Telecommunications infrastructure for switching from fallback subscriptions to operational subscriptions

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 within a cellular network, and more precisely to the ability to switch from a fallback subscription to an operating subscription from a plurality of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

[0002] In many introduction examples of communication terminals such as mobile communication terminals or IoT communication terminals, it is known that a default or bootstrap mobile subscription is installed on the communication terminal before an operating mobile subscription is installed later for the operation phase of the communication terminal.

[0003] The role of the default or bootstrap subscription is to provide global access to mobile services for the telecommunications terminal. The default or bootstrap subscription has no specific Quality of Service (QoS) requirements but has global (multiple country) coverage. The default or bootstrap subscription is essentially used to perform management tasks such as downloading an operating profile, localizing the telecommunications terminal, or transmitting / responding to keep-alive signals to a remote server. When an operating subscription or SIM profile is downloaded onto the telecommunications terminal, the default or bootstrap subscription becomes a backup profile, i.e., a fallback subscription, and is only used if the telecommunications terminal cannot access the network service with its operating subscription (to which the telecommunications terminal subscribes). For example, the telecommunications terminal may be outside the coverage of the network to which the telecommunications terminal subscribes via the operating profile. Further, even if an operating profile is already installed on the telecommunications terminal, the default / bootstrap / fallback subscription may still be used for the aforementioned management tasks.

[0004] The terms default subscription, bootstrap subscription, and fallback subscription are used interchangeably. The terms (U)SIM profile, subscription, and connectivity are equivalent and used interchangeably in this description. Unlike fallback subscriptions, operational subscriptions are optimized for the operation of telecommunications terminals with specific requirements (e.g., quality of service, indoor coverage, latency, cost). Networks providing such services are typically local networks or may have geographical areas that are not covered. In such cases, a fallback subscription is used to provide coverage for telecommunications terminal operation in areas outside the coverage of the operational subscription. Several problems arise when a telecommunications terminal is outside the coverage of its operational subscription and is operating on its fallback subscription. Using a subscription other than the operational subscription (fallback subscription) has the following problems or disadvantages: - The quality of service may not be optimal in terms of, for example, bandwidth, latency, reliability, and access priority, and the service may need to operate in a degraded mode. - The purpose of the subscription is to obtain global coverage based on global roaming (roaming in most countries), so it will be more expensive. Furthermore, use cases may arise when telecommunications terminals operate in public network, private network, and hybrid private / public network contexts. Therefore, it is essential that telecommunications terminals switch to their operational subscription as soon as possible, that is, immediately after the telecommunications terminal returns to coverage within the operational network (private network).

[0005] The issues that need to be addressed are as follows: - Avoid polling from the card (generally the secure element) to the server due to battery consumption and the use of fallback connectivity. - The server cannot know whether a telecommunications terminal is within the coverage of the operational network. Only the communication terminal has this information. -Since the service needs to continue, we cannot afford to lose connectivity in order to continuously try out different operational connectivity options. - Battery drain resulting from frequent network selection to search for operational network coverage is undesirable. - Because operational subscription issuers do not have a business relationship with fallback subscription issuers, fallback subscriptions cannot "know" which operational subscription is currently the best to use during the personalization phase.

[0006] The object of the present invention is to enable telecommunications terminals, when connected using fallback connectivity, to automatically switch to the optimal operational connectivity (if there are multiple operational connectivity options) immediately after returning to coverage of the operational network.

[0007] This objective, and other objectives revealed below, are achieved by the telecommunications configuration described in the attached claims.

[0008] The telecommunications system of the present invention may be installed within a telecommunications terminal or within a secure element that works in conjunction with a telecommunications terminal.

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

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

[0011] [Figure 1]This diagram shows several elements: - Device 10, which may be a secure element such as a SIM card, USIM application, UICC, eUICC (embedded UICC), or iUICC (integrated UICC). Device 10 may also be a communications terminal. - On this device, several operational subscriptions are installed, here. These subscriptions are referred to in 11-13 and named operational subscriptions #1-#n. It is also possible to have a single operational subscription. - A fallback subscription 14 as described earlier. - Agent 15 is called the second agent PSCA (Profile Selection Configuration Agent), and another agent 16 (referred to as the first agent PSA, representing the Profile Selection Agent) can configure the fallback subscription 14 to switch from the fallback subscription 14 to the operational network under which the communications terminal comes into coverage. The first agent 16 has a list of operational profiles available to the telecommunications terminal, each operational profile corresponding to a subscription from the MNO and to which of the operational profiles can be used when a telecommunications terminal equipped with telecommunications equipment comes under the coverage of the operational network. The communication terminal-PSA 16 is equipped with OPSI 17 (Operational Profile Selection Information), which is an information store implemented, for example, as a database or a list of one or more entries, and its function is to store information such as a list of HPLMN codes corresponding to operational subscriptions 11-13, profile identification information, scripts, etc.-OPSI 17 can be accessed by PSCA 15 via PSAi 18 (Profile Selection Agent interface), an API exposed by PSA 16.

[0012] The PSA 16 of device 10 (telecommunications terminal or secure element) is aware of at least one of the following pieces of 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 may be sent via PSAi 18 to the PSCA 15 which constitutes the fallback subscription 14. To this end, the PSCA 15 queries the OPSI 17 via PSAi 18 to determine which profile (subscription) needs to be activated, depending on the profile priority, and the PSCA 15 stores this information in the PSCA 15's profile file in the PSCA 15's local memory (e.g., ME local memory, default subscription EF, e.g., EHPLMN EF, OPLMNwAcT EF, HPLMNwAcT, etc.).

[0013] Next, PSCA 15 knows which PLMN has been selected as the operational profile and switches the fallback subscription 14 to the operational profile corresponding to this PLMN (due to the PLMN code detected by the telecommunications terminal). This means that device 10 switches to the desired PLMN under coverage (PSA 16 is involved in downloading the operational profile and is aware of the corresponding PLMN code).

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

[0015] Therefore, PSCA 15 configures a fallback subscription. The telecommunications terminal detects the availability of the operational network and makes a selection. Once the operational network is selected, the terminal updates the LOCI file of the currently active profile, i.e., the fallback profile. This update of the fallback profile's LOCI file 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 newly 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 over the network selection procedure. - The list of preferred networks in the priority order is provided by the fallback profile within the terminal. The priority order may be provided by the manufacturer of the secure element.

[0017] PSA 16 is used to perform operational profile and applet downloads, and may be a transverse applet that knows which profile (subscription) needs to be activated. PSA 16 may be an application on a mobile device.

[0018] PSCA 15 has the functionality to create a uniform HPLMN file.

[0019] As explained earlier, once a device enters a fallback subscription, it will no longer communicate with the operational profile.

[0020] The priority list for operational subscriptions may be updated via OTA by the secure element manufacturer or by IoT service providers who have negotiated agreements with different MNOs offering operational subscriptions, and these operational profiles are downloaded by the service provider. Therefore, the end user does not need to take any action.

[0021] Furthermore, in this invention, there is no need to involve HPLMN, and only the service provider determines which MNO will provide the fallback subscription 14 and 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 requested (for example, by a remote server, local agent, or 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 operational profile identification information, or location information) in the PSA 16's local memory. - If operational connectivity is lost (for example, when a telecommunications terminal goes out of coverage of the operational network, or due to network congestion, or when the operational network becomes inaccessible in general), PSA 16 switches the telecommunications terminal connectivity (obtained using the operational subscription) to fallback connectivity (obtained using the fallback subscription). -When fallback profile 14 is active, a profile selection configuration agent (PSCA 15) running on the telecommunications terminal (e.g., an agent running within the fallback profile or an agent running on the communication terminal) communicates with PSA 16 to obtain the current operational profile selection information. Such communication may be performed, for example, via a known API exposed by PSA 16, or via a messaging mechanism or function call when PSCA 15 and PSA 16 form the same agent. Next, PSCA updates its local memory or the memory of a fallback subscription (e.g., an EHPLMN file) using the retrieved OPSI 17 for selecting an operational profile. For example, PSCA 15 stores a list of PLMNs in order of priority within an EHPLMN file in a fallback subscription. Depending on the use case, OPSI 17 may be unique information (e.g., a PLMN code or location information) or a list of such information ranked according to priority (e.g., a list of PLMN codes or a list of locations). -When the telecommunications terminal returns to coverage of the operational network (for example, based on the PLMN code stored in the EHPLMN), the telecommunications terminal attempts to connect to the operational network using fallback profile network 14 selection configuration information (in accordance with 3GPP TS 23.122). - The profile selection agent 16 detects new connections to the operational network or rejections from that network. Next, the PSA 16 switches back to the operating profile (using the PLMN code or subscription identification information). In another embodiment, the PSCA 15 of the fallback profile may obtain profile selection information from a remote server. The PSCA 15 and the PSA 16 may be co-located to form a unique factor.

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

[0024] The present invention can perform a switch to operating connectivity immediately after the operating network becomes available.

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

[0026] When the PSCA 15 and the PSA 16 are implemented in a secure element, the ME (Mobile Equipment) firmware and software are not affected. On the other hand, when the PSCA 15 and the PSA 16 are implemented in the ME, it is possible to manage several USIMs or multiple USIM-enabled profiles, for example, to select one of the UICC or USIM profiles according to the OPSI 17 without affecting the UICC or USIM profiles.

[0027] Existing related prior art related to the present invention may be network-based solutions that become more complex, for example, based on the location information of the telecommunication terminal or other network information, or that cannot know when the telecommunication terminal returns under the coverage of the operating network.

Claims

1. Telecommunications equipment (10) for switching from a fallback subscription (14) to an operational subscription (11-13), wherein the telecommunications equipment (10) includes 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 (Mobile Network Operator) and to which of the operational profiles can be used when a telecommunications terminal equipped with the telecommunications equipment (10) comes under the coverage of the operational network, and the telecommunications equipment (10) is the first agent The system also includes a second agent (15) PSCA which allows agent (16) to configure the fallback subscription (14) to switch from the fallback subscription (14) to the operational network under coverage of the telecommunications terminal, wherein the PSA (16) includes an OPSI database (17) (operational profile selection information database) which stores a list of HPLMN codes corresponding to the operational profiles (11-13), and the OPSI database (17) includes a profile selection agent interface (PSAi) which is an API exposed by the PSA (16). Telecommunications equipment (10), which is accessed by the PSCA (15) via 18), and the PSCA (15) queries the OPSI database (17) via the PSAi (18) to determine which profile needs to be activated according to the PLMN code of the operational network under the coverage of the telecommunications terminal and according to the priority of the profile, and the PSCA (15) stores this information in the PSCA (15) profile file in the PSCA (15)'s local memory.

2. The telecommunications equipment (10) according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications equipment (10) is installed inside the telecommunications terminal.

3. The telecommunications equipment (10) according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications equipment (10) is installed within a secure element that cooperates with the telecommunications terminal.

4. The telecommunications equipment (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the list of operational profiles available for the telecommunications equipment (10) includes at least one operational profile.

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