Method and apparatus for managing communication services using multiple subscription agreements

• US 10,057,872 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2017
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Osterwise, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Mong-Thuy
• Application Number:
  US15/428,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20170215163A1
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 4554353, 4554351, 455558
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/04 using triggered events
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, storing subscription utilization information in the memory where the subscription utilization information is indicative of a history of subscription usage by the device and where registration information associated with a group of subscription agreements is stored in the memory, receiving location information from the device processor where the location information indicates a location of the device, and selecting a target subscription agreement from among the group of subscription agreements according to the history of subscription usage and the location information. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) at a communication device, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

monitoring usage, by the communication device, of services provided under a group of subscription agreements to generate subscription utilization information;

selecting a target subscription agreement from among the group of subscription agreements according to the subscription utilization information;

determining whether a limited service level or a normal service level is available at a location, wherein the limited service level is based on a network server recognizing and denying service for a second subscription agreement of the group of subscription agreements, and wherein the normal service level is based on the network server recognizing and providing service for the second subscription agreement of the group of subscription agreements; and

responsive to the normal service level being available at the location, transmitting a registration request to the network server according to target registration information associated with the target subscription agreement that is stored at the communication device.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise storing the subscription utilization information at the communication device.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise storing registration information associated with the group of subscription agreements.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the target subscription agreement is further selected from among the group of subscription agreements according to comparison of the target subscription and a usage policy.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein a portion of the group of subscription agreements are with different service providers.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise providing a location request to the communication device, wherein location information is received from the communication device in response to the location request.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the target subscription agreement is further selected according to determining that the target subscription agreement is a most recently utilized subscription agreement for services according to the location information.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the target subscription agreement is further selected according to a selection policy.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the selection policy includes selection criteria including a user cost, a service provider cost, a government regulation, or any combination thereof.

10. A universal integrated circuit card of a communication device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

accessing with a selection policy;

selecting a target subscription agreement from among a group of subscription agreements according to the selection policy;

determining whether a limited service level or a normal service level is available at a location, wherein the limited service level is based on a network server recognizing and denying service for a second subscription agreement of the group of subscription agreements, and wherein the normal service level is based on the network server recognizing and providing the second subscription agreement of the group of subscription agreements; and

responsive to the normal service level being available at the location, transmitting a registration request to the network server according to target registration information associated with the target subscription agreement that is stored at the communication device.

11. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 10, wherein the target subscription agreement is further selected from among the group of subscription agreements according to subscription utilization information that is generated by monitoring usage of services provided under the group of subscription agreements.

12. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise determining from the subscription utilization information that the target subscription agreement is a most recently utilized subscription agreement for services at the location.

13. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise storing registration information associated with the group of subscription agreements.

14. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing a location request to the communication device; and

obtaining location information from the communication device responsive to the location request.

15. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 10, wherein the selection policy includes selection criteria including a user cost, a service provider cost, a government regulation, or any combination thereof.

16. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise determining that no service is available at the location.

17. The universal integrated circuit card of claim 10, wherein the selecting of the target subscription agreement from among the group of subscription agreements is further according to determining from subscription utilization information that the target subscription agreement is a most recently utilized subscription agreement for services at the location.

18. A method, comprising:

selecting, by a processing system including a processor of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) at a communication device, a target subscription agreement from among a group of subscription agreements according to subscription utilization information;

determining, by the processing system, whether a limited service level or a normal service level is available at a location, wherein the limited service level is based on a network server recognizing and denying service for a second subscription agreement of the group of subscription agreements, and wherein the normal service level is based on the network server recognizing and providing service of the second subscription agreement of the group of subscription agreements; and

responsive to the normal service being determined to be available at the location, transmitting, by the processing system, a registration request to the network server according to target registration information associated with the target subscription agreement that is stored at the communication device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising monitoring, by the processing system, usage, by the communication device, of services provided under the group of subscription agreements to generate the subscription utilization information.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing, by the processing system, a location request to the communication device; and

obtaining, by the processing system, location information from the communication device responsive to the location request.