KR100641427B1 - RFID system and methof for limiting use of mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are an RFID system and a method of limiting use of a mobile terminal, which can limit use of a lost mobile terminal.

The present invention provides a radio frequency for an unspecified mobile terminal having an activated RFID tag module, tracks the lost mobile terminal using a unique identifier responsive to the radio frequency, and loses the tracked lost mobile terminal. By providing information to block various functions of the lost mobile terminal, it is possible to fundamentally prevent the lost mobile terminal from being used illegally or maliciously.

Mobile Terminals, RFID Tag Modules, Feature Blocking, Readers, Hosts

Description

RF system and methof for limiting use of mobile terminal

1 illustrates an RFID system according to the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a mobile terminal using an RFID tag module according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: mobile terminal 11: mode designation unit

12: power supply unit 13: switch

14: RFID tag module 15: detector

16: function block 20: reader

30: host

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to an RFID system and a method of limiting use of a mobile terminal, which can limit the use of a lost mobile terminal.

With the development of mobile communication technology, mobile terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) are exploding.

The mobile terminal is able to send and receive text messages with the other party, as well as provide functions such as entertainment, games, and shopping, away from the conventional simplified call function. In addition, the mobile terminal also provides a management function for managing phone numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, important materials, and personal schedules. Therefore, the mobile terminal is becoming a necessity rather than a luxury for modern man.

A mobile terminal containing important information about a user is likely to be lost due to user's negligence. If the mobile terminal is lost, the user of the mobile terminal loses all of its important information and replaces it with the next mobile terminal, but it takes considerable time to recover all the original important information. In addition, when a person who has acquired a lost mobile terminal uses it maliciously, there is a risk of serious damage to the user of the lost mobile terminal.

Therefore, a technology for finding a lost mobile terminal and limiting the use of a third party should be studied. However, a technology for this has not been proposed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an RFID system and a method of limiting use of a mobile terminal, which can limit the use of a lost mobile terminal.

According to a first embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, RFID comprising a plurality of mobile terminals having an RFID tag module, a reader for transmitting and receiving information with the plurality of mobile terminals and a host for controlling the reader The method of limiting the use of a mobile terminal in a system includes: tracking a lost mobile terminal for a mobile terminal in which the RFID tag module is activated in the reader; Providing lost information to the tracked lost mobile terminal; Setting a loss in the activated RFID tag module in response to the lost information in the lost mobile terminal; And blocking various functions according to the lost setting state of the activated RFID tag module.

According to a second embodiment of the present invention, an RFID system includes a reader that radiates radio frequency to track a lost mobile terminal and provides lost information for limiting use of the lost mobile terminal; The mobile terminal provides a unique identifier to the reader in response to the radio frequency and has a RFID tag module set to be lost according to the lost information, and blocks various functions according to the lost setting state when designated as an activation mode. ; And a host configured to determine whether the mobile terminal is a lost mobile terminal using a unique identifier provided from the mobile terminal and to control the reader to provide the lost information to the lost mobile terminal.

The present invention limits the use of a mobile terminal by controlling an RFID tag by embedding an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag in the mobile terminal.

Before describing the present invention, a description will be given of an RFID tag and a system which are widely used at present.

In general, an RFID tag is a technology that is attached to a thing and transmits and receives information using radio frequency and provides a service related thereto. RFID tags basically play a similar role to existing barcodes, but they can store more information than barcodes, and are easy to attach and can be sent and received over long distances. RFID tags also have the ability to actively acquire and process information.

In order to operate the RFID tag, an RFID tag, an antenna, a reader, a host, or the like must be provided. The RFID tag and the antenna are formed in a chip form and may be embedded or attached to an object.

When a radio frequency (RFID field) is emitted from the reader, it is received by an antenna located in the RFID field, the RFID tag provides the embedded information (e.g., a unique identification number) to the reader in response, and the reader sends the provided information. Send it to your host for follow up.

In this case, the reader may load predetermined information or commands within the radio frequency to the RFID tag to operate an object in which the RFID tag is embedded or attached in response to the information or command.

RFID tags having such a function are used in various applications by being combined with various applications. For example, document management, identification card management, history management, drug distribution management, cargo management, container management, passenger car management, manufacturing process management, parking management, access control, security search, etc. This is it.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating an RFID system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the RFID system of the present invention includes a mobile terminal 10, a reader 20, and a host 30.

The mobile terminal 10 stores a unique identification number for identifying the mobile terminal 10 and sets a loss for the mobile terminal 10 according to the loss information provided from the reader 20. 14, a sensing unit 15 that detects whether the RFID tag module 14 is set to be lost, and a third party according to the detected result from the sensing unit 15. It is provided with a function blocking unit 16 to block the function of the mobile terminal 10 to prevent use.

The RFID tag module 14 may be operated by the power supplied from the power supply unit 12. In this case, a switch 13 for controlling whether power supplied from the power supply unit 12 is applied to the RFID tag module 14 is provided between the power supply unit 12 and the RFID tag module 14. The switch 13 is controlled by the mode designation section 11 which designates a mode in response to a command by the user. That is, if the user activates or not activates the RFID tag module 14 by using a predetermined interface (not shown, for example, a keypad button), that is, when a predetermined button provided on the interface is operated by the user. The command for the user's operation is input by the mode designation unit 11, and the activation mode or the deactivation mode is determined in response to the command.

For example, when the user presses the '*' button provided on the interface to activate the RFID tag module 14, the mode designation unit 11 recognizes this as an activation mode and the switch 13 is turned-on. Control to turn on. Accordingly, power supplied from the power supply unit 12 is applied to the RFID tag module 14 to maintain the RFID tag module 14 in an active state. Accordingly, the RFID tag module 14 may perform a predetermined operation, for example, transmit its own identification number in response to an external radio frequency or perform a predetermined operation in response to information loaded on the external radio frequency. Accordingly, the RFID tag module 14 may be designed to recognize the radio frequency and transmit information corresponding thereto to the reader 20.

On the other hand, when the user presses the '#' button provided in the interface to deactivate the RFID tag module 14, the mode designation unit 11 recognizes this as an inactive mode and the switch 13 is turned- Control to be off. Accordingly, the power supplied from the power supply unit 12 is cut off so that the power is not applied to the RFID tag module 14 so that the RFID tag module 14 is maintained in an inactive state. Accordingly, the RFID tag module 14 does not perform any operation.

Therefore, the user can maintain the RFID tag module 14 in the activation mode or the deactivation mode through the mode designation unit 11 regardless of the place and time.

When the mobile terminal 10 is lost in the present invention, in order to find the mobile terminal 10, the RFID tag module 14 must be maintained in an active mode and power must be supplied from the power supply unit 12.

Therefore, it is desirable for the user to keep the RFID tag module 14 in the active mode when it is prone to loss.

The RFID tag module 14 may have all of a storage function, a processing function, and a reception function. Therefore, by the receiving function, it is possible to call and send and receive information with an external device (reader 20 in the present invention), the unique identification number of the mobile terminal 10 can be stored by the storage function, The loss of the mobile terminal 10 may be set according to the loss information provided from the reader 20 by a processing function.

The detector 15 always detects the RFID tag module 14 to detect whether it is lost and provides the result to the function blocking unit 16.

The function blocking unit 16 analyzes the detection result provided from the detecting unit 15 to prevent a third party from using the mobile terminal illegally when a loss is set in the RFID tag module 14. Block various functions. Here, the various functions may include a transmission / reception function, storage information (mail content, text message content, address book, phone number, anniversary, etc.) reading function, wireless Internet use function, and the like.

The reader 20 emits a predetermined radio frequency and receives a unique identification number of the mobile terminal 10 corresponding to the radio frequency transmitted from the RFID tag module 14 of the mobile terminal 10. To the host 30.

The host 30 stores unique identification numbers for a plurality of mobile terminals. The host 30 checks whether the mobile terminal 10 is a lost mobile terminal 10 by using a unique identification number provided from the mobile terminal 10, and moves the lost mobile terminal 10. In case of the terminal 10, lost information is provided on a radio frequency emitted from the reader 20. In response to the lost information, the RFID tag module 14 of the mobile terminal 10 is set to be lost, and the mobile terminal is provided by the function blocking unit 16 that receives a detection result from the sensing unit 15 that detects the lost information. Block various functions of 10. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a third party from using the mobile terminal 10 illegally.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a mobile terminal using an RFID tag module according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a mode is designated by the user in the mobile terminal 10 (S 41). Here, the mode is divided into an active mode and an inactive mode. The activation mode is such that the power supplied from the power supply unit 12 is applied to the RFID tag module 14 embedded in the mobile terminal 10 so that the RFID tag module 14 is kept in an activated state. The power supply from the power supply unit 12 is not applied to the RFID tag module 14 such that the RFID tag module 14 is maintained in an inactive state. In the activation mode, the RFID tag module 14 may receive radio frequency or lost information, etc. emitted from the reader 20 and perform an operation according thereto, whereas in the inactive mode, the RFID tag module 14 It makes itself inoperative so that it does not respond to any external signals.

The activation mode and the deactivation mode may be designated by the user. That is, it can be designated as the activation mode or the deactivation mode by the user, for example, by operating a specific button on the keypad button.

By the keypad button operated from the user, the mode designation unit 11 determines whether the user requests the activation mode or the deactivation mode (S 43).

If the user requests the deactivation mode, the switch 13 is turned off by the mode designation unit 11 so that the power supplied from the power supply unit 12 is not applied to the RFID tag module 14. The RFID tag module 14 is maintained in an inactive state (S 71).

In this case, the user uses the mobile terminal 10 to perform various functions (send / receive calls, read mail or SMS messages, or download various contents using the wireless Internet, etc.) (S 73).

If the user requests the activation mode, the switch 13 is turned on by the mode designation unit 11 so that the power supplied from the power supply unit 12 is applied to the RFID tag module 14. The RFID tag module 14 is maintained in an activated state (S45). Of course, as described above, even if the RFID tag module 14 is maintained in an active state, various functions may be performed by the mobile terminal 10.

As described above, when the RFID tag module 14 of the mobile terminal 10 is maintained in an active state and the mobile terminal 10 is lost (S 47), the mobile terminal is connected to the host 30 by a user. Loss of (10) is reported (S 49).

The host 30 receives the loss report from the user and inquires the unique identification number of the mobile terminal 10 among the unique identification numbers of the plurality of mobile terminals that are registered in advance. The mobile terminal 10 registers with the lost mobile terminal 10 (S51).

In addition, the host 30 commands the reader 20 to emit a predetermined radio frequency and, accordingly, the radio frequency is emitted by the reader 20 (S 53). The radio frequency is a frequency that can be received by any mobile terminal 10 incorporating the RFID tag module 14. The radio frequency propagates widely within the range of energy.

The radio frequency may be received when the RFID tag module 14 is embedded not only in the lost mobile terminal 10 but also in other mobile terminals (S 55).

Upon receiving the radio frequency, the RFID tag module 14 of the mobile terminal 10 provides the reader 20 with a unique identification number prestored in response thereto (S 57).

The reader 20 provides the provided unique identification number to the host 30, and the host 30 searches for lost unique terminals registered with the unique identification numbers based on the provided unique identification number. Check whether the terminal is correct (S 59).

If the provided unique identification number does not exist among the unique identification numbers for the previously registered lost mobile terminal, the mobile terminal 10 of the provided unique identification number is determined not to be the lost mobile terminal, and the radio frequency is continuous. The reader 20 is controlled to diverge.

When the provided unique identification number is a unique identification number for a previously registered lost mobile terminal, the host 30 provides the lost information to the reader 20, and the lost information is moved by the reader 20. It is provided to the terminal 10 (S 61).

The RFID tag module 14 of the mobile terminal 10 receives the loss information and sets a loss in response thereto (S 63).

The sensing unit 15 continuously detects whether loss setting information exists in the RFID tag module 14 (S65).

When the loss setting information is present in the RFID tag module 14 by the sensing unit 15, the sensing unit 16 provides the sensing result to the function blocking unit 16, and the function blocking unit 16 is provided to the sensing result. Accordingly, various functions that may be performed by the S 73 are blocked (S 67). Here, the various functions may include a transmission / reception function, storage information (mail content, text message content, address book, phone number, anniversary, etc.) reading function, wireless Internet use function, and the like.

Therefore, in the present invention, if a mobile terminal is lost, the host may find the lost mobile terminal and provide lost information to the lost mobile terminal to block various functions, thereby preventing the third party from using the mobile terminal illegally or maliciously. Can be prevented.

As described above, according to the present invention, by searching for a lost mobile terminal to provide lost information to block a variety of functions, to improve the reliability of the product, to strengthen the service to customers, and to block the victim in good faith Can be.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (9)

An RFID system comprising a plurality of mobile terminals having an RFID tag module, a reader for transmitting and receiving information with the plurality of mobile terminals, and a host for controlling the reader, Tracking the lost mobile terminal at the reader for a mobile terminal in which the RFID tag module is activated; Providing lost information to the tracked lost mobile terminal; Setting a loss in the activated RFID tag module in response to the lost information in the lost mobile terminal; And Blocking various functions according to the lost setting state of the activated RFID tag module Method of limiting the use of a mobile terminal comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking of the lost mobile terminal comprises: Radiating radio frequency from the reader to the plurality of mobile terminals; Providing a unique identifier to the host in response to the radio frequency in a mobile terminal in which the RFID tag module is activated among the plurality of mobile terminals; And Checking whether the host is a lost mobile terminal by querying the unique identifiers registered as lost in advance based on the provided unique identifier in the host; Method of limiting the use of a mobile terminal comprising a. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the RFID tag module is maintained in an activated state or inactivated state by a user's mode designation. The method of claim 3, wherein the operation of the RFID tag module is performed when the RFID tag module is maintained in an active state. The method of claim 3, wherein the operation of the RFID tag module is not performed when the RFID tag module is maintained in an inactive state. The method of claim 1, wherein the various functions include a call transmission / reception function, a storage information viewing function, and a function of using the wireless Internet. A reader that radiates radio frequency to track a lost mobile terminal and provides lost information for limiting use of the lost mobile terminal; The mobile terminal provides a unique identifier to the reader in response to the radio frequency and has a RFID tag module set to be lost according to the lost information, and blocks various functions according to the lost setting state when designated as an activation mode. ; And A host for identifying the lost mobile terminal using the unique identifier provided from the mobile terminal and controlling the reader to provide the lost information to the lost mobile terminal accordingly; RFID system comprising a. 8. The RFID system according to claim 7, wherein the mobile terminal further comprises sensing means for detecting a lost setting state of the RFID tag module. 8. The RFID system according to claim 7, wherein the host has a pre-registered unique identifier of the lost mobile terminal as lost.

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