Universal integrated circuit card updates in a hybrid network

• US 8,837,449 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2010
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Xuming, Rybar, Lawrence S., Srinivasiah, Bhaskar, Venkataramu, Praveen, Hjelm, Bjorn
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jay P
• Application Number:
  US12/916,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20120106533A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 370/342, 370/252
• US Class Current: 370/342
• 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 8/205 Transfer to or from user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal

Abstract

A universal integrated circuit card (UICC) may include a universal subscriber identity module (USIM); a code division multiple access (CDMA) subscriber identity module (CSIM); a memory to store instructions; and a processor. The processor may execute instructions to determine a type of wireless access network available to a user equipment (UE) associated with the UICC; perform updates of the UICC using the USIM, in response to detecting a CDMA enhanced High Rate Packet Data (eHRPD) network, a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) access network, or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access network; and perform updates of the UICC using the CSIM, in response to detecting an available CDMA access network other than a CDMA eHRPD access network.

Claims

1. A universal integrated circuit card comprising:

a universal subscriber identity module;

a code division multiple access subscriber identity module; and

logic configured to;

determine that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed;

determine a type of wireless access network available to a user equipment associated with the universal integrated circuit card;

detect whether the type of available wireless access network corresponds to a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network or a code division multiple access network other than a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network;

request updates using the universal subscriber identity module, in response to detecting an available code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network and in response to determining that updates are to be performed;

request updates using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module, in response to detecting an available code division multiple access network other than a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network and in response to determining that updates are to be performed;

receive, from a programming system, universal subscriber identity module file updates, in response to requesting updates using the universal subscriber identity module or using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module; and

receive, from the programming system, code division multiple access subscriber identity module file updates, in response to requesting updates using the universal subscriber identity module or using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module.

2. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, further comprising:

a user equipment database that stores;

an identification string associated with the universal subscriber identity module;

an identification string associated with the user equipment associated with the universal subscriber identity module; and

a user equipment profile that stores information about the user equipment associated with the universal subscriber identity module.

3. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to:

retrieve information about the user equipment associated with the universal subscriber identity module by communicating with the user equipment, in response to the user equipment being powered up.

4. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, where the universal subscriber identity module stores one or more of:

a Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network number,

an International Mobile Subscriber Identity number,

information identifying a Home Public Land Mobile Network, or

a mobile country code list.

5. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 4, wherein the universal integrated circuit card is to use the universal subscriber identity module and the International Mobile Subscriber Identity number when the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card, is to perform an attachment procedure in a Global System for Mobile Communication access network or a Long Term Evolution access network.

6. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, where the code division multiple access subscriber identity module stores one or more of:

a Mobile Identification Number,

a Mobile Directory Number,

a 1XRTT access profile, or

a High Rate Packet Data access profile.

7. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 6, wherein the universal integrated circuit card is configured to use the code division multiple access subscriber identity module and the Mobile Identification Number when the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card, is to perform an attachment procedure in a code division multiple access network other than the code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network.

8. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 7, wherein the logic is further configured to:

detect a code division multiple access 1XRTT access network;

retrieve an over the air function number from the 1XRTT access profile;

contact an over the air function using the retrieved over the air function number;

wait for Internet Protocol connectivity to be established between the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card, and a home agent associated with the code division multiple access 1XRTT access network; and

send a request for updates to a programming system to update the universal integrated circuit card.

9. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 7, wherein the logic is further configured to:

detect a code division multiple access High Rate Packet Data access network;

retrieve a special network access identifier from the High Rate Packet Data access profile;

send the special network access identifier to an authentication, authorization, and accounting server;

wait for Internet Protocol connectivity to be established between the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card, and a home agent associated with the code division multiple access High Rate Packet Data access network; and

send a request for updates to a programming system to update the universal integrated circuit card.

10. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to:

receive, from the programming system, application configuration updates, where wherein the application configuration updates are to be used with applications associated with the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card.

11. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, wherein the universal integrated circuit card further comprises an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem subscriber identity module, wherein the universal subscriber identity module is configured to use the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem subscriber identity module when communicating with an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem network, and wherein the logic is further configured to:

receive, from the programming system, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem subscriber identity module file updates.

12. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, wherein, when the logic is determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed, the logic is configured to determine that a polling interval has been reached.

13. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, wherein, when the logic is determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed, the logic is configured to receive a short message service message from a programming system via a short message service center.

14. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 1, wherein, when the logic is determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed, the logic is configured to receive a session initiation protocol message from a programming system via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem.

15. The universal subscriber identity module of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to:

detect a new user equipment associated with the universal subscriber identity module; and

send information about the new user equipment to a programming system, in response to detecting the new user equipment.

16. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 15, wherein, when the logic is sending the information about the new user equipment to the programming system, the logic is configured to:

send a short message service message with the information to the programming system.

17. A method performed by a universal integrated circuit card, the method comprising:

determining, by a processor associated with the universal integrated circuit card, that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed;

determining, by the processor, a type of wireless access network available to a user equipment associated with the universal integrated circuit card;

detecting, by the processor, whether the type of available wireless access network corresponds to a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network or a code division multiple access network other than a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network;

requesting, by the processor, updates of the universal integrated circuit card, using a universal subscriber identity module, in response to detecting an available code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network and in response to determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit cards are to be performed;

requesting, by the processor, updates of the universal integrated circuit card, using a code division multiple access subscriber identity module, in response to detecting an available code division multiple access network other than a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network and in response to determining that updates are to be performed;

receiving, by the processor and from a programming system, universal subscriber identity module file updates, in response to requesting updates using the universal subscriber identity module or using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module; and

receiving, by the processor and from the programming system, code division multiple access subscriber identity module file updates, in response to requesting updates using the universal subscriber identity module or using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module.

18. The method of claim 17, where requesting updates for the universal integrated circuit card using the universal subscriber identity module comprises:

performing an attachment procedure using the universal subscriber identity module and an International Mobile Subscriber Identity number associated with the universal integrated circuit card;

waiting for Internet Protocol connectivity to be established between the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card, and a packet data network gateway;

sending, in response to detecting Internet Protocol connectivity, a request for updates to the programming system;

receiving, from the programming system, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem subscriber identity module file updates; and

receiving, from the programming system, application configuration updates, where the application configuration updates are to be used with applications associated with the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card.

19. The method of claim 17, where requesting updates for the universal integrated circuit card using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module comprises:

detecting a code division multiple access 1XRTT access network;

contacting an over the air function using an over the air function number;

waiting for Internet Protocol connectivity to be established between the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card, and a home agent associated with the code division multiple access 1XRTT access network;

sending, in response to detecting Internet Protocol connectivity, a request for updates to the programming system;

receiving, from the programming system, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem subscriber identity module file updates; and

receiving, from the programming system, application configuration updates, where the application configuration updates are to be used with applications associated with the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card.

20. The method of claim 17, where requesting updates for the universal integrated circuit card using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module comprises:

detecting a code division multiple access High Rate Packet Data access network;

sending a special network access identifier to an authentication, authorization, and accounting server;

waiting for Internet Protocol connectivity to be established between the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card, and a home agent associated with the code division multiple access High Rate Packet Data access network;

sending a request for updates to the programming system;

receiving, from the programming system, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem subscriber identity module file updates; and

receiving, from the programming system, application configuration updates, where the application configuration updates are to be used with applications associated with the user equipment, associated with the universal integrated circuit card.

21. The method of claim 17, where determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed includes:

detecting that a particular interval has elapsed.

22. The method of claim 17, where determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed includes:

receiving a short message service message from the programming system, where the short message service message includes an instruction to request an immediate update.

23. The method of claim 17, where determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit card are to be performed includes:

receiving a session initiation protocol message from the programming system via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem, where the session initiation protocol message includes an instruction to request an immediate update.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

detecting a new user equipment associated with the universal integrated circuit card; and

sending information about the new user equipment to a programming system, in response to detecting the new user equipment.

25. The method of claim 24, where sending the information about the new user equipment comprises:

sending a short message service message with the information to the programming system.

26. One or more non-transitory computer-readable memory devices storing instructions executable by one or more processors, the one or more non-transitory computer-readable memory devices comprising:

one or more instructions to determine that updates to a universal integrated circuit card are to be performed;

one or more instructions to determine a type of wireless access network available to a user equipment associated with the universal integrated circuit card;

one or more instructions to detect whether the type of available wireless access network corresponds to a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network or a code division multiple access network other than a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network;

one or more instructions to perform updates for the universal integrated circuit card using a universal subscriber identity module, in response to detecting an available code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network and in response to determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit cards are to be performed;

one or more instructions to perform updates for the universal integrated circuit card using a code division multiple access subscriber identity module, in response to detecting an available code division multiple access network other than a code division multiple access enhanced High Rate Packet Data network and in response to determining that updates to the universal integrated circuit cards are to be performed; and

wherein performing the updates of the universal integrated circuit card using the universal subscriber identity module or using the code division multiple access subscriber identity module comprises one or more of;

receiving, from a programming system, universal subscriber identity module file updates;

receiving, from the programming system, code division multiple access subscriber identity module file updates;

receiving, from the programming system, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem subscriber identity module file updates;

or

receiving, from the programming system, application configuration updates, where the application configuration updates are to be used with applications associated with the user equipment, associated with the universal subscriber identity module.