Granted Patent B2

US 7,505,769 · App. 10/918,645 · Granted Mar 17, 2009

Abstract

Claims (33)

1. A mobile communications system, the system comprising:

a plurality of Visited Public Mobile Networks (VPMNs), including at least one Foreign Public Mobile Network (FPMN); and

a Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN) having a Home Location Register (HLR), the HPMN having at least one HPMN subscriber with an associated Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), the HPMN comprising a single signaling gateway for providing to each HPMN subscriber an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) in the SIM and a corresponding Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Services Number (MSISDN) to operate in each of the at least one FPMNs,

wherein the HPMN and each FPMN have a roaming agreement and an arrangement to support subscribers of Multiple IMSI Multiple MSISDN service (MIMM),

wherein the single signaling gateway is configured to assign multiple IMSIs to a single MIMM SIM in a MIMM subscriber device,

wherein the MIMM SIM is associated with multiple MSISDNs corresponding to the multiple IMSIs of the MIMM SIM, and

wherein each IMSI of the multiple IMSIs is associated with a different network, including at least one FPMN.

2. The mobile communication system of claim 1 , wherein the HPMN associates, for each HPMN subscriber, a single HPMN IMSI (IMSI-H) with all IMSIs in the SIM, and

wherein the IMSI-H is linked to a single entry in the HLR.

3. The mobile communication system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one FPMN is a participating operator in a foreign country that is different from a country where the HPMN is a participating operator.

4. The mobile communications system of claim 1 , wherein the single signaling gateway is further configured to provide services to the user in an identical manner whether or not the user is roaming, wherein the services comprise a general packet radio service (GPRS), a unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) service, and a short message service (SMS) service.

5. The mobile communications system of claim 4 , further comprising routing USSD messages to a signaling gateway, wherein the signaling gateway acts as a home location register (HLR) of a IMSI of a FPMN IMSI.

6. The mobile communications system of claim 5 , wherein the signaling gateway is further configured to:

modify the USSD messages as necessary; and

relay the USSD messages from the signaling gateway to a “real” HLR, wherein the “real” HLR is a HPMN HLR of a HPMN IMSI corresponding to a FPMN IMSI used in the USSD message.

7. The mobile communication system of claim 1 ,

wherein a FPMN allocates at least one local IMSI in a predetermined range for use by the HPMN MIMM subscriber while roaming outside the HPMN, and

wherein the HPMN provisions and manages all FPMN IMSIs and HPMN IMSIs on the MIMM subscriber device.

8. The mobile communications system of claim 7 , wherein the single signaling gateway is further configured to perform authentication for the MIMM subscriber device in the HPMN using a HPMN key regardless of whether an IMSI used by the MIMM subscriber device is a FPMN IMSI or a HPMN IMSI, and regardless of a MSISDN used by the MIMM subscriber device.

9. The mobile communications system of claim 8 , wherein the single signaling gateway is further configured to map the home MSISDN to a local MSISDN in one of the at least one FPMN when the user is roaming in the one of the at least one FPMN.

10. The mobile communications system of claim 7 , wherein facilitating calls received by the MIMM subscriber and calls placed by the MIMM subscriber comprises using global system for mobile communication (GSM).

11. The mobile communications system of claim 7 , wherein facilitating calls received by the MIMM subscriber and calls placed by the MIMM subscriber comprises using code division multiple access (CDMA).

12. The mobile communications system of claim 7 , wherein the single signaling gateway is further configured to store roaming information about the MIMM subscriber at a FPMN.

13. The mobile communications system of claim 7 , wherein at least one GMSC is coupled to the single signaling gateway via a SS7 node.

14. The mobile communications system of claim 7 , wherein the single signaling gateway further comprises:

a global title (GT) transformation element;

a message application part (MAP) message transformation element;

a MAP server element; and

a ISDN user part (ISUP) server element.

15. The mobile communications system of claim 7 , wherein the MIMM SIM further supports multiple local IMSIs and multiple local MSISDNs.

16. The mobile communications system of claim 15 , wherein the single signaling gateway is further configured to facilitate manual selection of an IMSI by the user.

17. The mobile communications system of claim 15 , wherein the single signaling gateway is further configured to add additional local IMSIs and additional local MSISDNs to the SIM via an over-the-air (OTA) interface.

18. The mobile communications system of claim 17 , wherein the single signaling gateway is further configured to determine whether a new home IMSI is needed when the location of the mobile communications device changes.

Assignments (13)