# US 2020/0401675 A1 · Software-Enabled Remote Licensing and Provisioning > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2020/0401675 A1 - Document ID: US20200401675A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/009,602 - Filed: 2020-09-01 - Published: 2020-12-24 - Earliest claimed: 2015-03-02 - Assignees: Parallel Wireless, Inc. - Applicants: Parallel Wireless, Inc. - Inventors: Steven Paul Papa; Rajesh Kumar Mishra; Michael Yasuhiro Saji - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20200401675A1 ## CPC - G06F 21/105: {Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level} - H04W 12/08: Access security - H04W 12/35: {Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning} - G06F 21/1077: {Recurrent authorisation} - H04L 2463/101: applying security measures for digital rights management - H04L 2463/103: applying security measure for protecting copyright - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract Described herein are systems and methods for providing software provisioning of functionality in a wireless communications device. Software-enabling functionality may include systems for granting a license to intellectual property or other pre-embedded functionality within a device. Communications to and from the device may be used to send or receive activation messages and/or licensing messages. Network capabilities may be provisioned using activation messages sent over the network. Activation messages may be sent in-band or out-of-band, for a device connected to the Internet and/or a mobile operator core network. Licenses may be required for any functions or intellectual property present on a given device. Activation may enable logical modules of a system-on-chip (SOC), functions of a software-defined radio (SDR), baseband, or DSP core. The disclosed systems and methods could thereby provide a new, flexible paradigm, namely, “Silicon as a Service (SaaS).” ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for providing additional features for a wireless subscriber, the method comprising: determining, at the wireless communications device, a need for activation of an unused functionality of wireless communications device of the wireless subscriber; receiving, at a server, an activation request message from the wireless communications device for activation of additional functionality at the wireless communications device; determining, at the server, if an additional per-month fee is required for activation of additional functionality; sending, to the wireless communications device, an activation message to the wireless communications device, the activation message enabling the unused functionality of the wireless communications device at the wireless communications device; and upon agreement to the per-month fee, the wireless subscriber is authorized to activate a radio to access a wireless operator's licensed wireless network spectrum. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises provisioning the wireless communications device for use as a Long term Evolution (LTE) evolved NodeB (eNodeB) base station. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises enabling the wireless device to provide at least one of switching between wireless bands and carrier aggregation. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises remote activation and remote download of at least one of: software; source code; object code; authentication tokens; configuration information; network addresses for configuration; network credentials. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises at least one of: prioritization of cell signal of certain users at one or more base stations; and an increased data rate so that network operators may provide higher data rates that can be turned on and off at the user's discretion. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises at least one of: a backup wireless connection; femto or home eNodeB (HeNB) service; a license for access to a specific band of wireless spectrum; a license to offload all or part of a wireless base station's load to another wireless base station; a license to use a secondary macro cell as a backup, including a secondary macro cell on a wireless operator's network different than the network for a first macro cell; licenses to provide wireless service within a given sector; licenses to use television white space (TVWS) bands, for wireless backhaul and/or service, including on a per-link or per-subscriber basis; and wireless beacon functionality. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises at least one of: processor cores; software-defined radios; digital signal processors (DSPs), DSP cores; functionality for a given radio access technology, additional radios and radio transceiver chains; radio filters; radio amplifiers; the right to use a given piece of hardware or subset of hardware during a particular time of day; the right to use a frequency band, the use of a sublicense from the rightful spectrum user as registered with the local national regulatory body; the ability to use an unlicensed spectrum band; the ability to use a given frequency band by causing other signal emitters under the operator's control to cease emitting interference in that band. ### Claim 8 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises at least one of: using a fraction of bandwidth on a particular link, the link comprising at least one of: a backhaul link; a fronthaul link; a new mesh link; and a microwave link. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises at least one of: the right to use an unlicensed or lightly-licensed band, including at least one of: the global industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) bands; 2.4 GHz bands; 3.5 GHz bands; TV whitespace bands. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises at least one of: tilting or turning of directional antennas; the right to use a distributed antenna system (DAS) or co-located baseband including centralized radio access network (C-RAN); and small cells or nearby small cells. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises the right to use a predictive model. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the unused functionality enabled by the activation message comprises the right to broadcast at or above a particular power level within a particular geographic area. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein, upon agreement to the per-month fee, the wireless subscriber is authorized to use the Wi-Fi gateway as a femto cell.