SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RETAIL SIM MARKETPLACE

• US 20160014280A1
• Filed: 07/14/2014
• Published: 01/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Brunsman, Lawrence Jonathan, Jain, Arvind, Manwell, Paul, Fox, Nicholas Charles, Hogan, Kerrie Lenhart, Hurditch, Adrian, Klainer, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 10,412,230 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/715 Activating new subscriber or card
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/774 per card
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/45 using multiple identity modules
• 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 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A system and method for accessing a carrier network by a client device. The method includes: receiving a selection of a first plan from a carrier marketplace that includes at least the first plan and a second plan, wherein the first plan corresponds to a first set of services provided by a first carrier network, and the second plan corresponds to a second set of services provided by a second carrier network; downloading a carrier profile from the server device to a multi-profile UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) included in the client device, wherein the carrier profile is associated with the first plan; and storing the carrier profile in the multi-profile UICC.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a carrier network by a client device, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of a first plan from a carrier marketplace that includes at least the first plan and a second plan, wherein the first plan corresponds to a first set of services provided by a first carrier network, and the second plan corresponds to a second set of services provided by a second carrier network;

transmitting a signal associated with the first plan to a server device;

downloading a carrier profile from the server device to a multi-profile UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) included in the client device, wherein the carrier profile is associated with the first plan; and

storing the carrier profile in the multi-profile UICC.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a service included in the first set of services from the client device via the first carrier network based on the carrier profile stored in the multi-profile UICC.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier profile is stored in a dedicated memory device configured for storing the carrier profile separately from other data stored locally at the client device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plan is associated with a first price and the second plan is associated with a second price in the carrier marketplace.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of services includes an amount of talk time, a number of text messages, and an amount of data that can be accessed via the client device using the first carrier network during a first time period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-profile UICC comprises SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) circuitry.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device is a mobile phone.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first carrier network comprises a cellular carrier network.

9. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a client device to access a carrier network, by performing the steps of:

receiving a selection of a first plan from a carrier marketplace that includes at least the first plan and a second plan, wherein the first plan corresponds to a first set of services and the second plan corresponds to a second set of services;

transmitting a signal associated with the first plan to a server device;

downloading a carrier profile from the server device to a multi-profile UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) included in the client device, wherein the carrier profile is associated with the first plan; and

storing the carrier profile in the multi-profile UICC.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:

accessing a service included in the first set of services from the client device via a first carrier network associated with the first set of services based on the carrier profile stored in the multi-profile UICC.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the carrier profile is stored in a dedicated memory device configured for storing the carrier profile separately from other data stored locally at the client device.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first plan is associated with a first price and the second plan is associated with a second price in the carrier marketplace.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first set of services includes an amount of talk time, a number of text messages, and an amount of data that can be accessed via the client device using a first carrier network during a first time period.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the multi-profile UICC comprises SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) circuitry.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9,

wherein the first set of services is provided by a first carrier network;

and

wherein the second set of services is provided by a second carrier network.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first set of services and the second set of services are both provided by a first carrier network.

17. A system for accessing a carrier network, the system comprising:

a client device; and

a server device configured to;

cause a listing of available carrier network plans to be displayed in a carrier marketplace, wherein a first plan in the carrier marketplace corresponds to a first set of services provided by a first carrier network, and a second plan in the carrier marketplace corresponds to a second set of services provided by a second carrier network,

receive a selection of the first plan,

provision a carrier profile for the client device associated with the first plan, and

transmit a signal to the client device to add the carrier profile to a multi-profile UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) included in the client device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the multi-profile UICC comprises SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) circuitry.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the carrier profile is stored on the client device in a dedicated memory device configured for storing the carrier profile separately from other data stored locally at the client device.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the client device is a mobile phone.