ESIM profile management for wireless devices

Abstract

Techniques for managing an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile at a wireless device are described, including techniques for adapting delay and / or error conditions that may occur during configuration, installation, and / or activation of an eSIM for the wireless device. A wireless device implements one or more monitoring modes to determine a change in state of a newly installed eSIM, a reactivated eSIM, and / or a supplemental data eSIM, and to learn when the eSIM is available to access services of a cellular wireless network. The wireless device may detect an eSIM state change based on a message received from the cellular wireless network or by testing a data connection to a pre-configured test connectivity endpoint.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The described embodiments describe techniques for managing the configuration and monitoring status of electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profiles for wireless devices, including, in some cases, techniques for managing the transfer of cellular wireless service plans associated with a subscriber identity module (SIM) or eSIM between wireless devices. Background Art

[0002] Many wireless devices are configured to use a removable universal integrated circuit card (UICC) that enables the wireless device to access services provided by a mobile network operator (MNO). Specifically, each UICC includes at least a microprocessor and a read-only memory (ROM), wherein the ROM is configured to store an MNO profile that the wireless device can use to register and interact with the MNO to obtain wireless services through a cellular wireless network. The profile may also be referred to as a subscriber identity module (SIM). Typically, the UICC takes the form of a small removable card (often referred to as a SIM card) that is inserted into a UICC receiving area of ​​a mobile wireless device. In recent implementations, the UICC is embedded directly into the system board of the wireless device as an embedded UICC (eUICC), which may provide advantages over conventional removable UICCs. The eUICC includes a rewritable memory that may facilitate the installation, modification, and / or deletion of one or more electronic SIMs (eSIMs) on the eUICC, wherein the eSIM may provide new and / or different services and / or updates for accessing extended features provided by the MNO. The eUICC may store multiple MNO profiles (also referred to herein as eSIMs) and may eliminate the need to include a UICC receiving area in the wireless device.

[0003] Provisioning an eSIM to a wireless device includes multiple stages to be completed, including at the wireless device on which the eSIM is installed, at a manufacturer server that manages the wireless device, and at an MNO server from which the eSIM is downloaded and activated for service. Communication and / or processing delays between the different entities involved in the provisioning may cause various error states to occur. The wireless device may attempt to download or use the eSIM before the associated MNO server is ready to provide the eSIM or allow cellular wireless service associated with the eSIM, which may result in a poor user experience for installation and activation of cellular wireless service. In addition, some wireless devices may include a data-only eSIM with usage restrictions and may benefit from monitoring the status of the data-only eSIM to improve the user experience. There is a need for a mechanism for managing eSIM profile configuration and status monitoring for wireless devices to address delays and / or error states. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application describes techniques for managing an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile for a wireless device, including accommodating delays and / or error conditions that may occur during configuration, installation, activation, and / or reactivation of an eSIM profile for the wireless device. Multiple network-based servers of a mobile network operator (MNO) (and in some cases, the manufacturer of the wireless device) participate in the configuration and activation (or reactivation) of an eSIM profile. Delays may occur between: i) receiving information specifying the assignment of an eSIM profile to a wireless device, ii) the availability of an eSIM profile for downloading from an MNO provisioning server (e.g., a subscription manager data preparation (SM-DP+) server), and iii) activating (or reactivating) a cellular wireless service plan for the eSIM profile on an MNO backend system (e.g., at a home subscriber server (HSS)), thereby allowing access to cellular wireless services based on credentials included in the eSIM profile. In addition, notification messages that alert the wireless device about the status of the eSIM profile from the manufacturer-managed, network-based server may be delayed, lost, or unavailable (due to limited data connectivity of the wireless device).

[0005] The wireless device implements one or more monitoring modes to determine the availability of an eSIM profile and / or a change in the status of an eSIM profile. In the deferred eSIM configuration monitoring mode, the wireless device polls an MNO provisioning server (e.g., an SM-DP+ server) and / or a manufacturer-managed discovery server that assists the MNO provisioning server to determine the availability of an eSIM profile previously assigned to the wireless device for download and installation on an embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC) of the wireless device. The MNO authorization server may indicate to the wireless device whether the eSIM profile is currently available, or may cause a delay before it is available for download to the wireless device. In some embodiments, the wireless device may download the eSIM profile in response to receipt of a push notification message received from a manufacturer-managed, network-based server. The deferred eSIM configuration monitoring mode may operate as a background process to allow recovery from an error state that occurs during a wireless device initialization or configuration process that includes the installation of an eSIM profile. The deferred eSIM configuration monitoring mode may complete when the eSIM profile is successfully installed or after a threshold number of retry attempts has been reached.

[0006] The wireless device may also implement an eSIM activation monitoring mode to determine when a newly installed eSIM, a reactivated eSIM, and / or a supplemented data eSIM is available to access services of a cellular wireless network. In some embodiments, the wireless device determines one or more network states to monitor to determine when the cellular wireless network has completed activation, reactivation, or data supplementation of an eSIM profile. The wireless device may avoid indicating that the eSIM profile is active, for example, in a user-accessible cellular setting, until one or more network states for a network-activated eSIM profile are met. In some embodiments, the wireless device implements a network attachment monitoring mode and blocks attempts to use the eSIM profile, for example, to establish an Internet Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context, until after an attachment success message is received from the cellular wireless network of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile. In some embodiments, the wireless device implements an authorization server monitoring mode using an established (or reestablished) Internet PDP context and marks the eSIM profile as active after receiving a response from the MNO authorization server indicating that the cellular wireless service account subscription state for the eSIM profile is activated. In some embodiments, when the MNO associated with the eSIM profile does not allow Internet data connectivity before the eSIM profile is activated by the MNO's core cellular wireless network, the wireless device sends a query to the MNO authorization server via a dedicated access point name (APN). In some embodiments, the wireless device implements a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) redirect monitoring mode that monitors when a socket connection can be successfully established and data is received from a pre-configured connectivity test endpoint. After receiving a successful read response via the socket connection established with the pre-configured connectivity test endpoint, the wireless device can mark the eSIM profile as active. The wireless device can determine which monitoring mode to use for a particular eSIM profile based on the MNO associated with the particular eSIM profile.

[0007] In some embodiments, the source wireless device transfers a cellular wireless service plan associated with an eSIM profile from the source wireless device to a new eSIM profile, which is downloaded to the target wireless device. The source wireless device may implement an eSIM deactivation monitoring mode to determine when the eSIM profile on the source wireless device is no longer active and / or when the new eSIM profile on the target wireless device is active. The source wireless device may receive a message including an identifier of a new eSIM profile installed on the target wireless device from the target wireless device via a cloud network-based service. The source wireless device may attempt to use the credentials of the transmitted eSIM profile to authenticate to and attach to the cellular wireless network of the MNO. The source wireless device may determine that the eSIM profile is inactive after receiving i) a network attachment rejection message from the cellular wireless network of the MNO and / or ii) a response from the authorization server of the MNO indicating an authentication failure. The source wireless device may then mark the eSIM profile as having been transmitted and inactive on the source wireless device.

[0008] Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the principles of the described embodiments.

[0009] The present invention content is provided only for the purpose of summarizing some example embodiments, so as to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the subject matter described herein. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-mentioned features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The present disclosure will be more readily understood through the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate like structural elements.

[0011] Figure 1 A block diagram showing different components of an example system configured to implement the various techniques described herein, according to some embodiments.

[0012] Figure 2 According to some embodiments, Figure 1 A block diagram of a more detailed view of exemplary components of a system.

[0013] Figure 3A A flow chart is shown of example stages for configuring an eSIM to a wireless device according to some embodiments.

[0014] Figure 3BExample user interface (UI) screens for configuring an eSIM profile at a wireless device are shown according to some embodiments.

[0015] Figure 4 A flow chart illustrating an example of MNO-related delays during configuration, installation, and activation of an eSIM profile on a wireless device according to some embodiments.

[0016] Figure 5 A block diagram illustrating exemplary delays and communication issues for configuring and installing an eSIM profile to a wireless device according to some embodiments.

[0017] Fig. 6A A flow diagram of an example monitoring mode implemented by a wireless device to accommodate delays during configuration of an eSIM profile is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0018] Figure 6B A diagram illustrating a set of exemplary actions implemented at a wireless device for eSIM configuration monitoring mode according to some embodiments.

[0019] Figure 6C A flow chart of an exemplary eSIM configuration monitoring mode method implemented at a wireless device for eSIM configuration and installation is shown according to some embodiments.

[0020] Figure 7 A diagram illustrating an example of MNO delays in configuring an eSIM profile to a wireless device according to some embodiments.

[0021] Figure 8 A diagram illustrating an example of monitoring deactivation of an eSIM profile at a source wireless device after transferring cellular wireless service to a target wireless device according to some embodiments.

[0022] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B A diagram of an exemplary network attachment monitoring mode implemented at a wireless device to detect eSIM activation of an eSIM profile is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0023] Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B A diagram of an example authorization monitoring mode implemented at a wireless device to detect eSIM activation of an eSIM profile is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0024] Fig.11A and Fig. 11B A diagram of an exemplary HTTP redirect monitoring mode implemented at a wireless device to detect eSIM activation of an eSIM profile is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0025] Fig. 11C A flow chart is shown for causing a wireless device to perform an HTTP redirect probe to detect an example triggering of an eSIM activation of an eSIM profile in accordance with some embodiments.

[0026] Fig.12 A block diagram of exemplary elements of a mobile wireless device according to some embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Representative applications of the methods and apparatus according to the present application are described in this section. These examples are provided only to add context and aid in understanding the described embodiments. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other cases, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments, well-known processing steps are not described in detail. Other applications are possible, so that the following examples should not be considered restrictive.

[0028] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in accordance with the described embodiments. Although these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments, it is to be understood that these examples are not limiting; other embodiments may be used and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments.

[0029] The present application describes techniques for managing the configuration of an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile to a wireless device, including accommodating delays and / or error conditions that may occur during the configuration, installation, activation, and / or deactivation of an eSIM on the wireless device. Multiple network-based servers of a mobile network operator (MNO), and in some cases, one or more servers managed by the manufacturer of the wireless device, participate in the configuration of an eSIM profile to a wireless device to provide access to the cellular wireless service of the MNO. Delays and / or error conditions may occur during one or more stages of configuring and enabling the eSIM profile for service. Before the eSIM profile is available for download from a separate MNO provisioning server (e.g., a subscription manager data preparation (SM-DP+) server), the wireless device may receive information specifying the assignment of the eSIM profile to the wireless device from an MNO authorization server. When data connectivity for receiving push notification messages is unavailable, a push notification message from a manufacturer-managed, network-based server indicating the availability of an eSIM profile for download may be lost in transit or cannot be delivered to the wireless device. After the wireless device downloads and installs the eSIM profile on an embedded integrated circuit card (eUICC) of the wireless device, the eSIM profile may not yet be activated on the MNO backend system (e.g., at a home subscriber server (HSS)) to allow access to cellular wireless services based on the credentials included in the eSIM profile. Transferring a wireless cellular service plan associated with the eSIM profile on the source wireless device to the target wireless device includes configuring, downloading, installing, and activating a new eSIM profile on the target wireless device, and deactivating an old eSIM profile on the source wireless device. From the perspective of a server of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile, the source wireless device needs to determine when to activate the new eSIM profile and when to deactivate the old eSIM profile. In order to reduce latency caused by delays or error conditions associated with the eSIM configuration, activation, and deactivation processes, the wireless device may monitor various cellular wireless network responses to determine the status of the eSIM profile for downloading, installing, activating, and / or deactivating.

[0030] The wireless device may implement one or more monitoring modes to determine the availability of an eSIM profile for download and / or changes in the activation status of an eSIM profile at one or more MNO servers. The wireless device may determine the status of the eSIM profile using information obtained directly from cellular wireless network messages or information collected indirectly from network responses to various queries. Configuring an eSIM profile to a wireless device involves multiple stages, including: i) a pre-installation stage for authenticating the wireless device with an MNO authorization server, ii) an installation stage for downloading the eSIM profile from a configuration server and installing the eSIM profile on the eUICC of the wireless device, and iii) a post-installation stage for enabling the eSIM profile at the wireless device and activating the eSIM profile within the MNO cellular wireless network. After all stages are completed, the wireless device may access the services of the MNO's cellular wireless network. The wireless device may use monitoring modes to adapt to delays or error conditions that occur in one or more stages.

[0031] In the delayed eSIM configuration monitoring mode, the wireless device polls the MNO provisioning server (e.g., SM-DP+ server), and / or polls the manufacturer-managed discovery server that assists the MNO provisioning server to determine the availability of an eSIM profile previously assigned to the wireless device for downloading to and installing on an embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC) of the wireless device. During the pre-installation phase, the wireless device receives a message from the MNO authorization server identifying the eSIM profile and, in some embodiments, indicating whether the eSIM profile is currently available for download and installation. In some embodiments, the MNO authorization server provides an indication of a delay until installation of the eSIM profile is available. In some embodiments, the delay is indeterminate, and the wireless device determines when to download the eSIM profile. In some embodiments, the wireless device downloads the eSIM profile in response to receiving a push notification message from a manufacturer-managed, network-based message notification server. In some embodiments, the wireless device has limited data connectivity or no data connectivity to receive the push notification message, for example, no available Wi-Fi connection or limited access to configure the eSIM profile via a bootstrap program, but no data connectivity for push notification message delivery. In some embodiments, the wireless device may configure the eSIM profile using a bootstrap to communicate with an MNO authorization server, with an MNO provisioning server, or with a manufacturer-managed discovery server, but not with a manufacturer-managed message notification server. The wireless device may poll the MNO provisioning server or the manufacturer-managed discovery server to determine the availability of an eSIM profile for downloading to the wireless device. In some embodiments, the wireless device monitors responses from polling to concurrently monitor push notification messages using any mechanism for determining when an eSIM profile is available for download from the MNO provisioning server. The delayed SIM configuration monitoring mode may operate as a background process to allow recovery from error states during a wireless device initialization or configuration process including installation of an eSIM profile. The delayed eSIM configuration monitoring mode may end when the wireless device successfully downloads and installs the eSIM profile or after a threshold number of retry attempts has been reached.

[0032] In the eSIM activation monitoring mode, the wireless device determines when a newly installed and activated eSIM profile, a reactivated eSIM profile, and / or a supplemented data eSIM profile can be used to access services provided by the cellular wireless network of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile. In some embodiments, the wireless device determines one or more network states to be monitored to know when the cellular wireless network has completed the activation of the eSIM profile. The wireless device may avoid indicating that the eSIM is active, for example, in a user-accessible cellular setting, until one or more network states are met. As part of the eSIM activation monitoring mode, different network states may be monitored, including non-access stratum (NAS) network attachment response, authorization server account query response, and Internet data connectivity test response. In some embodiments, the wireless device implements a network attachment monitoring mode and blocks attempts to establish an Internet packet data protocol (PDP) context until after a network attachment success message is received from the cellular wireless network of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile. In some embodiments, the wireless device implements an authorization server monitoring mode using an established (or re-established) Internet PDP context and marks the eSIM profile as active after receiving a response from the MNO authorization server indicating that the eSIM profile is active. For example, the MNO authorization server may respond to a cellular wireless service account subscription status query and provide an eSIM profile status. In some embodiments, when the MNO associated with the eSIM profile does not allow Internet data connectivity prior to activation of the eSIM profile, the account subscription status query is sent to a dedicated access point name (APN). In some embodiments, the wireless device implements a monitoring mode based on hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) redirection that monitors when a socket connection to a preconfigured connectivity test endpoint can be successfully established and data is received from the preconfigured connectivity test endpoint. After receiving a successful read response via a socket connection established with the preconfigured connectivity test endpoint, the wireless device may mark the eSIM profile as active. The wireless device may determine which of a plurality of network monitoring modes to use for a particular eSIM profile based on the MNO associated with the particular eSIM profile. In some embodiments, the MNO specifies that the wireless device uses a particular network monitoring mode, such as a monitoring mode based on HTTP redirection, via a protocol configuration option (PCO) message.

[0033] In some embodiments, the source wireless device transfers a cellular wireless service plan associated with an eSIM profile from the source wireless device to a new eSIM profile, which is downloaded to the target wireless device. The source wireless device may implement an eSIM deactivation monitoring mode to determine when the eSIM profile on the source wireless device is no longer active and / or when the new eSIM profile on the target wireless device is active. The source wireless device may receive a message including an identifier of a new eSIM profile installed on the target wireless device from the target wireless device via a cloud network service to which both the source wireless device and the target wireless device belong. The source wireless device may attempt to authenticate to and attach to the cellular wireless network of the MNO using the credentials of the old eSIM profile. The source wireless device may determine that the old eSIM profile is inactive after receiving i) a network attachment rejection message from the cellular wireless network of the MNO and ii) a message from the MNO authorization server indicating that the authentication failed. The source wireless device may then mark the old eSIM profile as transferred and deactivated on the source wireless device (e.g., in a user-accessible cellular setting).

[0034] These and other embodiments are referred to below. Figures 1 to 12 Discussion is made; however, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect to these figures is for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as limiting.

[0035] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram of various components of a system 100 configured to implement the various techniques described herein, according to some embodiments. More specifically, Figure 1 A brief overview of a system 100 is shown, which includes a wireless device 102 (also referred to as a device, wireless device, mobile device, user equipment (UE), etc.), a set of base stations 112-1 to 112-N managed by different mobile network operators (MNOs) 114, and a set of configuration servers 116 in communication with the MNOs 114. Additional MNO infrastructure servers such as those used for account management and billing are not shown. The wireless device 102 may represent a mobile computing device (e.g., of or Apple Watch), base stations 112-1 to 112-n may represent cellular wireless network entities configured to communicate with wireless device 102, including evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs or eNBs) and / or next generation NodeBs (gNodeBs or gNBs), and MNO 114 may represent different wireless service providers that provide specific cellular wireless services (e.g., voice and data) to which wireless device 102 may subscribe, such as via a subscription account of a user of wireless device 102.

[0036] like Figure 1 As shown, the wireless device 102 may include processing circuitry (which may include one or more processors 104 and memory 106), an embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC) 108, and a baseband radio circuit 110 for sending and receiving cellular wireless radio frequency signals. The baseband radio circuit 110 may include analog hardware components, such as antennas and amplifiers, and digital processing components, such as signal processors (and / or general / limited purpose processors) and associated memory. In some embodiments, in addition to or in lieu of the eUICC 108, the wireless device 102 includes one or more physical UICCs 118 (also referred to as subscriber identity modules (SIM) cards). The components of the wireless device 102 work together to enable the wireless device 102 to provide useful features to the user of the wireless device 102, such as cellular wireless network access, non-cellular wireless network access, localized computing, location-based services, and Internet connectivity. The eUICC 108 may be configured to store multiple electronic SIMs (eSIMs) for accessing cellular wireless services provided by different MNOs 114 via connecting to their respective cellular wireless networks through base stations 112-1 to 112-N. For example, the eUICC 108 may be configured to store and manage one or more eSIMs of one or more MNOs 114 for different subscriptions associated with the wireless device 102. To enable access to services provided by the MNO, the eSIMs may be reserved for subsequent download and installation to the eUICC 108. In some embodiments, the eUICC 108 obtains the one or more eSIMs from one or more associated MNO provisioning servers 116. The MNO provisioning servers 116 may be maintained by the MNO 114, an OEM manufacturer, a third-party entity, etc. eSIM data communications between the MNO provisioning servers 116 and the eUICC 108 (or between the MNO provisioning servers 116 and processing circuitry (e.g., the processor 104) of the wireless device 102 external to the eUICC 108) may use a secure communication channel.

[0037] Figure 2 According to some embodiments, Figure 1 A block diagram of a more detailed view 200 of certain components of the wireless device 102 is shown. Figure 2 As shown, the processor 104 in conjunction with the memory 106 may implement a main operating system (OS) 202 configured to execute applications 204 (eg, native OS applications and user applications). Figure 2As shown, the eUICC 108 may be configured to implement an eUICC OS 206 that is configured to manage the hardware resources of the eUICC 108 (e.g., a processor and memory embedded in the eUICC 108). The eUICC OS 206 may also be configured to manage the eSIM 208 stored by the eUICC 108, for example, by downloading, installing, deleting, enabling, disabling, modifying, or otherwise performing management of the eSIM 208 within the eUICC 108 and providing access to the eSIM 208 to the baseband radio circuit 110 to provide access to wireless services to the wireless device 102. The eUICC 108 OS may include an eSIM manager 210 that may perform management functions for various eSIMs 208. Figure 2 As shown in the illustration, each eSIM 208 may include a plurality of applets 212 that define the manner in which the eSIM 208 operates. For example, one or more of the applets 212, when implemented in conjunction with the baseband radio circuitry 110 and the eUICC 108, may be configured to enable the wireless device 102 to communicate with the MNO 114 and provide useful features (e.g., phone calls and Internet access) to a user of the wireless device 102.

[0038] Likewise Figure 2 As shown, the baseband radio circuit 110 of the wireless device 102 may include a baseband OS 214 configured to manage hardware resources (e.g., processor, memory, different radio components, etc.) of the baseband radio circuit 110. According to some embodiments, the baseband radio circuit 110 may implement a baseband manager 216 configured to interact with the eUICC 108 to establish a secure channel with the MNO provisioning server 116 and obtain information (such as eSIM data) from the MNO provisioning server 116 for managing the eSIM 208. The baseband manager 216 may be configured to implement services 218, which represent a collection of software modules that are instantiated by various applets 212 of enabled eSIMs 208 included in the eUICC 108. For example, the services 218 may be configured to manage different connections between the wireless device 102 and the MNO 114 according to different eSIMs 208 enabled within the eUICC 108.

[0039] Figure 3AA flowchart 300 of exemplary stages of configuring an eSIM 208 to a wireless device 102 is shown. In the pre-installation stage, at 302, a local profile assistant (LPA) executing on a processor external to the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102 initiates an eSIM installation, which has previously received a network address (e.g., a uniform resource locator (URL) or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN)) for an MNO provisioning server 116 (e.g., an SM-DP+ server). At 304, the LPA receives an ES9+ authentication client response message from the SM-DP+ server. At 306, the LPA extracts from the metadata of the authentication client response message an identifier (e.g., a name) of the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 to be downloaded and installed to the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102. At 308, user consent is obtained, for example, via a notification pop-up window on the wireless device 102, to install the eSIM profile 208 from the identified MNO 114. When user consent is denied or otherwise not obtained, the eSIM installation process may end. When user consent is obtained, the wireless device 102 proceeds to the installation and activation phase. At 312, a watchdog timer is started to monitor the time spent in the installation and configuration process. At 314, the LPA downloads a binding profile package (BPP) including the eSIM profile 208 in an ES9+ message from the SM-DP+ server. At 316, the LPA transmits the BPP protocol data unit (PDU) (i.e., packet) of the BPP to the eUICC 108, which checks the integrity of the BPP, extracts and installs the eSIM profile 208. At 318, the installation of the eSIM profile 208 on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102 is completed. When the installation is completed, the configuration flow enters the post-installation phase, which includes activating the eSIM profile 208 to be available for use in accessing the services of the cellular wireless network of the MNO. At 320, the eUICC enables the eSIM profile 208 and initiates one or more monitoring modes to determine when the eSIM profile 208 has been activated by the MNO cellular wireless network. At 322, the wireless device 102 may use a network attachment monitoring mode to determine when the wireless device 102 may attach to the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114 using the credentials of the eSIM profile 208 and subsequently register for services with the MNO cellular wireless network. At 324, the wireless device 102 may use an authorization monitoring mode to determine when the wireless device 102 receives a message from the MNO authorization server indicating that a cellular wireless service subscription associated with the eSIM profile 208 is activated. At 326, the wireless device 102 may use an HTTP redirection monitoring mode to determine whether data can be successfully read via a socket connection to a pre-configured data test endpoint.At 328, the wireless device 102 may determine whether the eSIM profile 208 has been successfully activated within the cellular wireless network of the MNO based on the results from one or more monitoring modes. In some embodiments, at least one or more monitoring modes must provide a successful result for the wireless device 102 to determine that the eSIM profile 208 is activated. In some embodiments, at least two or more monitoring modes must provide a successful result for the wireless device 102 to determine that the eSIM profile 208 is activated. In some embodiments, the wireless device 102 uses a specific monitoring mode for the MNO 114 (or requires a successful result from a specific monitoring mode) because different monitoring modes may be applicable (or most useful) for different cellular wireless networks of the MNO. When the wireless device 102 determines that the monitoring mode applicable to the MNO 114 is unsuccessful, the wireless device 102 may retry the monitoring mode again. In some embodiments, the wireless device 102 disables and re-enables the eSIM profile 208 before re-enabling the monitoring mode. The wireless device 102 may continue to use the monitoring mode to determine when the eSIM profile 208 is activated by the MNO 114. When the wireless device 102 determines at 328 that the monitoring mode for the MNO 114 is successful, the wireless device 102 may determine at 330 that the eSIM configuration is complete. At 332, the wireless device 102 may provide user feedback that the eSIM profile 208 is activated and ready for use, for example, directly via a pop-up notification screen and / or indirectly within a user-accessible cellular setting. In some embodiments, when the watchdog timer started at 312 expires at 334 and the installation or activation of the eSIM profile 208 has not been completed, the wireless device 102 provides user feedback at 336, for example, directly via a pop-up notification screen and / or indirectly within a user-accessible cellular setting that the installation and / or activation of the eSIM profile 208 has not been completed and that the eSIM installation and activation monitoring will continue in the background, thereby allowing the user to continue to use the wireless device 102 for other non-cellular functions. In some embodiments, when multiple attempts to install or activate the eSIM profile 208 are unsuccessful, the wireless device 102 directly notifies the user via a pop-up notification to contact the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208.

[0040] Figure 3BA diagram 350 of exemplary user interface (UI) screens that may be presented during various stages of the eSIM profile configuration process is shown. During the pre-installation stage, the wireless device 102 presents the user with an option to obtain the eSIM profile 208, such as via scanning a quick response (QR) code provided by the MNO 114 or from the source wireless device 102A from which the cellular wireless service plan was transferred. The wireless device 102 obtains consent from the user to install the eSIM profile 208 associated with the particular MNO 114, and then installs the eSIM profile 208 in the installation stage, which may be completed when the eSIM profile 208 has been successfully downloaded from the MNO provisioning server 116, installed on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102, and then enabled for use by the wireless device 102. Although the eSIM profile 208 may be enabled, the wireless device 102 may refrain from indicating that the eSIM profile 208 is ready for use by the user of the wireless device 102 until activation of the eSIM profile 208 by the MNO 114 has been completed and has been detected by the wireless device 102 (such as using one or more monitoring patterns). After successfully activating the eSIM profile 208, during a post-installation phase, the wireless device 102 may provide a notification to the user that cellular service is available using the eSIM profile 208. When activation of the eSIM profile 208 is not successfully completed within a threshold time period, for example, when a watchdog timer initiated during the installation phase expires, the wireless device 102 provides a notification to the user that activation will be completed as a background process to allow the user to continue using the wireless device 102 before cellular wireless service is available via the eSIM profile 208.

[0041] Figure 4A flow chart 400 is shown of an example of MNO-related delays that may occur during configuration, installation, and activation of an eSIM profile 208 on a wireless device 102. At 402, the wireless device 102 authenticates with an MNO authorization server. At 404, the MNO 114 establishes the eSIM profile 208 on a configuration server 116 (e.g., an SM-DP+ server) for downloading to the wireless device 102. At 406, the wireless device 102 retrieves eSIM installation information, such as the network address of the SM-DP+ server from which the eSIM profile 208 was obtained. At 408, the wireless device 102 downloads the eSIM profile 208 from the SM-DP+ server and installs the eSIM profile 208 on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102. At 410, the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 completes the in-network configuration of the eSIM profile 208, for example, on various backend servers such as a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). At 412, the wireless device 102 successfully attaches to the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114 and subsequently registers for cellular wireless service access with the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114. Several delays may occur during the illustrated eSIM profile configuration, installation, and activation process. In some cases, the wireless device 102 obtains information of the eSIM profile 208, such as an ICCID value and a network address of the SM-DP+ server, before the eSIM profile 208 is available for download from the SM-DP+ server. Before the eSIM profile 208 is actually available, the information for downloading the eSIM profile 208 may be provided by an MNO server (different from the SM-DP+ server) and / or a server managed by the manufacturer (e.g., a discovery server). In some embodiments, the eSIM profile 208 is available for download, but is not yet available for accessing the cellular wireless service of the MNO 114. Each MNO 114 uses their own implementation and maintenance schedule, which may delay the availability of the eSIM profile 208 for downloading and / or activating the eSIM profile 208 within the core network of the MNO. To reduce unnecessary, lengthy waiting periods for users of the wireless device 102, and to reduce uncertainty about the availability and / or status of the eSIM profile 208, the wireless device 102 may use various monitoring modes as discussed herein. In some cases, the wireless device 102 executes the monitoring mode as a background process after a timeout period to allow the wireless device 102 to be used for other (non-cellular) purposes.

[0042] Figure 5A block diagram 500 is shown of exemplary delays and communication issues that may occur during the eSIM profile configuration, installation, and activation process. Communications between the wireless device 102 and various MNO and manufacturer network-based servers may use non-cellular wireless connections, cellular wireless connections via a SIM or eSIM profile 208 (i.e., different from the eSIM profile being configured), or via a limited functionality bootstrap eSIM 208. When using a limited functionality bootstrap eSIM 208, only certain servers may communicate with the wireless device 102. For example, the MNO authorization server 502, the MNO SM-DP+ server 506, and the manufacturer discovery server may be reachable by the wireless device 102, but the manufacturer notification server 510 may not be able to communicate with the wireless device 102 via the bootstrap eSIM 208. At 512, the wireless device 102 authenticates with the MNO authorization server 502 to trigger the provisioning of the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, the authentication message sent by the wireless device 102 is associated with the transfer of a cellular wireless service plan, for example, from a source wireless device 102A to a wireless device 102 as a target wireless device 102B. In some embodiments, the authentication message sent by the wireless device 102 includes a transfer token indicating the authority to obtain the eSIM profile 208 associated with the transfer of the cellular wireless service plan. At 514, the MNO authorization server 502 sends an ES2+ message to the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 to set up the eSIM profile 208. Before the wireless device 102 can download and install the eSIM profile 208, the eSIM profile 208 needs to be set up on the SM-DP+ server 506. The setting of the eSIM profile 208 may be delayed due to MNO implementation processes and / or due to MNO maintenance issues. The amount of delay caused may vary for different MNOs 114 and depends on the MNO plan, for example, time of day dependency, day of week dependency. Thus, the wireless device 102 may not know a priori how long the MNO 114 will take to complete the eSIM setup process. At 516, the MNO authorization server 502 sends a message to the MNO backend server 504 to configure the eSIM profile for the cellular wireless service. Again, there may be a delay for this configuration to occur at the MNO backend server 504. At 518, the MNO authorization server 502 responds to the wireless device 102 with a message including a unique identifier of the eSIM profile 208 to be downloaded (e.g., an ICCID value of the eSIM profile 208). The message may also include an indication that the eSIM profile 208 is pending publication and is not yet available for download by the wireless device 102.Due to the indeterminate delay, the wireless device 102 may attempt to contact the manufacturer discovery server 508 to obtain information about the eSIM profile 208, or attempt to download the eSIM profile 208 from the SM-DP+ server 506 before the eSIM profile 208 is available for download. To avoid these issues, the wireless device 102 may wait for a push notification message indicating the availability of the eSIM profile 208 for download. In some embodiments, at 520, the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 sends an ES12 registration message to the manufacturer-managed discovery server 508, the registration message including a unique identifier associated with the wireless device 102, for example, an eUICC identifier (EID) value of the eUICC 108 on which the eSIM profile 208 is to be downloaded and installed. The ES12 registration message may be sent when the eSIM profile 208 is available for download to the wireless device 102. At 522, the manufacturer discovery server 508 may send a message to the manufacturer notification server 510 to trigger a push notification message sent to the wireless device 102 at 524 to indicate that the eSIM profile 208 is available for download from the MNO's SM-DP+ server 506. In some cases, the push notification may not reach the wireless device 102 because the push notification message may be lost in transmission or may not be delivered to the wireless device 102. In some cases, the wireless device 102 lacks a non-cellular data connection (or a full-functionality cellular data connection) to receive the push notification message. The wireless device may be using a limited-functionality bootstrap configuration eSIM profile 208 with limited cellular wireless access before obtaining the full-functionality eSIM profile 208, and cannot receive the push notification message via the limited-functionality cellular wireless connection of the bootstrap eSIM profile. At 526, the wireless device 102 queries the manufacturer discovery server for the availability of an eSIM profile 208 tagged for an eUICC 108 with a specific EID value. In some cases, the wireless device 102 sends the query in response to the push notification message. In some cases, the wireless device 102 polls the manufacturer discovery server without receiving a push notification message. Active polling by the wireless device 102 can reduce the delay between the availability of the eSIM profile 208 on the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 and the delivery of the push notification message to the wireless device 102. At 528, the wireless device 102 downloads and installs the eSIM profile 208 from the SM-DP+ message. At 530, the wireless device 102 registers the downloaded and installed eSIM profile 208 with the MNO backend server (e.g., HSS server) to access the cellular wireless service of the MNO.

[0043] Fig. 6AFlowchart 600 illustrates an exemplary delayed eSIM configuration monitoring mode implemented by a wireless device 102 to accommodate one or more delays during configuration of an eSIM profile 208 to the wireless device 102. The delayed eSIM configuration monitoring mode may be used to allow the wireless device 102 to discover the availability and download the eSIM profile 208 without having an available cellular data plan (prior to installing the eSIM profile 208) or non-cellular wireless access. The monitoring mode may also be restarted after an installation failure of the eSIM profile 208. At 602, the wireless device 102 receives an eSIM installation response from the MNO authorization server 502, the eSIM installation response including a unique identifier, e.g., an ICCID value, of the eSIM profile 208 to be installed on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102. At 604, the wireless device 102 stores the provided ICCID value. At 606, the wireless device 102 determines whether to use i) an indirect mode, in which a query is sent to a manufacturer discovery server 508, which can provide information about the availability of one or more eSIM profiles 208 for the wireless device 102 and one or more network addresses of an MNO provisioning server 116 (e.g., an MNO SM-DP+ server 506) from which to download the one or more eSIM profiles 208, or to use ii) a direct mode, in which a query is sent to the MNO SM-DP+ server 506. In some embodiments, the eSIM installation response from the MNO authorization server 502 indicates whether the wireless device 102 should use the indirect mode of querying the manufacturer discovery server 508 or the direct mode of querying the MNO SM-DP+ server 506. When using the indirect mode, the wireless device 102 polls the manufacturer discovery server 508 to determine the availability of the eSIM profiles 208 for downloading from the MNO SM-DP+ server 506. When the eSIM profile 208 is available for download, the manufacturer discovery server 508 may provide a network address, e.g., a URL value or a FQDN value, of the MNO SM-DP+ server in response to a query from the wireless device 102. When direct mode is used, the wireless device 102 directly polls the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 to determine the availability of the eSIM profile 208 for download to the wireless device 102.

[0044] The wireless device 102 may use a polling mechanism of the delayed eSIM configuration monitoring mode to check the availability of the eSIM profile 208 on the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 without relying on a push notification message from the manufacturer notification server 510. The polling interval may be customized for each individual MNO 114 and may take into account processing delays, maintenance schedules, and / or dynamic loading of the MNO network server to reduce delays (when the eSIM profile 208 is available but not retrieved) and limit additional queries (when the eSIM profile 208 is not yet available to be retrieved). In some embodiments, the eSIM installation response received from the MNO authorization server 502 at 602 may include an indication of whether the eSIM profile 208 is currently available for download from the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 or whether the wireless device 102 is required to wait to download the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, a back-off timer is started for the delayed eSIM configuration monitoring mode, and polling begins after the back-off timer expires. In some embodiments, the back-off timer may be restarted after each expiration, up to a back-off timer threshold number of times.

[0045] Figure 6BA diagram 620 is shown of an exemplary set of actions implemented at the wireless device 102 for an eSIM configuration monitoring mode with regular polling of the MNO SM-DP+ server 506. The interval between polling may be customized for each MNO 114, such as specified in a carrier binding setting, may be based on parameters specified by the MNO 114, or may be based on the dynamic network state of the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114. At 626, a local profile assistant (LPA) 622 executing on a processor external to the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102 receives an eSIM installation response message from the MNO authorization server 502, the eSIM installation response message including a unique identifier (e.g., an ICCID value) for the eSIM profile 208 to be installed and (in some embodiments) a pending status indicating whether the eSIM profile 208 is available for download at this time or requires the wireless device 102 to wait for a period of time. The wireless device 102 uses the ICCID value of the eSIM 208 to identify to the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 a specific eSIM profile 208 to be downloaded to the wireless device 102. When the eSIM profile 208 is available at this time, the wireless device 102 may instruct the baseband radio circuit 110 of the wireless device 102 to download and install the eSIM profile 208 from the applicable MNO provisioning server 116 (e.g., SM-DP+ server 506). When the eSIM profile 208 is not currently available for download, the LPA 622 initiates a wireless device monitoring mode process 624 for eSIM configuration at 628, wherein the wireless device monitoring mode process 624 is also executed on a processor of the wireless device 102 that is external to the eUICC 108. In some embodiments, when the monitoring mode is initiated, the wireless device monitoring mode process 624 starts a back-off timer, waits for the back-off timer to expire, and then polls the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 for the availability of the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, the wireless device monitoring mode process 624 attempts to obtain the eSIM profile 208 from the MNO SM-DP+ server 626 immediately (or soon after) after startup. At 630, the wireless device monitoring mode process 624 sends a get message to the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 to retrieve the eSIM profile 208. At 632, the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 returns a response message to the wireless device LPA 622, indicating that the eSIM profile 208 identified in the get message is not yet available for download. The wireless device monitoring mode process 624 waits for the backoff timer to expire at 634, and then retries to poll the MNO SM-DP+ server at 636, which again replies with an eSIM profile unavailable message at 638.At 640, the wireless device monitoring mode process 624 again waits for the backoff timer to expire, and then retries to poll the MNO SM-DP+ server again at 642, which replies with a message indicating the availability of the eSIM profile 208 for download to the wireless device 102 at 644. In response to the positive indication from the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 indicating the availability of the eSIM profile 208, the wireless device monitoring mode process 624 sends a command to install the eSIM profile 208 to the baseband radio circuit 110 at 646. At 648, the baseband radio circuit 110 interacts with the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 to download the eSIM profile 208, and at 650, provides a message to the wireless device monitoring mode process indicating the successful download of the eSIM profile 208. As a background process, the wireless device monitoring mode process repeatedly polls the MNO SM-DP+ server 506 to allow recovery from error conditions (such as loss of connection or failure to download the eSIM profile 208). In some embodiments, the wireless device monitoring mode process ends when i) the eSIM profile 208 has been successfully downloaded to and installed on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102, or ii) a threshold number of download retries have occurred. In some embodiments, the wireless device monitoring mode process, if not completed, is restarted after a software failure (e.g., operating system crash, communication processing system crash, etc.) or after a hardware shutdown (e.g., initiated by the user) to allow retry of downloading the pending eSIM profile 208.

[0046] Figure 6CA flow chart 660 of an exemplary eSIM configuration monitoring mode method implemented at a wireless device 102 for configuring and installing an eSIM 208 on an eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102 is shown. At 662, the wireless device 102 receives an eSIM installation response from the MNO authorization server 502, the eSIM installation response including a unique identifier (e.g., an ICCID value) for the eSIM profile 208 to be installed and (in some embodiments) a pending status indicating whether the eSIM profile 208 is available for download at this time or requires the wireless device 102 to wait for a period of time. When the eSIM profile 208 is not available at this time, at 664, the wireless device 102 initiates an eSIM configuration monitoring process. At 666, the wireless directly polls the configuration server 116 (e.g., the MNO SM-DP+ server 506), or indirectly queries the configuration server 116 by polling the manufacturer discovery server 508 whether the eSIM profile 208 has been published for download to the wireless device 102. When the eSIM profile 208 has not been published, the wireless device 102 may perform two actions in parallel: i) wait for a push notification from the manufacturer notification server 510 at 668, and ii) wait for a back-off period at 676. After the back-off period has elapsed (e.g., based on expiration of a back-off timer), and / or after receiving a push notification from the manufacturer notification server 510, the wireless device 102 attempts to download and install the eSIM profile 208 from the configuration server 116. At 672, the wireless device 102 determines whether the eSIM profile 208 has been successfully installed on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102. When the eSIM profile 208 has been successfully installed, the wireless device 102 exits the eSIM configuration monitoring mode with a success status indication at 674. When the eSIM profile 208 has not been successfully installed, the wireless device 102 determines whether there is an additional back-off period available at 680, e.g., the number of times the back-off timer expired did not satisfy the threshold back-off number. In the event that there is no backoff time period remaining, the wireless device 102 exits the eSIM configuration monitoring mode with a failure status indication at 682. When there is an additional backoff time period available, the wireless device 102 returns to wait for the additional backoff time period at 676 before reattempting to obtain and install the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, waiting for the backoff timer to expire and waiting for the manufacturer push notification occur in parallel, and when either occurs, the wireless device 102 may send a query to obtain the status of the eSIM profile 208 available for download or directly attempt to download the eSIM profile 208.The push notification from the manufacturer notification server 510 may arrive before the back-off timer expires and may supersede waiting the remainder of the back-off period because the push notification may indicate the current availability of the eSIM profile 208 for downloading to the wireless device 102 .

[0047] Figure 7 Diagram 700 illustrates an example where an eSIM configuration delay within a cellular wireless network of the MNO (e.g., an MNO backend server 504 such as a home subscriber server) has not yet completed establishing a cellular wireless service subscription associated with the eSIM profile 208 even though the MNO provisioning server 116 has made the eSIM profile 208 available to the wireless device 102 for download, installation, and activation on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102. At 710, the wireless device 102 sends a notification message to the manufacturer-managed device service server 702 indicating that the eSIM profile 208 was successfully installed. At 712, the manufacturer-managed device service server 702 forwards the eSIM installation notification message to the manufacturer-managed MNO service server 706. At 714, the wireless device 102 attempts to connect with an access portion of the MNO cellular wireless network 704 and registers access to the cellular wireless service of the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208. When the eSIM configuration for the eSIM profile 208 within the MNO cellular wireless network 704 has not been completed, the MNO cellular wireless network 704 does not allow the wireless device 102 to connect and sends an authentication rejection message including a fatal rejection error reason code at 716. As a result of the fatal rejection error reason code, an additional registration attempt is made by the wireless device 102 at 718 in accordance with the 3GPP wireless communication standard. Subsequently, the MNO backend server completes the eSIM configuration and sends a complete pre-order message to the manufacturer-managed MNO service server 706 at 720. At 722, the MNO backend server turns on the cellular wireless service for the wireless device 102. Unfortunately, the wireless device 102 has already attempted to connect to the MNO cellular wireless network 704, and the wireless device 102 may retry the connection only after certain conditions are met, for example, at 724, a device reboot occurs or the eSIM profile 208 is disabled and then re-enabled. (For a physical SIM card, retry attempts are allowed after the physical SIM card is removed and reinserted into the wireless device 102.) In some embodiments, the wireless device 102 periodically disables and re-enables the eSIM profile 208 until successfully attaching to and registering with the MNO cellular wireless network 704.

[0048] Figure 8A diagram 800 of an exemplary eSIM deactivation monitoring process is shown that a source wireless device 102A may use to determine when a transmission of a cellular wireless service plan associated with an eSIM profile 208 on the source wireless device 102A has been successfully transmitted to a new eSIM profile 208 downloaded to a target wireless device 102B. The source wireless device 102A may implement an eSIM deactivation monitoring mode to determine when the eSIM profile 208 on the source wireless device 102A is no longer active and / or when the new eSIM profile 208 on the target wireless device 102B is active. At 810, the target wireless device 102B installs the new eSIM profile 208. At 812, the target wireless device 102B provides a message to the manufacturer cloud network service 802 that includes identifiers for the source wireless device 102A and the target wireless device 102B and a unique identifier value, such as an integrated circuit card identifier (ICCID) value, for the new eSIM profile 208 installed on the target wireless device 102B. At 814, the source wireless device 102A may receive a message including a unique identifier value (e.g., an ICCID value) for the new eSIM profile 208 installed on the target wireless device 102B from the target wireless device 102B via the manufacturer cloud network service 802 to which both the source wireless device 102A and the target wireless device 102B belong. At 816, the source wireless device 102A may cache the ICCID value and wait an amount of time to allow the new eSIM profile 208 installed on the target wireless device 102B to be activated. Subsequently, the source wireless device 102A may determine whether the new eSIM profile 208 is activated on the target wireless device 102B by attempting to register with the MNO cellular wireless network 704 using data from the eSIM profile 208 on the source wireless device 102A and / or by attempting to authenticate with the MNO authorization server 502 using data from the eSIM profile 208 on the source wireless device 102A, and therefore determine that the eSIM profile 208 on the source wireless device 102A is no longer active. At 818, the source wireless device 102A may attempt to authenticate with and attach to the MNO cellular wireless network 704 using the credentials of the old eSIM profile 208 on the source wireless device 102A. At 820, the source wireless device 102A may determine that the old eSIM profile 208 is inactive after receiving a network attach reject message from the MNO's cellular wireless network 704 that may include a reason code.Additionally and / or alternatively, the source wireless device 102A attempts to authenticate with the MNO authorization server 502 using data from the old eSIM profile 208 on the source wireless device 102A at 822, and may determine that the old eSIM profile 208 is inactive after receiving a message indicating an authentication failure (e.g., an authorization response message including a "6004" code) from the MNO authorization server 502 at 824. Then, at 826, the source wireless device 102A may mark the old eSIM profile 208 as transferred and deactivated on the source wireless device 102A (e.g., in a user accessible cellular setting).

[0049] In addition to the eSIM configuration monitoring mode, the wireless device 102 may also implement an eSIM activation monitoring mode to determine when a newly installed and activated eSIM profile 208, a reactivated eSIM profile 208, and / or a supplemented data eSIM profile 208 may be used to access services provided by the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208. As part of the eSIM activation monitoring mode, different network states may be monitored, including non-access stratum (NAS) network attachment responses, authorization server account query responses, and Internet data connectivity test responses. Each MNO 114 has its own eSIM configuration system and procedures, and therefore no single eSIM activation monitoring mode is available for all MNOs 114. A wireless device 102 on which an eSIM profile 208 has been downloaded, installed, and enabled may use one or more applicable eSIM activation monitoring modes to determine when the eSIM profile 208 is ready for use with the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208.

[0050] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Diagrams 900, 950 illustrate exemplary network attached eSIM activation monitoring modes that the wireless device 102 may implement to determine when activation of the eSIM profile 208 is complete (and therefore the eSIM profile 208 is available for cellular wireless service). Fig.9A and Fig. 9BIn the specific example shown, the wireless device 102 refreshes the eSIM profile 208 by interacting with the MNO web server 906, and then determines when the refreshed eSIM profile 208 can be used to access the cellular wireless service of the MNO 114 associated with the refreshed eSIM profile 208. The same monitoring described can be used to detect the activation of the newly installed eSIM profile 208. At 910, in response to attempting to attach to the MNO cellular wireless network 704, the baseband wireless circuit 110 receives an attach reject message with a reason code from the MNO cellular wireless network 704. At 912, the baseband wireless circuit 110 forwards the attach reject message with the reason code to the phone process 904 executing on the processor of the wireless device 102. At 914, the phone process 904 evaluates the reason code from the attach reject message to determine whether the particular reason code (e.g., #7: EPS service not allowed) matches a pre-configured MNO-specific setting, such as available in a pre-loaded configuration profile that includes properties of different MNOs 114. At 916, the phone process 904 detects a data shortage trigger, for example based on the attach reject reason code, which may indicate that the allocation of the eSIM profile 208 is exhausted. At 918, the phone process 904 sends a message to the baseband radio circuit 110 to switch to using the limited functionality bootstrap eSIM profile 208, which will allow communication with a specific network endpoint to allow replenishment of the exhausted eSIM profile 208. At 920, the user of the wireless device 102 launches an application to execute on the application processor 902, which requires Internet data connectivity. At 922, the application processor 902 sends a message to the phone process 904 to establish an Internet PDP context for the application. At 924, the phone process 904 responds to the application processor 902 with an indication that the user's data plan data is insufficient (and therefore cellular data connectivity via the exhausted eSIM profile 208 is not available). The phone process 904 may provide a notification (e.g., a pop-up window) to the user with a link to a network address (e.g., a URL value) to which the user may connect (via the bootstrap eSIM profile 208) to perform account management for the cellular wireless account. At 926, the user of the wireless device 102 uses the bootstrap eSIM profile 208 to access the MNO web server 906. After the required user interaction, at 928, the MNO web server 906 sends a JavaScript (JS) callback message to the wireless device 102 that includes the ICCID value of the eSIM profile that has been replenished. At 952, the phone process 904 sends a message to the baseband radio circuit 110 to re-enable the eSIM profile 208 associated with the received ICCID value.(In some cases, the user obtains a new eSIM profile 208 downloaded and installed on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102, and the JS callback message includes the ICCID value of the new eSIM profile to be used.) At 954, the phone process 904 initiates a network attached eSIM activation monitoring mode to determine when the supplemented (or newly installed) eSIM profile 208 can be used. At 954, the phone process 904 also blocks Internet PDP context establishment until it is known that the eSIM profile 208 can be successfully used. At 956, the baseband radio circuit 110 sends an attach request message to the MNO cellular wireless network 704 to attempt to attach to the access portion of the MNO cellular wireless network 704 (and subsequently register for service with the MNO cellular wireless network 704). At 958, the baseband radio circuit 110 receives an attach success message in response to the attach request. At 960, the baseband radio circuit 110 forwards an indication of the attach success to the phone process 904 to trigger exiting the network attached eSIM activation monitoring mode. At 962, the phone process sends a message to the baseband radio circuit 110 to allow Internet connectivity for the eSIM profile 208 and establish an Internet PDP context with the MNO cellular wireless network. At 964, the phone process alerts the user of the wireless device 102 that the supplemented (or newly installed) eSIM profile is active. In some embodiments, the phone process changes the status of the eSIM profile to "active" (which may also be referred to as "on" or "activated") in the cellular setting without interrupting the user with a pop-up notification message. Waiting for an attachment request to succeed after a previous attachment rejection for the eSIM profile 208 may be a preferred eSIM activation monitoring mode for a particular MNO 114.

[0051] Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B Diagrams 1000, 1030 illustrate exemplary authorization server eSIM activation monitoring modes that the wireless device 102 may implement to determine when activation of the eSIM profile 208 is complete (and therefore the eSIM profile 208 may be used for cellular wireless service). Fig. 10A and Fig. 10BIn the specific example shown, the wireless device 102 replenishes the exhausted eSIM profile 208 by interacting with the MNO web server 906, and then determines when the replenished eSIM profile 208 can be used to access the cellular wireless service of the MNO 114 associated with the replenished eSIM profile 208. The same monitoring described can be used to detect the activation of the newly installed eSIM profile 208. At 1002, the MNO cellular wireless network 704 sends a message to the baseband wireless circuit 110 to tear down the existing Internet PDP context for data connection using the eSIM profile 208. The MNO cellular wireless network 704 can close the Internet data connection because the data allocation for the eSIM profile 208 has been exhausted. In some cases, the MNO cellular wireless network 704 will allow the wireless device 102 to use the eSIM profile 208 for limited Internet connectivity, such as to the MNO web server 906, even if the eSIM profile 208 is not allowed for general Internet data access. In some cases, the MNO cellular wireless network 704 does not allow Internet connectivity at all (in which case the wireless device 102 may revert to using a limited functionality bootstrap configuration eSIM profile 208 until the deleted eSIM profile 208 is replenished). At 1004, the baseband radio circuit 110 notifies the phone process 904, which may be executed on a processor separate from the baseband radio circuit 110, of the Internet PDP context teardown. At 1006, the phone process 904 initiates an authorization server probe to determine the reason for the Internet PDP context teardown. At 1008, the phone process 904 requests the baseband radio circuit 110 to reestablish the Internet PDP context specifically to obtain information from the MNO authorization server 502. In some cases, the exhausted eSIM profile 208 may be used to communicate with the MNO authorization server 502. In some cases, when the MNO 114 does not allow Internet connectivity via the exhausted eSIM profile 208, the MNO authorization server 502 may be reached via a dedicated access point name (APN). At 1010, the phone process 904 sends a query to the MNO authorization server 502 requesting the status of the cellular radio subscription account associated with the eSIM profile 208. At 1012, the MNO authorization server 502 responds with a message indicating that the eSIM profile 208 has exhausted its allocation. At 1014, the phone process 904 detects an insufficient data condition (based on the response of the MNO authorization server), and at 1016, the phone process sends a message to the baseband radio circuit 110 to switch to configuring the eSIM profile 208 with a limited functionality bootstrap. At 1018, the user of the wireless device 102 launches an application to execute on the application processor 902, the application requiring Internet data connectivity.At 1020, the application processor 902 sends a message to the phone process 904 to establish an Internet PDP context for the application. At 1032, the phone process 904 responds to the application processor 902 with an indication that the user's data plan is insufficient (and therefore cellular data connectivity via the depleted eSIM profile 208 is unavailable). The phone process 904 may provide a notification (e.g., a pop-up window) to the user with a link to a network address (e.g., a URL value) to which the user may connect (via the bootstrap eSIM profile 208) to perform account management for the cellular wireless account. At 1034, the user of the wireless device 102 uses the bootstrap eSIM profile 208 to access the MNO web server 906. After the required user interaction, at 1036, the MNO web server 906 sends a JavaScript (JS) callback message to the wireless device 102 that includes the ICCID value of the eSIM profile that has been replenished. At 1038, the phone process 904 sends a message to the baseband radio circuit 110 to re-enable the eSIM profile 208 associated with the received ICCID value. (In some cases, the user obtains a new eSIM profile 208 downloaded and installed on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102, and the JS callback message includes the ICCID value of the new eSIM profile to be used). At 1040, the phone process 904 initiates the authorization server eSIM activation monitoring mode to determine when the supplemented (or newly installed) eSIM profile 208 can be used. At 1042, the phone process 904 sends a query to the MNO authorization server 502 requesting the status of the cellular wireless subscription account associated with the eSIM profile 208. In some cases, the exhausted eSIM profile 208 can be used to communicate with the MNO authorization server 502. In some cases, when the MNO 114 does not allow Internet connectivity via the exhausted eSIM profile 208, the MNO authorization server 502 can be reached via a dedicated access point name (APN). At 1044, the MNO authorization server 502 responds with a message indicating that the eSIM profile 208 is activated (this may correspond to a replenishment of a previously exhausted eSIM profile 208 or to a newly completed activation of a newly installed eSIM profile 208). At 1046, the phone process alerts the user of the wireless device 102 that the replenished (or newly installed) eSIM profile is active. In some embodiments, the phone process changes the status of the eSIM profile to "active" (which may also be referred to as "on" or "activated") in the cellular setting without interrupting the user with a pop-up notification message.Querying the MNO authorization server 502 to determine the active or inactive state of the eSIM profile 208 may be a preferred eSIM activation (or deactivation) monitoring mode for a particular MNO 114 .

[0052] Fig.11A and Fig. 11B Diagrams 1100, 1130 illustrate exemplary hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) redirection eSIM activation monitoring modes that the wireless device 102 may implement to determine when activation of the eSIM profile 208 is complete (and therefore the eSIM profile 208 is available for cellular wireless service). Fig.11A and Fig. 11BIn the specific example shown, the wireless device 102 replenishes the exhausted eSIM profile 208 by interacting with the MNO web server 906, and then determines when the replenished eSIM profile 208 can be used to access the cellular wireless service of the MNO 114 associated with the replenished eSIM profile 208. The same monitoring described can be used to detect the activation of the newly installed eSIM profile 208. At 1102, the MNO cellular wireless network 704 sends a message to the baseband wireless circuit 110 to tear down the existing Internet PDP context for data connection using the eSIM profile 208. The MNO cellular wireless network 704 can close the Internet data connection because the data allocation for the eSIM profile 208 has been exhausted. In some cases, the MNO cellular wireless network 704 does not allow Internet connectivity at all (in which case the wireless device 102 can revert to using the limited functionality bootstrap configuration eSIM profile 208 until the deleted eSIM profile 208 is replenished). At 1104, the baseband radio circuit 110 notifies the phone process 904, which may be executed on a processor separate from the baseband radio circuit 110, of the Internet PDP context teardown. At 1106, the phone process 904 initiates an HTTP redirect probe to determine the reason for the Internet PDP context teardown. At 1108, the phone process 904 requests the baseband radio circuit 110 to specifically reestablish the Internet PDP context to allow testing of a specific test endpoint. At 1110, the phone process 904 attempts to establish a data socket connection to a predetermined connectivity test endpoint 1102. At 1112, the phone process 904 detects a failure to read the data socket stream from the connectivity test endpoint 1102. At 1114, as a result of the read failure, the phone process 904 detects an insufficient data trigger condition. At 1116, the phone process 904 sends a message to the baseband radio circuit 110 to switch to configuring the eSIM profile 208 using a limited functionality bootstrap. At 1118, the user of the wireless device 102 launches an application to execute on the application processor 902, which application requires Internet data connectivity. At 1120, the application processor 902 sends a message to the phone process 904 to establish an Internet PDP context for the application. At 1132, the phone process 904 responds to the application processor 902 with an indication that the user's data plan data is insufficient (and therefore cellular data connectivity via the exhausted eSIM profile 208 is not available). The phone process 904 may provide a notification (e.g., a pop-up window) to the user with a link to a network address (e.g., a URL value) to which the user can connect (via the bootstrap eSIM profile 208) to perform account management for the cellular wireless account.At 1134, the user of the wireless device 102 uses the bootstrap eSIM profile 208 to access the MNO web server 906. After the required user interaction, at 1136, the MNO web server 906 sends a JavaScript (JS) callback message to the wireless device 102, which includes the ICCID value of the eSIM profile that has been supplemented. At 1138, the phone process 904 sends a message to the baseband radio circuit 110 to re-enable the eSIM profile 208 associated with the received ICCID value. (In some cases, the user obtains a new eSIM profile 208 downloaded and installed on the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102, and the JS callback message includes the ICCID value of the new eSIM profile to be used). At 1040, the phone process 904 initiates HTTP redirection eSIM activation monitoring mode to determine when the supplemented (or newly installed) eSIM profile 208 can be used, and re-establishes the Internet PDP context to communicate with the connectivity test endpoint 1102. At 1142, the phone process 904 uses the reactivated (or newly installed and activated) eSIM profile 208 to establish a data socket connection to the predetermined connectivity test endpoint 1102. At 1144, the phone process 904 detects a successful read of the data socket stream from the connectivity test endpoint 1102. At 1146, the phone process alerts the user of the wireless device 102 that the supplemented (or newly installed) eSIM profile is active. In some embodiments, the phone process changes the state of the eSIM profile to "active" (which may also be referred to as "on" or "activated") in the cellular setting without interrupting the user with a pop-up notification message. Testing the ability to receive reads via the data socket connection to the connectivity test endpoint 1102 allows the wireless device 102 to determine whether the active state or inactive state of the eSIM profile 208 may be the preferred eSIM activation (or deactivation) monitoring mode for a particular MNO 114.

[0053] Fig. 11CA flowchart 1150 is shown of an exemplary trigger for causing a wireless device to perform HTTP redirect probing to detect activation of an eSIM profile 208. At 1154, the wireless device 102 may enter an HTTP redirect eSIM activation monitoring mode to determine when a newly installed, supplemented, and / or reactivated eSIM profile 208 is ready for use with the MNO cellular wireless network 704, i.e., when the MNO cellular wireless network 704 will allow connections based on the credentials of the eSIM profile 208. Receiving a JavaScript callback from the MNO web server 906 at 1152 may occur after installing a new SIM profile 208 associated with a new cellular wireless service plan or after supplementing an existing SIM profile 208 with an MNO-mandated allocation (e.g., a data plan with specific restrictions), and trigger entry into the HTTP redirect eSIM activation monitoring mode (such as previously described in the example embodiment). Fig.11A and Fig. 11B). Alternatively, in some embodiments, the MNO 114 sends a message including a protocol configuration option (PCO) to the wireless device 102 via the MNO authorization server 502, the protocol configuration option having a container identifier (ID) and one or more values ​​that specify (or cause) an action (or actions) to be performed by the wireless device 102. The wireless device 102 may maintain a database of expected sets of PCO values ​​for different MNOs 114, and may determine at 1158 whether the message from the MNO authorization server 502 matches a pre-configured PCO value for the MNO 114 to perform HTTP redirect detection. When the message from the MNO authorization server 502 does not match a pre-configured PCO value for the MNO 114 to perform HTTP redirect detection, the process may exit. When the message from the MNO authorization server 502 does match the pre-configured PCO value for the MNO 114 using the HTTP redirection probe (or after entering the HTTP redirection eSIM activation monitor mode at 1154), the wireless device 102 initiates the HTTP redirection probe at 1160 by attempting to establish a socket connection with the connectivity test endpoint 1102 and read from the connectivity test endpoint. When the wireless device 102 determines 1162 a successful read from the connectivity test endpoint 1102, the wireless device 102 may allow the use of the Internet data connection with the eSIM profile 208 at 1164. When the HTTP redirection probe of the connectivity test endpoint 1102 is unsuccessful at 1162, the wireless device 102 determines at 1166 whether a threshold number of retries for the HTTP redirection eSIM activation monitor mode has been met, e.g., a maximum number of retries have been attempted for a particular HTTP redirection probe monitor mode session, and the wireless device 102 may exit the monitor mode at 1170 and provide an indication that activation of the eSIM profile 208 by the MNO cellular wireless network has not occurred. In some embodiments, the wireless device 102 maintains an indication of "activated" or "inactive" for the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, the wireless device 102 provides a notification of a delayed (and / or unsuccessful) completion of activation of the eSIM profile 208. When the threshold number of retries has not been met, at 1168, the wireless device 102 may continue in HTTP redirection eSIM activation monitoring mode and retry HTTP redirection probes until the number of retries has reached a maximum or a successful HTTP probe occurs.

[0054] Fig.12 1 shows a detailed view of a representative computing device 1200 that can be used to implement the various methods described herein according to some embodiments. In particular, the detailed view shows various components that can be included in the wireless device 102. Fig.12As shown, the computing device 1200 may include a processor 1202, which represents a microprocessor or controller for controlling the overall operation of the computing device 1200. The computing device 1200 may also include a user input device 1208 that allows a user of the computing device 1200 to interact with the computing device 1200. For example, the user input device 1208 may take a variety of forms, such as buttons, keypads, dials, touch screens, audio input interfaces, visual / image capture input interfaces, input in the form of sensor data, etc. Further, the computing device 1200 may include a display 1210 that can be controlled by the processor 1202 to display information to the user. The data bus 1216 can facilitate data transmission between at least the storage device 1240, the processor 1202, and the controller 1213. The controller 1213 can be used to interact with and control different devices through the device control bus 1214. The computing device 1200 may also include a network / bus interface 1211 that can be communicatively coupled to the data link 1212. In the case of a wireless connection, the network / bus interface 1211 may include a wireless transceiver.

[0055] Representative methods

[0056] In an exemplary method, the wireless device 102 monitors for delayed eSIM 208 configuration by at least: i) receiving an eSIM installation response including a unique identifier associated with an eSIM 208 assigned to the wireless device 102 from the MNO authorization server 502; ii) entering an eSIM installation monitoring mode when the eSIM 208 is not available for download to the eUICC 108 of the wireless device 102; and iii) while in the eSIM installation monitoring mode: attempting to download and install the eSIM 208 from the MNO provisioning server 116 whenever a server polling criterion is met, and exiting the eSIM installation monitoring mode when an exit criterion is met, wherein the server polling criterion is met based on expiration of a back-off timer, and the exit criterion is met when the eSIM 208 is installed or a threshold number of back-off retries are met.

[0057] In some embodiments, the server polling criteria are further satisfied based on receiving a push notification message from a manufacturer-managed, network-based server 510 indicating that the eSIM 208 is available for download to the wireless device 102. In some embodiments, the method further includes the wireless device 102 downloading and installing the eSIM 208 from the MNO provisioning server 116 when the eSIM installation response indicates that the eSIM 208 is available for download. In some embodiments, the method further includes the wireless device 102 restarting the eSIM installation monitoring mode to download the eSIM 208 after an interruption caused by a software failure before installation of the eSIM 208 occurs. In some embodiments, the method further includes the wireless device 102 displaying an error notification message directing the user to contact the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM 208 when a threshold number of fallback retries is met before the eSIM 208 is installed. In some embodiments, the method further includes the wireless device 102 updating the status of the eSIM 208 to indicate activated when the eSIM installation monitoring mode is in operation and to indicate turned on or active when the eSIM installation and activation are successfully completed. In some embodiments, the unique identifier associated with the eSIM includes an ICCID value. In some embodiments, the eSIM installation response includes an indication that the eSIM 208 assigned to the wireless device 102 is pending release and is not available for download.

[0058] In another exemplary method, the source wireless device 102A monitors the deactivation of the eSIM 208 by at least: i) receiving a transfer notification via the cloud network service 802 indicating a successful transfer of a cellular wireless service plan associated with the eSIM 208 associated with the MNO 114 from the source wireless device 102A to the target wireless device 102B; and ii) updating a user-readable cellular setup state of the eSIM 208 to indicate the transfer of the eSIM 208 based on a failure to authenticate or register with the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114 using the eSIM 208. In some embodiments, the method further includes the source wireless device 102A performing the following operations: i) attempting to register with the cellular wireless network 704 of the MNO 114 using the eSIM 208, and ii) in response to receiving an attach reject message from the cellular wireless network 704 of the MNO 114, updating a user-readable cellular setup state of the eSIM 208 to indicate the transfer of the eSIM 208. In some embodiments, the method further includes the source wireless device 102A i) attempting to authenticate with the cellular wireless network 704 of the MNO 114 using the eSIM 208, and ii) in response to receiving an authentication failure message from the authorization server 502 of the MNO 114, updating a user-readable cellular setup status of the eSIM 208 to indicate the transfer of the eSIM 208. In some embodiments, the transfer notification includes an ICCID value of the new eSIM 208 associated with the transferred cellular wireless service plan and installed at the target wireless device 102B.

[0059] In another exemplary method, the wireless device 102 monitors activation of an eSIM profile 208 installed in the wireless device 102 by at least: i) marking the eSIM profile 208 as active or inactive in a user-accessible cellular setting; ii) after enabling the eSIM profile 208, initiating an eSIM activation monitoring mode; and iii) while in the eSIM activation monitoring mode: determining whether one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 are satisfied, after the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 are satisfied: exiting the eSIM activation monitoring mode, and updating the eSIM profile 208 as active in the user-accessible cellular setting.

[0060] In some embodiments, one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO 114 are satisfied when the wireless device 102 successfully attaches to the cellular wireless network 704 of the MNO 114 using the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO 114 are satisfied when the wireless device 102 receives an attach success message in response to an attach request message sent to the cellular wireless network 704 of the MNO 114 using the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO 114 are satisfied when the wireless device 102 receives a response message indicating the activation status of the cellular wireless service subscription account from the MNO authorization server 502. In some embodiments, one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO 114 are satisfied when the wireless device 102 successfully reads data via a socket connection to the connectivity test endpoint 1102 using the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, the method further includes the wireless device 102 performing the following operations: i) when in the eSIM activation monitoring mode, preventing the establishment of an Internet data connection via the eSIM profile 208; and ii) after exiting the eSIM activation monitoring mode, allowing the establishment of an Internet data connection via the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, the eSIM profile 208 includes a data-only eSIM 208, and the method further includes the wireless device 102 performing the following operations: i) detecting an insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile 208; ii) disabling the eSIM profile 208 and marking the eSIM profile 208 as inactive; and iii) enabling the eSIM profile 208 based on receiving a message from the MNO web server 906 indicating that the eSIM profile 208 is active. In some embodiments, the method further includes the wireless device 102 performing the following operations: i) after disabling the eSIM profile 208, enabling the limited functionality provisioned eSIM 208; and ii) communicating with the MNO web server 906 via the limited functionality provisioned eSIM 208. In some embodiments, detecting an insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile 208 includes receiving an attach reject message from a cellular wireless network 704 of an MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 indicating that data access is not allowed. In some embodiments, detecting an insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile 208 includes receiving a subscription status message from an authorization server 502 of an MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 indicating an exhausted data allocation. In some embodiments, detecting an insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile 208 includes detecting a failure to read data via a socket connection to a connectivity test endpoint 1102 using the eSIM profile 208.

[0061] In another exemplary method, the wireless device 102 performs eSIM profile state management by at least the following operations: i) enabling the limited functionality provisioned eSIM 208 after detecting a data shortage trigger for the wireless device 102; ii) providing a notification indicating a requirement for cellular wireless service account management in response to a requirement for data connectivity for an application executed on the wireless device 102; iii) accessing the MNO web server 906 via a connection using the limited functionality provisioned eSIM 208 to manage cellular wireless service for the eSIM profile 208; iv) receiving a callback message from the MNO web server 906 indicating a replenishment of a data plan associated with the eSIM profile 208; v) enabling the eSIM profile 208; and vi) after detecting successful use of the eSIM profile 208 after enabling, updating the user-accessible cellular settings to indicate that the eSIM profile 208 is active.

[0062] In some embodiments, i) detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile 208 includes: receiving an attach reject message from a cellular wireless network 704 of the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 indicating that data access is not allowed; and ii) detecting successful use of the eSIM profile 208 after enabling includes successfully attaching to the cellular wireless network 704 of the MNO 114 using the eSIM profile 208 after enabling the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, i) detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile 208 includes: receiving a subscription status message from an authorization server 502 of the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208 indicating an exhausted data allocation, and ii) detecting successful use of the eSIM profile 208 after enabling includes: receiving a response message from the authorization server 502 of the MNO 114 indicating an activation status of a cellular wireless service subscription account associated with the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, i) detecting an insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile 208 includes: detecting a failure to read data using the eSIM profile 208 via a socket connection to the connectivity test endpoint 1102; and ii) detecting successful use of the eSIM profile 208 after enabling includes successfully reading data using the eSIM profile 208 via a socket connection to the connectivity test endpoint 1102.

[0063] In an additional exemplary embodiment, the wireless device 102 performs monitoring of eSIM data connectivity monitoring of the eSIM profile 208 by at least the following operations: i) initiating a data connectivity monitoring mode; ii) while in the data connectivity monitoring mode: attempting to read data one or more times via a socket connection to the connectivity test endpoint 1102 using the eSIM profile 208, and exiting the data connectivity monitoring mode after successfully reading the data via the socket connection or after a data connectivity monitoring mode retry threshold is met; and iii) allowing Internet data access via the eSIM profile 208 after successfully reading the data via the socket connection.

[0064] In some embodiments, the wireless device 102 initiates the data connectivity monitoring mode in response to receiving a callback message from a web server 906 of the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208, the callback message indicating that the eSIM profile 208 is active. In some embodiments, the callback message is associated with the activation of a new cellular wireless service plan associated with the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, the callback message is associated with an account management supplement for the cellular wireless service plan associated with the eSIM profile 208. In some embodiments, the wireless device 102 initiates the data connectivity monitoring mode in response to receiving one or more protocol configuration option (PCO) values ​​that match settings of the MNO 114 associated with the eSIM profile 208.

[0065] Representative equipment

[0066] The computing device 1200 also includes a storage device 1240 (which may include a single disk or multiple disks, such as a hard drive), and includes a storage management module that manages one or more partitions within the storage device 1240. In some embodiments, the storage device 1240 may include flash memory, semiconductor (solid-state) memory, etc. The computing device 1200 may also include a random access memory (RAM) 1220 and a read-only memory (ROM) 1222. The ROM 1222 may store programs, utilities, or processes to be executed in a non-volatile manner. The RAM 1220 may provide volatile data storage and store instructions related to the operation of the computing device 1200. The computing device 1200 may also include a secure element (SE) 1224, such as an eUICC 108, a UICC 118, or another secure storage for cellular wireless system access by the wireless device 102.

[0067] Wireless Terminology

[0068] According to various embodiments described herein, the terms "wireless communication device", "wireless device", "mobile wireless device", "mobile station", and "user equipment (UE)" may be used interchangeably herein to describe one or more common consumer electronic devices that may be capable of performing the processes associated with various embodiments of the present disclosure. According to various specific implementations, any of these consumer electronic devices may relate to: a cellular phone or smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a personal computer, a netbook computer, a media player device, an e-book device, Devices, wearable computing devices, and any other type of electronic computing device with wireless communication capabilities, which wireless communication capabilities may include communication via one or more wireless communication protocols, which wireless communication protocols, such as protocols used to communicate on the following networks: wireless wide area network (WWAN), wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN), near field communication (NFC), cellular wireless networks, fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE), advanced LTE (LTE-A), and / or 5G or other currently or future developed advanced cellular wireless networks.

[0069] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may also operate as part of a wireless communication system, which may include a group of client devices, which may also be referred to as stations, client wireless devices, or client wireless communication devices, interconnected to an access point (AP) (e.g., as part of a WLAN), and / or interconnected to each other (e.g., as part of a WPAN and / or "ad hoc" wireless network). In some embodiments, the client device may be any wireless communication device capable of communicating via WLAN technology (e.g., according to a wireless local area network communication protocol). In some embodiments, the WLAN technology may include a Wi-Fi (or more generally, a WLAN) wireless communication subsystem or radio component, which may implement the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 technology, such as one or more of the following: IEEE 802.11a; IEEE 802.11b; IEEE 802.11g; IEEE 802.11-2007; IEEE 802.11n; IEEE 802.11-2012; IEEE 802.11ac; or other currently or future developed IEEE 802.11 technology.

[0070] In addition, it should be understood that the UE described herein may be configured as a multi-mode wireless communication device that is also capable of communicating via different third generation (3G) and / or second generation (2G) RATs. In these cases, the multi-mode UE may be configured to prefer attaching to an LTE network that provides a faster data rate throughput over other 3G legacy networks that provide a lower data rate throughput. For example, in some specific implementations, the multi-mode UE may be configured to fall back to a 3G legacy network, such as an evolved high speed packet access (HSPA+) network, or a code division multiple access (CDMA) 2000 evolution-data only (EV-DO) network when LTE and LTE-A networks are otherwise unavailable.

[0071] The various aspects, embodiments, specific implementations or features of the embodiments may be used individually or in any combination. The various aspects of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. The embodiments may also be implemented as computer-readable code on a non-transient computer-readable medium. A non-transient computer-readable medium is any data storage device that can store data, which can then be read by a computer system. Examples of non-transient computer-readable media include read-only memory, random access memory, CD-ROM, HDD, DVD, magnetic tape, and optical data storage devices. Non-transient computer-readable media may also be distributed on a network-coupled computer system so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed manner.

[0072] In connection with the present disclosure, it is known that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to the user.

[0073] For the purpose of illustration, the foregoing description uses specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details are not required in order to practice the embodiments. Therefore, the foregoing description of specific embodiments is presented for the purpose of illustration and description. The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments described to the precise form disclosed. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that, in view of the above teachings, many modifications and variations are feasible.

Claims

1. A wireless device, comprising: wireless circuitry including one or more antennas; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the wireless circuitry and to a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the wireless device to: receiving an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) installation response from a mobile network operator (MNO) authorization server including a unique identifier associated with an eSIM assigned to the wireless device; When the eSIM cannot be used for downloading, entering the eSIM installation monitoring mode; as well as When in the eSIM installation monitoring mode: Whenever the server polling criteria are met, attempt to download and install the eSIM from the MNO provisioning server; as well as When the exit criteria are met, exit the eSIM installation monitoring mode, in: The server polling criteria is satisfied based on the expiration of the backoff timer, and The exit criteria are met when the eSIM is installed or a threshold number of fallback retries are met.

2. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the server polling criteria is further satisfied based on receiving a push notification message from a manufacturer-managed, network-based server, the push notification message indicating that the eSIM is available for download to the wireless device. 3 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is further configured to download and install the eSIM from the MNO provisioning server when the eSIM installation response indicates that the eSIM is available for downloading.

4. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is further configured to restart the eSIM installation monitoring mode to download the eSIM after an interruption caused by a software failure before installation of the eSIM occurs.

5. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is further configured to display an error notification message directing a user to contact the MNO associated with the eSIM when the threshold number of fallback retries is met before the eSIM is installed.

6. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device is further configured to update the status of the eSIM to indicate activated when the eSIM installation monitoring mode is in operation and to indicate turned on or active when eSIM installation and activation are successfully completed.

7. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier associated with the eSIM comprises an Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID) value.

8. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the eSIM installation response includes an indication that the eSIM assigned to the wireless device is pending release and is not available for download.

9. A method for delayed electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) configuration monitoring by a wireless device, the method comprising: By the wireless device: receiving an eSIM installation response from a mobile network operator (MNO) authorization server including a unique identifier associated with an eSIM assigned to the wireless device; When the eSIM cannot be used for downloading, entering the eSIM installation monitoring mode; as well as When in the eSIM installation monitoring mode: Whenever the server polling criteria are met, attempt to download and install the eSIM from the MNO provisioning server; as well as When the exit criteria are met, exit the eSIM installation monitoring mode, in: The server polling criteria is satisfied based on the expiration of the backoff timer, and When the eSIM is installed or the threshold number of fallback retries is met, The exit criteria are met.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the server polling criteria is further satisfied based on receiving a push notification message from a manufacturer-managed, network-based server, the push notification message indicating that the eSIM is available for download to the wireless device.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: By the wireless device: When the eSIM installation response indicates that the eSIM is available for downloading, downloading and installing the eSIM from the MNO provisioning server.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: By the wireless device: After an interruption caused by a software failure before installation of the eSIM occurs, the eSIM installation monitoring mode is restarted to download the eSIM.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: By the wireless device: When the threshold number of fallback retries is met before the eSIM is installed, an error notification message is displayed directing a user to contact the MNO associated with the eSIM.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: By the wireless device: The status of the eSIM is updated to indicate: is activated while the eSIM installation monitoring mode is in operation, and Opens or is active when eSIM installation and activation is successfully completed.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the unique identifier associated with the eSIM comprises an Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID) value.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the eSIM installation response includes an indication that the eSIM assigned to the wireless device is pending release and is not available for download.

17. A source wireless device, the source wireless device comprising: wireless circuitry including one or more antennas; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the wireless circuitry and to a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the source wireless device to: receiving, via a cloud network service, a transfer notification indicating a successful transfer of a cellular wireless service plan associated with an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) associated with a mobile network operator (MNO) from the source wireless device to a target wireless device; as well as Based on a failure to authenticate or register with the cellular wireless network of the MNO using the eSIM, a user-readable cellular settings status of the eSIM is updated to indicate transfer of the eSIM.

18. The source wireless device of claim 17, wherein the source wireless device is further configured to: attempting to register with the cellular wireless network of the MNO using the eSIM; and In response to receiving an attach reject message from the cellular wireless network of the MNO, the user-readable cellular settings state of the eSIM is updated to indicate the transfer of the eSIM.

19. The source wireless device of claim 17, wherein the source wireless device is further configured to: attempting to authenticate with the cellular wireless network of the MNO using the eSIM; and In response to receiving an authentication failure message from an authorization server of the MNO, updating the user-readable cellular settings state of the eSIM to indicate the transfer of the eSIM.

20. The source wireless device of claim 17, wherein the transmission notification includes an integrated circuit card identifier (ICCID) value of a new eSIM associated with the transmitted cellular wireless service plan and installed at the target wireless device.

21. A method for detecting activation by a mobile network operator (MNO) of a cellular wireless service plan associated with an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile installed in a wireless device, the method comprising: By the wireless device: marking the eSIM profile as active or inactive in a user accessible cellular setting; initiating an eSIM activation monitoring mode after enabling the eSIM profile; When in said eSIM activated monitoring mode: determining whether one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO associated with the eSIM profile are met; and After satisfying the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO associated with the eSIM profile: exiting the eSIM activated monitoring mode, and The eSIM profile is updated to be active in the user accessible cellular setting.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO are satisfied when the wireless device successfully attaches to a cellular wireless access network of the MNO using the eSIM profile.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO are met when the wireless device receives an attach success message in response to an attach request message sent to a cellular wireless access network of the MNO using the eSIM profile.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO are met when the wireless device receives a response message from an MNO authorization server indicating an activation status of a cellular wireless service subscription account.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO are met when the wireless device successfully reads data via a socket connection to a connectivity test endpoint using the eSIM profile.

26. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: By the wireless device: while in the eSIM activated monitoring mode, preventing internet data connection establishment via the eSIM profile; as well as After exiting the eSIM activation monitoring mode, internet data connection establishment is allowed via the eSIM profile.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein: The eSIM profile comprises a data-only eSIM profile; and The method also includes the wireless device performing the following operations: Detecting an insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile; disabling the eSIM profile and marking the eSIM profile as inactive; and The eSIM profile is enabled based on receiving a message from an MNO web server indicating that the eSIM profile is active.

28. The method according to claim 27, further comprising: By the wireless device: After disabling the eSIM profile, enabling the limited functionality provisioned eSIM; as well as Communicating with the MNO web server via the limited functionality provisioned eSIM.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile comprises receiving an attach reject message from a cellular wireless access network of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile indicating that data access is not allowed.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile comprises receiving a subscription status message indicating an exhausted data allocation from an authorization server of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile comprises detecting a failure to read data via a socket connection to a connectivity test endpoint using the eSIM profile.

32. A method for electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile state management by a wireless device, the method comprising: By the wireless device: enabling a limited functionality provisioning eSIM upon detecting an insufficient data trigger for the wireless device; providing a notification indicating a requirement for cellular wireless service account management in response to a requirement for data connectivity for an application executing on the wireless device; accessing a mobile network operator (MNO) web server via the connection using the limited functionality provisioned eSIM to manage cellular wireless services for the eSIM profile; receiving a callback message from the MNO web server indicating a supplement to a data plan associated with the eSIM profile; Activate the eSIM profile; as well as Upon detecting successful use of the eSIM profile after enabling, user accessible cellular settings are updated to indicate that the eSIM profile is active.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein: detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile comprises receiving an attach reject message from a cellular radio access network of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile indicating that data access is not allowed; and Detecting successful use of the eSIM profile after enabling includes successfully attaching to a cellular wireless access network of the MNO using the eSIM profile after enabling the eSIM profile.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein: detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile comprises receiving a subscription status message indicating an exhausted data allocation from an authorization server of the MNO associated with the eSIM profile; and Detecting successful use of the eSIM profile after enabling includes receiving a response message from the authorization server of the MNO indicating an activation status of a cellular wireless service subscription account associated with the eSIM profile.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein: detecting the insufficient data trigger for the eSIM profile comprises detecting a failure to read data via a socket connection to a connectivity test endpoint using the eSIM profile; and Detecting successful use of the eSIM profile after enabling includes successfully reading data via the socket connection to the connectivity test endpoint using the eSIM profile.

36. A method for monitoring the data connectivity status of an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile installed in a wireless device, the method comprising: By the wireless device: Start data connectivity monitoring mode; When in the data connectivity monitoring mode: attempting to read data one or more times via a socket connection to a connectivity test endpoint using the eSIM profile; as well as exiting the data connectivity monitoring mode after successfully reading data via the socket connection or after a data connectivity monitoring mode retry threshold is satisfied; as well as After successfully reading data via the socket connection, internet data access is allowed via the eSIM profile.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the wireless device initiates the data connectivity monitoring mode in response to: A callback message is received from a web server of a mobile network operator (MNO) associated with the eSIM profile, the callback message indicating that the eSIM profile is active.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the callback message is associated with activation of a new cellular wireless service plan associated with the eSIM profile.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the callback message is associated with an account management supplement for a cellular wireless service plan associated with the eSIM profile.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein the wireless device initiates the data connectivity monitoring mode in response to: One or more protocol configuration option (PCO) values ​​are received that match settings of a mobile network operator (MNO) associated with the eSIM profile.

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