Method and apparatus for determining the assignment of a mobile station to equipment lists

• US 5,561,853 A
• Filed: 10/26/1994
• Issued: 10/01/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alcatel Sel AG (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel Sel AG (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Pfundstein, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisenzopf, Reinhard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US08/329,511
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: 455/53.1, 455/33.1, 455/54.1, 455/54.2, 455/33.4, 455/56.1, 379/59, 379/62, 379/63, 340/825.34, 380/23, 380/25
• US Class Current: 455/517
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity

Abstract

In the prior art, equipment lists (B, G, W) are searched successively, or a list is searched which contains all equipment numbers (MEI₁ to MEI_n) along with the respective equipment lists to which they are assigned. Thus mobile stations (MEI₁ to ME_n) are assigned to one of several equipment lists (B, G, W; black, grey, white list). This assignment must be checked by the mobile switching center (MSC) prior to the establishment of a connection. The present method uses an algorithm where each equipment number (MEI₁ to MEI_n) is assigned a search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ; KEY) such that groups of equipment numbers (MEI₁ to MEI_n) correspond with a respective one of the search keys (KEY₁ to KEY_p ; KEY), and that the search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ; KEY) covers a number of different structural elements (S₁ to S_q ; DAT). In a corresponding apparatus for determining the assignment of a mobile station (ME₁ to ME_n) to equipment lists (B, G, W) containing a number of equipment numbers (MEI₁ to MEI_n), a memory device (MEM) has as a memory device for different structural elements (S₁ to S_q ; DAT), and the controller is provided with a converting device (GEN) for generating a search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ; KEY) from an equipment number (MEI₁ to MEI_n), with a comparator (COMP) for determining the association of an equipment number (MEI₁ to MEI_n) with a structural element (S₁ to S_q ; DAT), and has an access device (ACC) for reading different structural elements (S₁ to S_q ; DAT) from the memory device (MEM), the access device (ACC) being designed to access the structural elements (S₁ to S_q ; DAT) by means of a search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ; KEY).

Claims

1. A method of determining an assignment of a mobile station (ME₁ to ME₈) to equipment lists (B, G, W) each containing a number of equipment numbers (MEI₁ to MEI₈) which are uniquely allocated to mobile stations (ME₁ to MEI₈), comprising the steps of:

assigning to each equipment number (MEI₁ to MEI₈) with the aid of an algorithm (ALG) a search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY) so that groups of equipment numbers (MEI₁ to MEI₈) correspond with a respective one of the search keys (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY), and

covering with the respective one of the search keys (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY) a number of different structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT).

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the method includes the step of assigning with one sort (KI) of structural elements all equipment numbers (MEI₁ to MEI_n) addressable by a search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY) to one of the equipment lists (B, G, W).

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in

that one sort (BI) of structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT) assigns an entire block of consecutive equipment numbers (MEI₁ to MEI_n) to one of the equipment lists (B, G, W).

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in

that one sort (SI) of structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT) assigns a single equipment number (MEI₁ to MEI_n) to one of the equipment lists (B, G, W).

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in

that like structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT) covered by the same search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY) are combined in structures (L1, RNG, SL, LB) of fixed length.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, characterized in

that if required, several like structures (L1, RNG, SL, LB) are linked together.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that

the structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT) are assigned a time stamp which indicates when the data record specified by it was last renewed.

8. An apparatus for determining an assignment of a mobile station (ME₁ to ME_n) to equipment lists (B, G, W) containing a number of equipment numbers (ME₁ to ME_n) which are uniquely allocated to mobile stations (ME₁ to ME_n), said apparatus comprising a memory device (MEM) and a controller (CONTR) which is designed to determine, on request, data about the assignment of a mobile station (ME₁ to ME_n) to one of the equipment lists (B, G, W), characterized in that

the memory device (MEM) stores structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT) linked by respective search keys (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY); and

the controller (CONTR) has a converting device (GEN) for generating a search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY) from an equipment number (MEI₁ to MEI_n), has a comparator (COMP) for determining an association of the equipment number (MEI₁ to MEI_n) with a structural element (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT), and has an access device (ACC) for reading the structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT) from the memory device (MEM), said access device (ACC) having means to access each of the structural elements (S₁ to S_q ;

DAT) by means of a respective search key (KEY₁ to KEY_p ;

KEY).