WO2015014076A1

WO2015014076A1 - A charging apparatus and a method for controlling a mobile device

Info

Publication number: WO2015014076A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/089515
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yanshan Shi
Original assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Current assignee: Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-08-01
Filing date: 2013-12-16
Publication date: 2015-02-05
Anticipated expiration: 2016-02-01
Also published as: CN104348958A

Abstract

A charging apparatus that stores a charging apparatus identifier and sends said identifier to a mobile device to be charged. A method for controlling the mobile device including receiving a charging apparatus identifier, storing the received charging apparatus identifier, and comparing the received charging apparatus identifier and a stored charging apparatus identifier to determine whether an abnormality has occurred. If an abnormality has occurred, the device goes into alarm mode. A link is established between the charging apparatus and the mobile device to identify any abnormality with the mobile device and put it into alarm mode in a situation where only the mobile device is lost.

Description

A CHARGING APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A MOBILE

DEVICE

F I E LD OF TH E I NVENTI ON

The present invention relates to charging apparatuses and their corresponding mobile communication devices, particularly a charging apparatus and a method for controlling its mobile device.

BACKG ROU N D

The appeal of smart mobile devices continues to increase with the advances in communication technology. They come in an ever-increasing array of forms, including smart phones, tablet computers with communication capabilities, and watches with communication, navigation and medical testing functions. The major operating systems for smart devices include Apple's iOS, Google-backed Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone. Smart devices are typically characterized by having a substantial number of peripheral devices and a broad range of applications. They are often equipped with GPS systems, blue tooth, WiFi, FM radio, high-resolution cameras and large touchscreens, and support one or more of the various communication modes such as 2G systems including GSM, GPRS and EDGE and 3G systems including WCDMA, CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA for 3G systems. Some also support the LTE system. There are thousands of applications that can be downloaded from the web and installed on smart phones, including map navigation, cell phone banking and games.

Various types of sensors can be put into smart devices, including gravity sensors, acceleration sensors, directional sensors, triaxial gyroscopes, distance sensors, light sensors and electronic compasses. A gravity sensor works using piezoelectricity. Smart devices are usually equipped with large capacity batteries, as well as large capacity storage units such as 4 to 32 GB SD cards. Large capacity storage units can be internal or external. Internal storage units are installed internally in smart devices as part of their hardware, while external storage devices can be independently extracted and replaced, in which case the smart devices need only provide the capability for reading from and writing to said equipment such as an SD card slot.

Wireless charging is a new technology developed in recent years for mobile devices. There are currently three main charging standards: Power Matters Alliance (PMA), Qi and Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP). With Qi the charging process comprising four stages: selection, paging, identification and configuration, and power transfer. In the selection stage the charger detects the placement or removal of an object on its surface. This particular stage is ongoing throughout the entire charging process. During the paging stage the charger sends out a page and detects a response. The identification and configuration stage comprises the charger identifying the apparatus to be charged which has been selected during the selection stage and acquiring configuration data, for example the maximum allowable power. During the power transfer stage the actual process of charging occurs until it is completed or the apparatus being charged is removed. An Identification Packet and an Extended Identification Packet are defined in the Qi standard. Within said two packets the following are defined: the version of the apparatus being charged, the device manufacturer code, the device identifier and the extended identifier. These are sent from the apparatus being charged to the charging apparatus during the identification and configuration stage.

Costs are obviously higher for smart devices than for cell phones with traditional functions, and they provide stronger processing capabilities, more comprehensive functionality, and the ability to store and handle greater amounts of data and information. This also means that losing a smart device is a greater loss to a consumer. The primary loss is the cost of purchasing a new device, though there are also risks associated with the data stored on the storage unit of the lost device. Said risks are characterized by the following: the risk of the disclosure of private information or commercial secrets; and the risk of the destruction of data, such as when audio-visual evidence is deleted by other people resulting from losing the device.

Smart devices generally provide a reset function so that factory settings can be recovered. This operation resets the entire device and deletes all of the data stored on it. Resetting is the equivalent of using a portion of the system stored on the smart device to perform a recovery so that the operating system and all of the data are reset and the cell phone is in a state which is the same or close to how it was when it was shipped from the factory. The reset process uses data stored in the ROM of the smart device. ROM is an abbreviation for "read-only memory." It is a solid state semiconductor memory unit from which data stored on it beforehand can only be read. Once the information is stored on the ROM it cannot be modified or deleted, and no information on it is lost when the power of the device is turned off. The ROM in cell phones is a little different from the ROM as it is commonly understood. In most circumstances it can only be read and not written upon, though things can be written into the ROM in certain special cases. Operating systems for smart devices provide a lock screen function to prevent losses caused by losing a cell phone. Users can specify images and passwords that are required to unlock the screens so that it is difficult for other people to unlock them and use their mobile devices. This is a preliminary form of protection for the data stored on the internal storage unit of the device, but naturally it cannot defend against cracking the locked screen by wiping the device. Privacy protection and anti-theft applications can be installed on smart devices in the form of cell phone guard software. With these types of software users can set up passwords with respect to the running authority of designated data and applications. They also feature functions such as sending a text message to a designated number when a new card is installed in a phone; when said text message is received, performing specific operations including, for example, a positioning application will proceed, and location information will be sent to a designated number, or a photograph will be taken and said photograph will be sent to a designated number, or a warning sound will be emitted when data on the phone is destroyed, etc.

BRI E F SU M MARY OF TH E D I SC LOSU RE

The present invention solves the problem pertaining to the need to send out an alarm from a mobile device, to restrict its use and to control it remotely when it is lost or in an abnormal operational environment.

In order to realize said objective, the present invention provides a charging apparatus for a mobile device comprising the following:

a storage unit for storing a charging apparatus identifier; a transmitting unit for reading the charging apparatus identifier in the storage unit and transmitting it.

Optionally, said transmitting is performed through a wired connection or a wireless connection.

Optionally, when said transmitting is performed through a wireless connection, said charging apparatus identifier is sent during an identification and configuration stage.

Optionally, said charging apparatus identifier contains a manufacturer's code or a serial number for the charging apparatus.

In order to realize said objective, the present invention also provides a method for controlling a mobile device comprising the following:

receiving a charging apparatus identifier;

storing the received charging apparatus identifier;

comparing the currently received charging apparatus identifier to charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device to determine if an abnormality has occurred with the mobile device; and

putting the mobile device into alarm mode if the abnormality has occurred.

Optionally, a settings interface is used to control whether the storage operation is performed for said operation in which the received charging apparatus identifier is stored.

Optionally, the charging apparatus identifier is received when the screen of the mobile device is in an unlocked state.

Optionally, the mobile device determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred only when the screen is locked.

Optionally, a part of or all of the following steps are performed to determine whether an abnormal event has occurred to the mobile device:

the screen is not unlocked within a first designated period of time; the received charging apparatus identifier does not appear among the charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device during a second designated period of time.

Optionally, the mobile device is in a locked state during a second designated period of time when the charging apparatus identifier read by the mobile device does not appear among the stored charging apparatus identifiers.

Optionally, the following operations are performed in whole or in part once the device has gone into alarm mode:

sending one or more of the following to a designated contact: a location, a photograph which has been taken, or designated alarm data;

performing operations according to instructions received from a designated contact, the operations including uploading, deleting, encrypting data or emitting an alarm sound;

suspending the charging operation until the received charging apparatus identifier appears among the charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device.

In the present invention, establishing a link between the charging apparatus and the mobile device is advantageous for identifying any abnormality with the mobile device and putting it into alarm mode in a situation where only the mobile device is lost. BRI E F DESCR I PTI ON OF TH E DRAWI N GS

The summary of the present invention given above and the specific embodiments given below are better understood when reviewed together with the drawings. It should be clarified that the drawings act only as examples of the present invention for which patent rights are being sought. Reference numbers in the drawings are used to indicate the same or similar elements.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the charging apparatus of Embodiment 1 of the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a schematic flow chart of Embodiment 2 of the present invention. DETAI LE D D ESCRI PTION

The detailed characteristics and features of the present invention given in the embodiments below are sufficient to allow anyone skilled in the art to understand the technical content of the present invention and to implement it. The specification, claims and drawings of the present invention allow those skilled in the art to readily understand the objective and features of the present invention.

The description of at least one of the exemplary embodiments given below is explanatory only, and does not restrict the present invention and its application or use.

The present invention solves the problem pertaining to the need to send out alarms from a mobile device, and to control it remotely when it is lost or in an abnormal operational state or environment.

EM BODI M E NT 1

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the charging apparatus of Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

The charging apparatus for an alarm for a mobile device of the present embodiment comprises a storage unit 101 , a charging control unit 103 and an interface unit 105. As a charging apparatus, it understandably has a power input interface, a transformer circuit and a current regulator circuit. These are existing technologies, and are not shown in Figure 1 , but those skilled in the art should be readily aware of them.

Storage unit 101 stores a charging apparatus identifier. Said charging apparatus identifier contains a manufacturer code or a serial number for the charging apparatus.

Charging control unit 103 reads the charging apparatus identifier stored on the storage unit 101 and sends it to a mobile device via interface unit 105.

Interface unit 105 is the interface between the charging apparatus and the mobile device that is to be charged. Standard interfaces for wired chargers include USB and Micro USB. For wireless methods such as the Qi standard, the interface unit converts the power into a wireless signal and sends it to the apparatus being charged, in addition to receiving data fed back from the apparatus being charged. When charging is performed wirelessly, the charging control unit also performs the selection, paging, identification and configuration, and power transfer functions of the Qi wireless charging standard. During the identification and configuration stage it sends the charging apparatus identifier to the mobile device being charged.

The charging apparatus identifier can be sent once or multiple times. If sent multiple times, it can be sent continuously or cyclically. For example, in a wired connection the charging apparatus can cyclically modulate the charging apparatus identifier in the signals transmitted on the charging circuit between the charging apparatus and the mobile device. A suitable method for said modulation can be found in the existing technology. The mobile device being charged requires a corresponding apparatus to demodulate the modulated data from out of the wave form variations in the charging voltage. In the case of a USB connection, the data is sent through the USB interface's data channel. In wireless methods, such as with the Qi standard, a signal needs to be added to the signal flow between the charging apparatus and the mobile device, or a field needs to be added to the existing signal to transmit the charging apparatus identifier. Of course, this field can be included among multiple signals.

Said sending of the charging apparatus identifier can be linked to the presence of the device being charged, or it can be independent of it. In another word, the charging apparatus can continuously send out the charging apparatus identifier regardless of whether the mobile device being charged is present or not, or it can send out the charging apparatus identifier only after it has determined that the mobile device is present.

EM BODI M E NT 2

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the method for an alarm for a mobile device of the present invention.

The method for putting the mobile device to alarm mode of the present embodiment comprising the following:

Step 1 (201 ): Receiving the charging apparatus identifier sent from the charging apparatus as described in Embodiment 1. Step 2 (203): Determining whether the screen is in an unlocked state. If it is, performing Step 3. If it is not, performing Step 4.

Step 3 (205): Storing the received charging apparatus identifier and completing this process.

Step 4 (207): Comparing the currently received charging apparatus identifier to the charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device to determine if an abnormality has occurred in the current operating status. If it has, performing Step 5. If not, completing this process.

Step 5 (209): Putting the mobile device into alarm mode.

In Step 3, the mobile device searches through the stored charging apparatus identifiers. If the charging apparatus identifier received in Step 1 is not contained therein, then said identifier is stored. If it is included already, then there is no need to store it again. Prior to storing it, the screen might further display a dialog box giving a user the option of whether to bind said charging apparatus to the current mobile device. If the user selects "yes," then it is stored. If "no," then it is not stored.

In Step 4, there are multiple ways of determining whether there are any abnormalities in the current operating status data. For example, a first designated period can be 24 hours. The continuous locked state of the screen is then measured, and if it exceeds said first designated period it will be deemed abnormal. In another example, if the charging apparatus identifier has not been received in a second designated period of 48 hours, or the received charging apparatus identifier is not one of the identifiers that have already been saved, it will be deemed abnormal. The shorter said first and second designated periods are, the more beneficial they are in promptly sending out alarm data, though the false alarm rate will also be higher.

In Step 5, the operation for putting the mobile device into alarm mode comprises encrypting the data stored on a storage apparatus and sending an alarm message to an emergency contact. A text message will then be sent from the emergency contact's number containing instructions, and the device will perform the operations given in said instructions, which may include encryption, deleting, taking a photograph, sending out an alarm, uploading data, establishing the position of the device or uploading location data. Or, the charging operation is suspended until the received charging apparatus identifier corresponds to one of the stored identifiers.

One advantage of the present embodiment is that the mobile device will go into alarm mode when the user has not unlocked the mobile device for a long period of time or when the usual charging apparatus is not used to charge the device. This is advantageous because an alarm message is sent out when the mobile device is lost or misplaced, or when the user cannot operate the mobile device. Due to the fact that the charging unit is usually not lost when the mobile device is, linking the two together is a way of ensuring that the person using the device is the owner of it. Additionally, the second designated period of time allows for a different charging unit to be used to charge the mobile device within a short period of time. The present invention also provides a way of identifying charging units that are not equipped to a given mobile device, thus enhancing the security of the charging process.

The embodiments of the present invention are given in the aforementioned sequence in order to distinguish between their respective points of emphasis. The same or similar parts appearing in all of the embodiments will be readily apparent.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention disclosed above do not limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make changes or modifications to it without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, therefore the claims of the present invention shall define the designated scope of protection for the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A charging apparatus comprising:

a storage unit for storing a charging apparatus identifier;

a transmitting unit for reading the charging apparatus identifier in the storage unit and transmitting it.

2. The charging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said transmitting is performed through a wired connection or a wireless connection.

3. The charging apparatus of claim 2, wherein when transmitting is performed through a wireless connection, said charging apparatus identifier is sent during an identification and configuration stage.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 or 3, wherein said charging apparatus identifier contains a manufacturer code or a serial number for the charging apparatus.

5. A method for controlling a mobile device comprising the following:

receiving a charging apparatus identifier;

storing the received charging apparatus identifier;

comparing the currently received charging apparatus identifier to a charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device to determine if an abnormality has occurred with the mobile device, and putting the device into alarm mode if the abnormality has occurred.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the charging apparatus identifier is received when the screen of the mobile device is in an unlocked state.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the currently received charging apparatus identifier is compared to the charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device to determine if an abnormality has occurred with the mobile device when the screen of the mobile device is in a locked state.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a part of or all of the following steps are performed to determine whether an abnormal event has occurred to the mobile device: the screen is not unlocked within a first designated period of time;

the received charging apparatus identifier does not appear among the charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device during a second designated period of time.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the following operations are performed in whole or in part once the device has gone into alarm mode:

one or more of the following are sent to a designated contact: a location, a photograph which has been taken, or designated alarm data;

operations are performed according to instructions received from a designated contact; and

the charging operation is terminated until the received charging apparatus identifier appears among the charging apparatus identifiers previously stored on the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said instructions include one or more of the following: uploading, deleting, encrypting data or emitting an alarm sound.