Patent Description:
With the rapid progress of mobile communication technical field, the application of intelligent terminal (e.g., mobile phone) is increasingly deeper into every aspect of our lives, services can be acquired from a telecom carrier's network through a user identification module by arranging a user identification module (e.g., a SIM card or a Universal SIM card) in the intelligent terminal.

In the existing cloud SIM card management method, due to the fact that a SIM card is not bound with any account of the telecom carrier in a manufacturing process, the activated network access information is bound with a specific account by the carrier in a SIM card activation process, so that a system management of the SIM card is facilitated.

However, the conventional SIM card management method is generally unintelligent, since network access information of one SIM card is fixed, one SIM card may only be allocated to one user, this user has to re-activate a new SIM card so as to acquire services from the telecom carrier's network again, and the previously activated SIM card cannot be activated again, so that a waste of resources is prone to be caused. It is obvious that, SIM cards cannot be allocated and managed flexibly in the traditional SIM card management method, and a problem of a waste of resources of SIM card is prone to be caused. For example, a prior art document D1 (<CIT>) discloses a network access method and device. The method comprises the following steps: sending a SIM card information acquisition request message carrying a user identifier to a server, wherein the SIM card information acquisition request message is used for requesting the server to determine SIM card information corresponding to the user identifier, and the SIM card information includes a SIM card identifier and authentication information; receiving the SIM card information sent by the server; and finally accessing a carrier's network according to the SIM card information to realize the communication function. A prior art document D2 (<CIT>) discloses a method and a terminal for realizing wireless communication. The terminal includes a VSIM card, a first ESIM card, a second ESIM card, an application processor, a first processing unit and a second processing unit, wherein the application processor receives an instruction from a subscriber, generates a first control instruction and a second control instruction according to the instruction, transmits the first control instruction to the first processing unit and transmits the second control instruction to the second processing unit; the first processing unit is connected with the application processor via a preset first interface, and is used for receiving a data service from a first network according to the received first control instruction, so as to perform data service transmission of the first ESIM card or the second ESIM card; the second processing unit is connected with the application processor through a preset second interface, and is used for receiving a data service from a second network according to the received second control instruction, so as to perform data service transmission of the VSIM card. The method and the terminal realize the effect of using two SIM cards to perform data service simultaneously.

An embodiment of the present application provides a cloud SIM card management server, which aims at solving a problem that the traditional SIM card management method cannot flexibly allocate and manage cloud SIM card, and a waste of resource of cloud SIM card is prone to be caused.

According to an aspect, a cloud SIM card management server comprises:.

According to another aspect, a cloud SIM card binding device comprises:.

According to another aspect, a SIM card management method, being applied to a cloud SIM management server, comprises steps of:.

According to another aspect, a cloud SIM card binding method, being applied to a user terminal, comprises:.

According to another aspect, a cloud SIM card management system, includes the aforementioned cloud SIM card management server and the aforementioned cloud SIM card binding device.

In the cloud SIM card management server provided by the embodiments of the present application, in the cloud SIM card management server provided by the embodiments of the present application, in the process of activating the cloud SIM card by the user, the cloud SIM card allocation request sent by the user terminal is acquired by the server according to the request acquisition unit, the allocation request carries the device identification information; a cloud SIM card and the network access information are acquired by the cloud SIM card acquisition unit from the system database, and the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association, so that the cloud SIM card is bound with the device identifier, and a system management of cloud SIM cards is facilitated; the cloud SIM card and the network access information are transmitted to the user terminal through the cloud SIM card transmission unit, so that the user terminal is enabled to access the network according to the cloud SIM card and the network access information so as to complete acquiring services from the carrier's network. When the user needs to activate or replace a cloud SIM card, a cloud SIM card and network access information in the system database are allocated to an intelligent terminal of a user by the server, so that the network access information of the original SIM card is replaced to acquire service from the carrier's network; in one aspect, due to the fact that the SIM card is a cloud SIM card, a problem of a waste of resources caused to because that the physical SIM card cannot be activated again is avoided; in another aspect, the network access information of the cloud SIM card may be modified, so that the user can flexibly replace the cloud SIM card to access the network; moreover, the allocated network access information and the network access information of the user have been stored in association in the server, so that a system synchronization of the cloud SIM card allocation information is facilitated, a dynamic management of the cloud SIM card is realized, and a cloud SIM card management efficiency is effectively improved.

Hereinafter, every time reference is made to "the present application", it has to be construed as reference to "the present invention".

In order to make the purpose, the technical solution and the advantages of the present application be clearer and more understandable, the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to accompanying figures and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely intended to illustrate but not to limit the present application.

In the cloud SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card management server provided by the embodiment of the present application, a cloud SIM card and network access information are distributed in the system to an intelligent terminal of a user, so that the network access information of the original SIM card is replaced to acquire service from the carrier's network to save resource, and the user can flexibly replace a cloud SIM card to access the network, and a system management of cloud SIM card is facilitated.

<FIG> depicts a network architecture diagram of a cloud SIM card management system provided by an embodiment of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application are merely illustrated. A cloud SIM card management server <NUM> and a mobile terminal <NUM> which communicates with the cloud SIM card management server <NUM> through a communication network are included.

In this embodiment of the present application, the communication network may be a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, or other configuration, the communication network is not limited herein.

Where the cloud SIM card management server <NUM> may be a server, and may also be a server cluster comprised of several servers, or be a cloud computing service center that can store and process data.

Additionally, the mobile terminal <NUM> is at least provided with a virtual SIM card device <NUM> configured to store cloud SIM card information and cloud SIM network access information.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of a cloud SIM card management server according to embodiment one of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application is merely illustrated.

A request acquisition unit <NUM> is configured to acquire a cloud SIM card allocation request sent by a user terminal, where the allocation request carries device identification information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the user terminal is configured to communicate with the server over a communication network, the user terminal may be an intelligent terminal such as a mobile phone, the user terminal may also be a shared network terminal, such as a portable Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), it should be understood that, the examples of the user terminal described herein are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto, and the examples of the user terminal may be selected according to the actual situation.

In this embodiment of the present application, the device identification information is used to identify the user terminal so as to distinguish from different users when cloud SIM cards are registered and activated by users, the device identification information may be IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), and may also be an identity card number of a user, it should be understood that, the examples of the device identification information are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto as long as the present application achieves identifying the mobile user in the mobile communication network, the examples of the device identification information may be selected according to the actual situation.

The cloud SIM card acquisition unit <NUM> is configured to acquire a cloud SIM card and network access information from a system database, and store the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information in association.

In this embodiment of the present application, the system database is configured to store the cloud SIM card to be allocated and the network access information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network access information is used to access the mobile communication network, the network access information may be IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identification Number), and may also be IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), APN (Access Point Name), service configuration, etc. It should be understood that the examples of the network access information are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto as long as accessing of the mobile communication network is achieved, and the network access information may be selected according to the actual situation.

In this embodiment of the present application, the cloud SIM card may be a physical SIM card, or be a soft SIM card, or be other type of SIM card (e.g., an e-SIM card, a multi-IMSI card, etc.) disposed at a server side; it should be understood that the present application is not limited thereto, the examples of the cloud SIM card are merely for facilitating understanding, the cloud SIM card may be selected according to actual situation.

As a preferable embodiment of the present application, when the cloud SIM card is a physical SIM card arranged at the server side, files of SIM card are downloaded by the terminal, when network authentication is performed, the operation of network authentication is completed by performing an interaction with a remote server.

As another preferable embodiment of the present application, when the cloud SIM card is a soft SIM card, this soft SIM card is a complete software version of the physical card at the server side, so that the intelligent terminal of the user is allowed to freely switch the carrier's smart card.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the cloud SIM card allocation request is acquired by the server, a cloud SIM card and network access information may be acquired from the system database, and the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association, so that a dynamic binding of these information is realized.

As a preferable embodiment of the present application, <FIG> illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a cloud SIM card acquisition unit provided by embodiment one of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application is merely illustrated.

The cloud SIM card acquisition unit <NUM> includes an identification judgment sub-unit <NUM>, a first cloud SIM card acquisition sub-unit <NUM>, and a second cloud SIM card acquisition sub-unit <NUM>.

The identification judgment sub-unit <NUM> is configured to judge whether the cloud SIM card allocation request also carries with a network access information request identifier.

The first cloud SIM card acquisition sub-unit <NUM> is configured to acquire a cloud SIM card to be allocated in the system database and take the device identification information as the network access information, if the judgment is that the cloud SIM card allocation request doesn't carry the flag for requesting network access information.

The second cloud SIM card acquisition sub-unit <NUM> is configured to acquire a cloud SIM card to be allocated and the network access information in the system database and store the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information in association, if the judgment is that the cloud SIM card allocation request carries the flag for requesting network access information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the cloud SIM card to be allocated refers to a cloud SIM card which does not carry device identification information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal identification information may identify each user terminal device due to its uniqueness, thus, when the cloud SIM card allocation request as sent by the user terminal carries terminal identification information, the terminal identification information is used as the device identification information, so that a system management of the cloud SIM card is simplified, an application of the cloud SIM card becomes flexible, and a problem that a processing amount of data information is huge due to the fact that too much network access information is allocated and thus a cloud SIM card management efficiency is low is avoided.

The cloud SIM card transmission unit <NUM> is configured to transmit the cloud SIM card and the network access information to the user terminal.

In the cloud SIM card management server provided by the embodiments of the present application, in the process of activating the cloud SIM card by the user, the cloud SIM card allocation request sent by the user terminal is acquired by the server according to the request acquisition unit, the allocation request carries the device identification information; the cloud SIM card and the network access information are acquired from the system database by the cloud SIM card acquisition unit, and the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association, so that the cloud SIM card is bound with the device identifier, and a system management of cloud SIM cards is facilitated; the cloud SIM card and the network access information are transmitted to the user terminal through the cloud SIM card transmission unit, so that the user terminal is enabled to access the network according to the cloud SIM card and the network access information so as to complete acquiring services from the carrier's network. When the user needs to activate or replace a cloud SIM card, a cloud SIM card and network access information in the system database are allocated to the user intelligent terminal by the server, so that the network access information of the original SIM card is replaced to acquire service from the carrier's network; in one aspect, due to the fact that the SIM card is a cloud SIM card, a problem of a waste of resources caused to because that the physical SIM card cannot be activated again is avoided; in another aspect, the network access information of the cloud SIM card may be modified, so that the user can flexibly replace the cloud SIM card to access the network; moreover, the allocated network access information and the network access information of the user have been stored in association in the server, so that a system synchronization of the cloud SIM card allocation information is facilitated, a dynamic management of the cloud SIM card is realized, and a cloud SIM card management efficiency is effectively improved.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a cloud SIM card binding device provided by embodiment two of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application is merely illustrated.

A request transmission unit <NUM> is configured to transmit a cloud SIM card allocation request to a server, where the cloud SIM card allocation request carries device identification information and a flag for requesting network access information, wherein the flag for requesting network access information indicates whether the user terminal needs to acquire the network access information corresponding to the cloud SIM card in the server.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device identification information is used to identify the user terminal so as to distinguish from different users when cloud SIM cards are registered and activated by users, the device identification information may be IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), and may also be an identity card number of a user, it should be understood that, the examples of the device identification information are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto as long as the present application achieves identifying the mobile user in the mobile communication network, the examples of the device identification information may be selected according to the actual situation.

As a preferable embodiment of the present application, the cloud SIM card allocation request also carries service type information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the service type information refers to the service type which is acquired by a registered user from the carrier's network, such as the carrier type, the type of consumption hierarchy, the type of access network, etc..

In this embodiment of the present application, the service type information is carried in the cloud SIM card allocation request, so that a cloud SIM card more suitable for the user may be allocated to the user according to the service type information of the user when the cloud SIM card and the network access information in the system database is allocated by the server, and the user experience is effectively improved.

A SIM card receiving unit <NUM> is configured to receive the cloud SIM card and the network access information sent by the server, and store the cloud SIM card and the network access information.

As an another preferable embodiment of the present application, when the cloud SIM card is a soft SIM card, this soft SIM card is a complete software version of the physical card at the server side, so that the intelligent terminal of the user is allowed to freely switch the carrier's smart card.

In the cloud SIM card binding device provided by the embodiment of the present application, the request transmission unit is used to transmit the cloud SIM card allocation request to the server, the cloud SIM card allocation request carries the device identification information; the cloud SIM card and the network access information allocated by the server according to the cloud SIM card allocation request are received by the SIM card receiving unit; since the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association, the user terminal is enabled to access the network according to the network access information; in one aspect, due to the fact that the SIM card is a cloud SIM card, a problem of a waste of resources caused to because that the physical SIM card cannot be activated again is avoided; in another aspect, since the network access information of the cloud SIM card may be modified, so that the user can flexibly replace the cloud SIM card to access the network; moreover, the allocated network access information and the network access information of the user have been stored in association in the server, a system synchronization of the cloud SIM card allocation information is facilitated, and a cloud SIM card management efficiency is effectively improved.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of a cloud SIM card management method provided by embodiment three of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application is merely illustrated.

In step <NUM>, acquiring a cloud SIM card allocation request sent from a user terminal, where the cloud SIM card allocation request carries device identification information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the user terminal is configured to communicate with the server through a communication network, the user terminal may be an intelligent terminal such as a mobile phone, the user terminal may also be a shared network terminal, such as a portable Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), it should be understood that, the examples of the user terminal described herein are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto, and the examples of the user terminal may be selected according to the actual situation.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device identification information is used to identify the user terminal so as to distinguish from different users when cloud SIM cards are registered and activated by users, the device identification information may be IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), and may also be an identity card number of a user; it should be understood that, the examples of the device identification information are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto as long as the present application achieves identifying the mobile user in the mobile communication network, the examples of the device identification information may be selected according to the actual situation.

In step <NUM>, acquiring a cloud SIM card and network access information in the system database, and storing the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information in association.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network access information is used to access the mobile communication network, the network access information may be IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identification Number), and may also be IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), APN (Access Point Name), service configuration, etc. It should be understood that the examples of the network access information are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto as long as accessing of the mobile communication network is achieved, the network access information may be selected according to the actual situation.

In this embodiment of the present application, the cloud SIM card may be a physical SIM card, or be a soft SIM card, or be other type of SIM card (e.g., an e-SIM card, a multi-IMSI card, etc.) disposed at a server side, it should be understood that the present application is not limited thereto, the examples of the cloud SIM card are merely for facilitating understanding, the cloud SIM card may be selected according to actual situation.

As a preferable embodiment of the present application, when the cloud SIM card is a physical SIM card disposed at the server side, files of SIM card are downloaded by the terminal, when network authentication is performed, the operation of network authentication is completed by performing an interaction with a remote server.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the cloud SIM card allocation request is acquired by the server, a cloud SIM card and network access information may be acquired from the system database, and the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association, so that binding of these information is realized.

As a preferable embodiment of the present application, <FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of acquiring a cloud SIM card and network access information provided by embodiment three of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application is merely illustrated.

In step <NUM>, judging whether the cloud SIM card allocation request carries the flag for requesting network access information.

The flag for requesting network access information indicates whether the user terminal needs to acquire the network access information corresponding to the cloud SIM card in the server.

In step <NUM>, acquiring a cloud SIM card to be allocated in the system database and taking the device identification information as the network access information, if the judgment is that the cloud SIM card allocation request doesn't carry the flag for requesting network access information.

In step <NUM>, acquiring a cloud SIM card to be allocated and the network access information in the system database, and storing the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information in association, if the judgment is that the cloud SIM card allocation request carries the flag for requesting network access information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal identification information may identify each user terminal device due to its uniqueness, thus, when the cloud SIM card allocation request as sent by the user terminal carries terminal identification information, the terminal identification information is used as the device identification information, so that a system management of the cloud SIM card is simplified, an application of the cloud SIM card becomes flexible, and a problem that a processing amount of data information is huge due to the fact that too much network access information is allocated, and a cloud SIM card management efficiency is low is avoided.

In step <NUM>, transmitting the information acquired in step <NUM> to the user terminal.

In the cloud SIM card management server provided by the embodiments of the present application, in the process of activating the cloud SIM card by the user, the cloud SIM card allocation request which is sent by the user terminal is acquired by the server, the cloud SIM card allocation request carries the device identification information; a cloud SIM card and the network access information are acquired from the system database, and the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association, so that the cloud SIM card is bound with the device identifier, and a system management of cloud SIM cards is facilitated; the cloud SIM card and the network access information are transmitted to the user terminal, so that the user terminal is enabled to access the network according to the cloud SIM card and the network access information so as to complete acquiring services from the carrier's network. When the user needs to activate or replace a cloud SIM card, a cloud SIM card and network access information in the system database are allocated to the user intelligent terminal by the server, so that the network access information of the original SIM card is replaced to acquire service from the carrier's network; in one aspect, due to the fact that the SIM card is a cloud SIM card, a problem of a waste of resources caused to because that the physical SIM card cannot be activated again is avoided; in another aspect, the network access information of the cloud SIM card may be modified, so that the user can flexibly replace the cloud SIM card to access the network; moreover, the allocated network access information and the network access information of the user have been stored in association in the server, so that a system synchronization of the cloud SIM card allocation information is facilitated, a dynamic management of the cloud SIM card is realized, and a cloud SIM card management efficiency is effectively improved.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of a cloud SIM card binding method provided by embodiment four of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application is illustrated.

In step <NUM>, transmitting a cloud SIM card allocation request to a server, where the cloud SIM card allocation request carries device identification information and a flag for requesting network access information, wherein the flag for requesting network access information indicates whether the user terminal needs to acquire the network access information corresponding to the cloud SIM card in the server.

In this embodiment of the present application, the service type information is carried in the cloud SIM card allocation request, so that a cloud SIM card more suitable for the user may be allocated to the user according to the service type information of the user when the cloud SIM card and the network access information in the system database is allocated by the server, and the use experience is effectively improved.

In step <NUM>, receiving the cloud SIM card and the network access information sent by the server, and storing the cloud SIM card and the network access information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the cloud SIM card may be a physical SIM card, or be a soft SIM card, or be other type of SIM card (e.g., an e-SIM card, a multi-IMSI card, etc.) disposed at a server side; it should be understood that, the examples of the cloud SIM card are merely for facilitating understanding, the present application is not limited thereto, the cloud SIM card may be selected according to actual situation.

In the cloud SIM card binding method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the cloud SIM card allocation request is transmitted to the server, the cloud SIM card allocation request carries the device identification information, and the cloud SIM card and the network access information which are allocated by the server according to the cloud SIM card allocation request are received; the user terminal is enabled to access the network according to the network access information due to the fact that the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association; in one aspect, since the SIM card is a cloud SIM card, a problem of a waste of resources caused to because that the physical SIM card cannot be activated again is avoided; in another aspect, since the network access information of the cloud SIM card may be modified, so that the user can flexibly replace the cloud SIM card to access the network; moreover, the allocated network access information and the network access information of the user have been stored in association in the server, a system synchronization of the cloud SIM card allocation information is facilitated, and a cloud SIM card management efficiency is effectively improved.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a cloud SIM card management system provided by embodiment five of the present application, for the convenience of description, the portion relevant to the present application are merely illustrated.

The cloud SIM card management system includes the cloud SIM card management server <NUM> which is provided according to the embodiment one and the cloud SIM card binding device <NUM> which is provided according to the embodiment two.

As stated above, in the cloud SIM card management server provided by the embodiments of the present application, in the process of activating the cloud SIM card by the user, the cloud SIM card allocation request sent by the user terminal is acquired by the server according to the request acquisition unit, the allocation request carries the device identification information; a cloud SIM card and the network access information are acquired by the cloud SIM card acquisition unit from the system database, and the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information are stored in association, so that the cloud SIM card is bound with the device identifier, and a system management of cloud SIM cards is facilitated; the cloud SIM card and the network access information are transmitted to the user terminal through the cloud SIM card transmission unit, so that the user terminal is enabled to access the network according to the cloud SIM card and the network access information so as to complete acquiring services from the carrier's network. When the user needs to activate or replace a cloud SIM card, a cloud SIM card and network access information in the system database are allocated to an intelligent terminal of a user by the server, so that the network access information of the original SIM card is replaced to acquire service from the carrier's network; in one aspect, due to the fact that the SIM card is a cloud SIM card, a problem of a waste of resources caused to because that the physical SIM card cannot be activated again is avoided; in another aspect, the network access information of the cloud SIM card may be modified, so that the user can flexibly replace the cloud SIM card to access the network; moreover, the allocated network access information and the network access information of the user have been stored in association in the server, so that a system synchronization of the cloud SIM card allocation information is facilitated, a dynamic management of the cloud SIM card is realized, and a cloud SIM card management efficiency is effectively improved.

Claim 1:
A cloud SIM card management server (<NUM>), comprising:
a request acquisition unit (<NUM>) configured to acquire a cloud SIM allocation request sent from a user terminal, wherein the allocation request carries device identification information;
a cloud SIM card acquisition unit (<NUM>) configured to acquire a cloud SIM card and network access information from a system database and store the device identification information, the cloud SIM card and the network access information in association; and
a cloud SIM card transmission unit (<NUM>) configured to transmit the cloud SIM card and the network access information to the user terminal;
characterized in that, the cloud SIM card acquisition unit (<NUM>) comprises:
an identification judgment sub-unit (<NUM>) configured to judge whether the cloud SIM card allocation request carries flag for requesting network access information, wherein the flag for requesting network access information indicates whether the user terminal needs to acquire the network access information corresponding to the cloud SIM card in the server;
a first cloud SIM card acquisition sub-unit (<NUM>) configured to acquire the cloud SIM card in the system database and take the device identification information as the network access information, if a judgment is that the cloud SIM card allocation request doesn't carry the flag for requesting network access information; and
a second cloud SIM card acquisition sub-unit (<NUM>) configured to acquire a cloud SIM card to be allocated and the network access information in the system database, and store the device identification information, the cloud SIM card to be allocated and the network access information in association, if a judgment is that the cloud SIM card allocation request carries the flag for requesting network access information.