Determining mobile station operating country to enable system selection or other location based device features without network assistance

• US 8,204,499 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2009
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Rahman, Iftekhar, Konstantinou, Kyriaki, Guranovic, Gordana
• Primary Examiner(s): Desir, Pierre-Louis
• Application Number:
  US12/636,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20110143753A1
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 455/432.1, 455/552.1, 709/224, 709/229
• US Class Current: 455/432.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A mobile station automatically determines a country in which mobile station is or will operate from readily available information, without direct assistance from the local wireless communication network. A multimode mobile station, for example, capable of both 3GPP and CDMA operation, is programmed to detect both MCC type system identifiers (from 3GPP protocol) and SID type system identifiers (from CDMA protocol) and map both types of identifiers to country identifications. However, at some locations, the SID may not uniquely map to a country. In this later case, an exemplary mobile station may identify the country by determining a local time (LTM) offset and mapping a combination of the SID obtained at the current location and the LTM offset to an identification of the country. The mobile station may use the country determination to help select a preferred network or to enable a location based device feature.

Claims

1. A method of automatic country dependent operation of a mobile station capable of wireless communications in accordance with protocols of at least two different standards, comprising steps of:

in each of a plurality of locations as a user of the mobile station roams, scanning one or more frequencies on which the mobile station expects to find signals of a mobile communication network with which the mobile station may be able to communicate;

from each scanning, acquiring a signal of a respective mobile communication network in an area where the mobile station is operating or intends to operate;

from each acquired network signal, obtaining at least one system identifier of the respective mobile communication network;

at a first location wherein the obtained at least one system identifier comprises a mobile country code (MCC) in accord with a first of the protocols, using a first list or table stored in memory of the mobile station, mapping the MCC to an identification of a country in which the mobile station is operating or intends to operate;

at a second location wherein the obtained at least one system identifier comprises a system identifier (SID) in accord with a second of the protocols, using a second list or table stored in memory of the mobile station, determining whether the SID maps to more than one identification of a country in the second list or table, and mapping a combination of the SID and a parameter of the acquired network signal to an identification of a country in which the mobile station is operating or intends to operate upon determining that the SID maps to more than one identification; and

automatically adapting at least one operation of the mobile station responsive to the country identifications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the method of automatically determining the country occurs when the mobile station is first Out-of-Box, the scanning of one or more frequencies involves scanning of frequencies in one or more bands based on a preference list order.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the method of automatically determining the country occurs when the mobile station has been powered back up or has lost wireless system connectivity, the scanning of one or more frequencies involves scanning of frequencies in one or more bands based on a most recently acquired list.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein when scanning of frequencies in one or more bands based on the most recently acquired list fails to acquire a signal, the scanning step further involves scanning of one or more frequencies in one or more bands based on a preference list order.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of detecting a technology of the respective mobile communication network from the acquired network signal during each scanning.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the list or table used in the mapping step corresponds to the detected technology of the respective mobile communication network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the step of detecting the technology of the respective mobile communication network is capable of distinguishing between Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Third Generation Partnership Project 2/Code Division Multiple Access (3GPP2/CDMA) network technologies,

for a 3GPP network technology, the first list or table contains mappings of MCCs to countries, and

for a CDMA network technology, the second list or table contains mappings of SIDs to countries.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, for a country where the SID is not unique, the step of mapping the SID to country identification comprises:

determining a local time (LTM) offset with respect to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) at the second location; and

mapping a combination of the SID and the LTM offset to the identification of the country in which the mobile station is operating or intends to operate.

9. A multimode mobile station configured to implement the steps of the method of claim 1.

10. A non-transitory article of manufacture, comprising:

instructions for causing a programmable multimode mobile station to implement the steps of the method of claim 1; and

a non-transitory machine readable storage medium bearing the instructions.

11. The non-transitory article of manufacture of claim 10, further comprising the first and second lists or tables, wherein the machine readable storage medium also bears the first and second lists or tables.

12. A method of automatic country dependent operation of a mobile station capable of wireless communications in accordance with protocols of at least two different standards, comprising steps of:

in each of a plurality of locations as a user of the mobile station roams, scanning one or more frequencies on which the mobile station expects to find signals of a mobile communication network with which the mobile station may be able to communicate;

from each scanning, acquiring a signal of a respective mobile communication network in an area where the mobile station is operating or intends to operate;

from each acquired network signal, obtaining at least one system identifier of the respective mobile communication network;

for a first country where the obtained at least one system identifier uniquely corresponds to the first country, identifying the first country from a direct mapping of the at least one system identifier to an identification of the first country;

for a second country where the obtained at least one system identifier does not uniquely correspond to the second country, identifying the second country by;

(a) determining a local time (LTM) offset at a current location of the mobile station; and

(b) mapping a combination of the at least one system identifier obtained at the current location and the LTM offset to an identification of the second country; and

automatically adapting at least one operation of the mobile station responsive to the country identifications.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the at least one system identifier obtained for the first country is a mobile country code (MCC); and

the at least one system identifier obtained for the second country is a system identifier (SID).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the at least one system identifier obtained for the first country is a first system identifier (SID); and

the at least one system identifier obtained for the second country is a second SID.

15. A multimode mobile station configured to implement the steps of the method of claim 12.

16. A non-transitory article of manufacture, comprising:

instructions for causing a programmable multimode mobile station to implement the steps of the method of claim 12; and

a non-transitory machine readable storage medium bearing the instructions.

17. A method, in a mobile station capable of wireless communications in accordance with protocols of a code division multiple access (CDMA) protocol and a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) protocol, for determining a country in which the mobile station is operating or intends to operate, the method comprising steps of:

(a) in each of a plurality of locations as a user of the mobile station roams, scanning one or more frequencies on which the mobile station expects to find signals of a mobile communication network with which the mobile station may be able to communicate;

(b) from each scanning, acquiring a signal of a respective mobile communication network in an area where the mobile station is operating or intends to operate;

(c) from each acquired network signal, determining if the acquired signal conforms to the CDMA protocol or the 3GPP protocol and obtaining a system identifier of the respective mobile communication network;

(d) responsive to determining that any acquired signal conforms to the 3GPP protocol, mapping the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network directly to an identification of a country in which the mobile station is operating or intends to operate;

(e) responsive to determining that any acquired signal conforms to the CDMA protocol, determining whether or not the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network is unique;

(f) in a case in which an acquired signal conforms to the CDMA protocol and the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network is unique, mapping the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network directly to an identification of a country in which the mobile station is operating or intends to operate; and

(g) in a case in which an acquired signal conforms to the CDMA protocol and the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network is not unique, determining a local time (LTM) offset at a current location of the mobile station, and mapping a combination of the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network and the LTM offset to an identification of a country in which the mobile station is operating or intends to operate.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network in step (e) comprises a mobile country code (MCC) from a 3GG protocol signal;

the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network in step (f) comprises a MCC or a system identifier (SID) from a CDMA protocol signal; and

the system identifier of the respective mobile communication network in step (g) comprises a SID from a CDMA protocol signal.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the scanning of one or more frequencies involves scanning of frequencies in one or more bands based on a most recently acquired list.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

when scanning of frequencies in one or more bands based on a most recently acquired list fails to acquire a signal,

the scanning step further involves scanning of one or more frequencies in one or more bands based on a preference list order.

21. A multimode mobile station configured to implement the steps of the method of claim 17.

22. A non-transitory article of manufacture, comprising:

instructions for causing a programmable multimode mobile station to implement the steps of the method of claim 17; and

a non-transitory machine readable storage medium bearing the instructions.