Patent Description:
Consumer Device Manufacturers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who produced devices that require mobile connectivity would like to make it easier for their customers to connect to a network (e.g. the internet) shortly after acquiring the device. OEMs may distribute their devices to many different countries. One way of providing their customers with a simple "out of the box" experience is to ship devices with a traditional SIM that will immediately work in the end user's country. This requires purchasing SIMs from different companies (OpCos) specific to each country or region and so requires a prediction of how many devices will be sold in each country. This prediction can be difficult because the reaction of the market to each device may be different, especially in light of alternative options provided by competitors.

Additionally, devices may be re-shipped between countries and so the devices may contain a SIM that is not suitable for the eventual country. As a result, re-shipping devices to another country may lead to SIMs that don't work (and can result in a very negative customer experience) or require devices to be shipped back to a factory to un-pack the devices, remove the wrong SIM, install a correct SIM, pack the devices and then ship them to the new country. This can lead to additional costs and lost time for the OEM.

One possible solution is to provide OEMs with SIMs that can work in any country and that preferably provide data services within the same price margin of the target country as a country-specific SIM (e.g. www. However, this can raise a number of technical 'and legal challenges because of the following requirements:.

Therefore, there is required a method and system that overcomes these problems.

<CIT> describes a method of obtaining a virtual SIM for a mobile device.

<CIT> describes the initial personalisation of smartcard coupled with a communication device of a user who is not yet a subscriber of any telecommunication network.

Against this background there is provided a method and system that allow products or devices (e.g. tablets, e-readers, laptop computers, vehicle communication systems, home automation systems, etc.) that require network connectivity (e.g. to a subscriber network or internet connectivity over a cellular network) to be delivered to customers together with a SIM or other subscriber module. The devices may have a subscriber identity that can switch or transform from an initial identity to a final identity (manually or automatically). This may be by swapping the subscriber module or by using a single subscriber module with a transformable identifier. When the end user powers the device for the first time (or powers on or connects a further time before subscriber identity transformation, for example) then it connects to a local subscriber network (e.g. a local cellular network). As the subscriber identity has not yet transformed then this initial connection may be a roaming connection, for example (the initial subscriber module identifier may include a subscriber network identifier different to local subscriber network that the SIM is in communication with).

The user may have previously connected but the process may not have completed for some reason. Therefore, the process may restart from where it left off. For example, the SIM may still have its initial identity (not yet transformed).

Upon initial connection (or reconnection before the process completes and/or with the SIM having its initial identity) the device may make a request to register the user or other indication that the device has connected with a subscriber network, access a network (e.g. the subscriber network or the internet) or request to become a subscriber of the network. Together with or within this received indication or request is included the initial or first subscriber network identifier (e.g. IMSI of the initial SIM identitifier). Other information may be included such as a unique identifier of the device (e.g. IMEI).

The first subscriber network identifier may be registered within a system for managing devices or may be included in a range of identities provided to the system in advance. This information may be registered together with the subscriber network identity (e.g. a particular OpCo). Particular identifiers (or ranges of identifiers) may be associated with a particular web landing page (or instructions for configuring or building a web landing page). Therefore, when the indication or request is received the system can determine what particular web landing page to send to the device. Preferably, this web landing page only needs to be sent once (i.e. before transformation) to initiate network configuration of the device. Network configuration may involve different steps or processes for each OpCo (or for different countries where particular OpCos operate). These different steps may be included in the functionality of the web landing page.

For example in Spain, transformation of the subscriber identity of the device may require a physical replacement of the subscriber module or SIM. Therefore, the web landing page that matches parameters derived from the device and/or message can provide instructions to the user to visit a store to replace the SIM. In other countries the subscriber module is allowed to be transformable within the device (i.e. no replacement is needed as the device can transform the subscriber module from a first subscriber module identifier to a second subscriber module identifier) with no or few user details being required or registered. In some countries the user's name or other specific details are required or registered before this transformation is allowed.

Therefore, the web landing page can be configured to meet specific local requirements that match the subscriber network (and/or country) where the device will operate.

According to a first aspect there is provided a method as described in claim <NUM>.

Therefore, one web landing page can be customised or made for a particular device that uses a first subscriber module identifier (or group of devices with a particular set of first subscriber module identifiers) and particular subscriber network. Therefore, the network configuration can be tailored for a particular device type, network where the device will operate, and/or country of operation. This can aid usability of the device and simplify the set-up procedure. This can be further beneficial before subscriber identity transformation as the registration procedure may operate whilst the device is effectively roaming and a simplified set-up will require less data or time on a roaming network. Initiating the network configuration may start a procedure for configuring the device to access the network and may also proceed to complete the configuration enabling network access. Providing access to the subscriber network and network configuration may comprise registering the device and/or user with the subscriber network. The indication received from the device may be an explicit or implicit request to become a subscriber. For example, the request may take the form of a brief signal or message that the device has been initiated and connected to the network (communicate with a network base station) for the first time, at a time before registration as a subscriber to the network has taken place and/or before transformation of the subscriber identity (e.g. SIM identity).

Preferably, the subscriber network access request or indication of connection is received over that same subscriber network. The subscriber network identity may be determined from the carrier details. The subscriber network identity may be determined from the subscriber module of the device. If the indication or request was made over a different network then access may be denied (or registration may fail).

Optionally, the method may further comprise the step of determining a unique device identifier, wherein the set of parameters further includes the unique device identifier and/or the country of the subscriber network. In other words, the particular web landing page may be matched against device id (or determined to fall within a range of device ids), device id (or determined to fall within a range of device ids), first subscriber module identifier (or determined to fall within a range of first subscriber module identifiers) and subscriber network (that the device is connected to). An advantage of checking the device id is that this can also be used to prevent a user for taking the subscriber module identifier (e.g. SIM) from the supplied device and installing it in another device (perhaps to take advantage of a low data rate tariff). When the device id doesn't match any stored id or range of ids then an error message may replace the web landing page (or a web landing page is provided that prevents configuration of the device with the network or prevents registration, for example).

Preferably, the provided web landing page may indicate an action to be taken by a user to transform the subscriber identity from the first subscriber module identifier to the second subscriber module identifier.

Optionally, the device may have a subscriber identity transformable from the first subscriber module identifier to a second subscriber module identifier. The connection is initiated with the first subscriber module identifier. Therefore, at this stage the device is effectively roaming and so not yet a subscriber to the network over. However, this at least provides connectivity to provide the web landing page and subsequent subscription and/or registration.

Preferably, the method may further comprise the step of subscribing the device to the subscriber network by transforming the subscriber identity from the first subscriber module identifier to the second subscriber module identifier, wherein the second subscriber module identifier belongs to (or contains an identifier of) the subscriber network.

Optionally, the indicated action may be replacement of a subscriber module. In other words, the web landing page may prompt the user to physically change or swap their subscriber module (e.g. SIM). This may be done by themselves or within a store (the user may be prompted to visit a store). In a store environment the store may carry out identity and other checks and register the user and/or device, for example.

Optionally, the subscriber identity of the device may be stored within a subscriber module that has a transformable subscriber module identifier. This may be a transformable subscriber module (e.g. SIM) that stores more than one identifier.

Optionally, initiating the network configuration of the device may further comprise the step of transforming the subscriber module identifier within the subscriber module from the first subscriber module identifier to the second subscriber module identifier. The subscriber module may receive a signal or command to transform whilst remaining installed within the device. This may be part of a registration process (with the subscriber network) or separate from this process. No physical replacement of the subscriber module (e.g. SIM) is required in this embodiment.

Optionally, the method may further comprise the step of preventing the web landing page from being provided to the device if the subscriber module identifier has transformed from the first subscriber module identifier to the second subscriber module identifier. Therefore, a check can be made to confirm that the transformation hasn't taken place before the web landing page is provided. This check can be made at any point but preferably directly after the indication or request to subscribe to the network is received.

Preferably, the provided web landing page may provide any one or more of:.

Preferably, the step of providing the device with a web landing page may further comprise the steps of configuring the web landing page by modifying a template landing page. This simplifies the building of the page. However, different versions of the web landing page may be stored and selected instead.

Preferably, configuring the web landing page may further comprise the step of determining a set of configuration instructions. Scripts, configuration files, database parameters or other elements may form the configuration instructions, for example.

Optionally, the set of configuration instructions may be selected based on the first subscriber module identifier falling within a range of subscriber module identifiers.

Preferably, the subscriber module identifier of the device may be an IMSI. Other identifiers may be used.

Preferably, the method may further comprise the step of registering the device with an operating company of the subscriber network. The use may also be registered with the device.

Preferably, the device may be registered with the operating company via the landing page. This may be achieved over the internet, for example.

Preferably, the web landing page initiates or enables access to the internet over the subscriber network.

The method described above may be implemented as a system (computer, network, server or group of computers) that implement the method or any described variation in the method.

According to a second aspect there is provided a system as described in claim <NUM>.

This system may provide an interface for receiving the data and a data store for saving the data, parameters, web landing page(s) and configurations. The configuration of the web landing page may be used to configure one or more template landing pages or may be multiple versions (with different attributes) of web landing pages themselves, for example.

Preferably, the logic may be further configured to:
receive data defining one or more device identifiers and the stored set of parameters may further include the data defining the one or more device identifiers.

Advantageously, the logic may be further configured to:.

Preferably, the details of the received indication to be matched with the stored set of parameters may further include a device identifier (e.g. IMEI, WiFi identifier, MAC address, etc).

Optionally, the logic may be further configured to transform the subscriber module identifier within a subscriber module of the device from the first subscriber module identifier to the second subscriber module identifier. The transformation may be achieved directly or indirectly from the logic (e.g. the device carries out the transformation prompted by the logic).

Preferably, the logic may be further configured to register the device using the web landing page. Some subscriber networks or countries require that successful registration must occur before the transformation can take place.

Preferably, the configuration of the web landing page may be a set of customisation settings for a template web landing page. Alternatively, separate complete stored landing pages may be selected and served. In other words, the initialisation of the network configuration and/or the network configuration procedure itself may be customised by providing a specific web landing page to the device dependent on its particular parameters.

According to an example, there is provided a method for managing a plurality of devices (preferably, each device having a subscriber identity transformable from a first subscriber module identifier to a second subscriber module identifier), the method comprising the steps of:.

Optionally, the method may further comprise the steps of:.

The methods described above may be implemented as a computer program comprising program instructions to operate a computer. The computer program may be stored on a computer-readable medium.

The computer system may include a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU). The processor may execute logic in the form of a software program. The computer system may include a memory including volatile and non-volatile storage medium. A computer-readable medium may be included to store the logic or program instructions. The different parts of the system may be connected using a network (e.g. wireless networks and wired networks). The computer system may include one or more interfaces. The computer system may contain a suitable operating system such as UNIX, Windows (RTM) or Linux, for example.

It should be noted that any feature described above may be used with any particular aspect or embodiment of the invention.

The present invention may be put into practice in a number of ways and embodiments will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:.

It should be noted that the figures are illustrated for simplicity and are not necessarily drawn to scale. Like features are provided with the same reference numerals.

<FIG> shows a flowchart (at a high level) of a method <NUM> for initiating a network configuration for a device. At step <NUM> a message is received that requests access to the network. This message may be received over a Radio Access Network (RAN) operated by a subscriber network (e.g. an operating company or OpCo). Whilst <FIG> shows a request being made at step <NUM>, this may also be an indication that the device has connected to the network. At step <NUM> a first subscriber module identifier is determined. This is an initial identity or identifier (e.g. number) of a subscriber module that is transformable from a first identity to a second identity. In this example, the subscriber module is a SIM.

The subscriber network identity (or OpCo) over which the request is received is determined at step <NUM>. At step <NUM> the device is provided with a web landing page that is specific to the combination of the determined subscriber module identifier (initial identity) and the determined subscriber network identity. Other parameters may also be matched to provide a specific web landing page for that combination. The web landing page may be presented on a screen of the device in a browser or in another form. The web landing page initiates network configuration of the device.

<FIG> shows a flowchart of a method <NUM> for managing a plurality of devices. In particular, managing the plurality of device involves setting up configurations of devices or providing facilities for configuring those devices, to access a network such as the internet. At step <NUM> data is received describing the first or initial subscriber module identifier. This may be a single identifier, a range of identifiers, or a plurality of separate identifiers, for example. At step <NUM> these subscriber module identifier(s) and a subscriber network identity are included in a set of parameters that are stored.

At step <NUM> a configuration of a web landing page is received. This is associated with the particular stored set of parameters at step <NUM>. In other words, particular web landing page configurations are stored or associated with particular parameters that include at least one or more first subscriber module identifiers and a subscriber network identity (over which a request to access a network is received according to method <NUM>).

<FIG> shows a schematic diagram of a system <NUM> for implementing method <NUM>. One or more devices <NUM> each include a SIM <NUM> that is transferable from a first subscriber module identifier (ID1) to a second subscriber module identifier (ID2). Each of these IDs in their separate SIMs <NUM> are different and unique. When a device <NUM> having a subscriber module identifier before transformation is first powered on and connects to a subscriber network <NUM> then this device <NUM> sends a request to access a network such as the internet. This request is received by a server <NUM> which may be a simple out of the box experience (SOBE) control engine (SCE) <NUM>. The SCE <NUM> may also contain or be in communication with a database for storing parameters and configuration parameters for web landing pages described with reference to <FIG>.

A user or operator within in an OpCo may add SIM identifiers <NUM>, configuration details for web landing pages <NUM> and templates for the web landing page <NUM> as a data input <NUM>, which may be stored in the database <NUM>. This same system <NUM> may then be used to process requests to access the network according to the method <NUM> described with reference to <FIG>.

The SCE <NUM> has the ability to integrate multiple Operating Companies (OpCos) and at the same time and the ability to integrate to multiple SIM transformation services, which allow SIMs <NUM> to transform from using one OpCo (e.g. a Global OpCo) to another OpCo (e.g. local OpCo).

Once the configuration of the device <NUM> has been initiated then the SIM transformation may take place. Transforming the SIM from a global to a local SIM allows the ruse of the local OpCo legal interception, content filtering, support and billing systems in this way provides a more consistent user experience, customizable per OpCo and per device, with the same tariff options, across different SIM assets which may belong to different OpCos.

Different operating companies may also specify their own marketing or technical messages in their own language to the customer using the global and local SIM attributes together in a single platform.

The following describes at a high level the various triggers that occur within the process for initiating the network connection.

Therefore, accepting the offer leads the customer to be prompted for and/or provide the registration details, assigns a local target SIM and initiates SIM transformation.

<FIG> shows a sequence diagram of an example method leading to the display of the web landing page on the device. The following steps occur:.

The association between the user-experience (or response to the request) to be provided to a specific SIM and the actual traffic happens at run time when the customer traffic actually reaches the GLP. This relies on the configuration of the SCE <NUM>. The configuration of the SCE <NUM> can happen as early as required in the process by specifying the product name and the countries where the product will work, and then a batch of Group SIMs may be added or stored (this is possible once the group SIMs are manufactured and sent to the OEM). The device identifiers (e.g. IMEIs) may be added to the SCE <NUM> (once the devices are manufactured, and ideally before shipping the devices from the factory). All configurations can happen well in advance of the devices becoming available in the market, which reduces the need to implement manual activities when the devices arrive to the shops.

SCE <NUM> captures the information about where the device is connecting from in the database <NUM> and is able to detect when the customer switches country (e.g. the subscriber identity module transforms) in the middle of a registration process. The first and second subscriber identity module may include network and/or country identifiers that may be different pre and post transformation.

Displaying the web landing page (Step <NUM> in the above sequence) relies on the SCE <NUM>. In one example implementation, further functions of the SCE <NUM> may include:
An http request coming in from the MSP, may be mapped to an intercepting servlet, which may in turn forward it to a controller, which may retrieves any or all information such as IMSI, IMEI, ICCID, etc. from the request, and construct DeviceDetails (shown in <FIG>). DeviceDetails may then be used as a parameter to getNextPage() call to SCE <NUM>.

In this example, this may be done in GLPServlet as follows:.

Various jsp pages in the GLP may be loaded dynamically, based on the user requested actions. This may follow the sequence shown in <FIG>.

The MSP may also provide a white-listing feature which allows backend services on the devices to reach its target and the customer does NOT see the results of these backend services. For example, Device X may send a message to its servers to check if the device is stolen or not, and the SCE <NUM> may allow this traffic to work normally by white-listing the target IP on MSP.

The above interactions preferably occur before SIM transformation (while the SIM is still a GDSP SIM - ID1). Once SIM transformation happens, the SIM becomes a local SIM (ID2) and will go to the local OpCo landing page directly like other normal OpCo SIMs, without passing through the above process or the SCE <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a screen shot of an example web landing page. This figure highlights features that may be customised including text, images, data tariffs, buttons and functions.

As will be appreciated by the skilled person, details of the above embodiment may be varied without departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.

For example, other parameters may be included when matching a web landing page or configuring a web landing page. Instead of registering the pre-transform subscriber module identifier (SIM ID), the post-transformation subscriber module identifier (or range of post-transform identifiers) may be used as the stored parameters or to determine and serve the web landing page (or otherwise configure the web landing page). The web landing page may have different offers for different devices and/or OpCos. For example, the different offers may include any one or more of free data for a period of time (e.g. one week), a specific data quota (e.g. 100MB per month), pricing plan for data (e.g. £<NUM>/10MB), etc..

Claim 1:
A method, effected by a system for managing devices, for initiating a network configuration for a device (<NUM>), the method comprising the steps of:
registering a first subscriber network identifier and subscriber network identity;
associating subscriber network identifiers or ranges of subscriber network identifiers with a particular web landing page;
receiving from the device (<NUM>) an indication that the device (<NUM>) has connected with a subscriber network (<NUM>), the received indication including the subscriber network identity of the subscriber network (<NUM>) to which the device (<NUM>) has connected, and wherein the first subscriber network identifier is included with or within the received indication; determining the subscriber network identity from the received indication;
determining a first subscriber module identifier as an IMSI used by the device (<NUM>); and
providing the device (<NUM>) with a web landing page specific to a set of parameters including the subscriber network identity and the first subscriber module identifier,
wherein the web landing page provides logic configured to initiate network configuration for the device (<NUM>) by sending a signal to cause the first subscriber module identifier that is stored within a subscriber module (<NUM>) to transform into a second subscriber module identifier,
wherein the first subscriber module identifier includes the first subscriber network identifier, and
wherein the subscriber network (<NUM>) is a cellular network.