Method and system for transfering profiles of authentication module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9730060-B2
Application number	US-201313918233-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2013
Priority date	Jun 15, 2012
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

A system for transferring a profile that is stored at an authentication module includes: a first terminal that includes a first authentication module and that operates based on a user profile that is stored at the first authentication module; a second terminal that includes a second authentication module and that requests the user profile by transmitting a first message including user identification information; and a management server that receives the first terminal and that acquires a profile that is stored at the first terminal based on user identification information and that transmits the acquired profile to the second terminal, wherein the first terminal exports the stored profile, and the second terminal installs a profile, having received from the management server at the second authentication module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for transferring a profile that is stored at an authentication module, the system comprising:
a first terminal that comprises a first authentication module and operates based on a user profile that is stored at the first authentication module;
a second terminal that comprises a second authentication module, and transmits a first message comprising user identification information to request the user profile; and
a server comprising a management server connected to the second terminal and a provider server connected to the first terminal,
wherein the management server receives the first message from the second terminal, searches for a provider server in which a user is subscribed, from among a plurality of provider servers, based on the user identification information, and transmits, to the provider server, a second message that requests the user profile corresponding to the user identification information,
wherein the provider server, in response to receiving the second message, searches for the first terminal based on the user identification information, and transmits, to the first terminal, a third message requesting the user profile corresponding to the user identification information,
wherein the first terminal transmits the user profile based on the user identification information to the second terminal via the provider server and the management server, and
wherein the first terminal exports the user profile stored at the first authentication module, and the second terminal installs the user profile received from the server at the second authentication module.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the provider server transmits the user profile received from the first terminal to the management server.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first terminal encrypts the user profile that is stored at the authentication module based on a first credential that the first terminal shares with the provider server and transmits the encrypted user profile to the provider server.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the provider server decrypts the received user profile based on the first credential.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the provider server encrypts the decrypted user profile based on a second credential that the provider server shares with the management server and transmits the encrypted user profile to the management server.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the management server encrypts the user profile based on a third credential that the management server shares with the second terminal and transmits the encrypted user profile to the second terminal.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second terminal decrypts the received user profile based on the third credential.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first terminal exports the stored user profile to the server, and deletes the user profile from the first authentication module.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user identification information comprises personal information of the user and provider information of a communication provider in which the user subscribes.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second terminal communicates via a network of the provider server using the installed user profile.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user identification information comprises an international mobile subscriber identify (IMSI).

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user identification information comprises intrinsic identification information of the provider server to which the user is subscribed.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first terminal comprises a user interface configured to receive user input,
in response to the user input received via the user interface indicating a request to restore the user profile, the first terminal reactivates the user profile and the second terminal deletes the installed user profile.

14. A method for transferring profiles by a profile-storing terminal having a user profile, the method comprising:
receiving, by the profile storing terminal a profile request message, which originates from a profile-requesting terminal and is transmitted via a server;
encrypting the user profile stored at an authentication module based on credentials; and
transmitting the encrypted user profile to the server;
wherein the profile request message is sent by the profile-requesting terminal to the server and from the server to the profile-storing terminal,
wherein the server comprises a management server connected to the profile-requesting terminal and a provider server connected to the profile-storing terminal, and
wherein the method further comprises:
searching, by the management server, for the provider server based on user identification information comprised in the profile request message originated by the profile-requesting terminal;
transmitting, by the management server, a message that requests the user profile corresponding to the user identification information to the provider server, and
searching, by the provider server, for the profile-storing terminal based on the user identification information.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the credentials are a key in which the profile-storing terminal uses for loading, installing, or managing the user profile.

16. A method for transferring profiles by a profile-requesting terminal requesting a user profile, the method comprising:
transmitting a first profile request message comprising user identification information to a management server of a server which further comprises a provider server;
searching, by the management server, for the provider server from among a plurality of provider servers, based on the user identification information;
transmitting, by the management server to the provider server, a second profile request message that requests the user profile corresponding to the user identification information;
searching, by the provider server, for the profile-storing terminal based on the user identification information;
transmitting, to the profile-storing terminal by the provider server, a third profile request message that requests the user profile corresponding to the user identification information;
receiving, by the profile-requesting terminal an encrypted user profile from the profile storing terminal via the server;
decrypting the encrypted user profile based on credentials that are shared with the server; and
installing the decrypted user profile at an authentication module of the profile-requesting terminal.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
encrypting the user profile that is stored at the authentication module based on the credentials for profile restoration shared with the profile-storing terminal;
transmitting a profile restoration message to the server; and
deleting the user profile that is stored at the authentication module,
wherein the profile restoration message comprises the encrypted user profile and the user identification information.

Assignees

• Kt Corp

Inventors

• Kim Kwanlae
• Park Chul-Hyun
• Lee Jin-Hyoung
• Lee Hyung-Jin

Classifications

• H04W8/18 Primary

  Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data · CPC title

• H04W12/06 Primary

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W8/30

  Network data restoration; {Network data reliability; Network data fault tolerance} · CPC title

• H04W12/068

  using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications · CPC title

• H04W12/069

  using certificates or pre-shared keys · CPC title