Mobile telecommunications system

IS 2 149 374 T3

DESCRIPTION

Switching network for a mobile telecommunications system.

The present invention relates to a switching network for a telecommunications system that includes a plurality of mobile telecommunications devices.

In standard land-based telecommunications systems, calls are routed from one fixed point to another, and therefore it is relatively easy to determine a switching path for such calls. The originator of the call enters information into the system (usually the telephone number of the destination) where the routing information is sequentially arranged. Thus, it is relatively easy for the system to determine the switching necessary to achieve routing, successively decoding parts of the information entered. Any switch point needs to consider only part of the information.

When the telecommunication system includes mobile phones, the situation is more complicated because a call to a mobile phone is not to a fixed point, and therefore the system must determine the location of the destination. Currently, a call to a mobile phone is converted into a signal that is transmitted to a data storage unit in the form of a National Location Register (HLR) unit that determines the location of the mobile phone, and thus allows it to occur. routing the call.

Inevitably, HLRs have limited capacity, and, therefore, means are necessary to allow telecommunication systems to access multiple HLRs. At first glance, all that is needed is to provide a plurality of HLRs, and assign different mobile phone numbers to different HLRs.

However, this is not supported in order to provide customers with flexibility in a mobile phone system. Each cell phone has two types of numbers associated with it, one being the number used by third parties to call the cell phone (an “MSISDN”), and the other being an identity number (an “IMSI”) that is used. through the telecommunications system to reach the mobile phone. Using existing techniques, the information regarding both numbers should be stored in the same HLR.

It is anticipated that users may need multiple MSISDN numbers; For example, if a user is going to have the possibility of both voice and data communication, in existing systems, any second MSISDN number with a common identity number (IMSI) must be an MSISDN number of the same HLR as the previous MSISDN number. . This might be impossible to achieve if, for example, the HLR containing the original information is full. Then the only way in which additional services could be provided would require the user to change the phone number, which would be undesirable. This becomes a particular problem if you want users to be able to select their numbers, rather than have these numbers assigned to them.

To overcome these problems, the present invention proposes a switching network for a telecommunication system that includes a plurality of mobile telecommunication devices, the switching network comprising:

a plurality of data storage units (HLR) for storing connection data relating to one or more respective mobile telecommunication devices, and for determining the location of said one or more respective mobile telecommunication devices; and link means for using the connection data stored by one of the data storage units to form a telecommunication link with one of the corresponding one or more mobile telecommunication devices;

in which:

the network also includes:

a registration unit for storing associations between the data storage units and one or more respective identification codes;

input means for entering an identification code;

a switching network to interrogate the registration unit to determine the data storage unit (HLR) associated with that identification code; and means for altering the associations stored by the registration unit;

in which the link means are configured to save the registration unit to form a link with the corresponding one or more mobile telecommunication devices using the connection data once the data storage unit associated with that has been determined. identification code.

Thus, the switching network that connects users with other users, data storage units, and system services, has a registration unit associated with it, whose registration unit contains information that relates each telephone number with a corresponding HLR. of a plurality of HLRs. Thus, the relationship between the telephone numbers and the HLRs should be freely selectable within the registration unit, so that the registration unit acts as a converter between the number and the information that identifies the HLR.

By providing such a recording unit, the fixed relationship between the numbers and the HLRs is broken, and any number can be assigned to any HLR, as long as space permits.

The registration unit can also store more information associated with mobile phones, which allows the switching network to enable the routing of calls from mobile phones to different services, depending on the same mobile phone calling, in addition to the number dialed. As a first example, different mobile phones provided by different organizations (Service Providers) could use the same generic access code, for example 150, to call the Ser2 Provider.

ES 2 149 374 T3 main services for questions, for example, billing inquiries. It is convenient that these services are accessed with numbers that are independent of the organization that provides the service. Then, a call from a mobile phone to said service triggers a signal to the registration unit that generates information that identifies the service unit associated with that number for the specific mobile phone. Then that identification information can be returned to the switching network to allow the call to be routed to the correct service unit.

As a second example, users might be able to access voicemail in respective personal mailboxes by dialing a second generic access code, say 123, with the record providing the information necessary for routing the call.

In any case, the system can be adapted so that if the user was using a public telephone, instead of his own mobile telephone, he can manually transmit enough information to the switching network for the switching network to obtain the information from the registry. associated with the user's mobile phone.

Another possibility for registration is to use the additional information regarding the mobile phones in relation to calls to the phones, instead of from the phones. For example, the additional information may be sufficient to redirect a telecommunications link originally intended for a given mobile phone if that phone is not available, perhaps because it is busy or inoperative, or because its owner does not answer. For example, such a system may be able to function so that if a person tries to contact a mobile phone that is not available, the switching network can redirect the call to a suitable service, such as a voicemail service.

Using the present invention, many advantageous features of the telecommunication system can be achieved. If there is any failure in the cell phone unit that identifies the cell phone (with that unit referenced as a SIM), it should be possible to replace that unit quickly. With the present invention, even if the new IMSI identity number provided to the user was referred to a different HLR from the previous IMSI identity number, the user does not need to change their phone number (MSISDN number), since they reassigned it to the new HLR. it can be achieved through the registration unit.

Therefore, any phone number (MSISDN number) can be applied to any user identity.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below, by way of example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a telecommunication system incorporated in the present invention; Y

Figure 2 shows part of the telecommunication system of figure 1 with more detail.

Detailed description

Referring first to FIG. 1, a switching network 10 interconnects land and mobile telephones. If a call is made to a mobile phone from a landline phone, the call is routed through the public switching telephone network (PSTN) 11 to the switching network, and from that switching network 10 to the mobile phone 12 (BSS ). To do this, the switching network 10 must determine the routing information, and to determine that routing information it must determine the location of the mobile phone 12, through an HLR to which the mobile phone 12 was associated. When there are multiple HLRs 13, 14, it is necessary for the switching network 10 to determine which HLR 13, 14 should be accessed, based on the mobile phone number (MSISDN number) entered by the originator of the call.

According to the present invention, the switching network 10 accesses a registration unit 15, which identifies the called number and directs it to a particular HLR 13, 14 with which the mobile phone 12 was associated. The registration unit 15 allows The relationship between the given mobile phone number and the HLRs 13, 14 is freely determined so that the number is not affected by the particular HLR 13, 14 with which it is associated. The registration unit 15 eliminates the need for a particular mobile phone number to be associated with a fixed HLR 13, 14.

Once the particular HLR 13, 14 with which the mobile phone 12 was associated has been identified, signaling to that HLR can occur, and information can be derived therefrom, in the normal way. This information is used to "set up" the call to mobile phone 12, which can then be routed to the destination phone as normal.

Similarly, if a call originates from mobile phone 12, again the switching network 10 must determine the routing of that call. If the call is to a landline telephone, connected to the switching network 10 via the PSTN 11, then this routing can be done based on the telephone number of the destination telephone, in the normal way.

If a call is made from a mobile phone 12 to one of a plurality of voice processing systems 16, 17 or to services 18 associated with the switching network using a short code (for example 123) the relationship between the mobile phone 12 and the corresponding service must be determined by the registration unit 15 before the switching network can determine the appropriate speech processing system 16, 17 or services 18 to access.

It should be noted that the existing systems are similar to the arrangement shown in figure 1, but without the registration unit 15 and with only one HLR unit. Such existing systems do not need to determine which HLR is to be accessed, since there is only one HLR. To achieve the present invention, the switching network 10 accesses the registration unit 15 when it carries out any call that would produce a request for

ES 2 149 374 T3 signaling to the HLR in the existing arrangements, to determine which of the multiple HLRs 13, 14 is to be accessed. Accordingly, the present invention can be achieved by providing the registration unit 15, and the proper programming of the switching network 10.

Figure 2 shows the switching network 10 in more detail. It will have a plurality of mobile switching centers (MSCs) 20, 21 and 22, and a call destined for any given mobile phone produces a call between that MSC 20 to 22 and one of a plurality of call transfer points (STP) 30 , 31, which calls the registration unit 15 to determine the HLR 13, 14 that is suitable for the mobile phone. The registration unit 15 determines that information from the telephone number (MSISDN number) of the mobile phone 12. It would then be possible for the registration unit 15 to send the call directly to the appropriate HLR 13, 14 but, as shown in Figure 2, it is preferable that the information returns to the corresponding STP 30, 31, which then passes the call to the correct HLR 13, 14.

A similar call flow can be seen when the user of the mobile phone 12 tries to access one of the voice processing systems (VPS) 16, 17. The call is received by one of the MSCs 20, 21 and 22 passing the dialed digits and the identity of the mobile phone to one of the STPs 30, 31, 32. This relays the information to the registration unit 15, which uses this information to build the correct address of the voice processing service (VPS) 16, 17 suitable. That information is relayed back from the registration unit through one of the STPs 30, 31, 32 to the original MSC 20, 21, 22. So, this address is used to route the call through the switching network.

10. That routing passes the call from the appropriate MSC 20, 21, 22 through the switching network (comprising traffic switching centers, TSCs 32, 33) to the appropriate VPS 16, 17.

The signal that a mobile phone passes to the switching network, and by which the mobile phone is recognized, does not need to be fixed, but can be altered, for example by inserting a card carrying data into the phone. Thus, a user can be identified in the switching network by inserting a personal card that identifies him into a mobile phone, and subsequent routing to a suitable VPS can be performed based on the identity of the user.

The ease of routing calls to VPS using information in registration unit 15 will allow the location of individual voice processing services (such as mailbox accounts) in locations that have the closest geographic proximity to that where the telephone Mobile will be predominantly located. This can dramatically reduce the cost of call transportation.

Also, if the predominant location of the mobile phone changes, so that it is more convenient to use a different VPS 16, 17, then this change can be recorded in the registration unit 15. The calling subscriber can still access their VPS account ( even though it is now hosted by a different platform) without changing the number used to call the service. Similarly, if the mobile phone user changes from one service provider to another, the registration unit 15 can accommodate this change without the user having to dial different numbers. So, for example, where there are many service providers and the mobile phone user changes from one service provider to another, it is not necessary for that user to dial different numbers to connect to the new service provider. On the contrary, the same numbers can be used and the new routing of the call is controlled by the signals passed between the MSCs 20, 21, 22 and the registration unit 15.

In addition, the switching network 10 can use the information about the mobile phones, so that if a given phone is busy, unanswered, or inoperative, the switching network can redirect calls originally directed to that phone to a suitable VPS, such as as a voice message system.