A terminal device and a low-powered method for using an embedded or integrated subscriber identity module

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a terminal device using a non-removable SIM, for example, an eSIM or integrated SIM. The terminal device comprises the non-removable SIM, a modem, and a management entity for managing SIM profiles of the SIM in the terminal device or within the SIM. The management entity is configured to provide a notification service for indicating a modification of a current SIM profile of the SIM to the modem.

Description

[0001] A TERMINAL DEVICE AND A LOW-POWERED METHOD FOR USING AN EMBEDDED OR INTEGRATED SUBSCRIBER IDENTITY MODULE

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to terminal devices using a subscriber identity module (SIM), for example, an embedded SIM (eSIM) or integrated SIM. The disclosure provides such a terminal device, a method for the terminal device, and a computer program.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Terminal devices using SIMs are well known. Typically, such terminal devices work only when the SIM is present, and when the correct SIM profile is activated. One or more SIM profiles could be provided remotely to the SIM.

[0006] For example, the specifications SGP.31 and SGP.32 describe Internet of Things (loT) remote SIM provisioning. They are for systems and services that allow SIM profiles to be downloaded securely to a SIM, along with the means to activate or deactivate those SIM profiles. These may include a set of which servers, connections and software entities allow the system to work, along with the protocols that run over those services.

[0007] As another example, the specifications SGP.21 and SGP.22 describe remote SIM provisioning for “consumer” devices.

[0008] 3GPP TS 31.102 is concerned with "Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; Characteristics of the Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) application In section 5.1.9 of that 3rdgeneration partnership project (3GPP) specification document, there are specific rules for detecting the presence of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), which is also referred to as SIM.

[0009] The current mechanism for validating the presence of a SIM in a terminal device is polling. One reason why a terminal device has to check for the presence of a SIM is to ensure that the SIM is not used in one terminal device, for example, to start a call or a data connection, and is then removed and used to start another, simultaneous call or data connection in a different terminal device. Unfortunately, polling the SIM requires powering on the SIM by the modem, which takes energy every time it is checked, and is power-consuming for both the modem and the SIM. This energy can be significant compared to the ‘quiescent’ power consumption of a dormant modem of the terminal device. In addition to this, the very presence of any timer within the modem - to determine the times of polling the SIM - causes that modem to draw its own energy to service that timer.

[0010] Especially loT devices, e.g. connections within a water meter, may be battery powered, and the expectation may be that such terminal devices to run for many years without battery change. This means, solutions used in low-power loT devices must be very power-efficient. Some of the protocols associated with these terminal devices, such as NB-IoT, are power optimized, and persist data connections over a very long time, in order to reduce the overhead in re-negotiating and re-securing a data connection. With this in mind, such kinds of loT devices, when using the above-mentioned current solutions for remote SIM provisioning, may have to keep checking on the status of the SIM, since there is risk that the SIM could have been removed, and then used in another device. However, the SIM polling in these terminal devices, even when it is restricted to just when the terminal devices are sending data, can be an unacceptable power overhead.

[0011] SUMMARY

[0012] In view of the above, this disclosure aims to reduce the power consumption of a terminal device with a non-removable SIM. An objective of this disclosure is to reduce the requirement to power-up the SIM periodically, by reducing the need for checking. Another objective is to reduce the number of timers that are active within a modem, in order to reduce the overall power.

[0013] These and other objectives are achieved by the solutions of this disclosure as described in the independent claims. Advantageous implementations are further defined in the dependent claims.

[0014] The solutions of this disclosure are based on non-removable SIMs, wherein SIM operations (e.g., to install, deactivate or disable a SIM profile) go via some software entity, which may have at least equal security to the main modem. The solutions of this disclosure are thus based on remote SIM provisioning. A first aspect of this disclosure provides a terminal device comprising: a non-removable SIM; a modem; and a management entity for managing SIM profiles of the SIM in the terminal device or within the SIM; wherein the management entity is configured to provide a notification service for indicating a modification of a current SIM profile of the SIM to the modem.

[0015] A SIM profile may be a set of data that contains a subscriber identifier (ID), key materials and network IDs etc. In conventional systems, all this data is securely stored in the SIM. With nonremovable SIM systems, this data may be encoded on some secure server by a SIM provider, and may then securely transmitted to the SIM via the modem.

[0016] By using the notification service of the management entity, the modem does not have to regularly check the presence of the SIM, e.g., by polling the SIM. Therefore, the power consumption can be reduced, because powering on the SIM by the modem is required less. Moreover, the modem does not require as many timers, which further reduces the power consumption.

[0017] The notification service may use one or more notifications to indicate the modification of the SIM profile. Thus, in other words than described above, the management entity of the terminal device may be configured to send a notification to the modem, wherein the notification indicates that a current SIM profile of the SIM is being modified.

[0018] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the modification of the current SIM profile comprises disabling, deleting, or deactivating the current SIM profile, or replacing the current SIM profile with a new SIM profile.

[0019] These modifications may be triggered by a SIM management operation. A SIM management operation for modification of the SIM profile may be a command, which is securely sent to the SIM, which can in response to the command activate, deactivate, enable, disable, install or delete a SIM profile.

[0020] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the modem is configured to subscribe to the notification service. By using this subscription, the modem can be registered with the notification service and can automatically receive, for instance, notifications regarding modifications of SIM profiles.

[0021] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the modem is configured to not to poll the SIM to check for the SIM’s presence.

[0022] This reduces the power consumption of the modem, and thus of the terminal device as a whole.

[0023] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the notification service from the management entity indicates at least one of an international mobile subscriber identity (ISIM), and a public land mobile network identifier (PLMN ID), and a subscriber ID related to the current SIM profile that is being modified.

[0024] This enables the modem to identify the SIM profile that is being modified.

[0025] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the non-removable SIM is an eSIM or an integrated SIM.

[0026] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the management entity is an Internet of things Profile Agent in device (IP Ad) or Local Profile Agent in device (LPAd), when the management entity is placed in the terminal device; or the management entity is an Internet of things Profile Agent in embedded universal integrated circuit card (IPAe) or a Local Profile Agent in embedded universal integrated circuit card (LPAe), when the management entity is placed within the SIM.

[0027] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the management entity is configured to send an instruction to the SIM to modify the current SIM profile.

[0028] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the modem is configured to tear down a context, wherein that context uses information associated with the current SIM profile that is being modified.

[0029] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the modem is configured to send an indication of the tom down context to the management entity. In an implementation form of the first aspect, the modem is configured to delay the tear down of the context, if the context includes a secure connection related to a SIM management operation of the SIM.

[0030] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the terminal device further comprises one or more additional modems; wherein the management entity is configured to provide the notification service for indicating the modification of the current SIM profile of the SIM to each modem of the terminal device.

[0031] Thus, the power consumption of each modem can be reduced.

[0032] In an implementation form of the first aspect, the management entity is configured to receive a notification that the current SIM profile of the SIM is being modified, from an external SIM management server.

[0033] A second aspect of this disclosure provides method for a terminal device, the method comprising: providing, by a management entity of the terminal device, a notification service to a modem of the terminal device, wherein the notification service is for indicating modifications of a current SIM profile of a SIM in the terminal device.

[0034] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the modification of the current SIM profile comprises disabling, deleting, or deactivating the current SIM profile, or replacing the current SIM profile with a new SIM profile.

[0035] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the modem subscribes to the notification service.

[0036] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the modem does not poll the SIM to check for the SIM’s presence.

[0037] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the notification service from the management entity indicates at least one of an ISIM and a PLMN ID, and a subscriber ID related to the current SIM profile that is being modified. In an implementation form of the second aspect, the non-removable SIM is an eSIM or an integrated SIM.

[0038] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the management entity is an IP Ad or LPAd, when the management entity is placed in the terminal device; or the management entity is an IPAe or an LPAe, when the management entity is placed within the SIM.

[0039] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the management entity sends an instruction to the SIM to modify the current SIM profile.

[0040] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the modem tears down a context, wherein that context uses information associated with the current SIM profile that is being modified.

[0041] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the modem sends an indication of the torn down context to the management entity.

[0042] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the modem delays the tear down of the context, if the context includes a secure connection related to a SIM management operation of the SIM.

[0043] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the terminal device further comprises one or more additional modems; and the management entity provides the notification service for indicating the modification of the current SIM profile of the SIM to each modem of the terminal device.

[0044] In an implementation form of the second aspect, the management entity receives a notification that the current SIM profile of the SIM is being modified, from an external SIM management server.

[0045] The method of the second aspect and its implementation forms achieve the same advantages as the terminal device of the first aspect and its respective implementation forms.

[0046] A third aspect of this disclosure provides a computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of the second aspect or any of its implementation forms. The solutions of this disclosure pertain to architectures similar to the ones disclosed in the specifications SGP.21 and SGP.31. However, due to the notification service as a new feature, this disclosure allows for much lower-power interactions with SIMs.

[0047] It has to be noted that all devices, elements, units and means described in the present application could be implemented in the software or hardware elements or any kind of combination thereof. All steps which are performed by the various entities described in the present application as well as the functionalities described to be performed by the various entities are intended to mean that the respective entity is adapted to or configured to perform the respective steps and functionalities. Even if, in the following description of specific embodiments, a specific functionality or step to be performed by external entities is not reflected in the description of a specific detailed element of that entity which performs that specific step or functionality, it should be clear for a skilled person that these methods and functionalities can be implemented in respective software or hardware elements, or any kind of combination thereof.

[0048] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0049] The above described aspects and implementation forms will be explained in the following description of specific embodiments in relation to the enclosed drawings, in which:

[0050] FIG. 1 shows a terminal device according to this disclosure.

[0051] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary terminal device according to this disclosure.

[0052] FIG. 3 shows an interaction of entities within the terminal device according to this disclosure.

[0053] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary terminal device according to this disclosure.

[0054] FIG. 5 shows a method according to this disclosure for a terminal device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0055] FIG. 1 shows a terminal device 100 according to this disclosure. The terminal device 100 may generally be a user equipment (UE). The terminal device 10 may be a mobile phone, a tablet, television, or the like. The terminal device 100 may be an loT device. The terminal device 100 may be any terminal device, in which a non-removable SIM is used, and which uses, for instance, a remote SIM provisioning (RSP) mechanisms or similar SIM profile management.

[0056] The terminal device 100 comprises a non-removable SIM 101, for example, an eSIM or an integrated SIM. Further, the terminal device 100 comprises a modem 102 and a management entity 103. The management entity 103 is configured to manage one or more SIM profiles for the SIM, either in the terminal device 100 (outside the SIM 101) or within the SIM 101.

[0057] The management entity 103 is further configured to provide a notification service 104 for indicating a modification of a current SIM profile of the SIM 101 to the modem 102. This may mean that the modem 102 sends a notification to the modem 102, wherein the notification indicates the modification of the SIM profile, i.e., indicates the SIM profile being modified.

[0058] The solutions of this disclosure may be used in chipsets that implement modems 102 and SIMs 101, which may be the majority of cellular devices currently sold. The benefits of this disclosure are greatest in terminal devices 100 that keep long-term contexts and sessions open - since the elimination of the periodic checks for the SIM’s 101 presence saves a larger proportion of power when the terminal device 100 is not doing much else. An example of such a low-power terminal device 100 could be a gas meter, which e.g. reports only once every two hours the contexts that permit transmission of the data without having to re-secure the link also contributes significantly to the reduced power consumption.

[0059] The terminal device 100 may comprise a processor or processing circuitry (not shown) configured to perform, conduct or initiate the various operations of the terminal device 100 described herein. The processing circuitry may comprise hardware and / or the processing circuitry may be controlled by software. The hardware may comprise analog circuitry or digital circuitry, or both analog and digital circuitry. The digital circuitry may comprise components such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or multi-purpose processors. The terminal device 100 may further comprise memory circuitry, which stores one or more instruction(s) that can be executed by the processor or by the processing circuitry, in particular under control of the software. For instance, the memory circuitry may comprise a non-transitory storage medium storing executable software code which, when executed by the processor or the processing circuitry, causes the various operations of the terminal device 100 to be performed. In one embodiment, the processing circuitry comprises one or more processors and a non-transitory memory connected to the one or more processors. The non-transitory memory may carry executable program code which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the terminal device

[0060] 100 to perform, conduct or initiate the operations or methods described herein.

[0061] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary terminal device 100 according to this disclosure, which builds on the terminal device 100 of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 also shows a system architecture, which comprises the terminal device 100, a SIM management server (SM-DP+) 201 and a mobile network 202. This system architecture is similar to the system that is described in the specification SGP.31.

[0062] Conventionally, the modem 102 of the terminal device 100 would check for the presence of the (here integrated) SIM 101 from time to time. This would mean powering up the SIM 101, which would then reply to requests and therefore provide assurance that it still exists. According to the solutions of this disclosure, however, the modem 102 of the terminal device 100 can be configured to not poll the SIM 101 to check for the presence of the SIM 101. Instead, as described above, the modem 102 may subscribe to the notification service 104 of the management entity 103. That is, rather than using SIM polling to get assurance that the SIM

[0063] 101 is still there, the modem 102 may receive notifications from the management entity 103, for example, from an IP Ad software entity as indicated. The modem 102 may be able to do this, and may still receive a high-quality assurance, because all operations that would modify the SIM 101 may be done via the management entity 103.

[0064] The external SIM management server 201 may be configured to send a notification that the current SIM profile of the SIM 101 is being modified to the management entity 103.

[0065] FIG. 3 shows an interaction of entities within the terminal device 100, and also with the SIM management server 201. In particular, FIG. 3 shows that the modem 102 can be configured to subscribe to the notification service 104. To this end, the modem 102 may send a request for a subscription to the management entity (the IP Ad in this exemplary case), and may receive a confirmation that it is subscribed.

[0066] If the SIM management server 201 sends a notification that the current SIM profile of the SIM is being modified to the management entity 103 - in the shown exemplary case, the SIM profile is disabled - the management entity 103 may send a corresponding notification associated with the notification service 104 to the modem 102. The notification may include details of the SIM profile being modified, for example, it may include the IMSI, PLMN IDs, and other identifiers that would allow the modem 102 to identify contexts that rely on the SIM profile being modified

[0067] Upon receiving the notification, the modem 102 can be configured to tear down any context that uses information associated with the current SIM profile that is being modified, for example, that uses the SIM profile’s key. The modem 102 may then be configured to send an indication 302 of the tom down context(s) to the management entity 103.

[0068] The management entity 103 may then send a message 303 to the SIM 101, instructing the SIM 101 to modify the current SIM profile.

[0069] In an exemplary implementation, an alternative architecture may be used. For instance, there may be a cellular modem 102 in the terminal device 100, but instead of checking for presence of the SIM 101, it may rely on a notification from some general profile-passing entity. The protocol that the profile-passing entity relies on, may permit decoding by that entity, and a reliable and robust identification of any operations that replace, delete, disable or deactivate a SIM profile. In such an alternative it can still be enforced that all SIM management functions that replace, delete, disable or deactivate a SIM profile go via some notification-giving entity.

[0070] Moreover, in an exemplary implementation, the modem 102 may be configured to delay the tearing down of the context, if the context includes a secure connection related to a SIM management operation of the SIM 101. For instance, the destruction of any packet data protocol (PDP) context may be delayed, when that context is bearing some secure connection that handles SIM management operations. The modem 102 may either be configured to detect that a SIM-management-bearing connection has gone quiescent, or may be configured to subscribe to another notification from the management entity 103 or similar, that shows when the operation is completed. This has the advantage of allowing badly-sequenced operations to be not so harmful, e.g., deleting the current profile before establishing and enabling a viable alternative SIM profile.

[0071] In an exemplary implementation for a hybrid network, with both a cellular connection and a WiFi connection from the modem 102, a connection to the SIM profile supplier (Sim management sever 203, SM-DP+, or similar) could be over the WiFi link. Under these circumstances, the management entity 103 may still provide notifications when the SIM profiles are being manipulated, but it may be that there are several different modems 102 that receive the notification service 104. Thus, there may be multiple subscribers on these SIM profile events from the management entity 103. Both the 3 GPP modem and the WiFi modem may receive the events, and may both tear down contexts when they rely on the deleted and / or removed SIM profile. In other words, compared to above, the terminal device 100 may include one or more additional modems 102, and the management entity 103 is configured to provide the notification service to each modem 102 of the terminal device.

[0072] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary terminal device 100 according to this disclosure, which builds on the terminal device 100 of FIG. 1 and is an alternative to the terminal device 100 of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 also shows a system architecture, which comprises the terminal device 100, a SIM management server (SM-DP+) 201 and a mobile network 202, similar as shown in FIG. 2. The system architecture is similar to the system that is described in the specification SGP.31.

[0073] Per SGP.31, there is also an option for the “loT Profile Agent”, which corresponds to the management entity 103 of this disclosure, to reside within the embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC), which corresponds to the SIM 101 of this disclosure. When placed in the eUICC, it is known as an IPAe, instead of an IP Ad. Following this, as shown in FIG. 4, the management entity 103 - in this case it may be an IPAe - can be placed within the SIM 101 of the terminal device 100.

[0074] In this case shown in FIG. 4, rather than using a subscription of the modem 102 to the notification service 104 of the management entity 103, the following procedure may be performed. The modem 102 may query to the SIM 101, in order to see if there have been changes of the SIM profile, after there has been traffic to the SIM 101, for example, over the ES9+ or ESipa interface. In this manner, no polling of the SIM 101 is required by the modem 102, only a query after traffic. Since the IPAe would have to be invoked with a powered-on SIM 101 for polling, this means that the benefits of this disclosure are apparent also in this alternative.

[0075] FIG. 5 shows a method 500 according to this disclosure, which may be performed by the terminal device 100. The method 500 comprises a step 402 of providing, by a management entity of the terminal device, a notification service to a modem of the terminal device. The notification service 104 is for indicating a modification 501 of a current SIM profile of a SIM

[0076] 101 in the terminal device 100. The SIM 101 is a non-removable SIM, like an eSIM or integrated SIM. The notifications service 104 may mean that the step 502 comprises sending, by the management device 103 of the terminal device 100, at least one notification 104 to the modem 102 of the terminal device 100, wherein the notification indicates that the current SIM profile of the SIM 101 in the terminal device 100 is being modified.

[0077] In summary, the modem 102 of the terminal device 100 in this disclosure can rely on the notification service 104, as opposed to polling the SIM 101, in order to validate if the SIM 101 is still there. This allows the terminal device 100 to save power. The operation of the modem

[0078] 102 can be simplified, and timers can be removed. The modem 102 may thus be able to sleep longer, which reduces the power consumption.

[0079] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with various embodiments as examples as well as implementations. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed matter, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the independent claims. In the claims as well as in the description the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A terminal device (100) comprising: a non-removable subscriber identity module, SIM (101); a modem (102); and a management entity (103) for managing SIM profiles of the SIM (101) in the terminal device (100) or within the SIM (101); wherein the management entity (103) is configured to provide a notification service (104) for indicating a modification of a current SIM profile of the SIM (101) to the modem (102).

2. The terminal device (100) of claim 1, wherein the modification of the current SIM profile comprises disabling, deleting, or deactivating the current SIM profile, or replacing the current SIM profile with a new SIM profile.

3. The terminal device (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the modem (102) is configured to subscribe (301) to the notification service (104).

4. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein the modem (102) is configured to not to poll the SIM (101) to check for the SIM’s (101) presence.

5. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the notification service (104) from the management entity (103) indicates at least one of an international mobile subscriber identity, ISIM, and a public land mobile network identifier, PLMN ID, and a subscriber ID related to the current SIM profile that is being modified.

6. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the non-removable SIM (101) is an embedded SIM, eSIM, or an integrated SIM.

7. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein: the management entity (103) is an Internet of things Profile Agent in device, IP Ad, or Local Profile Agent in device, LPAd, when the management entity (103) is placed in the terminal device (100); orthe management entity (103) is an Internet of things Profile Agent in embedded universal integrated circuit card, IPAe, or a Local Profile Agent in embedded universal integrated circuit card, LPAe, when the management entity (103) is placed within the SIM (101).

8. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the management entity (103) is configured to send an instruction (303) to the SIM (101) to modify the current SIM profile.

9. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 8, wherein the modem (102) is configured to tear down a context, wherein that context uses information associated with the current SIM profile that is being modified.

10. The terminal device (100) of claim 9, wherein the modem (102) is configured to send an indication (302) of the torn down context to the management entity (103).

11. The terminal device (100) of claim 9 or 10, wherein the modem (102) is configured to delay the tear down of the context, if the context includes a secure connection related to a SIM management operation of the SIM (101).

12. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 11, further comprising: one or more additional modems (102); wherein the management entity (103) is configured to provide the notification service for indicating the modification of the current SIM profile of the SIM (101) to each modem (102) of the terminal device.

13. The terminal device (100) of one of the claims 1 to 12, wherein the management entity (103) is configured to receive a notification that the current SIM profile of the SIM is being modified, from an external SIM management server (201).

14. A method (500) for a terminal device (100), the method (500) comprising: providing (502), by a management entity (103) of the terminal device (100), a notification service (104) to a modem (102) of the terminal device (100), wherein the notification service (104) is for indicating a modification (501) of a current SIM profile of a SIM (101) in the terminal device (100).

15. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method (500) of claim 14.

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