Method and apparatus for acquiring an IMEI associated to an IMSI

• US 9,112,962 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2008
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Noldus, Rogier August Caspar Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Mahendra
• Assistant Examiner(s): COSME, NATASHA W
• Application Number:
  US13/130,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20110223898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,458 Days
• Field of Search: 455/415, 370/261, 370/352, 379/210.01, 709/204
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/30 for supporting lawful interception, monitoring or retaining of communications or communication related information circuit switched telephony call monitoring H04M3/2281
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning

Abstract

A method comprises the steps of establishing a call between a first user equipment and a second user equipment, acquiring the identity of the second user equipment, and providing the identity of the second user equipment to the first user equipment. The invention has the advantage that it enables a law enforcement agent (for example a police officer or investigator) to track the equipment that is used by a person for a particular call. When a suspect call is received, a law enforcement agent can easily return a call to that phone, even when the SIM card of that phone is swapped. When placing a call to a suspect number, the law enforcement officer can easily determine on which device the call is answered and then determine which other persons (MSISDNs) have been using that device.

Claims

1. A method in a node of a telecommunication system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a call establishment request between a first mobile user equipment and a second mobile user equipment, where the second user equipment'"'"'s international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) or international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) is not known;

determining that the first user equipment is subscribed to a service that allows the first user equipment to know the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment;

acquiring the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment, including the step of sending a request for the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment from the node to a second node using an initial address message (IAM) of an ISDN user part (ISUP) protocol, and receiving the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment from the second node using an answer message (ANM) or a connect message (CON) of the ISDN user part (ISUP) protocol; and

providing the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment to the first user equipment, wherein the step of acquiring the identity or the step of providing the identity is performed either automatically or selectively in response to the first user equipment being subscribed to the service that allows the first user equipment to know the identity of the second user equipment.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acquiring step comprises the step of sending a request for the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment from the node to a second node using an ISDN user part (ISUP) information request message, and receiving the identity of the second user equipment from the second node using an ISDN user part (ISUP) information message.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the steps of sending the ISUP information request message and receiving the ISUP information message are performed prior to a step of performing one or more enhanced direct transfer application part (DTAP) messages or unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) messages between the node and the first user equipment.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the IMEI of the second user equipment is acquired.

4. A node in a telecommunication system, the node comprising:

means adapted to receive a call establishment request between a first mobile user equipment and a second user equipment, where the second mobile user equipment'"'"'s international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) or international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) is not known;

means adapted to determine that the first user equipment is subscribed to a service that allows the first user equipment to know the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment;

means adapted to acquire the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment, the means adapted to acquire the identity is configured to use one or more ISDN user part (ISUP) messages sent between the node and a second node associated with the second user equipment; and

means adapted to provide the IMEI or the IMSI of the second user equipment to the first user equipment, wherein the means adapted to acquire the identity or the means adapted to provide the identity is operable either automatically or selectively in response to a specific request made by the first user equipment to know the identity of the second user equipment.