Telecommunications arrangements for switching from a fallback subscription to an operational subscription

Abstract

The present invention relates to a telecommunications arrangement 10 for switching from a fallback subscription 14 to an operational subscription 11-13, the telecommunications arrangement 10 comprising a first agent 16 (PSA) having a list of operational profiles available to the telecommunications equipment 10, each operational profile corresponding to a subscription from an MNO and corresponding to which of the operational profiles a telecommunications terminal comprising the telecommunications equipment 10 can use when coming under coverage of an operational network, the telecommunications equipment 10 also comprising a second agent 15 (PSCA) by means of which the first agent 16 can configure the fallback subscription 14 to switch from the fallback subscription 14 to the operational network in which the telecommunications terminal comes under coverage.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to telecommunications in cellular networks, and more precisely to the ability to switch from a fallback subscription to an operational subscription from multiple MNOs (Mobile Network Operators).

[0002] It is known that in many deployments of communication terminals, such as mobile communication terminals or IoT communication terminals, a default or bootstrap mobile subscription is installed on the communication terminal before an operational mobile subscription is installed later for the operational phase of the communication terminal.

[0003] The role of a default or bootstrap subscription is to provide a telecommunication terminal with global access to mobile services. The default or bootstrap subscription does not have specific QoS (Quality of Service) requirements but has global (multi-country) coverage. The default or bootstrap subscription is essentially used to perform management tasks such as downloading an operational profile, localizing the telecommunication terminal, or sending / responding to keep-alive signals to a remote server. Once an operational subscription or SIM profile is downloaded onto the telecommunication terminal, the default or bootstrap subscription becomes a backup profile, i.e., a fallback subscription, and is used only when the telecommunication terminal is unable to access network services (to which the telecommunication terminal subscribes) using the operational subscription. For example, the telecommunication terminal may be outside the coverage of the network to which the telecommunication terminal subscribes via the operational profile. Furthermore, even if an operational profile is already installed on the telecommunication terminal, the default / bootstrap / fallback subscription can still be used for the aforementioned management tasks.

[0004] The terms default subscription, bootstrap subscription, or fallback subscription are used interchangeably. The terms (U)SIM profile, subscription, or connectivity are equivalent and used interchangeably in this description. Unlike a fallback subscription, an operational subscription is optimized for the operation of a telecommunications terminal with specific requirements (e.g., quality of service, indoor coverage, latency, cost). The network providing such services is usually a local network or may have geographical areas that are not covered by the operational subscription. In such cases, a fallback subscription is used to provide coverage for telecommunications terminal operation in such out-of-coverage areas by the operational subscription. When a telecommunications terminal is out of the coverage of its operational subscription and the telecommunications terminal is operating on its fallback subscription, several problems arise. Using a subscription (fallback subscription) separate from the operational subscription has the following problems or drawbacks: The quality of service may not be optimal, e.g., in terms of bandwidth, latency, reliability, access priority, and the service may need to operate in a degraded mode. -It is also more expensive as the purpose of the subscription is to get global coverage based on global roaming (roaming in most countries). Furthermore, use cases may arise when a telecommunication terminal operates in a public network, as well as in a private network context and in a hybrid private / public network context, where it is therefore essential for the telecommunication terminal to switch over to its operational subscription as soon as possible, i.e. as soon as the telecommunication terminal is back within the coverage of the operational network (private network).

[0005] The issues to be resolved are as follows: - Avoiding polling of the card (typically a secure element) to the server, which can consume battery power and use fallback connectivity. The server cannot know whether the telecommunications terminal is under the coverage of the operational network or not: only the telecommunications terminal has this information. -Service needs to continue, so connectivity cannot be lost due to continuous attempts to select operational connectivity. Battery drain caused by frequent network selection to search for operational network coverage is undesirable. -Because the operational subscription issuer does not have a business relationship with the fallback subscription issuer, the fallback subscription cannot "know" at the personalization stage what the current best operational subscription to use is.

[0006] The object of the present invention is to enable a telecommunications terminal, when connected using fallback connectivity, to automatically switch to the optimal operational connectivity (if there are multiple operational connectivity) as soon as the telecommunications terminal returns under the coverage of this operational network.

[0007] This object, as well as others that will become apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a telecommunications arrangement as claimed in the appended claims.

[0008] The telecommunications arrangement of the invention may be installed in a telecommunications terminal or in a secure element cooperating with a telecommunications terminal.

[0009] The operational profile may be unique or there may be multiple operational profiles. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from reading the following description of a unique diagram representing a telecommunications arrangement for switching from a fallback subscription to an operational subscription according to the present invention.

[0011] [Figure 1]In this figure, several elements are shown: a device 10, which can be a SIM card, a USIM application, a secure element such as a UICC, an eUICC (embedded UICC) or an iUICC (integrated UICC). The device 10 can also be a communications terminal. Several operational subscriptions are installed on this device, here referenced 11 to 13 and named operational subscriptions #1 to #n. It is also possible to have a single operational subscription; a fallback subscription 14 as previously explained; an agent 15, called a second agent PSCA (Profile Selection Configuration Agent), which is capable of configuring the fallback subscription 14 so that another agent 16 (called the first agent PSA for Profile Selection Agent) switches from the fallback subscription 14 to an operational network in whose coverage the communications terminal is coming. The first agent 16 has a list of operational profiles available to the telecommunication terminal, each operational profile corresponding to a subscription from the MNO and corresponding to which of the operational profiles a telecommunication terminal comprising a telecommunication arrangement can use when coming under the coverage of an operational network. The telecommunication terminal -PSA 16 comprises an OPSI 17 (for Operational Profile Selection Information), which is an information store, for example implemented as a database or as a list of one or more entries, whose function is to store information about, for example, a list of HPLMN codes, profile identifications, scripts etc. corresponding to the operational subscriptions 11-13.- OPSI 17 can be accessed by PSCA 15 through PSAi 18 (standing for Profile Selection Agent interface), which is an API exposed by PSA 16.

[0012] The PSA 16 of the device 10 (telecommunications terminal or secure element) knows at least one of the following information: which operational profiles have been downloaded, the priority of these operational profiles, or the last operational profile used before switching to the fallback subscription 14. This information can be transmitted via the PSAi 18 to the PSCA 15 that configures the fallback subscription 14. To do so, the PSCA 15 queries the OPSI 17 via the PSAi 18 which profile (subscription) needs to be activated depending on the profile priority, and the PSCA 15 stores this information in its profile file in its local memory (e.g., ME local memory, default subscription EFs, e.g., EHPLMN EF, OPLMNwAcT EF, HPLMNwAcT, etc.).

[0013] The PSCA 15 then knows which PLMN has been selected as the operating profile and (due to the PLMN code detected by the telecommunication terminal) switches the fallback subscription 14 to the operating profile corresponding to this PLMN, which means that the device 10 switches to the desired PLMN for which the terminal is under coverage (the PSA 16 is responsible for downloading the operating profile and knows the corresponding PLMN code).

[0014] When a switch is made on a profile, the PSA 16 also stores the PLMN code of the PSA in order to know the last operational profile from which a switch was made from the fallback subscription 14 to this operational profile (PSA 16 has all this information in its database OPSI 17). OPSI 17 is accessible through an application programming interface PSAi 18 exposed by PSA 16 by an applet present in the fallback subscription (PSCA 15).

[0015] Thus, PSCA 15 configures the fallback subscription. The telecommunications terminal detects the availability of an operational network and makes its selection. Once the operational network selection is made, the terminal updates the LOCI file of the currently active profile, i.e., the fallback profile. This update of the LOCI file of the fallback profile is then detected by PSA 16, which performs a switch from the fallback profile to the operational profile. The switch consists of activating the operational profile (deactivating the fallback profile) and resetting the terminal (e.g., via a REFRESH command) to take into account the new activated profile.

[0016] This procedure involves the following: -PSA 16 does not necessarily update the list of preferred networks. -PSA 16 is a terminal that does not take over the operational network and has control of the network selection procedure. The list of preferred networks in priority order is provided by a fallback profile in the terminal, which may be provided by the manufacturer of the secure element.

[0017] The PSA 16 may be a transverse applet that knows which profiles (subscriptions) need to be activated since it is used to perform the download of operational profiles and applets. The PSA 16 may be an application on the mobile device.

[0018] PSCA 15 has the ability to implement an equivalent HPLMN file.

[0019] As explained above, once a terminal enters a fallback subscription, it no longer communicates with the operational profile.

[0020] The prioritized list of operational subscriptions can be updated over the air by the manufacturer of the secure element or by an IoT service provider who has negotiated contracts with different MNOs offering operational subscriptions, and these operational profiles are downloaded by the service provider, so the end user does not have to take any action.

[0021] Also, the present invention does not require the involvement of the HPLMN, and the service provider alone decides which MNO will provide the fallback subscription 14 and the operational subscriptions 11-13.

[0022] Therefore, in summary, the present invention consists of the following: When a profile selection agent (PSA 16) running on a telecommunications terminal is asked (e.g. by a remote server or a local agent or a user) to download or activate an operational profile, the PSA 16 stores operational profile selection information (OPSI 17, e.g. a list of PLMNs or identification information of the operational profile, or location information) in the local memory of the PSA 16. When operational connectivity is lost (e.g., when the telecommunications terminal goes out of coverage of the operational network, or due to network congestion, or when the operational network becomes inaccessible in general), the PSA 16 switches the telecommunications terminal connectivity (obtained using the operational subscription) to fallback connectivity (obtained using the fallback subscription). A Profile Selection Configuration Agent (PSCA 15) running on the telecommunications terminal when the Fallback Profile 14 is active (e.g., an agent running in the Fallback Profile or an agent running on the telecommunications terminal) communicates with the PSA 16 to obtain current operational profile selection information. Such communication may be performed, for example, via known APIs exposed by the PSA 16, or via messaging mechanisms or function calls when the PSCA 15 and the PSA 16 form the same agent. The PSCA then updates its local memory or the memory of the fallback subscription (e.g., EHPLMN file) with the retrieved OPSI 17 for the selection of the operational profile. For example, the PSCA 15 stores a list of PLMNs in a priority order in the EHPLMN file in the fallback subscription. Depending on the use case, the OPSI 17 can be a unique piece of information (e.g., PLMN code, or location information) or a list of such information ranked in priority order (e.g., a list of PLMN codes, or a list of locations). When the telecommunications terminal returns under the coverage of the operating network (e.g. based on the PLMN code stored in the EHPLMN), the telecommunications terminal attempts to connect to the operating network using the fallback profile network 14 selection configuration information (in accordance with 3GPP TS 23.122). - The profile selection agent 16 detects new connections to or rejections from the operational network. The PSA 16 then switches back to the operational profile (using the PLMN code or subscription identity). In another embodiment, the PSCA 15 of the fallback profile may obtain the profile selection information from a remote server. The PSCA 15 and PSA 16 may be co-located to form a unique factor.

[0023] The present invention can select the best working connectivity to switch back to from the fallback connectivity.

[0024] The present invention allows for a switchover to operational connectivity as soon as the operational network becomes available.

[0025] The present invention also minimizes the use of fallback connections and does not require remote communications, thus minimizing power consumption due to such communications.

[0026] If PSCA 15 and PSA 16 are implemented in a Secure Element, ME (Mobile Equipment) firmware and software are not affected, whereas when PSCA 15 and PSA 16 are implemented in an ME, it is possible to manage several USIMs or multiple USIM-enabled profiles, e.g., to select one of the UICC or USIM profiles according to OPSI 17, without affecting the UICC or USIM profile.

[0027] Existing related prior art to the present invention may be, for example, network-based solutions that are more complex based on location information of the telecommunications terminal or other network information, or that do not know when the telecommunications terminal will be back under the coverage of the operating network.

Claims

1. 1. A telecommunications arrangement (10) for switching from a fallback subscription (14) to an operational subscription (11-13), the telecommunications arrangement (10) comprising a first agent (16) PSA having a list of operational profiles available to the telecommunications arrangement (10), each operational profile corresponding to a subscription from an MNO and corresponding to which of the operational profiles a telecommunications terminal comprising the telecommunications arrangement (10) can use when coming under the coverage of an operational network, the telecommunications arrangement (10) also comprising a second agent (15) PSCA by which the first agent (16) can configure the fallback subscription (14) to switch from the fallback subscription (14) to an operational network in which the telecommunications terminal comes under coverage, the PSA (16) comprising an operational profile selection information (OPSI) that is an information store for storing a list of HPLMN codes corresponding to the operational subscriptions (11-13). 17), wherein the OPSI (17) is accessed by the PSCA (15) through a Profile Selection Agent Interface (PSAi 18), which is an API exposed by the PSA (16), and the PSCA (15) queries the OPSI (17) through the PSAi (18) which profile needs to be activated according to the profile priority, and the PSCA (15) stores this information in its profile file in its local memory.

2. 10. The telecommunications arrangement of claim 1, wherein the telecommunications arrangement is installed within the telecommunications terminal.

3. 2. The telecommunications arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said telecommunications arrangement is installed in a secure element cooperating with said telecommunications terminal.

4. The telecommunications arrangement according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said operational profile is unique.

5. A telecommunications arrangement according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein there are a plurality of operational profiles.

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