METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SWITCHING VIRTUAL SIM SERVICE CONTRACTS WHEN ROAMING

• US 20100311418A1
• Filed: 06/08/2009
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Durand, Julian, Shi, Guangming, Sprigg, Stephen A., Siu, Ta-yan, Tangirala, Venkat
• Granted Patent: US 8,649,789 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/432.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A system and method store provisioning data supporting a plurality of service providers in a VSIM internal memory unit of a mobile device. The mobile device may automatically enable provisioning data supporting one of the plurality of service providers stored in the VSIM internal memory unit to conduct a wireless communication so as to avoid roaming fees.

Claims

1. A method for supporting a wireless communication call on a mobile device having a VSIM internal memory unit having stored therein provisioning data for a plurality of service contracts, comprising:

determining whether the mobile device is currently roaming;

determining whether the mobile device is currently conducting a wireless communication call;

identifying one of the plurality of service contracts that is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device if the mobile device is currently roaming and not currently conducting a wireless communication call;

retrieving provisioning data corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of service contracts; and

establishing a communication link to the home system using the retrieved provisioning data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a communication link with a remote server if not one of the plurality of service contracts stored in the VSIM internal memory unit is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device;

identifying a service contract stored in a remote database accessible by the remote server which is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

downloading to the mobile device provisioning data of the identified service contract stored in the remote database.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

scanning a plurality of remote databases to identify one of the plurality of service contracts whose provisioning data is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from a remote server a message to retrieve provisioning data corresponding to a service contract supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving from the remote server a download instruction to download the provisioning data corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of service contracts whose provisioning data is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

downloading to the mobile device the provisioning data of the identified service contract whose provisioning data is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device.

6. A method for supporting a wireless communication call on a mobile device having a VSIM internal memory unit having stored therein provisioning data for a plurality of service contracts, comprising:

receiving at a remote server data indicating a current location of the mobile device;

determining an optimal service contract for use by the mobile device in the current location;

determining whether the provisioning data for the optimal service contract is stored in the VSIM internal memory unit; and

transmitting a VSIM switch instruction to the mobile device to enable the provisioning data associated with the optimal service contract if it is determined that the provisioning data for the optimal service is stored in the VSIM internal memory unit of the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising downloading provisioning data for the optimal service contract to the mobile device if the provisioning data for the optimal service contract is not stored in the VSIM internal memory unit.

8. A mobile device comprising:

means for storing a plurality of service contracts;

means for determining whether the mobile device is currently roaming;

means for determining whether the mobile device is currently conducting a wireless communication call;

means for identifying one of the plurality of service contracts that is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device if the mobile device is currently roaming and not currently conducting a wireless communication call;

means for retrieving provisioning data corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of service contracts; and

means for establishing a communication link to the home system using the retrieved provisioning data.

9. The mobile device of claim 8, further comprising:

means for establishing a communication link with a remote server if not one of the plurality of service contracts stored in the VSIM internal memory unit is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device;

means for requesting the remote server to identify a service contract stored in a remote database accessible by the remote server which is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

means for receiving and storing downloaded provisioning data of the identified service contract stored in the remote database.

10. The mobile device of claim 8, further comprising:

means for receiving from a remote server a message to retrieve provisioning data corresponding to a service contract supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device.

11. The mobile device of claim 11, further comprising:

means for receiving from the remote server a download instruction to download provisioning data corresponding to a service contract whose provisioning data is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

means for downloading the provisioning data of the service contract whose provisioning data is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device.

12. A remote server, comprising:

means for receiving data indicating a current location of a mobile device, wherein said mobile device has a VSIM internal memory unit having stored therein provisioning data for a plurality of service contracts;

means for determining an optimal service contract for use by the mobile device in its current location;

means for determining whether provisioning data for the optimal service contract is stored in the VSIM internal memory unit of the mobile device; and

means for transmitting a VSIM switch instruction to the mobile device to enable the provisioning data associated with the optimal service contract on the mobile device if it is determined that the provisioning data for the optimal service is stored in the VSIM internal memory unit of the mobile device.

13. The remote server of claim 13, further comprising means for downloading provisioning data for the optimal service contract to the mobile device if the provisioning data for the optimal service contract is not stored in the VSIM internal memory unit of the mobile device.

14. The remote server of claim 13, further comprising means for scanning a plurality of remote databases to identify an optimal service contract for use by the mobile device in its current location.

15. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor;

an internal memory unit coupled to the processor, the internal memory unit having stored thereon provisioning data for a plurality of service contracts within a VSIM memory unit; and

a wireless communication transceiver coupled to the processor,

wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps comprising;

determining whether the mobile device is currently roaming;

determining whether the mobile device is currently conducting a wireless communication call;

identifying one of the plurality of service contracts stored on the VSIM memory unit that is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device if the mobile device is currently roaming and not currently conducting a wireless communication call;

retrieving provisioning data corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of service contracts from the VSIM memory unit; and

establishing a communication link via the wireless communication transceiver to the home system using the retrieved provisioning data.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

establishing a communication link via the wireless communication transceiver with a remote server if not one of the plurality of service contracts stored in the VSIM memory unit is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device;

transmitting a request to the remote server to identify a service contract which is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

downloading from the remote server provisioning data of the identified service contract.

17. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

receiving from a remote server a message to retrieve provisioning data corresponding to a service contract supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device from the VSIM memory unit.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

receiving from the remote server a download instruction to download provisioning data corresponding to a service contract whose provisioning data is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

downloading the provisioning data of a service contract whose provisioning data is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device.

19. A remote server comprising:

a server processor;

an server internal memory unit coupled to the server processor; and

a server wireless communication transceiver coupled to the server processor,

wherein the server processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps comprising;

receiving data indicating a current location of a mobile device, wherein said mobile device has a VSIM internal memory unit having stored therein provisioning data for a plurality of service contracts;

determining an optimal service contract for use by the mobile device in its current location;

determining whether provisioning data for the optimal service contract is stored in the VSIM internal memory unit of the mobile device; and

transmitting a VSIM switch instruction to the mobile device to enable the provisioning data associated with the optimal service contract on the mobile device if it is determined that the provisioning data for the optimal service is stored in the VSIM internal memory unit of the mobile device.

20. The remote server of claim 19, wherein the server processor is further configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

downloading provisioning data for the optimal service contract to the mobile device if the provisioning data for the optimal service contract is not stored in the VSIM internal memory unit of the mobile device.

21. The remote server of claim 19, wherein the server processor is further configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

scanning a plurality of remote databases to identify the optimal service contract for use by the mobile device in its current location.

22. A tangible storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform steps comprising:

determining whether a mobile device having a VSIM internal memory unit having stored therein provisioning data for a plurality of service contract is currently roaming;

determining whether the mobile device is currently conducting a wireless communication call;

identifying one of the plurality of service contracts that is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device if the mobile device is currently roaming and not currently conducting a wireless communication call;

retrieving provisioning data corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of service contracts; and

establishing a communication link to the home system using the retrieved provisioning data.

23. The tangible storage medium of claim 22, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

establishing a communication link with a remote server if not one of the plurality of service contracts stored in the VSIM internal memory unit is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device;

transmitting a request to a remote server to identify a service contract stored in a remote database accessible by the remote server which is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

downloading to the mobile device provisioning data of the identified service contract stored in the remote database.

24. The tangible storage medium of claim 23, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

transmitting a request to the remote server to scan a plurality of remote databases to identify one of the plurality of service contracts whose provisioning data is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device.

25. The tangible storage medium of claim 22, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

receiving from a remote server a message to retrieve provisioning data corresponding to a service contract supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device.

26. The tangible storage medium of claim 25, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

receiving from the remote server a download instruction to download the provisioning data corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of service contracts whose provisioning data is supported by the home system currently available to the mobile device; and

downloading to the mobile device the provisioning data of the identified service contract whose provisioning data is supported by a home system currently available to the mobile device.

27. A tangible storage medium having stored thereon server processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a server processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving at a remote server data indicating a current location of the mobile device, wherein the mobile device having a VSIM internal memory unit having stored therein provisioning data for a plurality of service contract is currently roaming;

determining an optimal service contract for use by the mobile device in the current location;

determining whether the provisioning data for the optimal service contract is stored in the VSIM internal memory unit; and

transmitting a VSIM switch instruction to the mobile device to enable the provisioning data associated with the optimal service contract.

28. The tangible storage medium of claim 27, wherein the tangible storage medium has server processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a server processor to perform further steps comprising:

downloading provisioning data for the optimal service contract to the mobile device if the provisioning data for the optimal service contract is not stored in the VSIM internal memory unit.