Patent ID: 6993322

Claim:
In combination: a) a mobile phone which includes (1) a housing, (2) a power source in said housing, (3) operational circuitry in said housing; and (4) an on/off switch on the housing and electrically connected to said operational circuitry and to said power source to activate said operational circuitry when said on/off switch is in an on condition and to de-activate said operational circuitry when said on/off switch is in an off condition; and b) a locking system on said mobile phone which includes (1) a-lock connected to the on/off switch, the lock moving between a locked condition and an unlocked condition, the lock including elements which prevent the on/off switch from changing between the on condition and the off condition or between the off condition and the on condition when the lock is in the locked condition and which permit the on/off switch to change between the on condition and the off condition or between the off condition and the on condition when the lock is in the unlocked condition, (2) a key which is associated with the lock, (3) elements in the key and in the lock which prevent the lock from changing from the locked condition to the unlocked condition when the key is not connected to the lock and which permit the lock to change from the locked condition to the unlocked condition when the key is connected to the lock, (4) a power source connecting switch connecting the power source to the housing, the power source connecting switch also being connected to the on/off switch, the power source connecting switch including elements that automatically move the on/off switch into the off condition whenever the power source is removed from the housing, the on/off switch being movable from the off condition to the on condition only when the lock is in the unlocked condition whereby after the on/off switch is automatically moved into the off condition by removal of the power source from the housing, the key must be connected to the lock and the lock moved into the unlocked condition to permit the on/off switch to be moved back into the on condition.