Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-29
2002-01-08
Le, Thanh Cong (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S433000, C455S445000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06337981
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method to provide a service in a universal personal telecommunication network, a service provider realizing such a method and a universal personal telecommunication network including such a service provider.
Such service provider is already known in the art, e.g. from the European Telecommunication Standards Institute Standard at the internet site with the address:
http://docbase.etsi.fr/Tech-org/smg/Document/smg
1
/SMG
1
-UMTS-Specifications/NEW/
with reference TR 22.70 V3.0.0 (1998-03) entitled “Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS); Service Aspects; Virtual Home Environment (VHE) (UMTS 22.70 version 3.0.0).
This document describes the Virtual Home Environment concept and its constituent parts. A concept called service environment is introduced to describe how virtual home environment services will be made available on demand to a user traveling with its terminal in any location. The concept of virtual home terminal is discussed in order to describe how a virtual home environment can be made available in any terminal.
The following paragraphs are describing a summary of this document, in order to provide an indication of the background art which can be regarded as useful for understanding the invention.
A virtual home environment is defined as a system concept for personalized service portability, across network boundaries and between terminals. The concept of the virtual home environment is such that universal personal telecommunication system UMTS users are consistently presented with the same personalized features in whatever network and whatever terminal, wherever the user may be located. The exact configuration available to a user at any instant will be dependent upon the capabilities of the user service identity module, called hereafter USIM, terminal equipment and network currently being used or on the subscription restriction. Such a USIM is a unique personal identification of a user to a subscriber and a service provider. A user with its USIM in another terminal, receives maximum capability provided depending on the limitation of the terminal. A virtual home environment is created by a combination of the capabilities located in the service provider, network operators and the terminal equipment. In effect, the virtual home environment of a user is considered as a distributed user profile. The profile outline is owned by the service provider, and it is distributed between the terminal equipment, personal identification card, network operator and service provider. This means that to the service provider, the virtual home environment appears as a list of capabilities, preferences and settings appropriate to the user and its subscriber. It is also described in the above cited document that a commercial relationship is required between a service provider and a network operator, either directly or indirectly.
The components involved in realization of a virtual home environment of a user are the following: one user, one service provider, one or more value added service providers i.e. content providers of services such as video on demand or entertainment information provider, one USIM i.e. unique personal identification of the user, one IC card, one subscriber, one subscription of the subscriber to the above mentioned service provider, one or more terminals, one or more network operators.
A user is associated with one service provider and the service provider provides virtual home environment according to the subscription. The service provider can use a plurality of network operators in order to support the virtual home environment for the user.
Individual users have a virtual home environment which is based on a subset of the total services. Whilst the user may have a set of services he would expect to be offered, these are only offered if permitted by the subscriber and the service provider. From the users point of view, the use of the network is hidden.
In order to disclose the invention as claimed, the following paragraph describes an example.
Presume a universal personal telecommunication network which includes a subnetwork. According to the virtual home concept a user, being identified with its personal identification number is associated to one service provider, called its home service provider. The home service provider provides a virtual home environment according to the subscription of the user. Presume that this home service provider has a commercial relationship with this subnetwork e.g. a mobile subnetwork, called hereafter a home subnetwork. The home subnetwork is attached to the home service provider. Furthermore, presume that the home service provider offers access for all its subscribers to a list of services e.g. hotel information, roadmap information, flight information of the airport, restaurant information, etc.
In the event that the user desires to get access to the personal telecommunication network, the user submits an access request via a terminal e.g. its mobile telephone and via the home subnetwork to the universal personal telecommunication network. The home service provider provides a notification to the user which includes the capability for the user to accept the list of services of its home service provider. In this way, the user can select this offered service and, furthermore, can select e.g. the offered hotel information.
In the event when the user makes a journey, the user can get access to the telecommunication network due to:
an agreement between the operator of its home subnetwork or its home service provider and an operator of a subnetwork in the environment of its destination or the service provider whereto this other subnetwork is attached also due to a commercial agreement; and
the right settings of its user profile offered by its subscriber and its home service provider.
Indeed, an interworking between the two subnetworks is required as well as the permission for the user to get access to the telecommunication network via another subnetwork. When the user, at the destination of its journey, makes an access request with its mobile telephone to the telecommunication network, the access is requested via this other subnetwork i.e. a mobile network, called hereafter access subnetwork. Due to the existing interworking between the access subnetwork and the home subnetwork the profile of the user can be checked. When the profile of the user permits access via this access subnetwork, the home service provider of the user provides a notification to the user which includes the capability for the user to accept the list of services of its home service provider. In this way, the user can select this offered service and, furthermore, can select e.g. the offered hotel information. However, the offered hotel information is mostly information of the local environment of its home service provider e.g. the coverage area of the home subnetwork.
In fact, the offered services by the home service provider are the same whatever the terminal's position within the telecommunication network. The services offered to the user, at its home area or at a visited area, are the services of its home service provider offered by its home service provider via a home subnetwork or via a subnetwork of the visited area.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a method to provide a service to a user, such as of the above known type but which has not the above drawback of offering to a user only the services of a home service provider, if any.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by a method which includes the step of requesting access by the user to the telecommunication network via a terminal (T) and via an access subnetwork (SUB-M
2
-H) of the telecommunication network in order to provide thereby an access request (R), upon receiving the access request (R), providing by a notifying service provider (SP-H) to the user (U) via the access subnetwork (SUB-M
2
-H), a notification (N(SP-V)) which includes a capability to accept a service of an offere
Alcatel
Cong Le Thanh
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