Registration of a roaming UE onto a preferred VPLMN using airplane mode of operation
Disclosed is a method in which a User Equipment will be able to register near instantly onto an available preferred roaming network, when the cellular radio of the UE is powered on. The method disclosed comprises of a roaming destination determined from a mobile boarding pass or input via User Interface of an Application installed on the Mobile Equipment or via UI on the Operating System of the ME, where the Application or OS compares the roaming destination with a PLMN list to obtain the preferred PLMN ID of that roaming destination which is selected and updated to specific files within the UICC. LTE and/or UMTS band information can also be obtained for the roaming destination and an MRU database updated to include the LTE and/or UMTS band information. A specific REFRESH command that is sent from the UICC to the ME prior to turning off the cellular radio of the UE, is used in the disclosed method to achieve near instant or instant registration onto the preferred visited PLMN when the cellular radio of the UE is turned on upon arrival at roaming destination. Alternatively, the ME can send a reset signal to the UICC when turning on the cellular radio of the UE upon arrival at the roaming destination.
1. A method of configuration of a roaming user equipment (UE) in Automatic Network Selection mode to register onto a preferred Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN) on a cellular radio of the UE turning on, in which the UE comprises a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) and a mobile equipment (ME), the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a Mobile Country Code (MCC) by user input on a user interface on the ME;
comparing the received MCC with MCCs of Public Land Mobile Network Identities (PLMN IDs) stored in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list;
selecting the preferred VPLMN by selecting a highest priority PLMN ID in the PLMN list whose MCC matches the received MCC;
overwriting an entry in elementary files containing location information in the UICC with identification for the preferred VPLMN, in which the elementary files containing location information comprise Elementary File Location Information EF_LOCI and Elementary File Evolved Packet System EF_EPSLOCI and in which EF_LOCI and EF_EPSLOCI are updated by overwriting PLMN ID content of EF_LOCI and EF_EPSLOCI with the selected highest priority PLMN ID, while keeping existing bytes intact and setting the last byte to “updated” by setting the last byte to 00, the PLMN ID content of EF_LOCI being bytes 5 , 6 and 7 of file ID 6 F 7 E, and PLMN ID content of EF_EPSLOCI being bytes 3 , 4 , 5 , 13 , 14 and 15 of file ID 6 FE 3 ;
sending a REFRESH—File Change Notification from the UICC to the ME once updating the elementary files is completed, the REFRESH—File Change Notification including the elementary files in a REFRESH File List; and
sending a reset signal comprising either Activation and Warm Reset or Activation and Cold Reset as per ISO/IEC 7816-3 from the ME to the UICC whenever the cellular radio is turned on by toggling an Airplane Mode OFF.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of the UE entering Airplane Mode before the Airplane Mode is toggled OFF.
3. A method of facilitating registration of a roaming user equipment (UE) comprising a mobile equipment (ME) onto a preferred Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN), comprising sending instructions to the UE to cause the ME to carry out the method of claim 1 .
4. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions for a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) or mobile equipment (ME) to carry out the steps of claim 1 .
5. A method of Registration of a roaming user equipment (UE) in Automatic Network Selection mode onto a preferred Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN), in which the UE comprises a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) and a mobile equipment (ME), the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a Mobile Country Code (MCC) by user input on a user interface on the ME;
comparing the received MCC with MCCs of Public Land Mobile Network Identities (PLMN IDs) stored in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list;
selecting the preferred VPLMN by selecting a highest priority PLMN ID in the PLMN list whose MCC matches the received MCC;
overwriting an entry in elementary files containing location information in the UICC with identification for the preferred VPLMN, in which the elementary files containing location information comprise Elementary File Location Information EF_LOCI and Elementary File Evolved Packet System EF_EPSLOCI and in which EF_LOCI and EF_EPSLOCI are updated by overwriting PLMN ID content of EF_LOCI and EF_EPSLOCI with the selected highest priority PLMN ID, while keeping existing bytes intact and setting the last byte to “updated” by setting the last byte to 00, the PLMN ID content of EF_LOCI being bytes 5 , 6 and 7 of file ID 6 F 7 E, and PLMN ID content of EF_EPSLOCI being bytes 3 , 4 , 5 , 13 , 14 and 15 of file ID 6 FE 3 ;
sending a REFRESH—File Change Notification from the UICC to the ME once updating the elementary files is completed, the REFRESH—File Change Notification including the elementary files in a REFRESH File List; and
on a cellular radio of the UE turning on, by toggling an Airplane Mode OFF the UE sending a reset signal comprising either Activation and Warm Reset or Activation and Cold Reset as per ISO/IEC 7816-3 from the ME to the UICC registering onto the preferred VPLMN.
6. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of the UE entering Airplane Mode before the Airplane Mode is toggled OFF.