Method and system of replacing smart card

• US 8,141,136 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2003
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gemalto SA (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Gemalto SA (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Lee, Ping, Collomb, Cedric, Wu, Xu, Wu, Jian, Cao, Hong Wei, Choi, Simon
• Primary Examiner(s): Moorthy, Aravind
• Application Number:
  US10/513,933
• Publication Number:
  US 20070271603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,235 Days
• Field of Search: 726/6, 726/9, 726/34, 713/159, 713/165, 713/168, 713/182, 713/185, 380/277, 705/55, 705/56
• US Class Current: 726/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• 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 8/205 Transfer to or from user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/265 for initial activation of new user

Abstract

The present invention disclosed a method and system of replacing smart cards. It uses a new identification device (a new SIM) to replace an old one (an old SIM) associated with a user account. The new identification device has an identification number (ICCID). The new identification device is activated in the following manner. The old identification device communicates with an identification-management center through a communication interface (mobile telephone). And the identification-management center recognizes the old identification device. The identification number of the new identification device is sent to the identification-management center through the communication interface. The identification-management center checks the identification number. If the identification number is correct, the user account will be assigned to the new identification device by the identification-management center.

Claims

1. A smart card replacement method wherein said method includes the following steps:

a) provide a new smart card to be activated with a new ICCID (Smart Card Identification), wherein the new smart card carries the new ICCID, and wherein the new ICCID is stored in a database of the operator system, but not activated;

b) prepare an old smart card awaiting the replacement, said old smart card having an old ICCID, an old user identification number, and an old secret key, which have been registered and activated in the operator system, and have been mapped to the user account;

c) establish a communication channel for data transmission between a user and an operator system;

d) determine a user account in accordance with the old user identification number, wherein the user account corresponds to the user, and wherein the old user identification number is extracted from the old smart card by the operator system;

e) transmit the new ICCID of the new smart card from the user to the operator system using the communication channel; and

f) correlate the new ICCID of the new smart card with the user account, then register and activate the new smart card, and finally replace the old smart card,

wherein step d) involves sending the old ICCID and the old user identification number of the old smart card of the user from a user end to the operator system,

wherein step e) involves prompting the user to input and to receive the new ICCID of the new smart card transmitted by the user,

wherein step f) includes;

f1) the operator system receives the new ICCID of the new smart card input by the user, and dynamically assigns a new user identification number and a new secret key to the new ICCID;

f2) in the operator system, a new parallel file is created with the new user identification number and the new secret key in the user account, to validate the new user identification number and the new secret key, and to invalidate the old user identification number and the old secret key;

f3) sending the new user identification number and the new secret key to the new smart card; and

f4) informing the user that the new smart card has been activated.

2. Smart card replacement method according to claim 1, characterized in that the new smart card has the new ICCID, the new user identification number, and the new secret key;

wherein the new ICCID, the new user identification number and the new secret key are stored in a database of the operator system, but not activated;

the old smart card has the old ICCID, the old user identification number and an old secret key, which have been registered in the operator system, activated, and mapped to the user account; and

step f) further includes f5) the operator system searching for the new user identification number and the new secret key in the database, based on the new ICCID the operator system received.

3. Smart card replacement method according to claim 1, characterized in that the new smart card has the new ICCID and new secret key, and the new ICCID and new secret key are mapped and stored in the operator system, but not activated;

wherein the old smart card has the old ICCID, the old user identification number, and the old secret key, which have been registered in the operator system and activated, also correlated to the relevant user account;

a step c-), carried out before step c), comprising transmitting the old user identification number of the old smart card to the new smart card; and

step f) further includes f5) the operator system searches for the new secret key in the database according to the new ICCID the system received, and the new secret key corresponds to the new ICCID.

4. Smart card replacement method according to claim 3, characterized in that the new smart card is a new SIM card used in a mobile phone, a user end is the user'"'"'s mobile phone, the new user identification number is an IMSI number, the new secret key is Ki, and the operator system is a mobile phone operator system;

wherein in step c), the user sets up the communication channel using one of the following approaches over the mobile phone using the old smart card;

to set up a voice over IP connection;

to set up a text connection;

to send a short message which includes the new ICCID of the new smart card the user input.

5. Smart card replacement method according to claim 1, characterized in that the new smart card has the new secret key, and the new ICCID and new secret key have been mapped and stored in a database of the operator system, but not activated;

and wherein in step f1), the operator system exclusively assigns the new user identification number dynamically for the new smart card, and searches for the new key in the database according to the ICCID of the new smart card it has received, and the new key is corresponding to the ICCID; and

in step f3), only the new user identification number is sent to the new smart card.

6. Smart card replacement method according to claim 5, characterized in that step f) includes the following steps:

f+) if the new ICCID is found unavailable, or it is occupied by an activated smart card in current use, an error prompt is sent to the user, and the step goes back to step e) to prompt the user to input the new ICCID again;

further, the step of f++) is included after the user is informed by the operator system that the new smart card of the user has been activated, wherein f++) comprises informing the user that the user must make a communication test with the operator system through the new card within a predetermined time, or otherwise the operator system will switch to the old card.

7. Smart card replacement method according to claim 6, characterized in that the following steps shall be included:

g) the user makes the communication test with the operator system through the new smart card within the predetermined time;

h) if the smart card replacement system has not received the test response from the user within the predetermined time, the system confirms a replacement failure and switches to the old smart card, and the old user identification number and the old secret key of the user account are validated; and

i) the user repeats the above replacement steps until a replacement succeeds.

8. Smart card replacement method according to claim 5, characterized in that the new smart card is a new SIM card of a mobile telephone, the user end is a processing box, the new user identification number is an IMSI number, the new secret key is Ki, and the operator system is a mobile phone operator system;

wherein in step c), the user sets up the communication channel through the processing box;

the processing box includes one or two card readers, used to read the data from an old SIM card and to write the data into the new SIM card;

a CPU, used to control the operation of all the processing box units;

a monitor, used to display a command from the CPU and data input by the user;

an input unit, used to input or confirm data such as PIN or ICCID;

a storage device, used to store data read by the card reader, data to be written into the new SIM card, and applications executed by the CPU; and

a communication unit, used to communicate with a smart card replacement system via the Internet, modem, and PSTN or wireless telephones so that the IMSI and Ki of the new smart card shall be obtained from the smart card replacement system.

9. Smart card replacement method according to claim 5, characterized in that the new smart card is a bank card, a user end is either the user'"'"'s computer online or Point Of Sale (POS), and the operator system is a bank server system;

wherein in step c), the user shall set up the communication channel and transmit the data via either POS or Internet.

10. A smart card replacement system to replace an old smart card having an old ICCID, an old user identification number, and an old secret key by a new smart card with a new ICCID, wherein the new ICCID of the new smart card is stored in a database of an operator system, but not activated;

wherein the old ICCID, the old user identification number and the old secret key have been registered in the operator system and activated, corresponding to a user account, said smart card replacement system including;

a communication device, used to set up a data transmission connection between a user and the smart card replacement system, wherein the user transmits the old ICCID and the old user identification number of the old smart card of the user, and the new ICCID of the new smart card to the operator system;

a user data receiving device, used to receive the old ICCID and the old user identification number of the old smart card of the user, and to receive the new ICCID of the new smart card input by the user;

a user account identification device, used to identify the user account according to the old ICCID and the old user identification number received by the user data receiving device;

a new card activation device, used to map the new ICCID of the new smart card with the user account identified by the user account identification device, and to register and activate the new smart card so that the old smart card will be replaced,

a user identification number and a secret key assigning device, used to assign a new user identification number and a new secret key dynamically for the new smart card received by the user data receiving device, and to store the new user identification number and the new secret key in the database, which correspond to the new ICCID;

a new card activation device, used to create a new parallel file in the user account with the new user identification number and the new secret key, then to validate the new user identification number and new secret key, and at the same time to invalidate the old user identification number and the old key of the user account; and

a communication device used to send the new user identification number and new secret key to the new smart card.

11. Smart card replacement system according to claim 10, characterized in that the new smart card has the new user identification number and the new secret key;

and the new user identification number and the new secret key are mapped and stored in the operator system, but not activated;

the user also transmits the old secret key of the old smart card of the user to the operator system;

further, the smart card replacement system also includes a new card data query device, used to search for the new identification number and the new secret key in the database of the operator system according to the new ICCID.

12. Smart card replacement system according to claim 10, characterized in that the new smart card has the new secret key, and the new secret key is mapped and stored in the operator system, but not activated;

the user also transmits the new ICCID of the new smart card to the operator system;

further, the system also includes a data read and write device, used to transmit the old user identification number of the old smart card from the old smart card to the new smart card;

a new card data query device, used to search for the new secret key in the database of the operator system according to the new ICCID of the new smart card; and

wherein the new card activation device is also used to create a new parallel file in the user account with the old user identification number of the old smart card and the new secret key found by the new card data query device to validate the new user identification number and the new secret key.

13. Smart card replacement system according to claim 10, characterized in that the new smart card still has the new secret key, and the new ICCID and the new secret key are mapped and stored in the database of the operator system, but not activated;

further, the user identification number and secret key assigning device exclusively assign the new user identification number dynamically for the new smart card;

the system also includes a new card data query device, used to search for the new secret key in the database according to the new ICCID of the new smart card input by the user.

14. Smart card replacement system according to claim 13, characterized in that the new smart card is a SIM card used in mobile phones, a user end is a processing box, the new user identification number is an IMSI number, the new secret key is Ki, and the operator system is a mobile phone operator system;

further, the user sets up the data transmission connection to the operator system with the processing box;

the processing box includes one or two card readers, used to read the data from an old SIM card and to write the data into the new SIM card;

a CPU, used to control the operation of all the processing box units;

a monitor, used to display a command from the CPU and data input by the user;

an input unit, used to input or confirm data such as PIN or ICCID;

a storage device, used to store data read by the card reader, data to be written into the new SIM card, and applications executed by the CPU; and

a communication unit, used to communicate with a smart card replacement system via the Internet, modem, and PSTN or wireless telephones so that the IMSI and Ki of the new smart card is obtained from the replacement system.

15. Smart card replacement system according to claim 10, characterized in that a notification transmission unit is included to send a notification to the user according to activation results of the new card activation device;

further, if the new ICCID is found to be unavailable, or is occupied by an activated smart card in current use, an error prompt is sent to the user, prompting the user to input the new ICCID again.

16. Smart card replacement system according to claim 10, characterized in that a test processing device is included to make a communication test with the new smart card;

further, if the smart card replacement system has not received a response from the user within a predetermined time, the system confirms a replacement failure and switches to the old smart card, then validates the old user identification number and the old secret key in the user account.

17. Smart card replacement system according to claim 10, characterized in that the new smart card is a SIM card used in mobile phones, a user end is a mobile phone of the user, the new user identification number is an IMSI number, the new secret key is Ki, and the operator system is a mobile phone operator system;

further, the user sets up the data transmission connection with the communication device using one of the following approaches over the mobile phone with the old smart card;

to set up a voice over IP connection;

to set up a text connection;

to send a short message which includes the new ICCID of the new smart card input by the user.

18. Smart card replacement system according to claim 10, characterized in that the smart card is a bank card, a user end is the user'"'"'s computer online, a Point Of Sale (POS), or a common fixed telephone;

and the operator system is a bank server system;

further, the user sets up the data transmission connection with the communication device and transmit the data via POS, Internet or the telephone.