Customer activation system for cellular network

• US 20040185831A1
• Filed: 03/31/2004
• Published: 09/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Holmes, David William James
• Granted Patent: US 7,076,240 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/72 Subscriber identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/265 for initial activation of new user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A mobile communication terminal device such as a cellular telephone is provided with a preliminary identifier stored in memory. The identifier allows access to a cellular network for verification and provides essentially unique identification by the network, but is insufficient to allow further use of the network. During verification, the identifier is analyzed by a cellular network processor and a determination is made whether the cellular telephone should have restricted access to the network. Upon favorable completion of the identifier analysis, a signal may be transmitted to the cellular telephone that allows the cellular telephone to have less restricted access to the network.

Claims

1. A process of verifying a mobile communication terminal device, said process comprising:

receiving from the terminal device an identifier transmitted, at least in part, on a cellular network, the terminal device having restricted access to the network;

analyzing said identifier to determine whether the terminal device should continue to have restricted access to the network; and

transmitting upon favorable completion of said analyzing step, a signal to the terminal device allowing the terminal device to have less restricted access to the network.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is a cellular telephone and wherein the identifier received during said receiving step includes first and second numbers, each of said first and second numbers being essentially unique to the cellular telephone.

3. The process of claim 2, wherein said first number is in mobile identification number (MIN) format.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein said analyzing step comprises accessing a customer data record associated with the identifier.

5. The process of claim 4, wherein said analyzing step further comprises transmitting signals representative of queries to the terminal device, the queries requesting a prospective consumer of cellular network services to provide data for comparison to data stored in said customer data record.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the signal transmitted during said transmitting step is indicative of a replacement identifier for storage in a memory of said terminal device, said replacement identifier being recognized by the cellular network as entitled to said less restricted access.

7. The process of claim 6, wherein the signal transmitted during said transmitting step is further indicative of an instruction to overwrite said identifier with said replacement identifier.

8. A process for manufacturing a cellular telephone comprising the steps of:

assembling a memory, a processor, a receiver, and a transmitter; and

storing in said memory a preliminary identifier, said preliminary identifier defining a substantially unique identification and allowing initial access to a cellular network for verification but being insufficient to allow further use of said network.