T-mobile Usa, Inc.

Kyeong Hun An

Phani Ramisetty

Mathew George

Tanmay Roy

Cristian Asandului

Ryan King

Ming Shan Kwok

Wafik Abdel Shahid

Karthik Iyer

Nilesh Ranjan

Nandita Sharma

Romil Sood

Hogan Shin

Deepthi Jonnala

A 5-Generation (5G) cellular communication device may at times be used with a legacy subscriber identifier module (SIM) that does not support 5G subscriber identity privacy features. To obtain a subscriber identifier for authentication, the device attempts to obtain or generate a concealed subscriber identifier with the support of the current SIM. If this is not possible, as may be the case with legacy, non-5G SIMs, the device determines whether the home network specified by the SIM is the network of the provisioning operator. If so, the device obtains an unconcealed subscriber identifier from the SIM, encrypts it with the provisioned home network key, and uses the resulting concealed subscriber identifier for authentication. If the home network specified by the SIM is a network other than that of the provisioning network operator, the device obtains the unconcealed subscriber identifier from the SIM and uses it for authentication.

System and methods for subscriber identifier authentication and privacy

Systems and methods for using a bootstrap Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to bootstrap an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device on a cellular network. The IoT device uses bootstrap information stored on the bootstrap SIM to authenticate the IoT device with the cellular network. The cellular network receives the bootstrap information and uses a certificate repository to check the bootstrap information against. Upon successful authentication, the IoT device is provided with credentials to register the IoT device on the cellular network.

Systems and methods for bootstrapped onboarding of cellular devices

Described herein are techniques, devices, and systems for receiving, by a mobile device and from a subscriber identity module (SIM), an input associated with an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) code. The input can be provided by the SIM based on application data stored in the SIM. The SIM can receive the application data via an over-the-air (OTA) platform. The mobile device can transmit, to a service provider core network, a request associated with the USSD code. The mobile device can receive a subscription value based on the USSD code. The subscription value can be a mobile station international subscriber directory number (MSISDN) or an internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) public user identity (IMPU).

Automated subscriber identification module (SIM) activation

A method and system for a device-based smart NAT selection. A method includes receiving a request from a user equipment (UE) for access to a mobile network. The method further identifies a configuration profile embedded in the request from the UE. In response to identifying, the mobile network identifies a plurality of connection preferences in the configuration profile. The method further enables the mobile network to select one of the plurality of the connection preferences for accessing the mobile network by the UE. The method further connects the UE to the mobile network according to the selected one of the connection preferences.

Device based smart NAT selection

Intelligent network access technology (NAT) control is described herein. An event associated with a mobile computing device can be detected. Responsive to the event being detected, a subscriber identity module (SIM) associated with the mobile computing device can access location information associated with a location of the mobile computing device. The SIM can access a configuration table storing NAT data provided by a network for controlling which NATs the mobile computing device is permitted to use to access the network. The SIM can determine, based at least in part on the NAT data and the location information, that a requested NAT of the mobile computing device is not a permissible NAT for the mobile computing device in the location and the SIM can cause the mobile computing device to connect to the network via an alternate NAT.

Intelligent network access technology (NAT) selection

Telecommunication services are received at a user device using an embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile stored on the user device while the user device is located in a first geographical area. A list of preferred remote SIM provisioning (RSP) platforms that provide eSIM profiles specific to a partner MNO of the MNO in a second geographical area is also received from an eSIM management platform of an MNO; The user device is then determined to have moved to a second geographical area based on a geolocation of the user device. Subsequently, an additional eSIM profile specific to the partner MNO of the MNO is downloaded to the user device from an RSP platform of one or more RSP platforms included in the list of preferred RSP platforms.

Rsp platform selection for providing esim profiles to user devices

Systems and methods for over-the-air (OTA) updating of data stored on Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) devices are provided. Such techniques enable updates to be provided on a timely basis for NB-IoT devices that lack short message service (SMS) capabilities, through polling an OTA update server in response to the occurrence of triggering events at the NB-IoT devices. Triggering events may be identified based upon conditions such as time since a previous update attempt or number of times the NB-IoT device has awoken since the previous update attempt. The updates may include updates to network lists used by the NB-IoT devices to determine preferred or forbidden networks, thereby reducing battery drain from repeated attempts to connect to inaccessible networks.

Mechanism to provide updates to NB-IoT devices

Systems and methods discussed herein are directed to handling the identity and authentication of server security certificates on SIMs, and establishing secure channels with cloud servers via a wireless communication network using the security certificates and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) libraries on SIMs. A mechanism to manage the security certificates on SIMs using an Over-the-Air (OTA) platform of the wireless communication network and certificate authority network elements is provided. Multiple cloud systems and their cloud servers are supported by storing multiple cloud certificates on SIMs and enabling features of a dynamic selection of the appropriate server certificate by the OTA platform for secure communication. Accordingly, electronic devices may be used within the wireless communication network for exchanging data with multiple cloud servers without changing codes/software devices, SIMs, etc.

Providing multiple server security certificates on SIMs of electronic devices

The methods, systems, and computer readable media discussed herein are directed to enabling a fifth generation cellular-wireless access technology (5G) user equipment (UE) to receive 5G service using a fourth generation cellular-wireless access technology (4G) subscriber identity module (SIM). Upon powering on, the 5G UE may determine whether a mobile network operator (MNO) public key file exists in the 4G SIM. Upon determining that the MNO public key file exists in the 4G SIM, the 5G UE may retrieve a MNO public key value from the MNO public key file, read a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) from the 4G SIM, generate a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI) based on the SUPI and the MNO public key value, send the SUCI to a 5G mobile network for registering the 5G UE, and begin receiving 5G services from the 5G mobile network.

5G service compatible 4G SIM

Techniques for provisioning electronic devices that may not have a local provisioning agent (LPA), such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, to a mobile network of a mobile network operator (MNO), are discussed herein. The IoT devices and/or the associated embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) may have one or more device profile templates stored thereon, where individual ones of the device profile templates are associated with a particular MNO. A device provisioning system of an MNO may provision the IoT device in a machine-to-machine (M2M) manner over the air (OTA) by communicating, such as via a radio node, one or more configuration parameters to the IoT device. The IoT device may identify a device profile template associated with the MNO to which the IoT device is to be provisioned and configure that device profile template based at least in part on the configuration parameters received from the device provisioning system.

Over the air provisioning of embedded subscriber identification module devices

A 5G user equipment (UE) can register for 5G services with a telecommunication network in part using a Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI), an encrypted version of a subscriber identifier, so that the actual subscriber identifier is not exposed during network registration. Legacy SIMs originally deployed for 4G/LTE and other legacy wireless access technologies store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), but do not store a network public key needed to generate a SUCI. However, a 5G UE can still use a legacy SIM to securely obtain 5G services by encrypting the IMSI from the legacy SIM using a network public key stored in the 5G UE's own memory to generate a SUCI, and then transmitting the generated SUCI to the telecommunication network during network registration. Accordingly, the IMSI on the legacy SIM is not exposed during network registration.

5G device compatibility with legacy SIM

Systems and methods discussed herein are directed to subscriber identity (SIM) cards that include multiple profiles. The SIM cards include logic, e.g., an application or an applet, configured to change profiles so that the correct profile is selected for use with the electronic device that includes such a SIM card within the appropriate wireless communication network. The ability to change profiles may be based on activity of the electronic device, e.g., events, within the wireless communication network.

Smart profile change by subscriber identity module (SIM) application

Processes and systems for locking a NB-IoT device to a NB-IoT SIM before connecting the NB-IoT device to a cellular network are discussed herein. The NB-IoT device may include a status flag that determines whether the NB-IoT device requires a NB-IoT SIM to access NB-IoT-specific functions provided by a cellular network. In one example, a Group Identifier Level 1 (GID1) of the IoT SIM may be queried and compared against a reference value to determine whether the IoT SIM is an NB-IoT SIM, and if confirmed, the NB-IoT device may connect to a cellular network and access the NB-IoT-specific functions. In an example, an NB-IoT device associated with a status flag indicating that the device does not require an NB-IoT SIM may connect to a cellular network, but may not access NB-IoT-specific functions.

Subscriber identity module activation for NB-IoT devices

An eSIM management platform may receive service feature information on multiple remote SIM provisioning (RSP) platforms that are designated by a mobile network operator (MNO) to distribute embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) profiles for a partner MNO of the MNO. The eSIM management platform may evaluate multiple RSP platforms based on one or more service features of each RSP platform to select one or more RSP platforms of the multiple RSP platforms for population into a list of preferred RSP platforms for the geographical area. The eSIM management profile may send the list of preferred RSP platforms to a user device to configure the user device to use an eSIM profile provided by an RSP platform of the one or more RSP platforms. The user device may use the eSIM profile to obtain telecommunication services from the partner MNO while the user device is in a geographical area.

RSP platform selection for ESIM profile procurement

A user device may receive a list of remote SIM provisioning (RSP) platforms that are designated by a mobile network operator (MNO) to distribute eSIM profiles of a partner MNO of the MNO, in which the partner MNO provides telecommunication services in a geographical area. The user device may obtain one or more service features of individual RSP platforms in the list of RSP platforms from a meta RSP interface (MRI) platform when the user device is in the geographical area. Subsequently, the user device may determine a number of service parameters that are met by the one or more service features of the individual RSP platforms. In response to identifying a single RSP platform as meeting a highest number of service parameters, the user device may request a download of an eSIM profile from the single RSP platform to access the telecommunication services of the partner MNO.

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Sammamish, WA, United States of America

Kyeong Hun An