Controlling traffic of an inbound roaming mobile station between a first VPMN, a second VPMN and a HPMN

• US 7,929,953 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2006
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mobileum, Incorporated fka Roamware
• Original Assignee: Mobileum, Incorporated fka Roamware
• Inventors: Jiang, John Yue Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming; William D
• Application Number:
  US11/402,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20070173252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,833 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/432.1, 455/433
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/12 between location registers or mobility servers

Abstract

A system for controlling traffic of an inbound roaming mobile station between a first Visiting Public Mobile Network (VPMN), a second VPMN and a Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN) is provided. The system includes a detection unit for detecting a possible change in registration of the inbound roaming mobile station at a second VPMN upon receipt of a first registration cancellation message of one or more registration cancellation messages at the first VPMN from the HPMN. The system further includes redirection unit for attempting to redirect the traffic of the inbound roaming mobile station back to the first VPMN by sending one or more registration messages from the first VPMN to the HPMN subsequent to receipt of one or more registration cancellation messages from the HPMN. For each registration cancellation message received, one or more registration messages are sent within a first pre-defined interval of time (T0) until one registration message is recorded as a successful transaction. Further for all registration cancellation messages received in current attempt to redirect the inbound roaming mobile station to the first VPMN, all the registration messages are sent either within a second pre-defined interval of time (T1) and/or a re-registration threshold number of times.

Claims

1. A method for controlling traffic of an inbound roaming mobile station between a first Visiting Public Mobile Network (VPMN), a second VPMN and a Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN), the method comprising:

detecting a possible change in registration of the inbound roaming mobile station upon receipt of a first registration cancellation message of one or more registration cancellation messages at the first VPMN from the HPMN;

attempting to redirect the traffic to the first VPMN by sending one or more registration messages from the first VPMN to the HPMN subsequent to receipt of the one or more registration cancellation messages from the HPMN, wherein for each registration cancellation message received, one or more registration messages are sent within a first pre-defined interval of time (T0) until one registration message is recorded as a successful transaction, wherein for the one or more registration cancellation messages received in current attempt to redirect the inbound roaming mobile station to the first VPMN, the one or more registration messages are sent within one of a second pre-defined interval of time (T1) and a threshold number of times to attempt re-registration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the possible change in the registration of the inbound roaming mobile station is inferred when a location update (LUP) message being sent a first registration message from the second VPMN.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more registration messages are LUP messages sent from the first VPMN.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more registration cancellation messages is a Cancel Location message sent by the HPMN to the first VPMN.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising exchanging the one or more registration messages corresponding to each of one or more registration cancellation messages received from the HPMN, wherein the one or more registration cancellation messages are sent subsequent to each registration message sent by the inbound roaming mobile station after an error is generated at the inbound roaming mobile station.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each registration message is sent at most equal to an expected number of times by the inbound roaming mobile station.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a reject message at the second VPMN when the attempt to redirect the traffic to the first VPMN is successful.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a general packet radio system (GPRS) location update (LUP) message is exchanged as a first registration message between the HPMN and a servicing GPRS support node (SGSN) associated with the second VPMN.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more registration messages is a GPRS LUP message sent from the first VPMN.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more registration messages are sent at most equal to the re-registration threshold number of times of a re-registration counter.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second pre-defined interval of time (T1) is equal to an expiration threshold at which the re-registration counter is reset.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second pre-defined interval of time (T1) is sum of maximum interval between the one or more registration messages and maximum interval to select the second VPMN for a location update attempt multiplied by number of competitor network operators in country.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first pre-defined interval of time (T0) is at most equal to time required for completing location update process for the second VPMN.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprises sending a response message on behalf of the inbound roaming mobile station in response to receipt of one or more request messages when the one or more registration cancellation messages are received after completion of location update process at the second VPMN.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more request messages are one of a mobile application part (MAP) provider subscriber information (PSI) from the HPMN, MAP Provide Roaming Number (PRN) from the HPMN and a MAP Forward short message service (SMS) from a short message service center (SMSC).

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the response message is an Absent Subscriber message sent on behalf of the inbound roaming mobile station.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising attempting to redirect the traffic to a third VPMN when the attempt to redirect the traffic to the first VPMN is unsuccessful.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the third VPMN is a preferred network to the first VPMN in comparison to the second VPMN being a non-preferred network to the first VPMN.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more registration messages from the first VPMN are sent using one or more global titles subsequent to receipt of the one or more registration cancellation messages.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein one of the one or more global titles is a global title of the first VPMN.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing visited location register (VLR) and home location register (HLR) corresponding to an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) of the inbound roaming mobile station corresponding to each of the one or more registration messages sent from the first VPMN to the HPMN.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising detecting a possible change in VLR association of the inbound roaming mobile station in the first VPMN based on next received registration cancellation message from the HPMN.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising incrementing one or more redirection counters based on the possible change in the VLR association of the inbound roaming mobile station in the first VPMN.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending a routing request immediately prior to sending the one or more registration messages to the HPMN.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising sending the one or more registration messages to the HPMN subsequent to receipt of an acknowledgment of the routing request from the HPMN.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprises sending the one or more registration messages to the HPMN subsequent to absence of a response for the routing request within an interval of time.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising blacklisting an home location register (HLR) associated with the HPMN for a pre-defined time interval in absence of a response to the routing request for a configurable number of times from the HPMN.

28. The method of claim 26 further comprising blacklisting an home location register (HLR) associated with the HPMN for a pre-defined time interval if an error or a response to the routing request from a global title (GT) in an inbound traffic redirection (ITR) module.

29. The method of claim 26 further comprising blacklisting an home location register (HLR) associated with the HPMN for a pre-defined time interval if an error or a response to the routing request from a global title (GT) in an inbound traffic redirection (ITR) module, after an interval of delay between that routing request and a fake location update (LUP).

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the routing request is one of a send routing information for short message (SRI-SM) message, a send routing information (SRI) message, and an any time interrogation (ATI) message.

31. The method of claim 26 further comprising

determining the second VPMN as a non-inbound traffic redirection (ITR) attempting network based on response received from the HPMN in response to the routing request and application of a pre-defined criteria on the response;

and

allowing the inbound roaming mobile station to register with the second VPMN by discontinuing the sending of the one or more registration messages.

32. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending a search request message concurrently with each of the one or more registration messages after receipt of the one or more registration cancellation messages from the HPMN and before relaying the one or more registration cancellation messages to a VLR in the first VPMN, wherein the search request message is sent to a VMSC to collect location information of the inbound roaming mobile station.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the visited mobile switching center (VMSC) is a last known VMSC of the inbound roaming mobile station.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the search request message is one of a Search Mobile Station (MS) and a Page Mobile Station (MS).

35. The method of claim 1 further comprising abandoning the attempt to redirect the traffic when the inbound roaming mobile station attempts greater than an expected number of times to register with the second VPMN.

36. The method of claim 1 further comprising abandoning the attempt to redirect the traffic when the inbound roaming mobile station attempts greater than a registration threshold to register with the second VPMN.

37. The method of claim 1 further comprising abandoning the attempt to redirect the traffic when the inbound roaming mobile station is detected to be in a manual mode.

38. The method of claim 1 further comprising abandoning the attempt to redirect the traffic when the inbound roaming mobile station is detected to be present in non-coverage area of the first VPMN.

39. The method of claim 1 further comprising countering traffic redirection (TR) attempt by the HPMN based on one or more acknowledge messages sent by the HPMN in response to the one or more registration messages from the first VPMN.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the one or more acknowledge messages is one of a location update (LUP) reject error and a LUP abort error.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein the one or more acknowledge messages comprises one or more attributes selected from a group consisting one a unexpected data value (UDV), roaming not allowed (RNA) and roaming restricted (RR).

42. The method of claim 37 further comprising attempting to redirect the traffic to the first VPMN in combination with the countering of the traffic redirection (TR) attempt from HPMN when the one or more acknowledge messages is a system failure.

43. The method of claim 40 further comprising sending one or more location update messages greater than an expected number of times until a successful exchange of the one or more registration message between the first VPMN and the HPMN, wherein the one or more location update messages are sent to thwart at least one of the traffic redirection (TR) attempt from the HPMN and an inbound traffic redirection (ITR) attempt from the second VPMN.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein one or more location update messages are sent from the first VPMN on behalf of the inbound roaming mobile station.

45. The method of claim 1 further comprised of storing profile of the inbound roaming mobile station in a gateway location register (GLR) when the HPMN is detected performing a traffic redirection (TR) by monitoring actively the receipt of the first registration cancellation message between the HPMN and the first VPMN.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein a profile is stored for a configurable interval of time.

47. The method of claim 43 further comprised of exchanging successfully the one or more registration messages between the gateway location register (GLR) and the HPMN.

48. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a possible change in registration of the inbound roaming mobile station comprises monitoring passively receipt of one or more registration cancellation messages at the first VPMN from the HPMN.

49. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a possible change in registration of the inbound roaming mobile station comprises monitoring actively receipt of one or more registration cancellation messages at the first VPMN from the HPMN.

50. The method of claim 1 further comprised of incrementing one or more redirection counters when the attempt to redirect the traffic is successful.

51. The method of claim 1 further comprised of defining a redirection limit for the inbound roaming mobile station at a configurable interval of time.

52. The method of claim 1 further comprised of defining a configuration distribution control profile for one or more inbound roaming mobile stations in the HPMN, wherein the configuration distribution control profile supports in decision of attempt to redirect the traffic.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein the configuration distribution control profile is activated at different time bands for one or more inbound roaming mobile stations.

54. The method of claim 50, wherein one or more parameters in the configuration distribution control profile are measured by a configurable counter.

55. The method of claim 1 further comprised of identifying a blind spot in the first VPMN based on a reply message in response to sending a subscriber information message to a visited location register (VLR) associated with the inbound roaming mobile station, wherein the subscriber information message is sent before relaying the first registration cancellation message from the HPMN to the first VPMN.

56. The method of claim 53, wherein the subscriber information message is a PSI message being sent after successful attempt to redirect the traffic to the first VPMN.

57. The method of claim 54, wherein the visited location register (VLR) pages the inbound roaming mobile station in anticipation of a reply from the inbound roaming mobile station indicating a current location and a cell in the first VPMN.

58. The method of claim 1 further comprises providing value added services to the inbound roaming mobile station after failing in the attempt to redirect the traffic of the inbound roaming mobile station to the first VPMN, and response to a routing request returns a competitor network.

59. A system for controlling traffic of an inbound roaming mobile station between a first Visiting Public Mobile Network (VPMN), a second VPMN and a Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN), the method comprising:

a detection unit for detecting a possible change in registration of the inbound roaming mobile station upon receipt of a first registration cancellation message of one or more registration cancellation messages at the first VPMN from the HPMN; and

a redirection unit for attempting to redirect the traffic to the first VPMN by sending one or more registration messages from the first VPMN to the HPMN subsequent to receipt of the one or more registration cancellation messages from the HPMN, wherein for each registration cancellation message received, one or more registration messages are sent within a first pre-defined interval of time (T0) until one registration message is recorded as a successful transaction, wherein for the one or more registration cancellation messages received in a current attempt to redirect the inbound roaming mobile station to the first VPMN, the one or more registration messages are sent within one of a second pre-defined interval of time (T1) and a threshold number of times to attempt re-registration.