Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Programming control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-15
2002-02-19
Nguyen, Lee (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Programming control
C455S426100, C455S552100, C455S414200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06349205
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
This invention relates to wireless communications and, more particularly, to a system for converting an existing subscriber of a first wireless communications system to a second wireless communications system.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1
depicts a schematic diagram of a wireless communications system
10
which provide wireless communications service to a number of wireless units (e.g., wireless units
12
a-c
) that are situated within geographic regions
14
and
16
. A Mobile Switching Center (e.g. MSCs
20
and
24
) is responsible for, among other things, establishing and maintaining calls between the wireless units and calls between a wireless unit and a wireline unit (e.g., wireline unit
25
). As such, the MSC interconnects the wireless units within its geographic region with a public switched telephone network (PSTN)
28
. The geographic area serviced by the MSC is divided into spatially distinct areas called “cells.” As depicted in
FIG. 1
, each cell is schematically represented by one hexagon in a honeycomb pattern; in practice, however, each cell has an irregular shape that depends on the topography of the terrain surrounding the cell. Typically, each cell contains a base station (e.g. base stations
22
a-e
and
26
a-e
), which comprises the radios and antennas that the base station uses to communicate with the wireless units in that cell. The base stations also comprise the transmission equipment that the base station uses to communicate with the MSC in the geographic area. For example, MSC
20
is connected to the base stations
22
a-e
in the geographic area
14
, and an MSC
24
is connected to the base stations
26
a-e
in the geographic region
16
. Within a geographic region, the MSC switches calls between base stations in real time as the wireless unit moves between cells, referred to as call handoff.
The MSCs
20
and
24
use a signaling network
32
, which enables the exchange of information about the wireless units within the respective geographic areas
14
and
16
, for location validation and call delivery to wireless units which are roaming in other geographic areas. For example, a wireless unit
12
a
is roaming when the wireless unit
12
a
leaves the geographic area
14
of the MSC
20
to which it was originally assigned (e.g. home MSC). To ensure that a roaming wireless unit can receive a call, the roaming wireless unit
12
a
registers with the MSC
24
in which it presently resides (e.g., the visitor MSC) by notifying the visitor MSC
24
of its presence. Once a roaming wireless unit
12
a
is identified by a visitor MSC
24
, the visitor MSC
24
sends a registration request to the home MSC
20
over the signaling network
32
, and the home MSC
20
updates a database
34
, referred to as the home location register (HLR), with the identification of the visitor MSC
24
, thereby providing the location of the roaming wireless unit
12
a
to the home MSC
20
.
The HLR
34
contains subscriber information and location information for all wireless units which reside in the geographic area
14
of the MSC
20
. The HLR
34
includes a mobile identification number (MIN) or International Mobile Subscriber Identification Number (IMSI), the mobile directory number (MDN), and/or an electronic serial number (ESN) for each of the wireless units. An authentication center (AC)
35
authenticates a wireless unit by using the MIN/IMSI and ESN of the wireless unit and data stored in the HLR
34
. After a roaming wireless unit is authenticated, the home MSC
20
provides to the visitor MSC
24
a customer profile which indicates the features available to the roaming wireless unit, such as call waiting, caller id, call forwarding, three-way calling, and international dialing access. Upon receiving the customer profile, the visitor MSC
24
updates a database
36
, referred to as the visitor location register (VLR), to provide the same features as the home MSC
20
. The HLR, VLR and/or the AC can be co-located at the MSC or remotely accessed.
There are different radio standards for wireless cellular communications systems which determine how a wireless unit communicates within the wireless communications system
10
or variations of the wireless architecture thereof. The different radio standards include wireless communications systems using code division multiple access (CDMA), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Global System Mobile (GSM), North American time division multiple access (North American TDMA), Total Access Cellular System (TACS), European Total Access Cellular System (ETACS) and others. These wireless cellular communications systems have evolved from first generation analog systems based on frequency modulated (FM) voice technology, such as AMPS, to second generation digital systems, such as wireless cellular communications systems based on CDMA, TDMA and GSM. The first generation systems had limited capacity. The second generation systems provide increased capacity and service capabilities. For example, the second generation systems are being networked to provide seamless roaming, call delivery and handoff services on a national and international basis. Third generation wireless cellular systems are evolving from second generation systems which provide improved access to voice and data networks. Certain radio standards, such as CDMA, are recognized as being well suited for implementing third generation wireless systems.
In this environment of evolving wireless communications systems, wireless service providers may change or convert the service provider's wireless communications system to a different standard, such as CDMA, which more readily supports implementing third generation wireless systems. To do so, the service provider typically asks the existing subscribers to go to a store or outlet to select a new wireless unit for the new wireless communications system. After selecting the wireless unit, the existing subscriber calls a customer registration service
38
using the new wireless unit to activate the new wireless unit and get a phone number (DN) and/or a new IMSI. A human operator at the customer service
38
asks for subscriber information, such as billing information and features or services desired by the existing subscriber. The operator inputs the new subscriber information into a database in the customer service
38
, and the customer service
38
assigns a DN and/or new IMSI to the new wireless unit. The new wireless unit already has the ESN and a dummy International Mobile Subscriber Identification number (IMSI). An over the air service provisioning process (OTASP) programs the DN and/or the IMSI into the new wireless unit using an over the air function (OTAF)
40
which allows the IMSI and/or DN to be programmed into the new wireless unit. The activation process provides the new subscriber information at the customer service
38
, including the DN, IMSI, billing information and/or services, to the HLR
34
of the home MSC
20
. Once the home MSC
20
has the subscriber information or customer profile in its HLR
34
, the new wireless unit is activated.
The OTASP process was designed for new subscribers, and the process takes about 20-25 minutes to activate a wireless subscription. If the service provider informs all existing subscribers to exchange an existing handset for a new handset to support the new radio standard, it is difficult to predict the numbers of operators required to handle the conversion of the existing subscribers from the previous wireless communications system to the new wireless communications system using the new radio standard. As such, subscribers may be required to wait excessive periods of time for an operator to answer the call and process the activation procedure for the subscriber's new wireless unit. Moreover, during the conversion period, the service provider will be exposed to increased costs, for example due to increased staffing and training, and may dissatisfy existing subscribers. Thus, a conversion system is required
Fang I-Ning Hsu
Ku Peng-Sheng
Ting Jason Cheng
Yu Bee Yun
Alston & Bird LLP
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
Nguyen Lee
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