Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Usage measurement
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-12
2001-11-27
Le, Thanh Cong (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Usage measurement
C455S433000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06324394
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The invention relates to a system for monitoring mobile telecommunication in a multioperator environment.
Mobile telecommunication has grown rapidly. Its users should have free access to all mobile networks, and the operators need the possibility of real-time billing. In addition, the demand for total subscriber mobility requires advanced and new solutions for both mobile users and operators.
The UPT (Universal Personal Telecommunications)—an ITU (International Telecommunications Union) definition—requires the use of a unique, personal and network-independent number for fixed or mobile users of telecommunication systems by the year 2000. The main object of the UPT (sometimes referred to as personal communication services) is that any user can be connected to another user through different networks by means of any terminal, either mobile or fixed. Until now there has been no technical or concrete solution by which the objects of the UPT would have been achieved.
At present, fixed and cellular networks require an operator-specific subscriber number which is stored in distributed databases. Each user is thus bound to a certain operator, and when the user roams from a (network service) area or a country to another, his operator should have a roaming agreement with other operators to allow the user to have access to the relevant mobile communication networks. This object is naturally achieved if there are such agreements between the operators; in the end, this incurs extra costs to the end user. A subscriber of a mobile communication network and also a subscriber of a fixed telephone network thus have a limited choice of operators, since they have fixed subscriptions. This means that although mobile subscribers use cordless telecommunication, they cannot freely select the most optimal network from among all possible networks. The mobility advantages of mobile telephone systems have thus not been fully achieved.
In the present world of telecommunication, the term subscriber or subscription brings to mind, more or less, club membership. Today, telecommunication users must be members or clients and pay a monthly membership fee to an operator in order to be able to buy communication services and in order to enable the operators to charge the users. In the future, the role of banks will be emphasized in telecommunication. The current subscription system is an obstacle to the implementation of UPT-type concepts, and so far there has been no mechanism which could have provided the users with free access to the network of any operator.
In the current real-time billing concepts of mobile communication systems (mostly used for rental cars), the user must insert his/her credit card or credit card information (i.e. the credit card number, expiration date and a personal security code) in the mobile terminal so that the terminal can be registered in the network. This information is transferred to a credit card clearing house to obtain the credit card verification for registration. In such systems, the user must have a credit card. In telecommunication systems, most of the users are normal users who have no credit cards. However, in such solutions, credit card information must be used in the communication between the users, operators and credit card clearing houses.
SUMMARY
The present invention provides an innovative solution for implementing a UPT-type system. The objects of the UPT are achieved with the claimed UMSS (Universal Mobile Subscription System) by slightly modifying the current GSM network architecture and by allowing thus the GSM system to fully assume the role of the UPT.
This new type of system for monitoring mobile telecommunication in a multioperator environment is achieved with the system of the invention, which is characterized in that the system comprises at least one user control station comprising a home location register containing a unique subscription number and other required subscriber data, and an account control unit containing the subscriber's credit information, the home location register and the account control unit being interconnected in order for the home location register to be able to check the credit information of the calling subscribers in response to requests from the network operators and correspondingly to debit the subscribers' accounts on behalf of the operators by the charge of the calls made.
The implementation of free access to all networks (operators) requires a number of distributed databases, and it is difficult to define which operator should own them. On the other hand, operators do not have authority to act as banks, i.e. to store the clients' account information in order to implement a real-time billing system. The UMSS architecture of the present invention replaces the operator-specific subscription by using a unique subscription number USN (universal subscription number), which is accepted by all operators and by which the users may simultaneously use several telephone connections (frequency channels) and have free access to any available network. The UMSS thus provides the operators with the possibility of charging the clients in real time.
The universal mobile subscription system UMSS has the following advantages:
Free access to both local and universal services anywhere and any time.
Free subscriber mobility without any need for operator-specific roaming procedures.
Free use of available services with only one universal number.
In the UMSS, there is no boundary between networks providing dual coverage or multicoverage over the same area. This means that a user may select any available operator without that the different operators have a roaming agreement.
The UMSS provides a new concept of mobility based on the solutions according to the present invention. The basic requirement in universal contexts (e.g. UPT) is that end users should be free to select any available operator anywhere and any time regardless of the subscriber's origin. When a subscriber travels from one area to another (mobility), for example, he may use the same services at different rates. In a certain area, one may choose a better or the same service at lower rates than in one's home area. In mobile communication, it should also be possible to use an operator without any extra charges resulting e.g. from operator-specific roaming fees or the like. In the UMSS, the end user is not bound to one network/operator, and hence even fixed subscribers are mobile due to the USN. A fixed subscriber can also act as a mobile subscriber by entering (dialling) his S-USN (secret USN) code in any fixed terminal which can have access to the desired network after the operator has checked the subscriber data.
The most desirable property from the operators' point of view is that, when buying services, the users would immediately pay in cash, which would be very efficient and advantageous both for the operators and for the end users. In the UMSS, this is achieved with a real-time charging procedure essentially different from the solutions introduced so far. The user does not necessarily need even a credit card, since in the UMSS, only the USN, which is linked with the user's bank account, is used in the communication between the user, operator and banks.
To achieve the advantages of total mobility, it is necessary to take into account the users' need to have free access to all available networks in real time. The UMSS is a concept which does not require a subscription, since the users do not have operator-specific subscriber numbers.
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A. Akiyama, “Pre-Paid System Using Portable Terminal Equipment”, Patent Abstracts of Japan, 18(397):E-1583 (1994).
Cong Le Thanh
Oy Nokia AB
Pillsbury & Winthrop
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