Method and apparatus for protocol selection on ICC
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsJean-François Deprun, Paul Jolivet
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Abstract
The present invention provides a solution for supporting both the MMC and USB protocol modes to provide enhanced services and applications in a UICC. The UICC, methods and the terminal for dynamically selecting a protocol on the UICC card are disclosed. The invention provides that at least MMC and USB can be operated in the UICC without multiplexing or implementing a heavy procedure in the terminal. With the present invention, the UICC can be used in any host implementing either USB or MMC without having to add any new negotiation phase.
Claims22
An integrated circuit (IC) card configured to communicate with a mobile terminal having a processor, comprising:
- a plurality of electrical contacts;
- a memory to store information, the memory being configured to communicate with the processor via the plurality of electrical contacts,
- wherein at least one set of electrical contacts are configured to be allocated by the processor to support an operation in at least one protocol mode depending on a presence of a high speed protocol mode detected by the processor,
- wherein the processor is configured to detect the presence of the certain protocol mode by detecting a voltage level when the IC card is powered on,
- wherein the IC card is configured to automatically switch from a first high speed protocol to a second high speed protocol depending on the voltage level detected when the IC card is powered on,
- wherein the high speed protocol mode comprises a MultiMedia Card (MMC), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and Universal InterChip (USB_IC), and
- wherein the processor is configured to identify the presence of the high speed protocol mode by detecting a type of an IC card reader and initiate a session on a chosen protocol mode.
A method of dynamically selecting protocol on an IC card arranged in a mobile terminal having a processor, comprising:
- upon connecting the IC card to the mobile terminal, detecting a type of a high speed protocol mode of the IC card by detecting a voltage level supplied to the IC card when a power is supplied to at least one of the mobile terminal and the IC card;
- allocating at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the IC card according to the detected type of the high speed protocol mode;
- operating in the detected type of the high speed protocol mode;
- and
- automatically switching from a first high speed protocol mode to a second high speed protocol mode depending on the voltage level detected when the IC card is powered on,
- wherein the high speed protocol mode comprises a MultiMedia Card (MMC), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and Universal InterChip (USB_IC).
A mobile communications terminal, comprising:
- a physical interface configured to be engaged with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM);
- a memory to store information;
- an allocating module configured to allocate at least one set of the plurality of electrical contacts of the SIM;
- and
- a processor configured to cooperate with the physical interface, the memory and the allocating module to perform the following method:
- detecting a type of a protocol mode of the SIM by detecting a voltage level supplied to the SIM when a power is supplied to the mobile terminal;
- allocating at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the SIM according to the detected type of protocol mode;
- and
- operating in the detected type of the protocol mode,
- wherein the protocol mode comprises at least one of a high speed protocol mode and a contactless protocol mode, and the processor is configured to implement procedures that are compatible with at least one of the group comprising a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) function, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) function, and IP based MultiMedia Subsystem SIM (ISIM or IMS SIM) function.
An integrated circuit (IC) card configured to communicate with a mobile terminal having a processor, comprising:
- a plurality of electrical contacts;
- a memory to store information, the memory being configured to communicate with the processor via the plurality of electrical contacts,
- wherein at least one set of electrical contacts are configured to be allocated by the processor to support an operation in at least one protocol mode depending on a presence of a high speed protocol mode detected by the processor,
- wherein the processor is configured to detect the presence of the certain protocol mode by detecting a voltage level when the IC card is powered on,
- wherein the IC card is configured to automatically switch from a first high speed protocol to a second high speed protocol depending on the voltage level detected when the IC card is powered on, and
- wherein one of the processor and the IC card is configured to be compatible with at least one of the group comprising a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) function, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) function, and IP based MultiMedia Subsystem SIM (ISIM or IMS SIM) function.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.