Service provider activation

• US 7,929,959 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2007
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Bush, Jeffrey, Sathianathan, Brainerd, Hauck, Jerry, Huang, Ronald Keryuan, De Atley, Dallas
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Karikari; Kwasi
• Application Number:
  US11/849,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20100029247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,326 Days
• Field of Search: 455/411, 455/410, 455/412.1, 380/245, 380/250, 380/248, 380/270, 380/249, 713/161, 713/156, 713/171, 713/185, 379/161
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3816 Mechanical arrangements for accommodating identification devices, e.g. cards or chips; with connectors for programming identification devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/265 for initial activation of new user

Abstract

Systems and methods for activating a mobile device for use with a service provider are described. In one exemplary method, a mobile device having a currently inserted SIM card may be prepared for activation using a signing process in which an activation server generates a signed activation ticket that uniquely corresponds to the combination of the device and SIM card, and that is securely stored on the mobile device. In another exemplary method the mobile device may be activated in an activation process in which the device verifies an activation ticket against information specific to the device and SIM card, and initiates activation when the verification of the activation ticket is successful.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method of activating a mobile device, the method comprising:

issuing from a mobile device having a currently inserted SIM card an activation request, the activation request comprising data that uniquely identifies the device and data that uniquely identifies the currently inserted SIM card;

storing in the mobile device a signed activation record comprising the device data and the SIM card data, the activation record having been generated and signed by an activation server responding to the activation request;

verifying the activation record against the currently inserted SIM card, wherein verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises decrypting a content of the activation record using a device obfuscation key that is derived from a hardware thumbprint of the device and a shared obfuscation key; and

registering the device with a communications network after successfully verifying the activation record.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data that uniquely identifies the device includes a serial number of the device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the serial number of the device is the International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI) encoded in the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data that uniquely identifies the device includes a hardware thumbprint of the device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the hardware thumbprint of the device is derived from at least one of a serial number of a baseband component in the device, a serial number of a memory component of the device, a serial number of the device, in combination with a random number.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data that uniquely identifies the SIM card includes a serial number of the SIM card.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the serial number of the SIM card is the Integrated Circuit Card ID (ICCID) encoded on the SIM card.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data that uniquely identifies the SIM card includes a subscriber identifier associated with SIM card.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the subscriber identifier associated with the SIM card is the International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI) that designates the subscriber authorized to use the SIM card.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the activation record stored in the device further comprises an activation public key, the activation record having been signed by the activation server using an activation private key corresponding to the activation public key.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises validating an activation public key contained in the activation record.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises validating a signature of the activation record stored in the device using the validated activation public key.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises verifying that a maximum retry counter has not reached a maximum count.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising incrementing a maximum retry counter when the activation record is not successfully verified.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing program instructions that, when executed, cause a data processing system to perform a method of activating a mobile device, the method comprising:

issuing from a mobile device having a currently inserted SIM card an activation request, the activation request comprising data that uniquely identifies the device and data that uniquely identifies the currently inserted SIM card;

storing in the mobile device a signed activation record comprising the device data and the SIM card data, the activation record having been generated and signed by an activation server responding to the activation request;

verifying the activation record against the currently inserted SIM card, wherein verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises decrypting a content of the activation record using a device obfuscation key that is derived from a hardware thumbprint of the device and a shared obfuscation key; and

registering the device with a communications network after successfully verifying the activation record.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the activation record stored in the device further comprises an activation public key, the activation record having been signed by the activation server using an activation private key corresponding to the activation public key.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises validating an activation public key contained in the activation record.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises validating a signature of the activation record stored in the device using the validated activation public key.

19. A data processing system comprising:

means for issuing from a mobile device having a currently inserted SIM card an activation request, the activation request comprising data that uniquely identifies the device and data that uniquely identifies the currently inserted SIM card;

means for storing in the mobile device a signed activation record comprising the device data and the SIM card data, the activation record having been generated and signed by an activation server responding to the activation request;

means for verifying the activation record against the currently inserted SIM card, wherein the means for verifying the activation record includes;

means for deriving a device obfuscation key from a hardware thumbprint of the device and a shared obfuscation key, and

means for decrypting a content of the activation record using the derived device obfuscation key; and

means for registering the device with a communications network after successfully verifying the activation record.

20. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the activation record stored in the device further comprises an activation public key, the activation record having been signed by the activation server using an activation private key corresponding to the activation public key.

21. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the means for verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises means for validating an activation public key contained in the activation record.

22. The data processing system of claim 21, wherein the means for verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises means for validating a signature of the activation record stored in the device using the validated activation public key.

23. The data processing system of claim 22, wherein the means for verifying the activation record stored in the device further comprises means for validating a signature of the activation record stored in the device using the validated activation public key.