TITLE OF THE INVENTION: SIM-FUNCTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to a method at a wireless communications network for activation respective deactivation of a locking function in a mobile terminal in said network.

Prior art Before a SIM-card based mobile telephone is distributed for sale, the mobile telephore is adapted to a specific SIM-card. This can be done at the manuiacLuig place of the telephone, or at a supplier's, best done at the packing of the mobile telephone and the SIM-card.

The mobile telephone is equipped with a SIM locking function, which implies that when the customer obtains his/her mobile telephone and his/her SIN-card, the customer can only use the SIM-card/cards which are in the packing.

Other SIM-cards consequently cannot be used in the mobile telephone. The unlocking of the SIM locking function is done in such a way that the operator distributes keys for unlocking the mobile telephone. When the SIM locking function is unlocked by means of the key, other SIM-cards can be used in the mobile telephone.

One problem with the above mentioned is that it is cumbersome and expensive to distribute keys to every new customer. Another problem is that it is experienced as cumbersome by the customer to have to wait for his/her keys to be able to utilize the mobile telephone to its full extent.

The aim of the present invention consequently is to solve this problem.

Summary of the invention The above mentioned aim is achieved by a method at a wireless telecommunications network for activation respective deactivation of a locking function in a mobile terminal in the network, at which the activation respective deactivation of the locking function in the mobile terminal is executed by an operator, at any predecided occasion, transferring commands, via a carrier service in the network, to the mobile terminal, which commands activate or deactivate the locking function in the mobile terminal.

By that, the need of keys which shall be distributed to the customer is eliminated. In addition the customer does not need to unlock the terminal himself/herself, because this is attended to by the operator via a carrier service such as SMS or USSD.

Further advantages are that the invention gives possibility to in a supple way handle present subscriptions; protects against reselling and export of pre-sent subscriptions with belonging telephone; makes more difficult and reduces the interest of the resellers to sell many subscriptions from different operators to one customer; the telephone will be less attractive to steal in the distribution stage; improves the handling of number and SIM-cards with less wastage as a result.

Further characteristics of the present invention are given in the subclaims.

Brief description of the drawing In the following a detailed description of an embodiment of the present invention is given with reference to the only drawing.

Figure 1 describes schematically the procedure of unlocking the SIM locking function.

1. At registration, activate OTA, SIM-lock, update MSISDN.

2. (The customer X, does agreement exist, open SIM-lock, this is the customer's phone number).

3. Subscr. registered.

4. Subscr. updated automatically.

5. Subscr. is sent via THOL, fax, letter.

6. Function implementation VASP (Value Added Services Platform).

7. Active SIMs.

8. ME must support: SIM-lock, SIM toolkit.

9. AF has active SIMs in shop.

10. Customer wants to buy Reg.Mob.

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention Distribution security is a new function which combines SIM-lock and SIM-toolkit in a unique way. The function gives operators possibility to protect provision to a greater extent than what is possible today.

Before a telephone is distributed, a telephone and a SIM-card is, as has been mentioned above, matched together.

This can be done at the factory, or with a supplier. This is best done at packing of the telephone and the SIM-card.

The SIM locking function results in that the customer cannot use other SIM-cards than those that were enclosed in the package.

In order to unlock SIM-lock, SIM toolkit functions are used and a carrier service, for instance SMS or USSD. The unlocking can be controlled by different criteria, for instance when the customer has sent in his/her signed agreement. The operator consequently need not distribute any keys to unlock the terminals and minimizes the risks of bad reputation by using SIM-lock.

In the following a conceivable scenario of how the unlocking of the SIM locking function can be achieved is given.

When a customer registers a subscription at a reseller's (AF), this registration is sent via THOL, fax, letter to "Telia Handel" reseller support (AF support) alternatively "Telia Nara" customer service (Ktj.), which in its turn registers the subscription in a support system unit -(GSM-AHS).

AHS checks whether the customer has signed a valid subscription agreement between customer and Telia AB. If no subscription agreement has been made, nothing happens. As soon as an agreement has been made (i.e. the customer has undersigned and sent in the subscription agreement) and been registered in AHS, functions are activated in the network and information is transmitted to the customer's mobile telephone which is unlocked, at which other SIM- cards can be used together with the mobile telephone. AHS consequently instructs VASP (Value Added Services Platform) about that the SIM locking function shall, be unlocked, at which VASP instructs an SMS-controller (SMSC) to transmit a special message (SMS-special) and SIM-unlocking commands SIM delock MSISDN (Mobile System -ISDN). The mobile telephone which supports SIM lock and SII toolkit receives SIM unlocking commands, after which the SIM toolkit function unlocks (activates) the mobile telephone so it can be used by other SIM-cards. At the same time the mobile telephone receives a message on its display that the subscription is confirmed, and that the customer is welcome as customer at Telia AB. The customer does not see what has actually happened, but only receives a confirmation that the subscription is registered and a welcome-message.

It should of course be realized that an operator any time can lock (deactivate) the mobile telephone so that it cannot be used by other SIM-cards by transmitting commands which attends to that SIM toolkit locks the mobile telephone.

The above mentioned is only to be regarded as a preferred embodiment and the extent of protection of the invention is only defined by what appears from the following patent claims.