System and method for home network determination in a mobile phone
First Claim
1. A method of determining whether a mobile phone is currently in a home network or a roaming network, the mobile phone including a SIM card resident thereon, the SIM card including an IMSI file, an OPL file, and a PNN file, each file having a record structure, the method comprising:
- receiving, in the mobile phone, an over-the-air signal comprised of control data including public land mobile network (PLMN) data and location area information (LAI) data;
comparing the received PLMN data to PLMN data stored in the IMSI file on the SIM card, and if the received PLMN data matches the stored PLMN data, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwise checking whether the received LAI data is contained in the OPL file, and if not, then determining that the current network is a roaming network;
otherwise checking if the PNN record that the OPL record points to is the first record of the PNN file, and if it is, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwise determining that the current network is a roaming network.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for determining if a mobile phone is in a home area that does not rely exclusively on the HPLMN data programmed into the mobile phone. To determine whether the mobile phone is in a home area or in a roaming area a processor in the mobile phone checks the PLMN control information in an over-the-air received signal. If the PLMN data matches the PLMN data stored in the mobile phone SIM card IMSI file, then the current network is a home network. Otherwise, the received LAI control data is checked to see whether it matches any LAI data in the OPL file of the SIM card in the mobile phone. If the received LAI data does not match any LAI data in the OPL file, then the network is not a home network but a roamed into network. If the received LAI data does match LAI data in the OPL file, then the OPL file is further examined to see whether the PNN record that the OPL record points to is the first record in the PNN file. If it is, then the network is a home network. If it is not, then the network is a roamed into network.
76 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of determining whether a mobile phone is currently in a home network or a roaming network, the mobile phone including a SIM card resident thereon, the SIM card including an IMSI file, an OPL file, and a PNN file, each file having a record structure, the method comprising:
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receiving, in the mobile phone, an over-the-air signal comprised of control data including public land mobile network (PLMN) data and location area information (LAI) data;
comparing the received PLMN data to PLMN data stored in the IMSI file on the SIM card, and if the received PLMN data matches the stored PLMN data, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwise checking whether the received LAI data is contained in the OPL file, and if not, then determining that the current network is a roaming network;
otherwise checking if the PNN record that the OPL record points to is the first record of the PNN file, and if it is, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwisedetermining that the current network is a roaming network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for determining whether a mobile phone is currently in a home network or a roaming network, the mobile phone including a SIM card resident thereon, the SIM card including an IMSI file, an OPL file, and a PNN file, each file having a record structure, the system comprising:
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means for receiving, in the mobile phone, an over-the-air signal comprised of control data including public land mobile network (PLMN) data and location area information (LAI) data;
means for comparing the received PLMN data to PLMN data stored in the IMSI file on the SIM card, and if the received PLMN data matches the stored PLMN data, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwise means for checking whether the received LAI data is contained in the OPL file, and if not, then determining that the current network is a roaming network;
otherwise means for checking if the PNN record that the OPL record points to is the first record of the PNN file, and if it is, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwisedetermining that the current network is a roaming network. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer program product for determining whether a mobile phone is currently in a home network or a roaming network, the mobile phone including a SIM card resident thereon, the SIM card including an IMSI file, an OPL file, and a PNN file, each file having a record structure, the computer program product comprising:
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computer program code for receiving, in the mobile phone, an over-the-air signal comprised of control data including public land mobile network (PLMN) data and location area information (LAI) data;
computer program code for comparing the received PLMN data to PLMN data stored in the IMSI file on the SIM card, and if the received PLMN data matches the stored PLMN data, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwisecomputer program code for checking whether the received LAI data is contained in the OPL file, and if not, then determining that the current network is a roaming network;
otherwisecomputer program code for checking if the PNN record that the OPL record points to is the first record of the PNN file, and if it is, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwisedetermining that the current network is a roaming network. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A mobile phone that can determine whether it is currently in a home network or a roaming network, the mobile phone comprising:
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a SIM card including an IMSI file, an OPL file, and a PNN file, each file having a record structure; and
a processor coupled with said SIM card, the processor for;
receiving a signal comprised of control data including public land mobile network (PLMN) data and location area information (LAI) data;
comparing the received PLMN data to PLMN data stored in the IMSI file on the SIM card, and if the received PLMN data matches the stored PLMN data, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwisechecking whether the received LAI data is contained in the OPL file, and if not, then determining that the current network is a roaming network;
otherwisechecking if the PNN record that the OPL record points to is the first record of the PNN file, and if it is, then determining that the current network is a home network;
otherwisedetermining that the current network is a roaming network. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification