Remote subscriber identity module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11076283-B2
Application number	US-201916764300-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2019
Priority date	Oct 30, 2018
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

An example method includes receiving, by a sink device and from a source device, identity information corresponding to a subscriber information module (SIM) of the source device via a connection between the sink device and the source device; registering, at the sink device, a remote SIM with the identity information corresponding to the SIM of the source device; and communicating, by an application of the sink device and using the remote SIM, with an external device via a cellular radio transceiver of the source device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a sink device and from a source device, identity information corresponding to a subscriber information module (SIM) of the source device via a wireless connection between the sink device and the source device;
registering, at the sink device, a remote SIM with the identity information corresponding to the SIM of the source device; and
communicating, by an application of the sink device and using the remote SIM, with an external device via a cellular radio transceiver of the source device, wherein communicating with the external device comprises outputting, by the sink device and via the wireless connection to the source device, data to be transmitted via the cellular radio transceiver of the source device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to a termination of the wireless connection between the sink device and the source device, deregistering, at the sink device, the remote SIM.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the sink device and from the source device, telephony records, wherein the telephony records include one or more of: a contact list, message logs, and call logs.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
responsive to a termination of the wireless connection between the sink device and the source device, deregistering, at the sink device, the remote SIM and deleting the received telephony records.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless connection comprises a Bluetooth link, and wherein the radio transceiver of the source device comprises a cellular transceiver.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
receiving the identity information comprises receiving respective identity information for each of a plurality of SIMS of the source device; and
registering the remote SIM comprises registering, for each of the plurality of SIMs of the source device, a respective remote SIM with the respective identify information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sink device does not include a radio transceiver capable of communicating using the remote SIM.

8. A sink device comprising:
one or more communication modules; and
at least one processor implemented in circuitry and configured to:
receive, via the one or more communication modules and from a source device, identity information corresponding to a subscriber information module (SIM) of the source device via a wireless connection between the sink device and the source device;
register a remote SIM with the identity information corresponding to the SIM of the source device; and
communicate, by an application of the sink device, via the one or more communication modules, and using the remote SIM, with an external device via a cellular radio transceiver of the source device, wherein, to communicate with the external device the at least one processor is configured to output, via the wireless connection to the source device, data to be transmitted via the cellular radio transceiver of the source device.

9. The sink device of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
deregister, responsive to a termination of the wireless connection between the sink device and the source device, the remote SIM.

10. The sink device of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive, from the source device, telephony records, wherein the telephony records include one or more of: a contact list, message logs, and call logs; and
delete, responsive to the termination of the connection between the sink device and the source device, the received telephony records.

11. The sink device of claim 8 , wherein the sink device does not include a radio transceiver capable of communicating using the remote SIM.

12. A method comprising:
outputting, by a source device and to a sink device, identity information corresponding to a subscriber information module (SIM) of the source device via a wireless connection between the sink device and the source device;
receiving, via the wireless connection, data that corresponds to a remote SIM registered at the sink device with the identity information corresponding to the SIM of the source device; and
relaying, by the source device and using a cellular radio transceiver of the source device, the data between a cellular network and the sink device.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
outputting, by the source device and to the sink device, telephony records.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the wireless connection comprises a Bluetooth link.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein outputting the identity information comprises outputting respective identity information for each of a plurality of SIMs of the source device.

16. A source device comprising:
one or more communication modules; and
at least one processor implemented in circuitry and configured to:
output, via a non-cellular communication module of the one or more communication modules and to a sink device, identity information corresponding to a subscriber information module (SIM) of the source device via a wireless connection between the sink device and the source device;
receive, via the non-cellular communication module, data that corresponds to a remote SIM registered at the sink device with the identity information corresponding to the SIM of the source device; and
relay, by the source device and using a cellular radio transceiver of the one or more communication modules, the data between a cellular network and the sink device.

17. The source device of claim 16 , wherein, to output the identity information, the at least one processor is configured to output respective identity information for each of a plurality of SIMs of the source device.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Nori Vasudeva
• Rizvi Syed
• Pirozzo Joseph
• Ramic Haris
• Mahajan Amit

Classifications

• H04M1/72412

  using two-way short-range wireless interfaces · CPC title

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W88/04

  adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user · CPC title

• H04W8/205 Primary

  Transfer to or from user equipment or user record carrier · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title