Source: http://patents.com/us-7716475.html
Timestamp: 2019-01-24 02:10:13
Document Index: 101639624

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 12', 'art 17', 'art 17', 'art 15', 'art 17', 'art 14', 'art 15', 'art 14', 'art 14']

US Patent # 7,716,475. Mobile station and communication control method - Patents.com
United States Patent 7,716,475
Asai , et al. May 11, 2010
When an application is activated, a mobile station 10 detects external devices 20, 30, 40 as candidates for a BLUETOOTH connection out of external devices existing in the surrounding area, and presents a list of the devices to a user. When the user selects from the list an external device 20 with which a connection is to be attempted to make, a link is established by a connection procedure according to a security level described in an ADF of the application. Namely, when "high" is described as the security level, an authentication process and an encryption process requiring input of a PIN are executed prior to the establishment of the link. On the other hand, when "low" is described as the security level, a link is established without executing these processes.
Inventors: Asai; Mao (Kawasaki, JP), Oi; Tatsuro (Ota-ku, JP), Nakatsuchi; Masaharu (Yokohama, JP), Kakuno; Kosuke (Yokohama, JP), Shibutani; Akira (Yokohama, JP)
Appl. No.: 11/107,751
Apr 28, 2004 [JP] 2004-134262
Current U.S. Class: 713/166 ; 713/168; 713/169; 726/1; 726/27; 726/4; 726/5; 726/7
Field of Search: 726/27
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2002-185450 Jun., 2002 JP
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WO 01/08435 Feb., 2001 WO
1. A mobile station comprising: means for activating an application of a plurality of applications to communicate with an external device, the mobile station including the plurality of different applications each with respective different high or low security level settings; means for acquiring a security level set in the application activated by the activating means; means for determining whether connection is possible between the mobile station and the external device prior to connection when the acquired security level indicates the activated application is set to the high security level by comparing a received identifier of the external device to entries stored in a memory of the mobile station identifying a plurality of external devices for which authentication is permitted; and means for making a connection with the external device only when the received identifier of the external device matches one of the entries stored in said memory of the mobile station when the acquired security level indicates the activated application is set to the high security level.
2. The mobile station according to claim 1, further comprising: means for selecting an external device that can undergo a connection using an application with the high security level, wherein when the security level acquired by the means for acquiring is the high security level, the means for making a connection makes the connection with the external device on the occasion of receiving a connection request from the external device selected by the means for selecting.
3. A communication control method comprising the following steps carried out by a mobile station: activating an application of a plurality of applications to communicate with an external device, the mobile station including the plurality of different applications each with respective different high or low security level settings; acquiring a security level set in the activated application; determining whether connection is possible between the mobile station and the external device prior to connection when the acquired security level indicates the activated application is set to the high security level by comparing a received identifier of the external device to entries stored in a memory of the mobile station identifying a plurality of external devices for which authentication is permitted; and making a connection with the external device only when the received identifier of the external device matches one of the entries stored in said memory of the mobile station when the acquired security level indicates the activated application is set to the high security level.
4. A mobile station comprising: a processor configured to activate an application of a plurality of applications to communicate with an external device, the mobile station including the plurality of different applications each with respective different high or low security level settings; a first module configured to acquire a security level set in the application activated by the processor; a second module configured to determine whether connection is possible between the mobile station and the external device prior to connection when the acquired security level indicates the activated application is set to the high security level by comparing a received identifier of the external device to entries stored in a memory of the mobile station identifying a plurality of external devices for which authentication is permitted; and a wireless interface configured to initiate a connection with the external device only when the received identifier of the external device matches one of the entries stored in said memory of the mobile station when the acquired security level indicates the activated application is set to the high security level.
5. The mobile station according to claim 1, further comprising: means for transmitting a search request to a plurality of external devices based on the activation of the application; and means for receiving a search response request from each of the plurality of external devices in response to the transmitted search request.
6. The mobile station according to claim 5, further comprising: means for displaying identification information corresponding to each of the plurality of external devices for which a search response request is received.
7. The mobile station according to claim 6, further comprising: means for receiving an input selecting one of the plurality of external devices displayed at the means for displaying, wherein the means for making a connection makes a connection with the selected external device.
8. The method of claim 3, further comprising: transmitting a search request to a plurality of external devices based on the activation of the application; and receiving a search response request from each of the plurality of external devices in response to the transmitted search request.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: displaying identification information corresponding to each of the plurality of external devices for which a search response request is received.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving an input selecting one of the plurality of external devices displayed; and making a connection with the selected external device by the procedure according to the acquired security level based on a result of the determining.
11. The mobile station of claim 4, further comprising: the wireless interface configured to transmit a search request to a plurality of external devices based on the activation of the application, and receive a search response request from each of the plurality of external devices in response to the transmitted search request.
12. The mobile station of claim 11, further comprising: a display configured to display identification information corresponding to each of the plurality of external devices for which a search response request is received.
13. The mobile station of claim 12, further comprising: a user interface configured to receive an input selecting one of the plurality of external devices displayed at the display; and the wireless interface configured to make a connection with the selected external device by the procedure according to the acquired security level based on a result of the determining.
Conventionally, the mobile stations including cell phones can enjoy various services, using a preinstalled application program (hereinafter referred to as an "application") or an application downloaded via a network. Some of such services involve transmission and reception of various signals to and from an external device. In this case, the mobile station needs to select a reliable communication partner in order to maintain a predetermined security level during communication. For example, Patent Document 1 is a document that discloses such technology, and it discloses a technical feature of determining the propriety of connection according to a security level of a communication partner.
FIG. 4 is an illustration showing a display screen. FIG. 4(a) is an illustration showing a display screen where a registered device with a link key is selected from a list of detected devices displayed on the occasion of executing the BLUETOOTH connection process shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 4(b) is an illustration showing a display screen where a registered device without a link key is selected from the above list. FIG. 4(c) is an illustration showing a display screen where an unregistered device is selected from the above list.
The application storage 11 is physically comprised of an embedded memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory). The application storage 11 stores a plurality of application programs that the mobile station 10 can execute by use of BLUETOOTH. The application programs are, for example, those of i-.alpha.ppli (registered trademark). As shown in FIG. 2, each application program is correlated with an ADF (Application Description File), and a security level is set in each of these ADFs. When executing an application program to make a BLUETOOTH connection, the mobile station 10 changes the procedure of connection according to the security level.
The ADFs of all the application programs making use of BLUETOOTH must contain a description of UseBluetooth key. For example, when a parameter of the UseBluetooth key described in an ADF is "high," the mobile station 10 executes a connection at a high security level, i.e., a connection procedure including the authentication and encryption by input of PIN. On the other hand, when the parameter is "low," the mobile station 10 executes a connection at a low security level, i.e., a connection procedure without the authentication and encryption by input of PIN. The parameter is described in the ASCII format and is case-insensitive.
The security level acquirer 16 asks the application executing part 12 about the security level ("high" or "low") described in the ADF of the application in action to acquire it. The security level acquirer 16 instructs the BLUETOOTH connection part 17 to make a BLUETOOTH connection using a procedure based on the acquired security level.
In accordance with the instruction from the security level acquirer 16, the BLUETOOTH connection part 17 executes the BLUETOOTH connection with the external device selected by the input part 15. For example, where "UseBluetooth="<high> is described as the UseBluetooth key of the ADF of the application in action (cf. FIG. 2), the BLUETOOTH connection part 17 executes a BLUETOOTH connection process including the authentication and encryption.
Next, the operation of the mobile station 10 will be described together with a communication control method according to the present invention. FIGS. 3 to 6 are flowcharts for explaining BLUETOOTH connection processes according to communication partners selected. The BLUETOOTH connection processes are implemented by coordinated operation of the components of the mobile station 10, but FIGS. 3 to 6 are depicted based on classification of process-executing entities into an ordinary application and a native application for convenience' sake of description. The ordinary application is, for example, i-.alpha.ppli and is described as "application" in the drawings. The native application is, for example, an address book or a browser, and is abbreviated as "native" in the drawings.
At S2, unless there occurs an exception of some kind, the application outputs a command for BLUETOOTH connection (connect(long cod)) to the native. Examples of cases where an exception occurs include a case where the aforementioned UseBluetooth key is not described in the ADF, a case where the parameter of the UseBluetooth key described in the ADF is a character string except for "high" and "low," a case where the BLUETOOTH connection is rejected in the setting of the application, and so on. In these cases where an exception occurs, the mobile station 10 is desirably configured to draw user's attention with its content.
The native makes the display part 14 display UIs (User Identifications) of the detected external devices, as a result of the search for devices. These external devices are candidates for a communication partner. The user of the mobile station 10 selects the external device 20 as a communication partner desired for BLUETOOTH connection, through the input part 15 (S5). In the present embodiment, the external device 20 corresponds to the cell phone of Mr. Ichiro Suzuki. FIG. 4(a) shows a state of the display part 14 where the "cell phone of Ichiro Suzuki" is selected as a communication partner.
Furthermore, for each communication partner having been connected before at the high security level, a link key is registered in the database of the native. In FIG. 4(a), mark .star-solid. indicates a communication partner with a link key, i.e., a communication partner whose device name is registered and with which a connection has been made at the high security level. In contrast to it, mark indicates a communication partner without a link key, i.e., a communication partner whose device name is registered but with which no connection has been made at the high security level. Furthermore, each UI without any mark ("XXXXXX" in the same figure) indicates a communication partner not registered. By enabling reference to the presence or absence of the link key in combination with each UI in this manner, the user of the mobile station 10 can readily check the reliability of the desired communication partner before establishment of connection. Since the mobile station 10 displays the result of the search for a communication partner on the native screen, it can also be expected to provide the effect of preventing the application from taking the liberty to rewrite BD_ADDR and display the rewritten BD_ADDR.
Thereafter, the mobile station 10 makes the security level acquirer 16 acquire the security level from the ADF of the application activated at S1 (S8). The mobile station 10 refers to the UseBluetooth key described in the ADF to determine whether the security level set in the application is high or low (S9). When the result of the determination is that "UseBluetooth="<high> is described as the UseBluetooth key (S9; YES), the mobile station 10 determines that the security level of the application in action is high, and moves to S10.
When the result of the determination at S9 is that "UseBluetooth="<low> is described as the UseBluetooth key (S9; NO), the flow goes to a process of S11 without passing the authentication and encryption processes at S10.
Subsequently, the BLUETOOTH connection process executed between mobile station 10 and external device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. This BLUETOOTH connection process includes a plurality of steps common to the BLUETOOTH connection process detailed with reference to FIG. 3. Specifically, processes at S21-S29, S31, and S32 in FIG. 5 are equivalent to those at S1-S9, S10, and S11, respectively, shown in FIG. 3. However, these processes are somewhat different in detail and, particularly, the communication partner selected at S25 is the PHS of Jiro Tanaka. FIG. 4(b) shows a state of the display part 14 where the "PHS of Jiro Tanaka" is selected as a communication partner.
A process at S30 in FIG. 5 is processes of input and collation of a PIN code, which are executed after the determination on whether the security level is high or low. These processes are executed when the security level is determined to be high (S29; YES), i.e., when "UseBluetooth="<high> is described as the UseBluetooth key of the ADF. Since no link key is registered for the external device 30, the input of a PIN is carried out in the mobile station 10 and a link key is generated based on the input PIN. The link key generated is registered in the mobile station 10 upon establishment of a link (S32). In this manner, the mobile station 10 registers the link key first after a success in authentication (pairing), thereby securing the credibility of the communication partner having the link key.
Next, the BLUETOOTH connection process executed between mobile station 10 and external device 40 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. The BLUETOOTH connection process includes a plurality of steps common to the BLUETOOTH connection process detailed with reference to FIG. 3. Specifically, processes at S41-S49, S51, and S52 in FIG. 6 are equivalent to those at S1-S9, S10, and S11, respectively, shown in FIG. 3. However, these processes are different in that the communication partner selected at S45 is the external device 40 not registered. When a connection with an unregistered device is selected as in this mode, it is desirable to display a dialog screen 142 to inquire the necessity of registration of the user, in combination with a detected device list (cf. FIG. 4(c)), in consideration of occasions of reconnection. The mobile station 10 may also be configured to simultaneously notify the user that the target to which a connection is attempted is not registered, by wording to draw attention.
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