Hotline routing of pre-activated GSM subscribers using pseudo-MSISDNs

• US 20020193100A1
• Filed: 06/04/2002
• Published: 12/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Wireless Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Riffe, Scott E., Carlson, Steven I., Wong, Gregory A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,386,302 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/417
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/265 for initial activation of new user

Abstract

The present invention relates to hotline routing of calls originating from mobile stations. The hotline routing conserves MSISDNs for valid subscribers and provides a relatively generic solution. In one example, a computer system stores in a location register a subscriber profile with an IMSI and a pseudo-MSISDN. A mobile station (which includes a SIM with the IMSI) originates a call. After translation of the pseudo-MSISDN, a serving MSC routes the call to a service activation center.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computer system programmed thereby to perform a method comprising:

storing a subscriber profile including an IMSI and a pseudo-MSISDN in a location register, thereby facilitating hotline routing with translation of the pseudo-MSISDN for a call originating from a mobile station including a SIM with the IMSI.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the pseudo-MSISDN includes plural leading digits that distinguish the pseudo-MSISDN from valid MSISDNs.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the pseudo-MSISDN includes a MSIN portion of the IMSI.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the hotline routing comprises:

detecting origination of a call from the mobile station;

translating the pseudo-MSISDN; and

routing the call to a service activation center.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the location register is a HLR.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises repeating the storing for one or more additional subscriber profiles.

7. A method comprising:

loading a record in a HLR, the record including a pseudo-MSISDN associated with a SIM, thereby facilitating routing of a call originating from a mobile station with the SIM to a service activation center using a translation of the pseudo-MSISDN.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, before the loading, assigning the pseudo-MSISDN based at least in part upon an IMSI of the SIM.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the pseudo-MSISDN comprises a MSIN portion of the IMSI.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the pseudo-MSISDN comprises plural digits that differentiate the pseudo-MSISDN from MSISDNs of valid subscribers.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the plural leading digits are 10.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising repeating the loading for one or more additional records in the HLR.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein each loaded record includes a unique pseudo-MSISDN within a MSISDN range.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the method further comprises, before the routing, registering the mobile station with the MSC.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the MSC uses a selector to relate the calling party MSISDN to hotline routing.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the selector associates a MSISDN range with the hotline routing, the MSISDN range including plural MSISDNs, the plural MSISDNs including the calling party MSISDN.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the selector makes a routing decision based upon plural leading digits of the plural MSISDNs in the MSISDN range.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the plural leading digits are 10.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein each of the plural MSISDNs in the MSISDN range further includes a MSIN of an IMSI.

14. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a MSC programmed thereby to perform a method of processing a call originating from a mobile station, the method comprising:

routing the call to a hotline number based at least in part upon translation of a calling party MSISDN associated with the mobile station.

21. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a mobile station programmed thereby to perform a method comprising:

initiating registration of the mobile station with a serving MSC, the mobile station including a SIM with an IMSI; and

originating a call from the mobile station, wherein the serving MSC routes the call to a service activation center after translation of a MSISDN for the mobile station in the serving MSC.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the initiating occurs when a user powers on the mobile station, and wherein the originating occurs when a user dials any of plural numbers.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the MSISDN includes plural digits that differentiate the MSISDN from MSISDNs of valid subscribers.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein the MSISDN includes a MSIN portion of the IMSI.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein each of the plural pseudo-MSISDNs includes a MSIN portion of a different IMSI of the plural SIMs.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein each of the plural pseudo-MSISDNs includes plural digits that differentiate the pseudo-MSISDN from valid MSISDNs.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the plural digits are 10.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein each of the plural MSISDNs in the MSISDN range further includes a MSIN of an IMSI.

25. A method comprising:

assigning plural pseudo-MSISDNs for plural SIMs, each of the plural SIMs having a different IMSI; and

loading the plural pseudo-MSISDNs into HLR profiles, thereby facilitating hotline routing based at least in part upon translations in one or more serving MSCs, the translations relating the plural pseudo-MSISDNs to the hotline routing.

28. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a serving MSC programmed thereby to perform a method of processing a call originating from a mobile station, the method comprising:

registering the mobile station with the serving MSC, wherein the serving MSC uses a selector to relate a MSISDN range to hotline routing, the MSISDN range including plural MSISDNs, the plural MSISDNs including a calling party MSISDN associated with the mobile station, and wherein each of the plural MSISDNs in the MSISDN range begins with plural digits, and wherein the selector makes a routing decision based upon the plural digits; and

routing a call from the mobile station to a hotline number for a service activation center after translation of the calling party MSISDN using the selector.