Connection between sim-less device and cellular network

1. User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) provisioned with a plurality of subscription profiles for subscriptions to a cellular network;

at least one radio transceiver configured to communicate via radio signals; and

at least one processor and memory;

the at least one processor causes the UE to:

establish a direct communication with a SIM-less device using the at least one radio transceiver, wherein the SIM-less device does not have a subscription with the cellular network;

select one of the subscriptions provisioned in the SIM as a temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device to allow the SIM-less device to establish a direct connection with the cellular network using the temporary subscription; and

transmit a message to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing subscription credentials for the temporary subscription.

2. The UE of claim 1 wherein the at least one processor causes the UE to:

receive a subscription request from the SIM-less device via the direct communication requesting access to a subscription provisioned in the SIM;

select the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device in response to receiving the subscription request; and

transmit a subscription response to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the subscription credentials for the temporary subscription.

3. The UE of claim 2 wherein:

the subscription request from the SIM-less device includes an indicator of a particular subscription provisioned in the SIM; and

the at least one processor causes the UE to:

select the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device based on the indicator in the subscription request.

4. The UE of claim 1 wherein:

the subscription credentials include a subscription permanent identifier; and

the at least one processor causes the UE to:

conceal the subscription permanent identifier in a subscription concealed identifier; and

transmit the message to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the subscription concealed identifier.

5. The UE of claim 1 wherein the at least one processor causes the UE to:

set a subscription profile for the temporary subscription as active for use by the SIM-less device.

6. The UE of claim 1 wherein the at least one processor causes the UE to:

receive a verification request from the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing authentication request parameters generated by the cellular network;

generate authentication response parameters; and

transmit a verification response to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the authentication response parameters.

7. The UE of claim 1 wherein the at least one processor causes the UE to:

detect a condition to revoke the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device; and

transmit a revoke request to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing an instruction to tear down the direct connection with the cellular network.

8. The UE of claim 1 wherein the at least one processor causes the UE to:

detect a condition to revoke the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device; and

transmit a revoke request to the cellular network to tear down the direct connection with the SIM-less device.

9. The UE of claim 8 wherein:

the revoke request comprises a deregister request to deregister the SIM-less device from the temporary subscription.

10. A method of operating User Equipment (UE) to facilitate a direct connection between a SIM-less device and a cellular network, wherein the UE includes a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) provisioned with a plurality of subscription profiles for subscriptions to the cellular network, the method comprising:

establishing a direct communication with the SIM-less device using a radio transceiver in the UE, wherein the SIM-less device does not have a subscription with the cellular network;

selecting one of the subscriptions provisioned in the SIM as a temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device to allow the SIM-less device to establish the direct connection with the cellular network using the temporary subscription; and

transmitting a message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing subscription credentials for the temporary subscription.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving a subscription request at the UE from the SIM-less device via the direct communication requesting access to a subscription provisioned in the SIM;

wherein selecting one of the subscriptions provisioned in the SIM as the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device comprises selecting the temporary subscription in response to receiving the subscription request; and

wherein transmitting the message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication comprises transmitting a subscription response from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the subscription credentials for the temporary subscription.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein:

the subscription request from the SIM-less device includes an indicator of a particular subscription provisioned in the SIM; and

selecting one of the subscriptions provisioned in the SIM as the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device comprises selecting the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device based on the indicator in the subscription request.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein:

the subscription credentials include a subscription permanent identifier;

the method further comprises concealing the subscription permanent identifier in a subscription concealed identifier; and

transmitting the message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication comprises transmitting the message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the subscription concealed identifier.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving a verification request at the UE from the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing authentication request parameters generated by the cellular network;

generating authentication response parameters at the UE; and

transmitting a verification response from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the authentication response parameters.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

detecting a condition to revoke the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device; and

transmitting a revoke request from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing an instruction to tear down the direct connection with the cellular network.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

detecting a condition to revoke the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device; and

transmitting a revoke request from the UE to the cellular network to tear down the direct connection with the SIM-less device.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying programmed instructions executed by a processor of User Equipment (UE), wherein the instructions direct the processor to implement a method of operating the UE to facilitate a direct connection between a SIM-less device and a cellular network, wherein the UE includes a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) provisioned with a plurality of subscription profiles for subscriptions to the cellular network, the method comprising:

establishing a direct communication with the SIM-less device using a radio transceiver in the UE, wherein the SIM-less device does not have a subscription with the cellular network;

selecting one of the subscriptions provisioned in the SIM as a temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device to allow the SIM-less device to establish the direct connection with the cellular network using the temporary subscription; and

transmitting a message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing subscription credentials for the temporary subscription.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a subscription request at the UE from the SIM-less device via the direct communication requesting access to a subscription provisioned in the SIM;

wherein selecting one of the subscriptions provisioned in the SIM as the temporary subscription assigned to the SIM-less device comprises selecting the temporary subscription in response to receiving the subscription request; and

wherein transmitting the message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication comprises transmitting a subscription response from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the subscription credentials for the temporary subscription.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein:

the subscription credentials include a subscription permanent identifier;

the method further comprises concealing the subscription permanent identifier in a subscription concealed identifier; and

transmitting the message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication comprises transmitting the message from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the subscription concealed identifier.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a verification request at the UE from the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing authentication request parameters generated by the cellular network;

generating authentication response parameters at the UE; and

transmitting a verification response from the UE to the SIM-less device via the direct communication containing the authentication response parameters.