data which may be stored by the card includes data stored in one or more database fields which are linked to one or more records of one or more records providing telephone lists incorporated in the memory.

3. A card according to claim 1 or claim 2 and wherein the said additional data is of a predefined type.

4. A card according to claim 3 and wherein the additional data defines one of a plurality of predefined options available to and selectable by a user.

5. A card according to claim 2, claim 3 or claim 4 and wherein the or each telephone list records a plurality of telephone numbers or telephone number/contact name combinations.

6. A card according to any one of claims 2 to 5 and wherein the memory comprises a database structured so that the said one or more fields is provided by linear fixed extension files rooted to one or more files of the memory

in which telephone numbers and optionally related contact names are stored.

7. A card according to claim 6 and wherein the memory is such that the extension files are configured to form a concatenated chain rooted to a file storing one or more telephone numbers.

8. A card according to claim 7 and wherein the memory is such that the file storing telephone numbers is one of the following known kinds of file employed in a known standard GSM SIM card database configuration: ADN, MSISDN, LND, FDN, SDN, and BDN.

9. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the card is one of a set of cards each for use in conjunction with a mobile station in a given mobile communications system wherein the set of cards all have the same configuration such that the type of data which may be stored in the said additional field (s) is predefined for all cards to be used in mobile stations in the given mobile communications system.

10. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the additional data comprises descriptors of different sets or types of telephone number stored.

11. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the additional data comprises descriptors of different sets or types of contact name stored.

12. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the additional data designates a group identity relating to one or more stored telephone numbers or name/telephone number combinations which form a given contact or talk group.

13. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the additional data comprises one or more records of e-mail addresses.

14. A card according to any one of claims 10 to 13 and wherein the memory is such that the records containing the additional data are linked to corresponding records of telephone numbers or telephone number/contact name pairs.

15 A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the data relates to a configuration type selectable by the user for use of the mobile station when the card is connected thereto.

16. A card according to claim 15 and wherein the additional data designates how incoming messages are to be announced to a user.

17. A card according to claim 15 or claim 16 and wherein the additional data designates a message volume level selectable by the user.

18. A card according to claim 15, claim 16 or claim 17 and wherein the additional data designates a language of information to be presented to the user which is selectable by the user.

19. A card according to any one of claims 15 to 18 and wherein the additional data is such as to indicate that the user wishes to receive results of certain sports events received by the mobile station.

20. A card according to any one of claims 15 to 19 and wherein the additional data relates to a method or configuration selectable by the user of using the mobile station in a given use situation.

21. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and which also includes a processor via which data

may be inserted into or retrieved from the memory by a user.

22. A card according to claim 21 and wherein the memory and processor are provided on the card in the form of a single unit.

23. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the card is such that the additional data stored in the memory of the card includes data entered by the user via a user interface to a mobile station when the card is connected thereto.

24. A card according to claim 23 and wherein data is transferrable from a mobile station to the card via an interface between the two.

25. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the card is such that when the card is connected to the mobile station in operation the data stored in the memory of the card may be retrieved by the processor of the card, transferred to the mobile station and displayed by the mobile station.

26. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and wherein the card is such that when the card is connected to the mobile station in operation the data stored in the memory of the card may be retrieved by the processor of the card, transferred to the mobile station and the mobile station, when receiving the additional data stored by and retrieved from the card, is operable in accordance with the configuration type selected.

27. A card according to any one of the preceding claims and substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawing.

28. A method of storing information of a user of a mobile station operable within a mobile communications

system which includes connecting a subscriber identification card according to any one of the preceding claims, entry by the user of data into the mobile station via a user data input interface, transfer of the data to the card and insertion of the data into the memory of the card for storage therein, wherein the data includes data useful to the user in operation of the mobile station other than contact names and telephone numbers.

29. A method according to claim 28 and wherein the mobile station is operable in a communications system which is a GSM or a TETRA system and the system is operable in a trunked and/or a direct mode of operation.