Central TSM Interfacing Multiple Secure Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Service providers face challenges in securely and efficiently communicating with secure elements on mobile devices due to limitations in traditional Trusted Service Managers (TSMs), which lack the capability to process communications between a large variety of service providers, mobile network operators, devices, networks, and security domains.
Innovation Solution
A central TSM system is introduced to facilitate communication between service providers and secure elements, enabling secure element management through a processor that receives requests, determines the corresponding secure element, and transmits requests for service activation, installation, and data deletion, thereby standardizing interactions across different mobile networks and devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a traditional TSM is used to interface with secure elements, then service provisioning can be performed, but the system cannot efficiently handle communications with a large variety of service providers, mobile network operators, devices, networks, and security domains
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central TSM that acts as an intermediary between service providers and secure elements. This central TSM receives service provisioning requests from multiple service providers, determines the appropriate secure element, and transmits the necessary requests. This mediator approach simplifies the interface for service providers while maintaining the ability to handle diverse secure elements and security domains.
Solution Approach 2:
The central TSM is designed to handle communications with a large variety of service providers, mobile network operators, devices, networks, and security domains through a single interface. It can determine different secure elements based on service qualifiers and manage multiple security domains, making the system universal and multi-functional.
2Reliability
If service providers directly manage secure elements with multiple intermediaries, then security can be maintained, but time and costs for service activation and management increase
Solution Approach 1:
The central TSM performs preliminary actions by maintaining information about secure elements and their associations with service providers and security domains. When a service provisioning request arrives, the central TSM can quickly determine the appropriate secure element and transmit the necessary requests without requiring the service provider to perform extensive lookup and verification steps.
3Adaptability or versatility
If service providers interface with multiple secure elements directly, then comprehensive service coverage is achieved, but the processing and information requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The central TSM acts as an intermediary that handles the complexity of determining which secure element corresponds to which service qualifier. Service providers only need to interface with the central TSM, which then manages the complex mappings between services, secure elements, and security domains, significantly reducing the processing and information requirements for service providers.
Data Source
AI summary
System, methods, and computer program products are provided for interfacing between one of a plurality of service provider (SP) trusted service managers (TSM) and one of a plurality of secure elements (SE). A first request to renew a service is received from an SP system over a communications network. The first request includes a service qualifier associated with the service. A secure element corresponding to the service qualifier is determined. A second request to delete data associated with the service qualifier from the secure element is transmitted to the secure element. A third request to install an application on the secure element is transmitted to the secure element. A fourth request to activate the application on the secure element is transmitted to the secure element.