Wireless Device Activation Tracking of a Wireless Satellite Service

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024171260-A1
Application number	US-202217990798-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 21, 2022
Priority date	Nov 21, 2022
Publication date	May 23, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Apparatuses, methods, and systems for operating a wireless satellite service are disclosed. One method includes maintaining, by a satellite service server, a database of an activation status of each of a plurality of subscriber devices as provided by a plurality of terrestrial service providers, receiving, by a satellite network, a request from a wireless device to access the wireless satellite service through a satellite link, wherein the satellite network is electronically connected to the satellite service server, querying, by the satellite network, the satellite service server to confirm whether the wireless device requesting access to the wireless satellite service is a subscriber device that is activated, providing, by the satellite service server, the activation status of the wireless device to the satellite network, and performing, by the satellite network, a wireless device attachment process with a one of the plurality terrestrial service providers based upon the activation status.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A method of operating a wireless satellite service, comprising:
maintaining, by a satellite service server, a database of an activation status of each of a plurality of subscriber devices as provided by a plurality of terrestrial service providers; receiving, by a satellite network, a request from a wireless device to access the wireless satellite service through a satellite link, wherein the satellite network is electronically connected to the satellite service server; querying, by the satellite network, the satellite service server to confirm whether the wireless device requesting access to the wireless satellite service is a subscriber device that is activated; providing, by the satellite service server, the activation status of the wireless device to the satellite network; and performing, by the satellite network, a wireless device attachment process with a one of the plurality terrestrial service providers based upon the activation status.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the satellite network includes a satellite base station and a satellite core network.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the satellite service server, activation status change notifications from the plurality of terrestrial service providers indicating when a subscriber device subscription to the wireless satellite service is activated or deactivated.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing, by the satellite network, an authentication with at least one of the plurality of the terrestrial service providers for the wireless device during the attachment process.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising;
rejecting, by the satellite network, the access request of the wireless device when the satellite service server returns a non-active status when queried by the satellite network.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
sending, by the satellite network, a rejection code to the wireless device based upon the activation status of the wireless device in the satellite service server, wherein a retry procedure of the wireless device is based upon the rejection code.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending, by the wireless satellite service, a message to the wireless device providing information about the activation of the wireless device in the satellite service server.

8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising granting network access by the satellite network to the wireless device for on a limited basis based upon the rejection code.

9 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising sending, by a satellite core network of the satellite network, a message to the wireless device through a terrestrial wireless network based upon the rejection code.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the satellite network, identification information from the wireless device during a radio resource control connection process.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
sending, by the satellite network a rejection code to the wireless device based upon the activation status of the wireless device in the satellite service server; rejecting the radio resource connection of the wireless device based upon the activation status of the wireless device as stored in the database of the satellite service server.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
authenticating, by the satellite network, with at least one of the plurality of terrestrial service providers based on an activation status of the wireless device maintained by the database.

13 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
allowing, by the satellite network, the wireless device to access a network of the wireless satellite service after receiving an authentication response from the satellite service server.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
allowing, by the satellite network, the wireless device to access a network of the wireless satellite service after receiving an activation status response from the satellite service server.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device requesting access to the wireless satellite service has a device ID (IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity)) that is not an ID of the wireless satellite service, thereby requiring the satellite service server to track and authenticate the wireless device.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device requesting access to the wireless satellite service has a device ID (IMSI) that is an ID of the wireless satellite service and is programmed into a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card of the wireless device.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the satellite service server further contains data quota information for roaming wireless devices.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the satellite service server maintains a count of the number of authentication attempts from a wireless device.

19 . The method of claim 20 , wherein a core network of the satellite network sends a rejection code to the wireless device through a terrestrial network based upon the authentication attempt count.

20 . A satellite system, comprising:
a satellite network; a satellite service server electronically connected to the satellite network; the satellite service server configured to:
maintain a database of an activation status of each of a plurality of subscriber devices as provided by a plurality of terrestrial service providers;
satellite network configured to:
receive a request from a wireless device to access the wireless satellite service through a satellite link, wherein the satellite network is electronically connected to the satellite service server;
query the satellite service server to confirm whether the wireless device requesting access to the wireless satellite service is a subscriber device that is activated;
the satellite service server further configured to:
provide the activation status of the wireless device to the satellite network; and
the satellite network further configured to:
perform a wireless device attachment process with a one of the plurality terrestrial service providers based upon the activation status.

Assignees

• Skylo Tech Inc

Inventors

• Milne Ian
• Iyengar Prasanna Venkatesan Srinivasan
• Panwar Birender
• Shankar Prem
• Lewis Vijay
• Nuttall Andrew
• Agrawal Meghna
• Radhakrishnan Anand

Classifications

• H04W60/001

  Registration rejection or failure · CPC title

• H04B7/18513 Primary

  Transmission in a satellite or space-based system · CPC title

• H04W60/00

  Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration · CPC title