Mapping a mobile device location to billing regions in internet protocol multimedia subsystems
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for determining a billing region to utilize for charging a mobile subscriber for an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems (“
- IMS”
) session, wherein the IMS session is conducted between the subscriber'"'"'s mobile device and an IMS core network, the method comprising;
receiving a public Internet Protocol (“
IP”
) address associated with the mobile device during registration of the mobile device with the IMS core network;
sending a query to a geolocation server for an estimated physical location of the mobile device, wherein the query includes an indication of the received public IP address;
determining an estimated physical location of the mobile device based at least in part on the received public IP address;
receiving the estimated physical location of the mobile device from the geolocation server;
identifying a billing Cell Global Identification (“
CGI”
) that is associated with the estimated physical location of the mobile device, the billing CGI is a dummy CGI that is not associated with a physical cell site in a radio access network that uses licensed frequency spectrum; and
providing the billing CGI to a billing server in conjunction with a session identifier that is associated with the IMS session, wherein the billing server is configured to determine a billing region from the billing CGI.
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Abstract
A location mapping service (“LMS”) that allows the integrations of an IMS core with the location-based billing methods of a legacy core network. The LMS uses the estimated location of a mobile device during an IMS session in order to determine a Cell Global Identification (“CGI”) to associate with the session. The LMS then provides the determined CGI to the legacy core network, so that a billing gateway may determine the billing region to associate with the IMS session. The LMS thereby facilitates location-based billing for IMS sessions in the absence of actual CGI information.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for determining a billing region to utilize for charging a mobile subscriber for an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems (“
- IMS”
) session, wherein the IMS session is conducted between the subscriber'"'"'s mobile device and an IMS core network, the method comprising;receiving a public Internet Protocol (“
IP”
) address associated with the mobile device during registration of the mobile device with the IMS core network;sending a query to a geolocation server for an estimated physical location of the mobile device, wherein the query includes an indication of the received public IP address; determining an estimated physical location of the mobile device based at least in part on the received public IP address; receiving the estimated physical location of the mobile device from the geolocation server; identifying a billing Cell Global Identification (“
CGI”
) that is associated with the estimated physical location of the mobile device, the billing CGI is a dummy CGI that is not associated with a physical cell site in a radio access network that uses licensed frequency spectrum; andproviding the billing CGI to a billing server in conjunction with a session identifier that is associated with the IMS session, wherein the billing server is configured to determine a billing region from the billing CGI. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- IMS”
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16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, implement a method to determine a billing region to utilize for charging a mobile subscriber for an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems (“
- IMS”
) session, wherein the IMS session is conducted between the subscriber'"'"'s mobile device and an IMS core network, the method comprising;receiving a public Internet Protocol (“
IP”
) address associated with the mobile device during registration of the mobile device with the IMS core network;sending a query to a geolocation server for an estimated physical location of the mobile device, wherein the query includes an indication of the received public IP address; determining an estimated physical location of the mobile device based at least in part on the received public IP address; receiving the estimated physical location of the mobile device from the geolocation server; identifying a billing Cell Global Identification (“
CGI”
) that is associated with the estimated physical location of the mobile device, the billing CGI is a dummy CGI that is not associated with a physical cell site in a radio access network that uses licensed frequency spectrum; andproviding the billing CGI to a billing server in conjunction with a session identifier that is associated with the IMS session, wherein the billing server is configured to determine a billing region from the billing CGI. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
- IMS”
Specification