REMOTE SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT

• US 20160192312A1
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GCI Communication Corporation (GCI Liberty, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cycle30, Inc. (GCI Liberty, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lambert, Sean, Gonzalez, Wendy, Doyle, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,794,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A provisioning server may select a new service provider to provide network connectivity to a network-enabled device in response to a determination that the device has moved to a new region that is different than a home region. The provisioning server may automatically determine whether to cause the device to switch service providers with little or no input by a user or an administrator of the device. The provisioning server may select a new service provider from various available service providers based at least partly on a profile associated with the device. A provisioning server may enable access by the device to the selected service provider by causing an update to an embedded SIM of the device. In this way, the provisioning server may update connectivity of the device to a new service provider with little or no human input, thereby simplifying management of the device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, from location information received from a network-enabled device, that the network-enabled device has been relocated from a first region to a second, different region, wherein at least one service provider that provides connectivity services to network-enabled devices is available in the second region and is unavailable in the first region;

determining service providers available to provide the connectivity services to network-enabled devices in the second region;

determining service plans offered by individual ones of the service providers;

determining a profile associated with the network-enabled device or a user of the network-enabled device, the profile providing at least historical usage information of the network-enabled device;

selecting, for the network-enabled device, based at least in part on the profile, (i) a new service provider from the service providers and (ii) a new service plan from the service plans for the network-enabled device; and

transmitting message to the network-enabled device to cause update to an embedded Subscriber Identifier Module (SIM) of the network-enabled device, the update of the embedded SIM to enable identification of the network-enabled device by the new service provider that implements the new service plan.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selecting is further based at least in part on coverage metrics and reliability metrics associated with the service providers.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network-enabled device is a non-user-facing deployed device.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selecting the service plan is performed to support continued data usage of the network-enabled device that is consistent with the historical usage information.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first region is associated with a first country and the second region is associated with a second, different country.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the location information received from the network-enabled device is at least one of global positioning system (GPS) data or a mobile network identification associated with the second region.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining an expected usage of the network-enabled device in the second region, and wherein the selecting the new service provider is based at least in part on the expected usage in the second region.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

determining actual usage of the network-enabled device in the second region; and

selecting, for the network-enabled device, based at least in part on the profile and the actual usage, (i) another new service provider from the service providers or (ii) another new service plan from the service plans for the network-enabled device.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the profile includes one or more weights associated with at least one of data usage, voice call usage, service provider reliability, security, or service provider coverage, and wherein the weights facilitate selection of the new service provider.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining, from location information received from the network-enabled device, that the network-enabled device has been relocated to the first region; and

transmitting another message to the network-enabled device to cause update to the embedded SIM of the network-enabled device to enable identification of the network-enabled device by a previous service provider that provided communications services to the network-enabled device in the first region.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network-enabled device is a mobile telephone.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising

determining, from location information received from a network-enabled device, that the network-enabled device has been relocated from a first region to a second, different region;

identifying a first service provider offering a first service plan for use by the network-enabled device in the second region;

identifying a second service provider offering a second service plan for use by the network-enabled device in the second region;

determining a profile associated with the network-enabled device, the profile providing at least historical usage information of the network-enabled device in at least the first region;

selecting the first service provider based at least in part on the profile; and

causing update to an embedded Subscriber Identifier Module (SIM) of the network-enabled device, the update of the embedded SIM to enable identification of the network-enabled device by the first service provider that implements the first service plan.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the selecting is performed to support continued usage of the network-enabled device that is consistent with the historical usage information.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the network-enabled device is at least one of a billing device or a tracking device.

15. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the location information received from the network-enabled device comprises global positioning system (GPS) data.

16. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising determining an expected usage of the network-enabled device in the second region, and wherein the selecting the first service provider is based at least in part on the expected usage in the second region.

17. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the profile includes one or more weights associated with at least one of data usage, voice call usage, service provider reliability, or service provider coverage, wherein the weights facilitate selection of the new service provider.

18. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

determine, from location information received from a network-enabled device, that the network-enabled device has been relocated from a first region to a second, different region;

identify a first service provider offering a first plurality of service plans for use by the network-enabled device in the second region;

identify a second service provider offering a second plurality of service plans for use by the network-enabled device in the second region;

determine a profile associated with the network-enabled device, the profile providing at least historical usage information of the network-enabled device in at least the first region;

select the first service provider and a selected service plan of the first plurality of service plans based at least in part on the profile; and

cause update to an embedded Subscriber Identifier Module (SIM) of the network-enabled device, the update of the embedded SIM to enable identification of the network-enabled device by the first service provider that implements the selected service plan.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the selecting the selected service plan is performed to support continued usage of the network-enabled device that is consistent with the historical usage information.

20. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the one or more processors to determine an expected usage of the network-enabled device in the second region, and wherein the selecting the first service provider is based at least in part on the expected usage in the second region.