HK1180867A - Mobile wireless communication apparatus and method for managing connection status thereof - Google Patents

Description

Mobile radio communication device and method of managing connection state of the device

The present application is a divisional application of the chinese patent application having an application date of 25/9/2006 and an application number of 200680035455.0 and entitled "mobile radio communication device and method of managing connection state of the device".

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a mobile radio communications device and a method of managing a connection state of a mobile radio communications device.

Background

Mobile radio communication devices such as cellular telephone handsets provide more functionality as technology relating to the various circuit elements, operations and applications software of the cellular telephone handset develops and as network operations and features related improvements.

Recent developments on the one hand have focused on the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card employed in mobile telephone handsets, and in particular on the use of internet-related technology in the SIM card device.

This development relates to the provision of a web server running in a subscriber identity module card, which enables SIM-based services to be provided by exploiting multimedia capabilities already present in mobile telephone handsets and relating, for example, to data display and/or information processing.

That is, the provision of such a smart card web server enables the incorporation of internet-related design features into SIM card applications, and this may result in many advantages, such as an enhanced unified Graphical User Interface (GUI) for SIM-based services, storage of static pages such as browser home pages, and the use of dynamic web pages.

Such pages are very attractive to network operators as a means for increasing online revenue.

Furthermore, control of menus for SIM-based services can be easily performed to match the end-user preferences and general requirements.

The connection of the mobile telephone handset to the smart web server is achieved by carrying a separate Independent Protocol (BIP) channel, and the use of such a BIP server thus enables a local smart card web server to be supported within the mobile telephone handset, which local smart card web server can be easily accessed through the handset's browser.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem to be solved by the invention

However, there are still many limitations to the manner in which channel status signals are employed and established within a mobile telephone handset, particularly with respect to the connection to the smart card web server and related Transmission Connection Protocol (TCP) client/server pairs.

As discussed below with respect to limitations in the prior art, it has been found that a mobile telephone handset may disadvantageously lose the local connection of a TCP client/server pair within the mobile telephone handset, after which a browser associated with a smart card web server will attempt to reconnect. The data exchange that occurs in connection with this reconnection will result in a reduced speed of the operational process within the mobile telephone handset.

Furthermore, disadvantageously, it has been found that there are limitations regarding the manner in which the smart card web server device is provided with an indication that the server of the TCP client/server pair is ready to reconnect, and in order to ensure a subsequent successful connection, the smart card web server will close the channel and thereafter open the channel. Such attempted reconnection and the associated closing and reopening of the channel also results in increased messages being generated and this has been found to have the adverse effect of slowing down the data exchange in the mobile telephone handset.

Generally, since existing systems are disadvantageously limited, for client mode operation, arrangements are typically provided for representing the status of bearer connections only by a "line dropped with packet connection activated" status signal if a packet connection is activated or a "line dropped with packet connection deactivated" status signal if a packet connection is deactivated.

Fig. 1, 2 and 3 are timing diagrams illustrating channel conditions in associated mobile radio communications devices.

The problems that exist in the relevant mobile radio communications device are explained below with reference to fig. 1 to 3.

Fig. 1 is a timing diagram illustrating channel state events relating to transmission states within a mobile radio communications device handset and between a network connection 10, a browser 12, a TCP/IP client 14, a TCP/IP server 16, a USAT 18, a USIMM 20 and a web server circuit card 22 in the form of a universal mobile telecommunications system integrated circuit card (UICC).

As described above, according to the current IP specification for operating in client mode, there is only one way to provide the status of the bearer connection by the "line is torn down if the packet connection is activated" and "line is torn down if the packet connection is deactivated" status signals.

As shown in fig. 1, a channel status signal 26 is provided from USAT 18 and USIMM 20, using a conventional service signal 24 from network 10, confirming the activated packet connection and the established link.

The mobile radio communications device is then in a mode awaiting receipt of a new network state as indicated by arrow 28.

When a new network status (e.g., "out of service") is received from the network, as indicated by arrow 30, the channel status 32 of circuit card 22 becomes packet connection activated and the line is torn down as shown.

It will be appreciated, however, that the "out of service" signal may be generated by a mobile telephone handset that is temporarily outside the service area and whose packet connection is not released by the network 10. This results in a status signal 32 of "line torn down in case a packet connection is activated" or "line torn down".

The mobile radio communications device then again waits for a new network status as indicated by arrow 34.

When a new network status is received from the network 10 (e.g., "service disconnected" as indicated by arrow 36), the packet connectivity is released by the network 10 and the data link is torn down. This results in a channel status signal 38 indicating "packet connection is released" or "line not established".

It should be understood, however, that the above-described channel state signals are primarily intended to represent network states, i.e., input signals generated by the network source 10, and are not intended to describe a stateful connection of a TCP/IP client/server pair.

The state connection of a TCP/IP client/server pair may include a variety of states, such as "listen," "listen and connect," "listen and disconnect," and "listen" again.

While listening, the TCP/IP server 16 waits for a connection from a remote client, and a "listen and connect" state occurs when a connection from a remote client to the TCP/IP server 16 is made for a subsequent data exchange.

Once the remote client disconnects from the TCP/IP server 16, a shutdown (shutdown) state is sent to the TCP/IP server 16, resulting in a "listen and disconnect" state.

As mentioned above, the above-mentioned channel state management causes many limitations and related problems.

For example, for a currently occurring bearer connection channel status signal, i.e., "link established or packet activated" or "link not established or packet not activated", the subscriber identity module card (smart card) web server can determine whether the client is connected according to the indication of "link established" and "link not established".

Furthermore, in this case, it would not be possible for the subscriber identity module card (smart card) web server to determine the difference between the client connection status signal and the network change status signal.

Thus, if the network 10 transmits a change status signal to the mobile radio communications device, the modified change status signal will be transmitted to the web server circuit card 22.

For example, if a "SERVICE _ DETACHED" status signal is received from the network 10, the mobile radio communications device will then transmit an "no link established" signal as shown in fig. 1, and the web server circuit card 22 will begin transmitting a close channel status signal. The close channel status signal will be used to reset the local connection with the client.

This is disadvantageous in that the user will then temporarily close his local connection and the browser 12 will attempt a reconnection and an exchange of data will occur in connection with the attempted reconnection. This will result in a possible reduction in the speed of data exchange in the mobile radio communications device.

These problematic operations in the current state of the art are explained with reference to fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a timing diagram showing status signals occurring in a networked mobile radio communications device and shows a network connection 40, a browser 42, a TCP/IP client 44, a TCP/IP server 46, a BIP/sat 48 and a web server circuit card 50.

The CHANNEL state indicated by web server circuit card 50 begins with an OPEN CHANNEL state, indicated by arrow 52, which occurs in the absence of an automatic reconnect flag.

To initiate the activity, the browser 42 sends a first request, as indicated by arrow 54, but before that, the BIP channel status, indicated by arrow 56, is "no link established".

When the connection 60 between the TCP/IP client 44 and the TCP/IP server 46 is made, the TCP connection state becomes "Link established" when sent to the web server circuit card 50, as indicated by arrow 58.

The browser 42 and the web server circuit card 50 can then exchange data, as shown at block 62, before receiving a "service disconnected" status signal 64 from the network 40. In this case, the network 40 releases the packet connection during the data exchange between the web server circuit card 50 and the browser 42.

Then, in response to web server circuit card 50 receiving an "not link established" status signal on its BIP CHANNEL, web server circuit card 50 generates and issues a CLOSE _ CHANNEL status signal 66.

A disconnection between the TCP/IP client 44 and the TCP/IP server 46 then occurs such that the close channel status signal 66 sent from the web server circuit card 50 causes the browser 42 to disconnect from the web server circuit card 50.

After the connection between the TCP/IP client 44 and the TCP/IP server 46 is broken, the channel state signal delivered to the web server circuit card 50 remains "no link established".

As described above, a loss of connection and an attempt to reconnect in the browser 42 can result in a disadvantageous reduction in the speed of data exchange in the mobile radio communications device.

Fig. 3 is a timing diagram showing channel state signals occurring in a mobile radio communications device according to the prior art and showing that the channel state event is a standard TCP connection occurring without network interaction.

Fig. 3 illustrates, among other things, another problem in the prior art in that there is no way to indicate to the web server circuit card 50 that the TCP/IP server is ready to receive another connection consistent with the previous connection.

Therefore, in order to ensure the connectivity of the operation, the web server circuit card 50 must perform closing the BIP channel and then re-opening the BIP channel, regardless of the presence or absence of the automatic reconnection flag.

For such operations, the number of messages present in the mobile radio communication device will increase and slow down the general data exchange in the mobile radio communication device, so that regular services from the mobile radio communication device will be temporarily unavailable (i.e. in the closing/opening operation phase initiated by the web server smart card).

FIG. 3 shows a network 40, a browser 42, a TCP/IP client 44, a TCP/IP server 46, a BIP/SATS48, and a web server circuit card 50.

web server circuit card 50 provides OPEN _ CHANNEL status signal 52, which occurs if the automatic reconnect flag is set.

In such a situation as shown in fig. 3, there is no status signal sent from the network connector 40 and the process proceeds to the browser 42 sending a first request as indicated by arrow 54.

Prior to sending the first request, a channel status signal of "not link established" is sent from the TCP/IP server 46 to the web server circuit card 50 as indicated by arrow 56.

After a connection 60 is established between TCP/IP client 44 and TCP/IP server 46, the event changes to the "Link established" channel state, as indicated by arrow 58.

After the connection 60 and upon establishing the channel state 58, a TCP connection state signal is sent to the web server circuit card 50, but there is no information about the server state, especially whether the TCP/IP server 46 can be considered listening on the channel.

After establishing the link, the browser 42 and the web server circuit card 50 exchange data as required, as shown at block 62.

It should be understood that the channel conditions and connection patterns discussed above with reference to fig. 3 are consistent with the initial occurrence of the channel conditions and connection patterns associated with fig. 2.

However, in FIG. 3, after the browser 42 and web server circuit card 50 exchange data, it is experienced that the connection between the TCP/IP client 44 and the TCP/IP server 46 is severed, as indicated by arrow 72, and this may result in the channel status changing to "no link established", as indicated by arrow 74.

To simplify the web server circuit card 50, a signal indicating that the connection is severed 72 may be sent when the receiver buffer is empty and not during or before transmission.

Assuming that the second request 76 results in a successful connection, as indicated by arrow 78, the TCP/IP server 46 begins to change the connection state with the web server circuit card 50 so that the connection state with the web server circuit card 50 changes to "link established", as indicated by arrow 80.

With the link now established, the browser 42 and web server circuit card 50 begin a new data exchange, as shown at block 82.

The end of the channel state 74, the subsequent second request 76 sent by the browser 42, the attempted reconnection 78, and the state change 80 will result in a large number of messages that will disadvantageously slow down the data exchange between the browser 42 and the web server circuit card 50.

In view of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for managing a connection state in a mobile radio communication device, which can solve the problems in the prior art, and a mobile radio communication device capable of managing a connection state thereof.

Solution to the above problems

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for managing the connection status of a server device in a mobile radio communications device, said mobile radio communications device comprising a local client/server pair, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an indication of a change in connection status of a local client/server pair or an indication of a change in network status; processing the received indication to distinguish between the change in the connection state and the change in the network state; in response to said processing, generating a client/server status signal upon a change in connection status of said local client/server pair, and generating a different status signal upon a change in said network status; and transmitting the generated status signal to the server device.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of managing the connection status of a server device in a mobile radio communications device, the mobile radio communications device comprising a local client/server pair, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an indication of a change in connection status of a local client/server pair, wherein the change in connection status is a change in status of a connection that is being intercepted from a remote client to the server, or a change in network status; processing the received indication to distinguish between the change in the connection state and the change in the network state; in response to the processing, generating a client/server status signal upon occurrence of a change in a connection status of the local client/server pair, the generated client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for connections from the remote client, and generating a different status signal upon occurrence of the change in the network status; and transmitting the generated status signal to the server device.

Preferably, when an indication of a change in connection status of the local client/server pair is received, the processing step determines the nature of the change; and the generating step generates a corresponding client/server status signal in dependence on the result of the determining.

Preferably, a client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client is generated before the remote client sends a request.

Preferably, a client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated after the remote client sends a request.

Preferably, the client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated after the client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a mobile radio communications device for communicating with a network, the device comprising: a local client/server pair; and means for managing a connection state of a server device for a channel between the server device and the local client/server pair; the mobile radio communications device is configured to: receiving an indication of a change in connection status of a local client/server pair, wherein the change in connection status is a change in status of a connection that is being intercepted from a remote client to the server, or a change in network status; processing the received indication to distinguish between the change in the connection state and the change in the network state; in response to the processing, generating a client/server status signal upon a change in a connection status of the local client/server pair, the generated client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for connections from the remote client, and generating a different status signal upon the change in the network status; and transmitting the generated status signal to the server device.

Preferably, the mobile radio communications device further comprises the server device.

Preferably, the server device comprises a smart card server device.

Preferably, the client/server pair is a transport connection protocol client/server pair.

Preferably, the management apparatus is configured to: processing the received indication of the change in connection status of the local client/server pair to determine the nature of the change; and generating a corresponding client/server status signal in accordance with the determination.

Preferably, the management apparatus is configured such that a client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client is generated before the remote client sends a request.

Preferably, the management means is configured such that a client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated after the remote client sends a request.

Preferably, the management apparatus is configured such that a client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated after a client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a server device for use with a mobile radio communications device, the server device comprising: means for establishing a channel with a local client/server pair of the mobile radio communications device; means for receiving a client/server status signal from the mobile radio communications device when a change in the connection status of the local client/server pair occurs, and a different status signal from the mobile radio communications device when a change in the network status occurs, the client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client; means for processing the received status signal to distinguish between the client/server status signal and the different status signal; and means for maintaining the channel when the client/server status signal is received.

Preferably, the receiving means is configured to receive a subsequent client/server signal indicating that the client server pair is connected; and the server device comprises means for exchanging data via the signal after receiving the client/server signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method performed in a server device for managing communications with a mobile radio communications device, the method comprising the steps of: establishing a channel with a local client/server pair of the mobile radio communications device; receiving a client/server status signal from the mobile radio communications device indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client, wherein the status signal is a client/server status signal generated in response to a change in client/server status or a different status signal generated in response to a change in network status; processing the received status signal to distinguish between the client/server status signal and the different status signal; and maintaining the channel when the processing indicates that a client/server status signal is received.

Preferably, the receiving step comprises receiving a subsequent client/server signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected; and wherein the method further comprises exchanging data via the signal after receiving the client/server signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected.

It will therefore be appreciated that the present invention allows semantic reports (semantic report) to be distinguished between the bearer connection state and the transport connection state of a TCP connection. This is particularly useful when the client of the server device comprises a remote client.

Advantages offered by the invention

The present invention advantageously provides a subscriber identity module (smartcard) device operating in a server mode. This is advantageously achieved within the concept of the present invention by differentiating the reporting between the bearer connection state and the transport connection state (i.e., TCP connection). This is particularly useful when the client of the subscriber identity module (smartcard) device comprises a remote client.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a timing diagram illustrating channel state events occurring in a mobile radio communications device according to the current state of the art.

Fig. 2 is a timing diagram illustrating channel state signals occurring in a mobile radio communications device in accordance with the current state of the art.

Fig. 3 is a timing diagram illustrating channel state signals occurring in a mobile radio communications device in accordance with the current state of the art.

Fig. 4 is a timing diagram showing channel status signals occurring in the mobile radio communication device according to the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a timing diagram showing channel status signals occurring in the mobile radio communication device according to the present invention.

Description of the reference symbols

40. Network

42. Browser

44. TCP/IP client

46. TCP/IP server

48、BIP/SATS

50. Web server circuit card

Detailed Description

In accordance with the present invention, to avoid any confusion between the mobile radio communications device and the web server circuit card 50, a specific channel state signal is generated to indicate to the web server circuit card 50 the correct TCP server state.

In the current state of the art, when a local client disconnects, a "link not established" status signal is sent to the web server circuit card 50. In accordance with the present invention, the mobile radio communications device may be arranged to send a "disconnect" status signal to the web server circuit card 50 in lieu of sending an "not establish link" status signal.

Furthermore, instead of sending a status signal to the web server circuit card 50 that a link has been established when the local client connects to the server, the mobile radio communications device may be arranged to send a status signal to the web server circuit card 50 that it is "in connection".

Further, when the mobile radio communications device is arranged to listen on a designated port of the web server circuit card 50, it may be arranged to send a "listen" status signal to the web server circuit card 50.

An advantage of the present invention, compared to the current state of the art, is that it provides improved operation and management of channels in a mobile radio communications device.

For example, when a web server circuit card 50 is arranged for operation in accordance with the present invention, it is able to distinguish between network events and TCP client/server connection events.

Further, the smart card web server circuit card 50 may be accessed from a location remote from the mobile radio communications device and the smart card web server circuit card 50 may provide a specific local address.

Data exchange between the mobile radio communications device and the web server circuit card may be improved. Between subsequent TCP client connections, a "listen" status signal is generated and received for each web server circuit card 50. The web server circuit card 50 will no longer need to perform the step of closing/opening the channel in order to guarantee the current state of the TCP server connection.

By employing the above three new channel state events, i.e., "connect", "disconnect", and "listen", the following five channel state events can be implemented in accordance with the present invention.

A "listen" status event indicates that the server is waiting for a connection from a remote client, while a "connect" status event indicates that the client is connected to the server. This may be indicated, for example, by an open channel without an automatic reconnect flag.

A "disconnect" status event indicates that the client has reset the connection. This may be indicated, for example, by an open channel without an automatic reconnect flag.

By combining the three new channel state events described above, a "connect and listen" lane state may be provided that indicates that the client is connected to the server and that the server is ready to make subsequent connections using an open channel state with an automatic reconnect flag.

Similarly, by combining the three new channel state events described above, a "disconnect and listen" channel state may be provided that indicates that the client has reset the connection with the server and that the server is immediately ready for the next attempted connection. This is associated with, for example, an open channel with an automatic reconnect flag.

The adoption of the connect-and-listen and disconnect-and-listen states will reduce the number of events sent to the web server circuit card 50 because without such a combination the mobile radio communications device will send successive connect and listen channel signals to the web server circuit card 50.

An embodiment according to the present invention will be explained with reference to fig. 4 and 5.

Fig. 4 is a timing diagram relating to channel state events occurring in a mobile radio communications device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In particular, fig. 4 is used to illustrate how the present invention solves the problem in the timing diagram shown in fig. 2.

Similar reference numerals to those in fig. 2 are used in fig. 4 and in fig. 4, these reference numerals are again used to indicate the signaling relationship between the network connector 40, browser 42, TCP/IP server 46, TCP/IP client 44, BIP/sat 48 and web server circuit card 50.

Similarly, channel state events, requests 52 and 54, connections and data exchanges 60, 62 and 64 similar to those of FIG. 2 are also shown in FIG. 4.

However, the present invention shown in FIG. 4 differs in operation from the current state of the art in that two modified channel state signals "listen" 84 and "connect" 86 occur before the browser 42 sends the first request 54, the initial connection 60 of the TCP/IP client 44 and TCP/IP server 46, and the exchange of data 62 between the browser 42 and the web server circuit card 50.

TCP connection status signals represented by arrows 84 and 86 are sent to web server circuit card 50.

After the data exchange 62 between the browser 42 and the web server circuit card 50, a "service disconnected" status signal 64 from the network connection 40 occurs again, because in this case the network 40 has released the packet connection relationship during the data exchange 62 between the browser 42 and the web server circuit card 50.

The web server circuit card 50 is not affected by the "service disconnected" network initiation signal 64 due to the change in the channel status signals 84 and 86 and the web server circuit card 50 does not close the BIP channel as shown at 88.

The browser 42 and web server circuit card 50 may then continue to exchange data, as shown at block 90, and therefore, the disadvantages that occur in the current state of the art, as shown in FIG. 2, do not occur in the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a timing diagram of a mobile radio communications device according to an embodiment of the present invention and illustrates the manner in which the present invention solves the problems of the prior art shown in fig. 3.

The reference numerals shown in fig. 3 are still used in fig. 5. In fig. 5, there appears a network 40, browser 42, TCP/IP server 46, TCP/IP client 44, BIP/sat 48, and web server circuit card 50, as well as similar channel states and connections 52, 54, 60, 62, 72, 76, 78, and 82 as shown in fig. 3.

However, the different channel state signals associated with the BIP channel state that are present according to the present invention may solve the problems of the prior art.

That is, channel state "listen" signal 92 is delivered from BIP/sat 48 to web server circuit card 50 before browser 42 sends first request 54.

According to the invention, the connection 60 is effected after the browser 42 sends its first request signal 54 and before a data exchange 62 takes place between the browser 42 and the web server circuit card 50, after which the channel status is converted to "connect and listen".

After the connection between the TCP/IP client 44 and the TCP/IP server 46 is severed 72, the BIP channel state becomes "disconnect and listen," as indicated by arrow 96. It should be appreciated that to simplify the web server circuit card 50, the signal represented by the connection being severed 72 may be sent when the receiver buffer is empty and not during or prior to data transmission.

After a successful connection 78, the channel status changes to "connect and listen," as indicated by arrow 98, and the browser 42 and smart card web server may then exchange new data, as indicated by block 82.

As with fig. 3, there is no interaction from network 40 in fig. 5.

The TCP server status can then be easily determined so that the web server circuit card 50 can be easily indicated to the TCP server that it is ready to make other connections.

In the case shown in fig. 5, no further messages occur as shown in fig. 3, which occur in the current state of the art.

The present invention provides an improvement in the management of BIP channel connections when in server mode and serves to distinguish semantic reports between bearer connection state and transport connection state of TCP connections. This is useful in the case where the client of the web server card comprises a remote client.

However, even for local clients, it may be advantageous to improve the management of the connection state of the BIP channel between, for example, a mobile radio communications device and a UICC smart card in server mode.

In sum, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details of the above-described embodiments. For example, the present invention relates not only to local TCP connections, but also to remote connections as well. For example, if the user knows the IP address of the mobile radio communications device, the user can connect to the web server through his/her own browser.

Industrial applications

The invention can be extended for use with various peripheral devices, e.g. related to handsets, such as memory cards in the form of consumer devices (mobile devices), SD cards or MMC cards, camera devices or even any peripheral device providing server features using a mobile TCP/IP stack (stack).

Also, the present invention may employ any suitable protocol used between these devices and used to handle authorization (deletion) of a TCP connection.

Claims (18)

1. A method for managing the connection status of a server device in a mobile radio communications device, said mobile radio communications device including a local client/server pair, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication of a change in connection status of a local client/server pair or an indication of a change in network status;

processing the received indication to distinguish between the change in the connection state and the change in the network state;

in response to said processing, generating a client/server status signal upon a change in connection status of said local client/server pair, and generating a different status signal upon a change in said network status; and is

Transmitting the generated status signal to the server device.

2. A method for managing the connection status of a server device in a mobile radio communications device, said mobile radio communications device including a local client/server pair, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication of a change in connection status of a local client/server pair, wherein the change in connection status is a change in status of a connection that is being intercepted from a remote client to the server, or a change in network status;

processing the received indication to distinguish between the change in the connection state and the change in the network state;

in response to the processing, generating a client/server status signal upon a change in a connection status of the local client/server pair, the generated client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for connections from the remote client, and generating a different status signal upon the change in the network status; and is

Transmitting the generated status signal to the server device.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein, when an indication of a change in connection status of the local client/server pair is received, the processing step determines the nature of the change; and the generating step generates a corresponding client/server status signal in dependence on the result of the determining.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client is generated prior to the remote client sending a request.

5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated after the remote client sends a request.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated subsequent to the client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client.

7. A mobile radio communications device for communicating with a network, the device comprising: a local client/server pair; and means for managing a connection state of a server device for a channel between the server device and the local client/server pair;

the mobile radio communications device is configured to:

receiving an indication of a change in connection status of a local client/server pair, wherein the change in connection status is a change in status of a connection that is being intercepted from a remote client to the server, or a change in network status;

processing the received indication to distinguish between the change in the connection state and the change in the network state;

in response to the processing, generating a client/server status signal upon a change in a connection status of the local client/server pair, the generated client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for connections from the remote client, and generating a different status signal upon the change in the network status; and is

Transmitting the generated status signal to the server device.

8. The device of claim 7, further comprising the server device.

9. The device of claim 8, the server device comprising a smart card server device.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the client/server pair is a transport connection protocol client/server pair.

11. The apparatus of any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the management device is configured to:

processing the received indication of the change in connection status of the local client/server pair to determine the nature of the change; and generating a corresponding client/server status signal in accordance with the determination.

12. The apparatus of any of claims 7 to 11, wherein the management device is configured such that a client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client is generated before the remote client sends a request.

13. The apparatus of any of claims 7 to 12, wherein the management means is configured such that a client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated after the remote client sends a request.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the management device is configured such that a client/server status signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected is generated after a client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client.

15. A server device for use with a mobile radio communications device, the server device comprising:

means for establishing a channel with a local client/server pair of the mobile radio communications device;

means for receiving a client/server status signal from the mobile radio communications device when a change in the connection status of the local client/server pair occurs, and a different status signal from the mobile radio communications device when a change in the network status occurs, the client/server status signal indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client;

means for processing the received status signal to distinguish between the client/server status signal and the different status signal; and

means for maintaining the channel when the client/server status signal is received.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the receiving means is configured to receive a subsequent client/server signal indicating that the client-server pair is connected; and is

The server apparatus comprises means for exchanging data via the signal after receiving the client/server signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected.

17. A method performed in a server device for managing communications with a mobile radio communications device,

the method comprises the following steps:

establishing a channel with a local client/server pair of the mobile radio communications device;

receiving a client/server status signal from the mobile radio communications device indicating that the server is listening for a connection from a remote client, wherein the status signal is a client/server status signal generated in response to a change in client/server status or a different status signal generated in response to a change in network status;

processing the received status signal to distinguish between the client/server status signal and the different status signal; and is

Maintaining the channel when the processing indicates that a client/server status signal is received.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving step comprises receiving a subsequent client/server signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected; and wherein the method further comprises exchanging data via the signal after receiving the client/server signal indicating that the client/server pair is connected.