Systems and methods for home carrier determination using a centralized server

• US 20050119000A1
• Filed: 09/10/2004
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Hsu, Raymond Tah-Sheng, Nasielski, John Wallace
• Granted Patent: US 8,160,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/433
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/062 Pre-authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining the home network carrier associated with a mobile station and authorizing the provision of services to the mobile station using centralized storage of mobile station and home network information. In one embodiment, when a roaming mobile station attempts to access services, identifying information for the mobile station is used by a local server to query a centralized DNS server that stores a mapping of mobile station identifying information to corresponding home networks. The centralized DNS server returns an identification of the home network of the roaming mobile user, and the home network then determines whether to grant or deny the mobile station access to the local network. The mobile station identifying information may comprise an MSID such as an MIN, IRM or IMSI, which may serve as part of the address for the query to the centralized DNS server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request by a mobile station for roaming access to a local network;

accessing a remote centralized server to determine a home network associated with the mobile station; and

granting or denying access by the mobile station to the local network based at least in part upon the determination of the home network associated with the mobile station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a local remote authentication dial-in user service (RADIUS) server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a visitor locator register (VLR).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the remote centralized server comprises querying a centralized domain name server (DNS).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein querying the centralized DNS comprises formatting a query for delivery to the centralized DNS, wherein the query includes identifying information associated with the mobile station.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identifying information comprises a mobile station ID (MSID).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the MSID is selected from the group consisting of:

a mobile identification number (MIN);

an international roaming MIN (IRM), and an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI).

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the home network associated with the mobile station is among one or more networks for which corresponding mobile station users have authorization via a roaming agreement to access the local network.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying a remote RADIUS server associated with the home network associated with the mobile station to determine whether the mobile station is authorized to access the local network.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising caching information received in response to accessing the remote centralized server.

11. A method comprising:

maintaining a central database containing information regarding home networks and associations of the home networks with mobile stations;

coupling the central database to a plurality of local servers;

receiving a query from one of the plurality of local servers, wherein the query includes identifying information associated with a first mobile station requesting access to a local network associated with the local server; and

identifying a home network associated with the first mobile station.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information regarding home networks and associations of the home networks with mobile stations comprises a mapping of identifying information associated with one or more mobile stations to one or more home networks associated with the one or more mobile stations.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the mapping of identifying information associated with the mobile stations to the home networks comprises a mapping of mobile station IDs (MSIDs) to home networks.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the MSIDs are selected from the group consisting of:

mobile identification numbers (MINs);

international roaming MINs (IRMs), and international mobile subscriber identities (IMSIs).

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving queries from one or more additional local servers, wherein the queries include identifying information associated with one or more additional mobile stations requesting access to one or more additional local networks associated with the additional local servers; and

identifying one or more additional home networks associated with the additional mobile stations.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a local server associated with a local network, wherein the local server is configured to

receive a request by a mobile station for roaming access to the local network,

access a remote centralized server to determine a home network associated with the mobile station, and

grant or deny access by the mobile station to the local network based at least in part upon the determination of the home network associated with the mobile station.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the local server comprises a remote authentication dial-in user service (RADIUS) server.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the local server comprises a visitor locator register (VLR).

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the local server is configured to generate a domain name server (DNS) query and to transmit the query to a centralized DNS.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the local server is configured to formatting the DNS query to include identifying information associated with the mobile station.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the identifying information comprises a mobile station ID (MSID).

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the MSID is selected from the group consisting of:

a mobile identification number (MIN);

an international roaming MIN (IRM), and an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI).

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the local server further comprises a local storage configured to store roaming agreement information and wherein the local server is configured to determine whether the home network associated with the mobile station is among one or more networks for which corresponding mobile station users have authorization via a roaming agreement to access the local network.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the local server is coupled to a remote RADIUS server associated with the home network associated with the mobile station and wherein the local server is configured to query the remote RADIUS server to determine whether the mobile station is authorized to access the local network.

25. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the local server further comprises a local storage configured to cache information received in response to accessing the remote centralized server.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a central server configured to

maintain a central database containing information regarding home networks and associations of the home networks with mobile stations,

receive queries from a plurality of local servers, wherein each of the queries includes identifying information associated with a mobile station requesting access to a corresponding local network associated with the corresponding local server, and

identify home networks associated with the mobile stations identified in the queries.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the central server is configured to store a mapping of identifying information associated with one or more mobile stations to one or more home networks associated with the one or more mobile stations.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the mapping of identifying information associated with the mobile stations to the home networks comprises a mapping of mobile station IDs (MSIDs) to home networks.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the MSIDs are selected from the group consisting of:

mobile identification numbers (MINs);

international roaming MINs (IRMs), and international mobile subscriber identities (IMSIs).