Patent Publication Number: US-2009224894-A1

Title: Method and system for device configuring

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2007/070426, filed Aug. 6, 2007, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200610062409.1, filed Aug. 31, 2006, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to device management and in particular to technologies for configuring a device. 
     BACKGROUND 
     As communication technologies develop, communication devices are undergoing continuous development as well, and the level of intelligence of the communication devices are being gradually improved. Configurations of the communication devices before they start to operate are an important step, especially for terminal devices. Configurations of terminal devices should be given more attention to in terminal device management. 
     One of the existing schemes for configuring a device is a manual configuration as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     A device to be configured is powered on, and a serial port of the device is enabled. A serial port of a computer is connected to the serial port of the device using a serial bus. A suitable baud rate is set in the computer. Commands can be fed to the device to be configured through a super terminal program in the computer. A command processing module within the device to be configured performs processing according to information input by a user for completing data configuration. 
     A specific mode of the manual configuration scheme may include a serial port configuration. For example, if the user needs to configure the serial number of the device, the user can input a command “set serial umber (12345678-001)” from the computer. After receiving the command, the device parses the command and determines that the serial number of the device be set to 12345678-001. The device then stores the serial number input by the user and the configuration is completed. 
     There are other modes of manual configuration schemes, for example, a Telnet configuration. The Telnet configuration is similar to the serial port configuration. The device to be configured may preset a fixed IP address such as 192.168.0.1. The computer is set to be in the same network segment as the device, for example, 192.168.0.2. The network port of the computer is connected to that of the device using a network cable. The user inputs a command “telnet 192.168.0.1” at the console of the computer. A telnet module of the device is adapted to interact and negotiate with the computer to establish a connection. After establishing the connection, the user can input commands to configure the device. The rest of the procedure is the same as the serial port configuration. 
     It takes up lots of manpower, physical resources and is highly mistake-prone to make configurations by directly logging into the devices using the traditional manual configuration because of the numerous number of communication devices. 
     An existing automatic configuration scheme may partially solve the problem of the above-mentioned manual configuration. The automatic configuration involves constructing an automatic configuration server (ACS). When a terminal device starts up, it connects to the ACS automatically to acquire corresponding configuration information. Existing automatic configuration schemes assume that the terminal devices have been provided with the address of the ACS or have acquired the address of the ACS by other means and can therefore communicate with the ACS normally. 
     A typical example of automatic configuration schemes is to configure devices in batches using a hatcher, as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     The hatcher comprises a computer and a database system. The device to be configured is connected to a network through a network port. When there is a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server in the network, the device to be configured can access the network using DHCP. A user stores device data in the hatcher first. There is an internally-set default hatcher IP address or a domain name (dynamic DNS server required) in each terminal device, and each terminal device can be identified by a unique identification such as its serial number and MAC address. After powered on, each terminal device transmits a configuration request message including device identification to the hatcher via the network. The hatcher finds matching configuration information according to the device identification and transmits the matched configuration information to the device. A hatcher client terminal in the device parses the configuration information to accomplish the configuration. 
     The above-mentioned manual configuration and automatic configuration schemes have the following disadvantages. Configuration can be done only when the device is powered on and has started up. The user has to make a physical connection between the computer and the device and, therefore, the process is inevitably complicated. The device has to be contacted and has to be unpacked if packed. The above manual configuration scheme requires human participations. Moreover, only one device is configured at a time and, therefore, the efficiency is very low. 
     SUMMARY 
     An objective of the present invention is to provide a method and system for configuring a device and to reduce complicated operations and improve efficiency compared with existing methods and systems. 
     According to one embodiment, a method is provided for configuring a device including: (1) receiving and demodulating, by an RF processing module, an RF signal comprising configuration data, storing the configuration data demodulated; and (2) reading, by a device to be configured, the configuration data demodulated stored in the RF processing module and processing according to the configuration data demodulated. 
     According to another embodiment, a system is provided for configuring a device. The system includes a device to be configured, and the system further includes: an RF read-write device adapted to modulate configuration data of the device to be configured on an RF signal and transmit the modulated RF signal; and an RF processing module adapted to receive the RF signal transmitted by the RF read-write device and demodulate the configuration data of the device to be configured from the RF signal received. The device to be configured is adapted to read the configuration data from the RF processing module for processing. 
     According to another embodiment, an apparatus is provided for configuring a device. The apparatus includes an RF antenna, an RF intelligent control module and an internal memory. The RF antenna is adapted to receive an RF signal comprising configuration data of a device to be configured; the RF intelligent control module is adapted to demodulate the RF signal comprising the configuration data which is received by the RF antenna, and store the configuration data demodulated in the internal memory; and the internal memory is adapted to store the configuration data demodulated by the RF intelligent control module. 
     According to another embodiment, the configuration data of the device to be configured is modulated on the RF signal. After receiving the RF signal, the RF processing module in the device to be configured demodulates the configuration data and stores the configuration data demodulated in an internal memory of the RF processing module. When the device to be configured is powered on, it reads out the configuration data in the internal memory of the RF processing module for configuration. When a device is configured according to the present invention, it is not necessary to physically connect the device to be configured with other devices, thus it is not necessary to contact the device to be configured. Even if the device is packed, configuration can be accomplished without unpacking, so that the configuration efficiency can be greatly improved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of configuring a device using a serial port; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of configuring a device using a hatcher; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, an RF processing module including an RF antenna, an RF intelligent control module and a writable memory is set in a device to be configured. When the device to be configured is not powered on, an alternating magnetic field of an external RF read-write device causes the RF antenna inside the device to generate an alternating current for supplying power to the RF intelligent control module. The RF read-write device acquires configuration data from a data configuration server and modulates the configuration data on an RF signal for transmission. The RF intelligent control module demodulates the configuration data from the RF signal and stores the configuration data demodulated in the memory which is inside the RF processing module. After the device to be configured is powered on, a CPU of the device to be configured accesses the memory which is inside the RF processing module through the intelligent control module via an interface circuit, so as to read out data stored in the memory which is inside the RF processing module for processing. 
     The present invention is discussed in detail by reference to the accompanying figures and embodiments as follows. 
     A device configuration system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 3 , which includes (1) a data configuration server, adapted to store configuration data of the device to be configured; (2) an RF read-write device, adapted to exchange information with an RF processing module inside the device to be configured using an RF signal, and interact with the data configuration server; and (3) The device to be configured which includes an RF processing module and a device CPU, the RF processing module includes an RF antenna, an intelligent control module and an RF memory unit. The RF antenna receives an RF signal from the RF read-write device and provides the intelligent control module with an operating current. The RF signal includes a clock signal and modulated configuration data. The intelligent control module is adapted to demodulate the configuration data from the RF signal transmitted by the RF read-write device. The RF memory unit is adapted to store the configuration data demodulated by the intelligent control unit. The device CPU is adapted to connect with the RF processing module through an interface to access information in the RF memory unit inside the RF processing module. 
     A flow chart of configuring the device to be configured using the above system is shown in  FIG. 4 , which includes the following steps. 
     Step  401 : The configuration data is first stored in the data configuration server. For different devices to be configured, the configuration data includes identification information of the individual device to be configured. The identification information is pre-written in the RF memory unit according to a rule. 
     Step  402 : The external RF read-write device generates an alternating magnetic field, which causes the internal RF antennal of the device to produce a current for supplying power to the intelligent control module. 
     Step  403 : The intelligent control module, driven by the current provided by the RF antenna, reads out device identification from the RF memory unit of the device to be configured, modulates the device identification on the RF signal and transmits the modulated RF signal to the RF read-write device. The RF read-write device then demodulates the device identification from the RF signal, thereby accomplishing the reading of the device identification. 
     For security reasons, the intelligent control module may perform password verification. Before configuring the device, the RF read-write device transmits an operating password to the intelligent control module via the RF signal. The intelligent control module checks whether the password is the same as an internal operating password. If the passwords do not match, the intelligent control module refuses to configure the device. 
     Step  404 : After acquiring the device identification of the device to be configured, the RF read-write device passes the device identification to the data configuration server. The data configuration server acquires configuration data which matches the device to be configured according to the device identification of the device to be configured. 
     Step  405 : The data configuration server transmits the configuration data which matches the device to be adapted to the RF read-write device, and the RF read-write device modulates the configuration data on the RF signal for transmission. 
     Step  406 : The device to be configured obtains the RF signal through the RF antenna. The intelligent control module of the device to be configured demodulates the configuration data from the RF signal and writes the configuration data in the RF memory unit. 
     Step  407 : When the device is powered on, the CPU of the device to be configured reads the configuration data from the RF memory unit through an interface A for processing. 
     The RF processing module may also be an RF processing intelligent card separated from the device to be configured. The RF processing intelligent card provides corresponding contacts, and the device to be configured provides an intelligent card slot and an interface circuit. Thus, the configuration of the device to be configured is changed to configuration of the RF processing intelligent card. And the RF processing intelligent card is inserted into the device to be configured after configuration. The device to be configured connects with the RF processing intelligent card via the interface circuit and the contacts of the RF processing intelligent card to accesses configured data inside the RF processing intelligent card. 
     As seen from the above embodiments, the configuration data of the device to be configured is modulated on the RF signal using the RF read-write device, the RF processing module in the device to be configured demodulates the RF signal after receiving the RF signal to acquire the configuration data and stores the configuration data in the internal memory of the RF processing module; the RF processing module is powered by an induced current. When the device to be configured is powered on, the configuration data in the internal memory of the RF processing module is read out for processing. According to the present disclosure, it is not necessary to power on the device when configuring the device, nor is it necessary to establish a physical connection between a computer and a device by the user. Therefore, it is not necessary to contact the device, which makes it possible to configure a packed device without unpacking. And efficiency of device configuration is greatly improved. 
     The above are merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modification, replacement and improvement within the spirit and principle of the present invention are in the scope of protection of the present invention.