Enhanced registration messages in internet protocol multimedia subsystems
View Patent ↗An enhanced Session Initiation Protocol (“SIP”) registration message having extended header information that is used by an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (“IMS”) core to determine the registration status of a mobile device and the physical location of the mobile device. The extended header information includes hardware and subscriber identifiers, such as an International Mobile Equipment Identity (“IMEI”) and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (“IMSI”). The IMS core queries an equipment identity register to validate IMEI/IMSI identifiers in the header to determine whether to deny registration to a mobile device. The IMS core also queries a capability database using an IMEI to determine which location determination techniques are supported by or suitable for the associated mobile device.
1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, register a mobile device with an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) core network and determine location determination capabilities of the mobile device, comprising:
receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration message with extended header information from a requesting mobile device,
wherein the extended header information includes an indication of an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) of the requesting mobile device and an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) associated with the requesting mobile device;
analyzing the extended header information to determine the IMEI and the IMSI of the requesting mobile device;
accessing a registration status of the requesting mobile device based at least in part on the IMEI of the requesting mobile device,
wherein the registration status is indicative of whether the requesting mobile device is allowed to utilize the IMS core network;
determining whether the combination of the IMEI and IMSI is a valid combination;
determining whether to deny registration of the requesting mobile device with respect to the IMS core network based at least in part on the retrieved registration status of the requesting mobile device and validity of the combination of the IMEI and IMSI; and
determining location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device using the IMEI of the requesting mobile device in order to allow determination of the location of the mobile device.
2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device;
requesting a physical location of the requesting mobile device using at least one of the stored location determination capabilities;
receiving the physical location of the requesting mobile device; and
providing the received physical location of the requesting mobile device to a requesting location-based service.
3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the requesting location-based service uses the provided physical location to route an emergency call that originates from the requesting mobile device.
4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the requesting location-based service is a commercial location-based service.
5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving other capabilities of the requesting mobile device using the IMEI of the requesting mobile device.
6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device further comprises retrieving a performance metric of a location determination technique that may be used to physically locate the device.
7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the IMEI is contained in a contact header field of the SIP registration message.
8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the IMSI is contained in an authorization header field of the SIP registration message.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the extended header information comprises a dummy IMEI that comprises the IMSI associated with the requesting mobile device and a single check digit.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein retrieving location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device comprises determining whether a physical location of the mobile device can be ascertained by a location determination technique selected from the group consisting of: TDOA, U-TDOA, OTDOA, IPDL-OTDOA, CI, CI-TA, GPS, A-GPS, RTT, CI-RTT, E-OTD, IP Location, WiFi Data Base location, Customer provided address location, and triangulation.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the retrieved registration status of the requesting mobile device is a black status, a grey status, or a white status.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising sending a response to the requesting mobile device if registration of the requesting mobile device with the IMS core network is denied.
13. A method for registering a mobile device with an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) core network, the method comprising:
receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration message with extended header information from a requesting mobile device,
wherein the extended header information includes:
a first unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device and
an indication of a second unique identifier associated with a mobile subscriber using the requesting mobile device;
determining whether the first unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device and the second unique identifier associated with the mobile subscriber using the requesting mobile device is a valid combination;
determining whether to deny registration of the requesting mobile device with the IMS core based at least in part on validity of the combination;
retrieving a registration status using the first unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device,
wherein the registration status is indicative of whether the requesting mobile device is allowed to utilize the IMS core;
determining whether to allow registration of the requesting mobile device with the IMS core based at least in part on the retrieved registration status of the requesting mobile device; and
accessing location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device using the first unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device in order to allow the location of the mobile device to be determined.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:
storing the location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device;
requesting a physical location of the requesting mobile device using at least one of the stored location determination capabilities;
receiving the physical location of the requesting mobile device; and
providing the received physical location of the requesting mobile device to a requesting location-based service.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the requesting location-based service uses the provided physical location to route an emergency call that originates from the requesting mobile device.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device is contained in a contact header field of the SIP registration message.
17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second unique identifier associated with the mobile subscriber using requesting mobile device is contained in an authorization header field of the SIP registration message.
18. A system for registering a mobile device with an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) core network, the system comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one data storage device coupled to the at least one processor;
means for receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration message with extended header information from a requesting mobile device,
wherein the extended header information includes a first unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device and an indication of a second unique identifier associated with a mobile subscriber using the requesting mobile device;
means for determining whether the combination of the first unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device and the second unique identifier associated with the mobile subscriber using the requesting mobile device is a valid combination;
means for retrieving a registration status using the unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device,
wherein the registration status is indicative of whether the requesting mobile device is allowed to utilize the IMS core;
means for determining whether to allow registration of the requesting mobile device with the IMS core based at least in part on the retrieved registration status of the requesting mobile device and on validity of the combination of the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier; and
means for accessing location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device using the unique identifier associated with the requesting mobile device in order to allow the location of the mobile device to be determined.
19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising:
means for storing the location determination capabilities of the requesting mobile device;
means for requesting a physical location of the requesting mobile device using at least one of the stored location determination capabilities;
means for receiving the physical location of the requesting mobile device; and
means for providing the received physical location of the requesting mobile device to a requesting location-based service.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the requesting location-based service uses the provided physical location to route an emergency call that originates from the requesting mobile device or wherein the requesting location-based service is a commercial location-based service.