Methods and apparatus for managing data within a secure element

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for managing and sharing data across multiple access control clients in devices are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the access control clients comprise electronic Subscriber Identity Modules (eSIMs) disposed on an embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC). Each eSIM contains its own data. An Advanced Subscriber Identity Toolkit application maintained within the eUICC facilitates managing and sharing multiple eSIMs' data for various purposes such as sharing phonebook contacts or facilitating automatic switch-over between the multiple eSIMs (such as based on user context).

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, in one exemplary aspect, to facilitating sharing data among multiple user access clients of one or more mobile devices. Background technique [0002] Access control is required in most prior art radio communication systems for secure communication. For example, a simple access control scheme might include: (i) verifying the identity of communicating parties; and (ii) granting a level of access commensurate with the authenticated identity. In the context of an exemplary cellular system such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), access control is governed by an access control client known as a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), which resides on a physical Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) (also known as "SIM card"). The USIM Access Control Client authenticates users of the UMTS cellular network. After successful au...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, dual-SIM phones do not address the fundamental physical limitations of SIM-card devices

For example, information stored on one SIM card cannot be easily merged with information stored on another SIM card

Existing dual SIM devices cannot access the content of both SIM cards at the same time

Finally, accessing the SIM requires a perceptible and non-trivial amount of time for the user; switching between SIMs to transfer information is undesirable and degrades the user experience, and this limitation is present in both traditional and dual-SIM devices. Among those

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