Method and apparatus for multi-SIM selection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9877275-B2
Application number	US-201614987897-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2016
Priority date	Jan 5, 2016
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

A mobile transceiver having multiple subscriber identity module (SIM) cards and a method of selection is provided. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a method of operating a mobile transceiver, comprising: waking up the mobile transceiver from a low power mode in response to a wakeup event; determining whether a SIM card has been pre-selected for a location of the mobile transceiver or the wakeup event; when a SIM card has been pre-selected, selecting the pre-selected SIM card as a first subscriber identity module (SIM) card, activating a cellular transceiver using the first SIM card, and searching, via the cellular transceiver, for available wireless services associated with the first SIM card; and when a wireless service is available, sending at least a portion of a data log to an asset tracking service using the wireless service.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating a mobile transceiver, comprising:
waking up the mobile transceiver from a low power mode in response to a wakeup event;
determining a location of the mobile transceiver;
determining whether the determined location of the mobile transceiver corresponds to a location in a travel itinerary;
when the determined location corresponds to a location in the travel itinerary, determining whether a SIM card has been pre-selected for the determined location;
when a SIM card has been pre-selected for the determined location, selecting the pre-selected SIM card as a first subscriber identity module (SIM) card,
activating a cellular transceiver using the first SIM card, and
searching, via the cellular transceiver, for available wireless services associated with the first SIM card; and

when a wireless service is available, sending at least a portion of a data log to an asset tracking service using the wireless service.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when a SIM card has not been pre-selected, selecting a SIM card from a plurality of SIM cards as the first SIM card, activating a cellular transceiver using the first SIM card and searching, via the cellular transceiver, for available wireless services associated with the first SIM card.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a last used SIM card in the plurality of SIM cards is selected as the first SIM card when a SIM card has not been pre-selected.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the selecting a SIM card from a plurality of SIM cards as the first SIM card comprises:
determining a location of the mobile transceiver, and
wherein a SIM card is selected from a plurality of SIM cards as the first SIM card in accordance with the determined location of the mobile transceiver.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when a SIM card has not been pre-selected, acquiring location data via a satellite receiver and/or sensor data via one or more sensors and storing the acquired location data and/or sensor data in a data log in a memory of the mobile transceiver.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when a wireless service is not available, switching from the first SIM card to a different SIM card in the plurality of SIM cards.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
resetting the cellular transceiver using the different SIM card; and
searching, via the cellular transceiver, for available wireless services associated with the different SIM card.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
when each SIM in a plurality of SIM cards has been attempted and no wireless service is available, initiating a low power mode for the mobile transceiver.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
when each SIM in a plurality of SIM cards has been attempted and no wireless service is available,
acquiring location data via a satellite receiver and/or sensor data via one or more sensors and storing the acquired location data and/or sensor data in a data log in a memory of the mobile transceiver, and
initiating a low power mode for the mobile transceiver.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the location of the mobile transceiver comprises determining, via a satellite receiver, a location of the mobile transceiver.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the location of the mobile transceiver comprises determining an expected location of the mobile transceiver from the travel itinerary in accordance with a current time.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
acquiring location data via a satellite receiver and/or sensor data via one or more sensors and storing the acquired location data and/or sensor data in a data log in a memory of the mobile transceiver.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when more than one wireless service is available, selecting a wireless service from the available wireless services in accordance with a location of the mobile transceiver or a waypoint associated with the wakeup event and a list of preferred wireless services for a plurality of locations or waypoints of the travel itinerary.

14. A method of operating a mobile transceiver comprising:
waking up the mobile transceiver from a low power mode in response to a wakeup event;
determining a location of the mobile transceiver;
determining whether the determined location of the mobile transceiver corresponds to a location in a travel itinerary;
when the determined location corresponds to a location in the travel itinerary, determining whether a SIM card has been pre-selected for the determined location;
when a SIM card has been pre-selected for the determined location, selecting the pre-selected SIM card as a first subscriber identity module (SIM) card,
activating a cellular transceiver using the first SIM card, and
searching, via the cellular transceiver, for available wireless services associated with the first SIM card; and

when a wireless service is available,
sending at least a portion of a data log to an asset tracking service using the wireless service;

determining whether a different SIM card in a plurality of SIM cards is preferred to the first SIM card in accordance with a mobile country code (MCC) of the available wireless services and a mapping between the plurality of SIM cards and location; and
switching from the first SIM card to the different SIM card when a different SIM card is preferred to the first SIM card.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the determining whether a different SIM card is preferred to the first SIM card is based on the mobile country code (MCC) is used in combination with a mobile network code (MNC) of the available wireless services.

16. A method of operating a mobile transceiver comprising:
waking up the mobile transceiver from a low power mode in response to a wakeup event;
determining a location of the mobile transceiver;
determining whether the determined location of the mobile transceiver corresponds to a location in a travel itinerary;
when the determined location corresponds to a location in the travel itinerary, determining whether a SIM card has been pre-selected for the determined location;
when a SIM card has been pre-selected for the determined location, selecting the pre-selected SIM card as a first subscriber identity module (SIM) card,
activating a cellular transceiver using the first SIM card, and
searching, via the cellular transceiver, for available wireless services associated with the first SIM card; and

when a wireless service is available,
sending at least a portion of a data log to an asset tracking service using the wireless service;
receiving a switch command from the asset tracking service, the switch command including an identity of a different SIM card in the plurality of SIM cards to be used by the mobile transceiver; and
switching from the first SIM card to the different SIM card in response to the switch command.

17. A method of operating a mobile transceiver, comprising:
waking up the mobile transceiver from a low power mode in response to a wakeup event;
determining whether the wakeup event corresponds to a waypoint in a travel itinerary, wherein the travel itinerary defines a number of waypoints including an origin, a destination and intermediate waypoints along an intended route;
when the wakeup event corresponds to a waypoint in the travel itinerary,
determining whether a SIM card has been pre-selected for the waypoint;
when a SIM card has been pre-selected for the waypoint,
selecting the SIM

Assignees

• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Korneluk José Eduardo
• Chennakeshu Sandeep
• Saxena Siddharth
• Berriz Sergio Javier

Classifications

• H04W52/0209 Primary

  in terminal devices · CPC title

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W84/042

  Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems · CPC title

• H04B1/3816

  Mechanical arrangements for accommodating identification devices, e.g. cards or chips; with connectors for programming identification devices · CPC title