Search

US-12621653-B2 - Internet of things (IoT) device and method for managing provisioning of one or more universal integrated circuit cards (UICCs)

US12621653B2US 12621653 B2US12621653 B2US 12621653B2US-12621653-B2

Abstract

A method for managing provisioning of universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) in internet of things (IoT) devices, is disclosed. The method comprises (a) initiating a mobile network connection with one or more IoT platforms; (b) receiving one or more instructions from the one or more IoT platforms; (c) downloading one or more subscription profiles associated with one or more second UICCs from the one or more IoT platforms upon receiving the one or more instructions; (d) configuring the one or more subscription profiles in the one or more second UICCs; and (e) rebooting the mobile network connection to connect the one or more second UICCs of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices with the one or more second UICCs IoT platforms through a second cellular network based on the one or more second UICCs subscription profiles configured in the one or more second UICCs.

Inventors

  • Byron Rojas

Assignees

  • Easymetering LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20231215

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method for managing provisioning of one or more universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) in one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, the method comprising: determining, by one or more switch interfaces of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, whether one or more first universal integrated circuit cards of one or more internet of things (IoT) devices is connected in a first cellular network through one or more first radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices; upon determining, switching, by the one or more switch interfaces of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices connected in the first cellular network, to one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, by at least one of: one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) buses and one or more virtual buses; initiating, by one or more cellular chipsets of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, a mobile network connection with one or more IoT platforms; receiving, by one or more secure microcontrollers of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, one or more instructions from the one or more IoT platforms; downloading, by one or more firmware of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, one or more subscription profiles associated with the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, from the one or more IoT platforms upon receiving the one or more instructions; configuring, by one or more application-based cellular modules of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, the one or more subscription profiles in the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, upon downloading the one or more subscription profiles from the one or more IoT platforms; and rebooting, by the one or more secure microcontrollers of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, the mobile network connection to connect the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices with the one or more IoT platforms through a second cellular network based on the one or more subscription profiles configured in the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving, by the one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) buses, information associated with the switching of the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards from the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards; transmitting, by the one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) buses, the information to the one or more cellular chipsets through at least one of: the one or more virtual buses and one or more cellular buses; transmitting, by the one or more cellular chipsets, the information to the one or more IoT platforms; and downloading, by the one or more firmware of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, the one or more subscription profiles associated with the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, from the one or more IoT platforms, based on the information transmitted to the one or more IoT platforms.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving, by the one or more cellular chipsets, one or more attention (AT) instructions from the one or more secure microcontrollers through the one or more cellular buses; and managing, by the one or more cellular chipsets, the mobile network connection to a radio access network, based on the one or more attention (AT) instructions received from the one or more secure microcontrollers.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating, by one or more subscription managers-data preparation (SM-DP) of the one or more IoT platforms, the one or more subscription profiles for the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, upon the mobile network connection is initiated between the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices and the one or more IoT platforms; securely transmitting, by one or more subscription managers-secure routing (SM-SR) of the one or more IoT platforms, the one or more subscription profiles to the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices; managing, by one or more IoT device register entities of the one or more IoT platforms, registration and activation of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, into the one or more IoT platforms; managing, by one or more IoT device report entities of the one or more IoT platforms, one or more reports received from the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices; and controlling, by one or more home subscription servers (HSS) of the one or more IoT platforms, a number of the one or more universal integrated circuit cards within a predetermined threshold value.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising connecting, by the one or more first radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas, the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices with at least one of: one or more wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks and one or more Bluetooth devices.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile network connection is initiated between the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices and the one or more IoT platforms through the one or more first radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas, based on working conditions of the one or more second radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the provisioning of the one or more universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) is performed when at least one of: the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards and the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards is in at least one of: an online state and an offline state.
  8. 8 . An internet of things (IoT) device for managing provisioning of one or more universal integrated circuit cards (UICC), the internet of things (IoT) device comprising: one or more switch interfaces connected to at least one of: one or more first universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) and one or more second universal integrated circuit cards, wherein the one or more switch interfaces is configured to: determine whether the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards is connected in a first cellular network through one or more first radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices; and upon determining, switch the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards connected in the first cellular network, to the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards, by at least one of: one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) buses and one or more virtual buses; one or more cellular chipsets configured to initiate a mobile network connection with one or more IoT platforms through the one or more second radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas; one or more secure microcontrollers configured to receive one or more instructions from the one or more IoT platforms; one or more firmware configured to download one or more subscription profiles associated with the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards, from the one or more IoT platforms upon receiving the one or more instructions; one or more application-based cellular modules configured to execute the one or more subscription profiles in the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards, upon downloading the one or more subscription profiles from the one or more IoT platforms; and the one or more secure microcontrollers is further configured to reboot the mobile network connection to connect the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices with the one or more IoT platforms through a second cellular network based on the one or more subscription profiles configured in the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards.
  9. 9 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein: the one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) buses is configured to: receive information associated with the switching of the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards from the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards; and transmit the information to the one or more cellular chipsets through at least one of: the one or more virtual buses and one or more cellular buses; and the one or more cellular chipsets is configured to transmit the information to the one or more IoT platforms; and the one or more firmware is configured to download the one or more subscription profiles associated with the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards, from the one or more IoT platforms, based on the information transmitted to the one or more IoT platforms.
  10. 10 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more cellular chipsets is configured to: receive one or more attention (AT) instructions from the one or more secure microcontrollers through the one or more cellular buses; and manage the mobile network connection to a radio access network, based on the one or more attention (AT) instructions received from the one or more secure microcontrollers.
  11. 11 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more IoT platforms comprises at least one of: one or more subscription managers-data preparation (SM-DP) configured to generate the one or more subscription profiles for the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, upon the mobile network connection is initiated between the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices and the one or more IoT platforms; one or more subscription managers-secure routing (SM-SR) configured to securely transmit the one or more subscription profiles to the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices; one or more IoT device register entities configured to manage registration and activation of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, into the one or more IoT platforms; one or more IoT device report entities configured to manage one or more reports received from the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices; and one or more home subscription servers (HSS) configured to control a number of the one or more universal integrated circuit cards within a predetermined threshold value.
  12. 12 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the mobile network connection is initiated between the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices and the one or more IoT platforms through the one or more first radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas, based on working conditions of the one or more second radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas.
  13. 13 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards is surface-mounted to the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices.
  14. 14 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards is configured to be inserted within one or more surface-mounted slots in the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices.
  15. 15 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 14 , wherein the one or more surface-mounted slots for the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards, is compatible with a fourth form factor (4FF) size of the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards.
  16. 16 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more first radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas is configured to connect with at least one of: one or more wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks and one or more Bluetooth devices.
  17. 17 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more secure microcontrollers comprises at least one of: one or more random access memories (RAM), one or more non-volatile memories, and one or more cryptographic accelerators.
  18. 18 . The internet of things (IoT) device of claim 8 , wherein the provisioning of the one or more universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) is performed when at least one of: the one or more first universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) and the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) is in at least one of: an online state and an offline state.
  19. 19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein that when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more hardware processors to execute operations of: initiating a mobile network connection with one or more IoT platforms; receiving one or more instructions from the one or more IoT platforms; downloading one or more subscription profiles associated with one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, from the one or more IoT platforms upon receiving the one or more instructions; configuring the one or more subscription profiles in the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, upon downloading the one or more subscription profiles from the one or more IoT platforms; and rebooting the mobile network connection to connect the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices with the one or more IoT platforms through a second cellular network based on the one or more subscription profiles configured in the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices.
  20. 20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , further comprising: receiving information associated with switching of the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards from one or more first universal integrated circuit cards; transmitting the information to the one or more cellular chipsets through at least one of: the one or more virtual buses and one or more cellular buses; transmitting the information to the one or more IoT platforms; and downloading the one or more subscription profiles associated with the one or more second universal integrated circuit cards of the one or more internet of things (IoT) devices, from the one or more IoT platforms, based on the information transmitted to the one or more IoT platforms.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION Embodiments of a present disclosure relate to an Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and more particularly relate to an internet of things (IoT) device with a dual universal integrated circuit card (UICC) and a method for managing provisioning of one of the UICCs through a wireless communication system. BACKGROUND The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is an evolution of a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology. Although the M2M technology is a whole area of specialization that keeps progressing, an IoT technology brings more capabilities to a table. An IoT device, as well as an M2M device, relies upon communication protocols. The communication protocols enable the IoT device to connect and send information to an IoT platform. The IoT platform takes the information to analyze, command, and predict the behavior of complex processes in the IoT devices. The IoT devices comprise microcontrollers optimized for specific tasks including at least one of: energy consumption monitoring and tracking, temperature monitoring, and the like. The IoT device may connect to an external no-smart device to add capabilities including remote reading and writing to the no-smart device and other purposes due to a wide range of networking applications. To establish a networking application, the most common way to do is setup a cellular interface in the IoT device because of its nature to provide ease of installation (i.e., just connect and work). The IoT devices are connected easily through a cellular network as the cellular networks are widely deployed and provide greater accessibility when compared to other networks. The cellular network or mobile network are terms with equivalent meaning that refer to an infrastructure that spans a wireless communication over a large area of land. Additionally, the IoT devices may have a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) interface, depending upon the feasibility and requirement for the operation of the IoT device. Some energy meter manufacturers incorporate a bus interface inside energy meters to facilitate serial communication with other devices to add value to the energy meter as a product. The bus interface inside energy meters allows third companies specializing in telecommunications to develop electronic boards and software to achieve administration, inventory, monitoring of events, theft detections, network management, data collection, and the like, in the energy meters. As a result, the energy meters convert into the IoT devices adding revenue value. In the IoT industry, there are several participants, including at least one of: IoT device manufacturers, IoT service providers, and Mobile Network Operators (MNO). Frequently, the IoT device manufacturers and IoT service providers combine to form what is referred to as an IoT solution provider. The IoT solution provider may offer the IoT devices with the capability to use different generations of Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) networks that comprise at least one of: second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), and fifth generation (5G or NR) technology. Additionally, the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are entities who provide the GSM networks via their cellular network. The Mobile Network Operators can offer data and voice services with different access policies to their services in their cellular network. For example, a voice service is billed based on time duration of a call, and a data service is billed based on a number of bytes transferred through their cellular network. A subscriber identity module (SIM) is one of the crucial aspects for providing services through a cellular network. The SIM resides in a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). The UICC and the SIM card are terms with identical meanings from now on. The UICC lets an end user have portability of their service access to the cellular network offered by the MNO without being permanently attached to a device. Moreover, the UICC securely stores a subscription profile. The subscription profile comprises information related to the user, the MNO, the MNO services, and MNO keys to access the MNO services. Further, the MNO keys comprises passwords and authorization codes to access the MNO services. Further, the UICC comprises a small computer with an operating system. Random Access Memory (RAM), and one or more hardware processors. The IoT device may work in remote or inaccessible locations where conditions can be extreme, for example, high temperatures. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is not ideal to use traditional UICCs because it may be problematic to insert or change the UICC in the IoT device. Therefore, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) developed the embedded UICC (eUICC) specifically for the IoT devices market. The embedded UICC (eUICC) comes in a chip format that can be soldered directly into a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The eUICC can store or download various subscription profiles. The e