Method and system for roaming of a mobile communications unit

• US 9,456,409 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2013
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globetouch AB
• Original Assignee: Globetouch AB
• Inventors: Knudsen, Bjorn
• Primary Examiner(s): Karikari, Kwasi
• Application Number:
  US14/653,284
• Publication Number:
  US 20150341852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 455/436
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8038 Roaming or handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/12 between location registers or mobility servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Method and system for use when a mobile communication device (40) roams between a mobile communication home network (10) and one or several mobile communication networks (20,26,30,36), which device includes a SIM card (41), the method includes the steps of:

• a) the device roaming in a first collaborating network (20);
• b) the home network allowing the device Internet access to a predetermined Internet address but not general Internet access;
• c) the device contacting the predetermined Internet address and the user providing login credentials;
• d) associating an IMSI and/or an MSISDN of the SIM card with a user account identified by the login credentials;
• e) allowing Internet access to the device in accordance with an agreement tied to the user account.

Claims

1. A method for use when a mobile communication device roams between a mobile communication home network in a home country and one or several mobile communication networks in one or several visited countries, which mobile communication device comprises a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, wherein a digital data interconnection can be established between at least one collaborating network in a respective visited country and the home network so that Internet access can be provided to the mobile device by the home network via said interconnection when the mobile device is connected to the said collaborating network, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

a) the mobile device roaming in the coverage area of a first collaborating network in a first visited country;

b) upon a detection of this roaming of the mobile device, a system instructing the home network to allow Internet access, for the mobile device, to a predetermined Internet address, to which predetermined Internet address the system is connected, but not general Internet access;

c) the mobile device contacting the predetermined Internet address and the user providing login credentials via the predetermined Internet address to the system;

d) upon the said provision of login credentials, the system associating an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) and/or an MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network-Number) of the SIM card with a user account identified by the login credentials; and

e) the system instructing the home network to allow Internet access to the mobile device in accordance with an agreement tied to the user account.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in steps b) and e), the Internet access is provided by the first collaborating network via an SGSN (Support GPRS Support Node) of the first collaborating network, a GRX (GPRX Roaming Exchange) or an Internet tunnel, and a GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) of the home network.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the system is external to the home network, wherein the system is connected to the GGSN of the home network, and wherein it is the system which, in steps b) and e), instructs the GGSN of the home network to allow Internet access to the mobile device.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, in an initial step, the SIM card is provided with an IMSI associated with the home network, wherein the home network receives a signaling message in step b), wherein the home network then decides to, based upon the IMSI contained in the signaling message, forward the signaling message to the system, which then instructs the GGSN of the home network to allow Internet access to the predetermined Internet address.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step d), the IMSI and/or MSISDN of the SIM card is identified based upon the calling IP (Internet Protocol) address of the contacting in step c), and by querying the first collaborating network what IMSI and/or MSISDN is associated with the calling IP address.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step b), the home network first checks if the IMSI and/or the MSISDN of the SIM card is or are already associated with a user account, and that the said Internet connection to a predetermined Internet address but not general Internet access is only allowed in case no such association exists, or if the user account does not allow the user Internet access.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step b), the home network first sends an instruction message over the air to the mobile device to change the IMSI and/or MSISDN of the SIM card to the IMSI and/or MSISDN to which the user account will be associated in step d).

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined IMSI and/or MSISDN are taken from a predetermined plurality of IMSI codes and/or MSISDN numbers, which plurality comprises less IMSI codes and/or MSISDN numbers than the total number of SIM cards available for using the method.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the PIN code protection of the SIM card is initially disabled or not enabled.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step d), it is an MSISDN of the SIM card which is associated with the predetermined user account.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the MSISDN initially stored on the SIM card is blank or does not allow data traffic when roaming.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the MSISDN is not changed when the mobile device later roams to a second collaborating network, but that the method is then resumed from step e) with the second collaborating network instead of the first collaborating network.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in an initial step, the SIM card is provided with a home IMSI associated with the home network, and wherein step a) comprises the substeps of

a1) initiating a location update procedure after or in connection to the mobile device moving from the coverage area of the home network to the coverage area of a first visited network in the first visited country;

a2) triggered by the location update message, sending an instruction message over the air to the mobile device to change, to a first visited country IMSI which is associated with the first collaborating network, the IMSI used for network identification of the SIM card; and

a3) causing the mobile device to store the first visited country IMSI on the SIM card and to use it for network identification of the SIM card.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, upon roaming from the coverage area of the first collaborating network to the coverage area of a second visited network in a second visited country after step e) has been performed, the method comprises the additional steps

f) causing the mobile device to change the IMSI used for network identification of the SIM card back to the home IMSI and then to perform a device network refresh;

g) triggered by a location update message resulting from the change of IMSI used for network identification and received by the home network, sending an instruction message over the air to the mobile device to change, to a second visited country IMSI which is associated with a second collaborating mobile communication network in the second visited country, the IMSI used for network identification of the SIM card; and

h) resuming the method from step b), but with the second visited country and the second collaborating network instead of the first visited country and the first collaborating network, respectively.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step a), the SIM card is configured to be able to connect to the first collaborating network only if the first collaborating network belongs to a set of predetermined collaborating networks for the first visited country.

16. A system for providing Internet access to a mobile communication device when the mobile device roams between a mobile communication home network in a home country and one or several mobile communication networks in one or several visited countries, which mobile communication device comprises a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, wherein a digital data interconnection can be established between at least one collaborating network in a respective visited country and the home network so that Internet access can be provided to the mobile device by the home network via said interconnection when the mobile device is connected to the said collaborating network, and wherein the said system is connected for communication with the home network, wherein the system is arranged to receive information from the home network that the mobile device roams in a collaborating network, and upon the reception of such information instruct the home network to allow Internet access for the mobile device only to a predetermined Internet address but not general Internet access, wherein the system comprises an Internet server which is accessible through said Internet access and arranged to be contacted by the mobile device and to accept a login credential from a user of the mobile device via the mobile device, and wherein the system is arranged to, upon reception of a valid login credential from the mobile device, store an association between an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) and/or an MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network-Number) of the SIM card with a user account identified by the login credentials and to instruct the home network to allow Internet access to the mobile device in accordance with an agreement tied to the user account.