Subscriber identity module verification during power management

Abstract

Power management techniques for a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) of a wireless communication device (WCD) are described that make use of a unique identifier for the SIM. In particular, a processor within the WCD reads a first unique identifier from the SIM when power is initially supplied to the WCD, and stores the first unique identifier within a computer-readable medium within the WCD. During a power management cycle, where power is terminated and then re-supplied to the SIM, the processor again receives a unique identifier from the SIM and compares the second unique identifier with the stored unique identifier. These techniques are useful in detecting whether the attached SIM has been exchanged for a different SIM while powered down during a power management cycle. This is advantageous in verifying the integrity of the SIM for other software or hardware modules within the WCD that need to access or otherwise utilize the SIM.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.