WO2011080636A2

WO2011080636A2 - A system wherein costs of identifying sim cards to gsm systems is reduced

Info

Publication number: WO2011080636A2
Application number: PCT/IB2010/055711
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rahmi Cem Cevikbas; Alp Sardag
Original assignee: Turkcell Teknoloji Arastirma Ve Gelistirme Anonim Sirketi
Priority date: 2009-12-30
Filing date: 2010-12-10
Publication date: 2011-07-07
Also published as: TR200910014A2; WO2011080636A4; WO2011080636A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system (1) which reduces costs of identifying SIM cards to GSM systems by using at least one device (2) having at least one SIM card (21) in which a SIM Tool Kit (STK) application is installed, at least one SIM card personalization center (3), at least one HLR (4) and CAS systems (5).

Description

A SYSTEM WHEREIN COSTS OF IDENTIFYING SIM CARDS TO GSM

SYSTEMS IS REDUCED

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system which reduces costs of identifying IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identifier) numbers to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) systems. Background of the Invention

Before distributing the new SIM cards to their subscribers, operators first identify these SIM cards to the GSM systems and then distribute the cards to the dealers. In this situation, if the numbers desired by the subscribers are not available at that dealer, the subscriber has to go to another dealer or purchase another number apart from the number that s/he desires. In order to solve this problem, SIM cards that are not identified to the GSM systems are sent to the dealers, and after the subscriber purchases the card, these SIM cards are identified to the GSM system by means of SIM card readers or the telephone of the subscriber.

The dummy IMSI numbers must be identified in the GSM systems at the SIM card readers at the dealers or at identification processes carried out by the mobile telephones of the subscribers. The Chinese patent document CN 1444414 in the state of the art discloses a method wherein subscribers can change the IMSI codes by their own telephones.

The United States patent document US5765105 discloses a system which enables the same IMSI number to be used in a plurality of mobile devices. The United States patent document US6556820 discloses a system which uses a single TMSI (temporary mobile subscriber identification) number. In the said system, authentication of a SIM card is postponed if there is an ongoing authentication process of another SIM card at the same time.

In order for the IMSI codes to be embedded to the SIM card, there need to be dummy IMSI codes in the SIM cards and the said codes should be identified to the GSM system. In this situation, operators have to pay excessive amounts of license fees for these dummy IMSI codes available in the field. For example, when 1 million SIM cards with temporary IMSI values are provided to the field, it can be sufficient to identify only 1000 IMSI codes to these SIM cards. However such a situation causes 1000 SIM cards having the same IMSI code to exist in the field and concurrent activation of SIM cards with the same IMSI code disrupts the system. Thus concurrent activation of SIM cards having the same IMSI code should be prevented. Summary of the Invention

The objective of the present invention is to realize a system which uses the IMSI numbers in the SIM cards, which are stored by the GSM operators to distribute new SIM cards, cyclically to reduce the costs of identifying these temporarily used IMSI numbers to the GSM systems.

Another objective of the present invention is to realize a system wherein the number of dummy IMSI codes, which are provided to the field in SIM card subscriptions made OTA (Over The Air) by the operators, is reduced.

A further objective of the invention is to realize a system wherein the identification costs in HL (Home Location Register) are reduced by preventing a dummy IMSI code from connecting to the network while another dummy IMSI code whose SIM card is sold is being processed. Another objective of the invention is to realize a system wherein the dummy IMSI codes are replaced with real IMSI codes as soon as the SIM card is sold and thus the unique IMSI code is enabled to circulate within the network. Detailed Description of the Invention

The system (1) realized to fulfill the objective of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 is the block diagram of the inventive system.

Figure 2 is the flowchart of the inventive system.

The parts illustrated in the figure are individually numbered where the numbers refer to the following:

1. System

2. Device

21. SIM card

3. SIM Card Personalization Center (SCPC)

4. HLR (Home Location Register)

5. CAS systems (Customer Application Systems)

A. Subscriber

The inventive system (1) essentially comprises at least one device (2) having at least one SIM card (21) in which a SIM Tool Kit (STK) application is installed, at least one SIM card personalization center (3), at least one HLR (4) and CAS systems (5).

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device (2) is a mobile phone. In the inventive system (1), in order for the subscription operations to be carried out in the field via OTA (Over the Air), the SIM cards are personalized by the SIM card producer by using dummy IMSI numbers. The real IMSI numbers to be used by the card are kept in a file in the electric profile of the SIM card. For that reason, there might be N SIM cards having the same IMSI in the field at the same time. In this situation, it is possible for these SIM cards to connect to the network at the same time and affect each other.

The system (1) is operated with the following steps for solution of the said problem,

the subscriber inserting the SIM card (21) into the device (2) and switching the device (2) on (101),

STK (SIM Tool Kit) application in the SIM card (21) reading the serial number of the SIM card (21) (102),

STK (SIM Tool Kit) application in the SIM card (21) enabling the device (2) to connect to the network by running the "PROVIDE LOCAL INFO" command in the device (2) with predetermined time intervals until the device (2) connects to the network (103), after the device (2) is connected to the network, STK application sending the serial number of the SIM card (21) to the SIM card personalization center (3) by running the "SEND SHORT MESSAGE" command in the device (2) (104),

STK application continuing to send the serial number of the SIM card (21) to the SIM card personalization center (3) with predetermined time intervals until the SIM card personalization center (3) receives the sent message successfully (105),

SIM card personalization center (3) receiving from the CAS systems (5) the real MSISDN, real MSISDN profile, real authentication key and real IMSI number corresponding to the SIM card (21) by means of the SIM card (21) serial number transmitted thereto (106), SIM card personalization center (3) carrying out the identifications concerning the real IMSI number corresponding to the SIM card (21) in HLR (4) (107),

SIM card personalization center (3) transmitting the real IMSI number to the SIM card (21) and the SIM card (21) saving this number to a file in the memory (108),

STK application replacing the dummy IMSI number with the real IMSI kept at the file in the memory (109),

if the mobile device (2) of the subscriber (A) supports the "REFRESH" proactive command, STK application restarting the device (2) with this command (109),

if the mobile device (2) of the subscriber (A) does not support the "REFRESH" proactive command, STK application giving a message to the subscriber, by means of the "DISPLAY TEXT" proactive command, to restart the mobile device (2) ( 1 10).

In the inventive system (1), first the subscriber (A) purchases her/his SIM card (21) from a dealer, inserts it into her/his device (2) and switches her/his device (2) on. STK application in the SIM card (21) runs the "PROVIDE LOCAL INFO" proactive command with predetermined time intervals until a sound network connection is established. STK application reads the SIM serial number file in the SIM card (21) from the SIM card (21) memory and transmits this information to the SIM card personalization center (3) by means of the "SEND SHORT MESSAGE" proactive command. In case the "SEND SHORT MESSSAGE" command can not perform the transmission successfully, this step is repeated cyclically. SIM card personalization center (3) draws from the CAS systems (5) the concerned real MSISDN, MSISDN profile, authentication key and IMSI number by means of the SIM card serial number transmitted thereto and carries out the identifications of the HLR (4). STK application replaces the dummy IMSI number with the real IMSI kept in a file. According to the terminal profile, STK application restarts the mobile device (2) of the subscriber (A) with the "REFRESH" proactive command or if this command is not supported, gives a message to the subscriber (A), by means of the "DISPLAY TEXT" proactive command, to restart the mobile device (2). By means of the inventive system (1), the identification costs in HLR are reduced by preventing a dummy IMSI code from connecting to the network while another dummy IMSI code whose SIM card is sold is being processed. The dummy IMSI codes are replaced with real IMSI codes as soon as the SIM card is sold and thus the unique IMSI code is enabled to circulate within the network.

It is possible to develop a wide variety of embodiments of the inventive system (1). The invention cannot be limited to the examples described herein and it is essentially according to the claims.

Claims

A system (1) which reduces costs of identifying SIM cards to GSM systems; and employs at least one device (2) having at least one SIM card (21) in which a SIM Tool Kit (STK) application is installed, at least one SIM card personalization center (3), at least one HLR (4) and CAS systems (5); and characterized in that it operates with the steps of

STK (SIM Tool Kit) application in the SIM card (21) enabling the device (2) to connect to the network by running the "PROVIDE LOCAL INFO" command in the device (2) with predetermined time intervals until the device (2) connects to the network (103),

after the device (2) is connected to the network, STK application sending the serial number of the SIM card (21) to the SIM card personalization center (3) by running the "SEND SHORT MESSAGE" command in the device (2) (104),

SIM card personalization center (3) receiving from the CAS systems^' (5) the real MSISDN, real MSISDN profile, real authentication key and real IMSI number corresponding to the SIM card (21) by means of the SIM card (21) serial number transmitted thereto (106),

SIM card personalization center (3) carrying out the identifications concerning the real IMSI number corresponding to the SIM card (21) in HLR (4) (107), SIM card personalization center (3) transmitting the real IMSI number to the SIM card (21) and the SIM card (21) saving this number to a file in the memory (108),

if the mobile device (2) of the subscriber (A) does not support the "REFRESH" proactive command, STK application giving a message to the subscriber, by means of the "DISPLAY TEXT" proactive command, to restart the mobile device (2) (110).