Telecommunications system with value added service directory and

Details Telecommunications system with value added service directory and Telecommunications system with value added service directory and

1996-04-19

2000-01-04

Vo, Nguyen

Telecommunications

Radiotelephone system

Auxiliary data signaling

455558, 455420, H04Q 720, H04B 138, H04M 100

Patent

active

060119764

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a telecommunications system. In particular, but not exclusively, it relates to a mobile communications system such as a cellular mobile radio or telephone system.
A recent innovation in such systems has been the introduction of Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM cards). These are integrated circuit cards which can be releasably inserted into a mobile telephone and which contain in memory the subscriber's identity, i.e. his telephone number. These known SIM cards also have a rolling buffer which can store a certain number of alphanumeric characters. The buffer facilitates the so-called Short Message Service (SMS) in which a message for a subscriber or for a specified group of subscribers can be broadcast over the air, as an advanced form of radiopaging. Messages can be received by a mobile telephone whenever it is idle or on stand-by. However, if a message is received which would overfill the buffer, data is lost on a first-in-first-out basis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,040 describes a method and apparatus for remotely loading repertory telephone numbers into a mobile unit. The numbers can be recalled and used later by the subscriber.
EP-A-0 459 344 describes a method of downloading and executing software in a remote terminal of a communications system.
WO-A-91/12698 discloses a mobile radio telephone having a SIM card which has been programmed only to authorise the use of certain services. Such programming takes place directly and not remotely.
It is an object of the invention to provide a more efficient and remotely reconfigurable SIM card.
From one aspect, the present invention consists in a telecommunications system comprising at least one host station and a plurality of subscriber units, the or each host station being operable to transmit a message to at least one of the subscriber units, and each subscriber unit having a multiplicity of fixed memory locations and means responsive to the detection of the message to store the message in a selected one of the fixed memory locations which can not be overwritten from the subscriber unit, but which can be accessed from the subscriber unit when required, characterised in that each subscriber unit includes means responsive to an instruction transmitted from the or each host station selectively to enable or prohibit said fixed memory locations to be overwritten or to be read from the or each host station or from the subscriber unit.
In this description and the accompanying claims, a "fixed" memory locations means a location into which data can be written, and excludes first-in-first-out or circular buffers. Overwriting of all the data in certain "fixed" memory locations may occur in contrast to the first-in-first-out loss of data experienced with current SMS buffers.
Thus, for example, a set of telephone numbers, each with an identifying alphanumeric tag, can be transmitted to the SIM card, allowing users easy access to commonly used services such as hotels, car hire or airline reservations. This feature is known as a Value Added Service Directory.
A message may be retrievable by the subscriber on the entry of simple, short codes into the subscriber unit, each memory location corresponding to a particular code. A message may include a telephone number and, once stored, may be able to be overwritten over the air. Preferably, the or each host station is operable to transmit a request for information stored in a subscriber unit. The information may be included in a message and it may also include information which is stored in a secure memory location, accessible only when the subscriber enters a personal identification number (PIN number). The information may include credit details relevant to the subscriber, for example, a credit card number of credit status, thus greatly facilitating credit card transactions carried out over the telephone. Using this feature of the invention, a credit account holder avoids having to dictate his account details and need only enter the mandatory PIN number.
The host station may be operable to transmit instructio

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Echo des Recherches, Une application de la carte a microprocesseur: . . . , 1990, No. 139, ler Tri., Issy/Moulineaux, FR, pp. 13-20.

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