Patent Publication Number: US-2005119028-A1

Title: Miniature subscriber terminal and subscriber terminal set for radio system

Description:
FIELD  
      The invention relates to a miniature subscriber terminal for a radio system and a subscriber terminal set for a radio system.  
     BACKGROUND  
      The use of radio system subscriber terminals, for instance mobile stations, has become more and more common during the past few years. Many users may have more than one mobile station at their disposal. Few users, however, have several mobile subscriptions. So, as the user changes a mobile station, he or she must remember to change the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card from one mobile station to another. The user&#39;s private data stored in the memory of one mobile station will not be transferred to the memory of the other mobile station, however. The user&#39;s private data includes, for instance, received text messages, various mobile station settings, and game saves, for instance, in such mobile stations that support the playing of electronic games.  
      Currently the user is thus obliged to transfer the SIM card from one mobile station to another if he or she wishes to use different mobile stations. Moreover, it may be necessary to enter the user&#39;s private data manually into the currently used phone through the user interface of the mobile station. For instance, manual entering of already transmitted or received text messages is not reasonable. It may not even be possible to transfer some of the user&#39;s private data, such as game saves, from one mobile station to another using manual entering.  
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION  
      The object of the invention is to provide an improved miniature subscriber terminal and an improved subscriber terminal set for a radio system.  
      One aspect of the invention relates to a miniature radio-system subscriber terminal comprising a control unit for controlling and monitoring operations, a radio transceiver connected to the control unit for establishing a connection to a network part of the radio system, a processing unit connected to the control unit for a SIM card to be placed therein, and a memory for storing the user&#39;s private data. The miniature subscriber terminal also comprises a mechanical interface for coupling the miniature subscriber terminal to a second terminal, whereby the miniature subscriber terminal and the second terminal, when coupled, form an integrated whole, and a data transmission interface connected to the control unit for connecting the miniature subscriber terminal to the second terminal over a data transmission connection, and the control unit is configured to receive and process commands from the second terminal through the data transmission interface, the commands including at least one of the following: a SIM card processing command, a command concerning the user&#39;s private data stored in the memory, a call processing command, a message processing command.  
      One aspect of the invention relates to a radio-system subscriber terminal set comprising a miniature subscriber terminal and a second terminal, the miniature subscriber terminal comprising a control unit for controlling and monitoring operations, a radio transceiver connected to the control unit for establishing a connection to a network part of the radio system, a processing unit connected to the control unit for a SIM card to be placed therein, and a memory for storing the user&#39;s private data, a mechanical interface for coupling the miniature subscriber terminal to a second terminal, whereby the miniature subscriber terminal and the second terminal, when coupled, form an integrated whole, and a data transmission interface for connecting the miniature subscriber terminal to the second terminal over a data transmission connection, and the control unit is configured to receive and process commands from the second terminal through the data transmission interface, the commands including at least one of the following: a SIM card processing command, a command concerning the user&#39;s private data stored in the memory, a call processing command, a message processing command.  
      One aspect of the invention relates to a miniature subscriber terminal for a radio system, comprising control means for controlling and monitoring operations, radio means for establishing a connection to a network part of the radio system, identity module means for processing a subscriber identity module and storing means for storing the user&#39;s private data. The miniature subscriber terminal also comprises connecting means for coupling the miniature subscriber terminal to a second terminal, whereby the miniature subscriber terminal and the second terminal, when coupled, form a integrated whole, and data transmission means for establishing a data transmission connection to the second terminal, and the control means receive and process commands from the second terminal through the data transmission means, the commands including at least one of the following: a SIM card processing command, a command concerning the user&#39;s private data stored in the memory, a call processing command, a message processing command.  
      Several advantages are achieved with the invention. Because the commissioned miniature subscriber terminal includes a SIM card and a memory for user&#39;s private data, the user may readily have several other terminals at his or her disposal. The miniature subscriber terminal is conveniently integrated into a set and terminals specialising in different functions can serve as a part of the set. Cumbersome entering of data and changing of the SIM card from one terminal to another will thus be avoided. 
    
    
     LIST OF FIGURES  
      The invention will now be described in greater detail in connection with preferred embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein  
       FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram of the structure of a subscriber terminal set for a radio system, the set consisting of a miniature subscriber terminal and a second terminal;  
       FIG. 2  illustrates data transmission between the miniature subscriber terminal and a separate data processor;  
       FIG. 3  illustrates a possible appearance of the subscriber terminal set;  
       FIG. 4  shows the miniature subscriber terminal secured to a wristband; and  
       FIG. 5  shows the miniature subscriber terminal secured to a necklace. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
      With reference to  FIG. 1 , the structure of a radio system subscriber terminal set will now be described, starting with the structure of a miniature subscriber terminal  104  belonging to the set. The subscriber terminal can also be called a mobile station or a user equipment, for instance. In this document the mere terminal refers to a device that does not include a subscriber identity module and not necessarily even a radio transceiver. For instance, in UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) the user equipment consists of two parts: a mobile equipment and a UMTS subscriber identity module (USIM). According to the terminology used in the present document the user equipment is called a subscriber terminal and the mobile device is called a terminal.  
      The miniature subscriber terminal  104  comprises a control unit  110  for controlling and monitoring operations. In addition the control unit  110  includes application programs, for instance, for radio signal processing and user interface management. Currently, the control unit  110  is generally implemented as a processor with software, but various hardware solutions are also feasible, for instance, a circuit constructed of separate logic components, or one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC). If necessary, there may be more than one processor. A hybrid of these solutions is also feasible. In the selection of the implementation method, a person skilled in the art will naturally consider the requirements set for the size and power consumption of the device, the required processing capacity, manufacturing costs and production volumes.  
      The miniature subscriber terminal  104  further comprises a radio transceiver  108  having an antenna  106  and connected to the control unit for establishing a connection  102  to a network part  100  of the radio system. The radio transceiver  108  is, for instance, a prior art mobile station transceiver, which operates, for instance, in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) system, the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) system, the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) or in another mobile system, cellular radio system, or in more general terms, in any radio system.  
      The miniature subscriber terminal  104  also comprises a processing unit  124  connected to the control unit  110  for the subscriber identity module (SIM)  126  to be placed therein and a memory  118  in which the user&#39;s private data is stored. The processing unit  124  is, for instance, a read/write device, with which it is possible to process the SIM card, which is to be inserted in the read/write device and which is now commonly used by the mobile phone operators. The processing unit  124  can be implemented by any known technology for processing the subscriber identity module  126 . The subscriber identity module  126  contains security-related information, other subscriber-related information and algorithms. The memory  118  can be implemented by any known technology that suits for a small-sized portable device. Examples of memories suitable for the purpose include EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) and flash memories.  
      The user&#39;s private data stored in the memory  118  may include, for instance, the following: personal phone book, terminal settings, game saves, game settings, calendar entry, note, message, image, ringing tone, text file, notepad, shopping list.  
      In one embodiment the user&#39;s private data stored in the memory  118  also includes tagged parts. In that case the control unit  110  is configured to process memory  118  by referring to tags. The tags can be implemented using XML (Extensible Markup Language), for instance.  
      The miniature subscriber terminal  104  also comprises two different interfaces for coupling the miniature subscriber terminal  104  to a second terminal  140 : a mechanical interface  136  and a data transmission interface  132 .  
      The mechanical interface  136  allows the miniature subscriber terminal  104  to be coupled to a second terminal  140 , whereby the miniature subscriber terminal  104  and the second terminal  140  form, when coupled, an integrated whole. The second terminal  140  also comprises a control unit  142 . The mechanical interface  136  can be implemented by any known manner to couple two light portable items together. One manner to implement the coupling of the devices  104 ,  140  includes that in the manufacturing stage the casings of both the miniature subscriber terminal  104  and the second terminal  140  are provided with compatible, interlocking connectors  136 ,  148 .  FIG. 3  illustrates one example of feasible appearance of a subscriber terminal set: a miniature subscriber terminal  104  is connected to a second terminal  140  and they form an integrated whole. The second terminal  140  can be larger than the miniature subscriber terminal  104 , as described, whereby the use of the subscriber terminal set can be easier than the use of the mere miniature subscriber terminal  104 . The second terminal  140 , however, can be of the same size as or smaller than the miniature subscriber terminal  104 .  
      The data transmission interface  132  connected to the control unit  110  allows the miniature subscriber terminal  104  to communicate over a data transmission connection with the second terminal  140 . The data transmission connection  132  can be implemented by any prior art method suitable for the purpose. These methods include wired and wireless technologies, for instance, the use of serial and parallel connectors, or a short-range radio trans-transceiver, such as Bluetooth®. In one embodiment the miniature subscriber terminal  104  includes a short-range radio transceiver  132  and correspondingly the second terminal  140  also includes a short-range radio transceiver  144 .  
      The control unit  110  is configured to receive and process commands from the second terminal  140  over the data transmission interface  132 . The commands comprise at least one of the following: a SIM card  126  processing command, a command concerning user&#39;s private data stored in the memory  118 , a call processing command, a message processing command. The configuration of the control unit  110  forms structural entities that can be implemented, for instance, as program modules, i.e. by a programming language, such as the C programming language, C++ programming language, computer language or by an assembler, which is stored as a runnable version in a memory in connection with the processor and run on the processor. Instead of translatable programming languages, interpretable programming languages may naturally also be used, provided that they satisfy the required processing rate and capacity. When the control unit  110  is implemented as an ASIC, the structural entities are ASIC blocks.  
      The subscriber terminal set is such that the miniature subscriber terminal  104  and the second terminal  140  constituting the set can be interconnected both mechanically and through a data transmission interface. The miniature subscriber terminal  104  can be employed as such for calls and other communication, for instance, for receiving text messages by using SMS (Short Message Service). In addition, the subscriber identity module  126  can be inserted in the miniature subscriber terminal  104  and user&#39;s private data can be stored in the memory  118  thereof. The miniature subscriber terminal  104  thus serves as the carrier of both the subscriber identity module and the user&#39;s private data.  FIGS. 4 and 5  illustrate embodiments, in which the miniature subscriber terminal  104  comprises a second mechanical interface  128  for securing the miniature subscriber terminal  104  to a personal item  130  of the user. In  FIG. 4  the personal item  130  is a wristband  400  and in  FIG. 5 a  necklace  500 . In this manner the user can easily carry the miniature subscriber terminal  104  about him or her. It is also possible to include other useful functions in the miniature subscriber terminal  104 : it may comprise a clock and/or a calendar, which enables time display and performance of various wake-up and reminder alarms.  
      In one embodiment the user interface  120  of the miniature subscriber terminal  104  has more restricted functionality than the user interface of the second terminal. In that case, when the miniature subscriber terminal  104  is connected to the second terminal  140 , it will be possible to use the more versatile and possibly more user-friendly user interface of the second terminal  140 , for instance, for processing calls and messages, for processing the subscriber identity module  126  and for processing the user&#39;s private data stored in the memory  118 .  
       FIG. 2  shows one convenient way to implement a small-sized user interface for the miniature subscriber terminal  104 : the miniature subscriber terminal  104  can be provided with a relatively large touch screen  120  as compared with the terminal&#39;s overall size. The touch screen  120  can be implemented in prior art manners. One manner to implement the touch screen  120  is to set a touch pad on top and a display suitable for the purpose there- beneath. The touch pad can be implemented by prior art solutions, which can be based on capacitive or resistive sensors, for instance. As the user touches the touch pad with his finger, for instance, the touched point and usually also the tactile force can be determined. The display can be implemented by prior art solutions, for instance, as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display or a thin-film transistor display (TFT). The touch screen can be provided with a virtual keyboard by which the user can give commands to the miniature subscriber terminal  104 . By placing a tactile feedback unit under the display the keyboard can also be made such that it gives tactile feedback. The feedback unit providing tactile feedback can be implemented by prior art solutions, for instance, by a piezoelectric element or a linear vibrator based on a solenoid. The feedback unit generates mechanical movement, which the user can sense through touch. The frequency, amplitude and duration of the movement can be controlled. The movement can be sensed as trembling and vibration, for instance. The movement can simulate the click resulting from pressing a key of a mechanical keyboard, for instance. In the most complex case the tactile feedback may imitate the texture of a surface. The use of advanced technology like this in the implementation of the user interface  120  of the miniature subscriber terminal  104  makes it possible to achieve a miniature subscriber terminal  104 , by which text messages can be entered and transmitted relatively easily, despite the small size of the device.  
      In order to reduce the size of the miniature subscriber terminal  104  it can be constructed such that it does not include a microphone nor a loudspeaker, but only an interface for connecting a separate earpiece  114  and a separate microphone  116 . Apart from the reduced device size, there is achieved an additional advantage that it will be easier to use the separate earpiece  114  and microphone  116  than the loudspeaker and microphone of a very small device. The interface  112  can be implemented by prior art methods. The earpiece  114  and the microphone  116  can be connected to the miniature subscriber terminal  104  using a wired method or the Bluetooth®, for example.  
      In the manner shown in  FIG. 1 , and also partly in  FIG. 2 , the more versatile user interface of the second device  140  may also include a display  150 , a keyboard  152 , a loudspeaker  154  and a microphone  156 . These user interface parts can be implemented by prior art solutions. The second terminal  140  may also include a memory  158  for storing user&#39;s private data. When the user wishes to transfer data between different terminals, he or she may transfer user&#39;s private data from memory  158  to memory  118  and further to a memory of a third terminal.  
      Apart from the user interface, the second terminal  140  can be more versatile than the miniature terminal  104  also in other respects. The second terminal  140  may thus include at least one of the following accessories  162 : a digital camera, video game controls, a multimedia processor, a reproducer for stored audio information and/or stored visual information, a web browser, image processing software, a calendar, a positioning receiver, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) device, a computer game device. Thus, one optional scenario is that the user possesses one miniature subscriber terminal  104 , which includes the most important elements, i.e. the subscriber identity module  126  and the memory  118  containing user&#39;s private data. In addition, the user may have a plurality of various optimized second terminals  140  for various purposes: e.g. one game machine, one camera, one player, etc.  
      In one embodiment the second terminal  140  does not comprise a transceiver for establishing a connection to the network part  100  of the radio system, the transceiver being not necessarily needed, because the miniature subscriber terminal  104  comprises the radio transceiver  108 . In one embodiment the second terminal  140  does not comprise a processing unit for the subscriber identity module to be placed therein, the processing unit being not necessarily needed, because the miniature subscriber terminal  104  comprises the processing unit  124 . These two embodiments make it possible to reduce the manufacturing costs of the second terminal  140 . Moreover, the weight of the device is naturally reduced, and likewise, the size can be reduced if so desired.  
      In one embodiment, the power source  122 , typically a chargeable battery, of the miniature subscriber terminal  104  has a shorter operating time than the power source  160  of the second terminal  140 . Thus, the miniature subscriber terminal  104  of this embodiment is only intended for occasional use; for use of longer duration it should be coupled to the second terminal  140 . In one embodiment the miniature subscriber terminal  104  has an interface  134  for input supply current from the second terminal  140 . Correspondingly, the second terminal  140  must then have an interface  146  for output supply current. The supply current interfaces  134 ,  146  can also be disposed in connection with a wired data transmission interface  132 ,  144 , whereby supply current can be conducted using some pins. The supply current can also be provided by other suitable prior art methods.  
      In one embodiment the control unit  110  is also configured to perform authentication prior to receiving commands from the second terminal  140 . The authentication can be performed in known manners, for instance, such that the user must enter a PIN (Personal Identification Number) code using the keyboard  152  of the second terminal  140 . This embodiment improves data security.  
       FIG. 2  illustrates an embodiment, in which the miniature subscriber terminal  104  is used for data transmission with a separate data processor  200 . The miniature subscriber terminal  104  is also connectable via a data transmission interface  132  to communicate over a data transmission connection with the separate data processor  200 . The control unit  110  is further configured to receive the user&#39;s private data from the separate data processor  200  and to transmit the user&#39;s private data to the separate data processor  200 . In addition to the above-mentioned data types, the user&#39;s private data may then include the following data: health data of the user, exercise data of the user, beauty parlour data of the user, appointment data concerning services booked by the user. In the manner described in  FIG. 2 , the data processor  200  may also have a connection to another device  202 . The other device  202  can be, for instance, a rowing machine at a gym, and thus the duration and strain level of the user&#39;s exercise can be loaded from the miniature subscriber terminal  104  through the data processor  200  into the rowing machine. Also feedback information from the exercise can be loaded from the rowing machine  202  into the miniature subscriber terminal  104 .  
      Even though the invention is described above with reference to an example in accordance with the attached drawings, it is apparent that the invention is not restricted thereto but it may be modified in various ways within the scope of the accompanying claims.