Mediation server, control method therefor, communication device, control method therefor, communication system, and computer program

• US 9,374,710 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2010
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Hjelm, Johan, Perkuhn, Heiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Cong
• Application Number:
  US13/817,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20130143524A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,136 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410, 4555561- 2, 455/557, 455/558, 705/16, 705/17, 705/21, 705/44
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0038 System on Chip
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/205 Transfer to or from user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

A mediation server which is able to communicate with a plurality of account managing servers (104) and mediates requests for issuing subscription information transmitted from a plurality of communication devices between each communication device and any one of the plurality of account managing servers (104), the mediation server comprising, a selection unit configured to select the account managing server to which the request is to be transmitted based on information regarding a current operational status of each account managing server stored in a database, when the request is received from the communication device, and a transmission unit configured to transmit the request for issuing the subscription information to the selected account managing server.

Claims

1. A mediation server, comprising:

a receiver for receiving a request, transmitted by a communication device, for issuing a downloadable subscriber identity module (SIM) to the communication device;

a selection unit configured to select from a set of two or more account managing servers an account managing server to which the request from the communication device for the downloadable SIM is to be transmitted based on information stored in a database regarding a current operational status of each account managing server included in said set, wherein the selection unit is configured to perform the selection in response to the mediation server receiving the request for issuing the downloadable SIM transmitted by the communication device; and

a transmission unit configured to transmit the request for issuing the downloadable SIM to the selected account managing server.

2. The mediation server according to claim 1, further comprising:

an updating unit configured to update the information stored in the database regarding the current operational status of the selected account managing server based on a time period between the transmission of the request to the selected account managing server and reception of the downloadable SIM from the selected account managing server.

3. The mediation server according to claim 2, wherein the selection unit is further configured to select such an account managing server that has a time period between the transmission of the request to the selected account managing server and reception of the downloadable SIM from the account managing server that is shorter than those of other account managing servers.

4. The mediation server according to claim 1, wherein the database manages information regarding busy time period for each account managing server, and

the selection unit is further configured to select such an account managing server that does not have a busy status at the time of selection based on the stored information in the connection database.

5. The mediation server according to claim 1, wherein the information regarding the current operational status includes one or more types of performance parameters respectively indicating a current performance of one of the account managing servers, and

the selection unit is further configured to select such an account managing server that has higher performance than other account managing server based on comparison of values of the performance parameters.

6. The mediation server according to claim 1, wherein a communication device issues the request using one of at least two items of identification information of the communication device, each having different priority, and

the mediation server further comprising:

a queue management unit configured to receive requests from the communication devices and to transfer the requests to the selection unit by managing a queue of requests based on the identification information attached to each request, wherein the queue management unit is further configured to transfer the request with the identification information of higher priority, prior to the request with the identification information of lower priority in the queue.

7. The mediation server of claim 1, wherein the request for issuing a downloadable SIM indicates an identification of the communication device, and wherein the information regarding the current operational status of each account managing server identifies a load of each of the account managing servers, and wherein the selection unit is configured to select which of the account managing servers to transmit the request based on the identification of the communication device and the load of each of the account managing servers.

8. The mediation server of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the current operational status of one of the account managing servers includes at least one of percentage of memory available at the account managing server and number of simultaneous processes on the account managing server, and the selection unit is configured to select which of the account managing servers to transmit the request based on the information.

9. The mediation server of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the current operational status of one of the account managing servers includes at least one of mean time between failures (MTBF), output intensity, mean time to provision service (MTPS), and mean time to restore service (MTRS).

10. The mediation server of claim 1, wherein the request received by the mediation server indicates an identification of the communication device that transmitted the request, and wherein the transmission unit is configured to transmit the request to an account managing server only if the identification of the communication device is associated with a priority level that is higher than a predetermined threshold.

11. The mediation server of claim 10, wherein the mediation server is configured to place the request in a queue of requests for issuing downloadable SIM, and wherein the placement of the request within the queue is based on the priority level associated with the identification of the communication device.

12. The mediation service of claim 1, wherein the downloadable SIM comprises information needed by the communication device to obtain a communication service.

13. A communication system comprising:

a plurality of account managing servers; and

a mediation server which is able to communicate with each of said plurality of account managing sewers, wherein

the mediation server comprises;

(i) a receiver for receiving a request for issuing a downloadable subscriber identity module (SIM) transmitted by a communication device;

(ii) a selection unit configured such that, in response to the mediation server receiving the request for issuing the download able SIM transmitted by the communication device, the selection unit selects from the plurality of account managing servers an account managing server to which the request is to be transmitted based on information stored in a database regarding a current operational status of each account managing server included in said plurality; and

(ii) a transmission unit configured to transmit the request for issuing the downloadable SIM to the selected account managing server,

the selected account managing server is configured to transmit the downloadable SIM to the mediation server in response to receiving the request from the mediation server, and

the mediation server is configured to forward the downloadable SIM to the communication device.

14. The communication system of claim 13, wherein the downloadable SIM comprises information needed by the communication device to obtain a communication service.

15. A method performed by a mediation server, the method comprising:

the mediation server receiving from a communication device a request for issuing a downloadable subscriber identity module (SIM);

the mediation server, in response to receiving the request, selecting from a set of two or more account managing servers an account managing server to which the request is to be transmitted, wherein the selection of the account managing server is based on information stored in a database regarding a current operational status of each account managing server included in said set of account managing servers; and

the mediation server transmitting the request for issuing the downloadable SIM to the selected account managing server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the downloadable SIM comprises information needed by the communication device to obtain a communication service.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:

selecting from a set of two or more account managing servers an account managing server, wherein the selection of the account managing server is based on information stored in a database regarding a current operational status of each account managing server included in said set of account managing servers, wherein the selecting step is performed in response to the computer receiving from a communication device a request for issuing a downloadable subscriber identity module (SIM); and

transmitting the request for issuing the downloadable SIM to the selected account managing server.