FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and a system to control expense and
usage of a subscription in a mobile device based on knowledge of different
parameters. In particular, the present invention relates to providing most h g a l
service that meets the service level assurance provided to the mobile customer.
BACKGROUND
With the arrival of the M2M /IoT revolution, the requirement for frugal and
continuous connectivity has become very prominent. This is ironic for the fact
that network technologies and network providers had begun to look at 100s of
MBPS as the holy grail of measuring technology's effectiveness.
Historically, the telecommunication term Quality of Service (QoS) has
indicated how good the network performs for a certain user of the network. In
recent years, as telecommunication use has increased, so has the demand for
higher quality. Due to constraints of bandwidth and network resources, users
are experiencing dropped calls or slow data connections. However, users
expect the networks to perform better over time, and hence, there is a
significant issue that network providers are dealing with, especially in the
emerging markets. There are also new use cases and services that require an
even better quality and availability of the network (such as e-call, Telemedicine,
streaming, surveillance, multi-party video conferencing, real time
gaming etc) compared to the calling and infotainment services of the past (such
as browsing, mailing, etc.)
As with any terrestrial radio network, a 100 % coverage is not possible since
there may be objects obstructing radio waves between base station and the user,
such as buildings (urban) or mountains (rural). In urban environments, it is
especially difficult (and expensive) to plan an optimal network, as transceivers
cannot be placed ideally.
GSM, UMTS, and LTE networks (ry to minimize the risk of a network loss by
ensuring that the device tries to select the cell with the best signal to noise ratio
at its location if its current cell drops below a certain threshold.
There are other systems and methods that provide similar solutions by utilizing
roaming subscriptions or by updating subscriptions. However, they are not
able to ensure that the quotas are used uniformly in order to avoid additional
fees. Thus, there is a need to devise a system and a method that mitigates the
above mentioned drawbacks.
OBJECT OF THE NTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and a method to
control the expense and usage of a subscription in a mobile device based on the
knowledge about the price plan, quota, validity, call drops, position, network
and network quality in order to provide the most frugal service that meets the
service level assurance provided to a mobile customer.
S ARY OF THE NTION
The present invention discloses a system and a method to address the above
mentioned problems and enhance the user experience by providing most fixgal
and seamless connectivity of the nehvork. The present invention works by
having various senrice providers/mobile operators within a given territory
which are saved as Subscription Profiles on the Subscriber Identity Module
card (SIM card).The actual usage requirement for calling orland messaging and
lor live chat andlor internet surfing or the like is determined upfi-ont and
represented as quotas and is stored in the SIM card. Further, according to the
requirement, the expected usage is distributed between the various Subscription
Profiles by evaluating the available quota, applicable price plan, subscription
validity, available network, available network bandwidth, the history of
dropped calls and the like so as to optimize the connection cost of the
subscriber. The SIM card controls the authentication process of the networks to
connect and therefore controls the Subscription Profile usage. To follow the
aforementioned process, the SIM card should be inserted in the mobile device.
The mobile device then reads the SIM and its network profile. It then
distinguishes which networklmobile provider are acceptable to use and which
are not allowed, by radio scanning for the best available network. The mobile
device will then initiate an authentication process towards the best allowed
network.
The present invention discloses a system to control usage of a subscription in a
mobile device comprising: a plurality of subscriptions of at least two or more
mobile networks; a subscription profile associated with each subscription; a
UICC / eUICC / USIM 1 SIM card capable of switching among different
networks; an applet running on the said SIM card; a server which
communicates with the said mobile device through a network interface; a
server process which stores identity and network related data of each
Subscription profile; stores network territory and coverage map; stores history
of network drops and Subscription Profile switch events ; stores quota-pricevalidity-
bandwidth attached to each Subscription Profile; connects to the
networks providing the subscription profile periodically, to retrieve, calculate
and store actual usage and outstanding quota and validity for SMS, data and
minutes for each subscription profile; connects to the SIM applet to receive
information from the applet about network loss and network coverage;
determines and stores best network, preferred network, available network
periodically; and communicates and commands the SIM card applet to initiate
selection of subscription based on available quota, validity and coverage.
The present invention also discloses a method to control the usage of a
subscription in a mobile device comprising the steps of: initial selection of the
subscription most appropriate for the device requesting a connection
establishing a wireless communication between a mobile device and a base
station; receiving signal from a mobile operator; receiving the information
about the balance of quota and validity of subscription from a network
interface; determining if a network has quota and validity; switching the
network through a subscription profile.
BREEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings constitute a part of the description and are used to
provide further understanding of the present invention. Such accompanying
drawings illustrate the embodiments of the present invention which are used to
describe the principles of the present invention together with the description.
Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of the components involved according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 illustrates structure of a file-system according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
Figure 3 illustrates a block diagram of the system for providing access to
mobile or cellular communication services and for the server to gather
information for subscription selection according to an embodiment of the
present invention;
Figure 4 illustrates a flowchart of the process according to an embodiment of
the present invention; and
Figure 5 illustrates a Row chart of fallback functionality the applet implements
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCmTION OF THE NTION
The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended
drawings is intended as a description of various embodiments of the present
invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the
present invention may be practiced. Each embodiment described in this
disclosure is provided merely as an example or illustration of the present
invention, and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or
advantageous over other embodiments. The detailed description includes
specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the
present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that
the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. The
embodiment provided herein is for the purpose of filing the present provisional
specification; however, further embodiments within this disclosure are possible
and shalllmay be covered in the complete specification.
The present invention relates to a system and a method to control the expense
and usage of a subscription in a mobile device based on the knowledge about
the price plan, quota, validity, call drops, position, network and network quality
in order to provide the most hgal service that meets the service level
assurance provided to a mobile customer. The present invention discloses a
process that works by having multiple network operator relationships for data,
sms and voice services within the same telecom territory. Each of these
relationships are created as Subscription Profiles on a SLNI card. The actual
usage requirement for a specific use case is detennined upfront and represented
in terms of data, sms, and voice quotas. The expected usage is then distributed
between the Subscription Profiles in a manner that selection of the Subscription
Profile optimizes the connection cost incurred in keeping the mobile device
connected to one amongst the available networks, by evaluating the available
quota, applicable price plan, subscription validity, available network, available
network bandwidth and the history of dropped calls or network switches.
According to the present invention, the SIM card controls authentication to the
network and may therefore be used to control the Subscription Profile that is
selected. The device reads the SIM card and its network profile to understand
which networks are acceptable to use, and which are not allowed. This enables
the device radio scanning to search for the best available network. The device
then initiates an authentication process towards the best allowed network, but it
is the SLM card, and the active subscription that will do the actual
authentication. For authentication process, the subscription of a network profile
is provided with a unique identifier (IMSI) and a unique key (Ki) which only
the SLM card and the network are aware of. The key is used for authenticating
to a network and works only for that specific network.
The method for controlling which Subscription Profile used is managed in
following two ways.
1. Update the SIM with content to initiate the device in searching for a
certain network, or to prevent the device from trying a certain network.
This is often done in roaming steering solutions, but requires the active
subscription to be allowed to roam on the different networks.
2. Update the SIM to a different active profile. This not only provides
different available networks, it also affects which network it will latch
on to.
The present invention requires following components to implement the process
and system to provide the most frugal service that meets the service level
assurance provided to a mobile customer.
r A subscription from at least two or more mobile networhloperators
within the same territory;
A SIM card with a function that can switch between the multiple
Subscription Profiles; and
r A server process that is able to

We Claim:
1. A system to control usage of a subscription in a mobile device comprising:
a plurality of subscriptions of at least two or more mobile networks;
a subscription profile associated with each subscription;
a UICC / eUICC / USIM / SIM card capable of switching among different networks;
an applet running on the said SIM card;
a server which communicates with the said mobile device through a network interface;
a server process which
stores identity and network related data of each Subscription profile;
stores network territory and coverage map;
stores history of network drops and Subscription Profile switch events ;
stores quota-price-validity-bandwidth attached to each Subscription Profile;
connects to the networks providing the subscription profile periodically, to retrieve, calculate and store actual usage and outstanding quota and validity for SMS, data and minutes for each subscription profile;
connects to the SIM applet to receive information from the applet about network loss and network coverage;
determines and stores best network, preferred network, available network periodically; and
communicates and commands the SIM card applet to initiate selection of subscription based on available quota, validity and coverage.

2. The system to control the usage of a subscription in a mobile device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a network interface is provided between the mobile network and the server to transmit commands between the server and the applet to receive real time information about prices, quotas and validity from the network operators of the mobile networks to the server.

3. The system to control the usage of a subscription in a mobile device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a database interface stores information of the presence and quality of the mobile network.

4. The system to control the usage of a subscription in a mobile device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a third party telematics system is connected through a telematics interface with the server to receive information when a mobile device loses an acceptable quality in the connection.

5. A method to control the usage of a subscription in a mobile device comprising the steps of:
initial selection of the subscription most appropriate for the device requesting a connection
establishing a wireless communication between a mobile device and a base station;
receiving signal from a mobile operator;
receiving the information about the balance of quota and validity of subscription from a network interface;
determining if a network has quota and validity; and
switching the network through a subscription profile.