Determining mobile operators for mobile devices

• US 9,721,279 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2010
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Zargahi, Kamran Rajabi
• Primary Examiner(s): KIM, STEVEN S
• Application Number:
  US12/729,429
• Publication Number:
  US 20110238532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,688 Days
• Field of Search: 705 36, 705 40, 705 271, 705 31, 707769
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/68 Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/70 Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/725 by the operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/751 Card based account, e.g. smart card, SIM card or USIM
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Determining a mobile operator for a mobile device. The mobile operator is determined using one or more of an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and a current operator name (CON) and service provider name (SPN) pair. Correlations between the IMSI and mobile operators, and between the CON/SPN pairs and mobile operators, are maintained. Correlations between unrecognized CON/SPN pairs and mobile operators are created based on a quantity of requests received from the mobile devices. In some embodiments, identifying the mobile operator enables financial transactions by the mobile device when visiting, for example, a mobile applications store.

Claims

1. A system for determining a mobile operator associated with a mobile computing device, said system comprising:

a memory for storing a plurality of sets of pairs of current operator names (CONs) and service provider names (SPNs), each pair of the sets of pairs of the CON and the SPN being associated with a corresponding mobile operator, the CON representing a mobile operator currently serving the mobile computing device and the SPN representing a mobile operator to whom the mobile computing device is subscribed; and

a processor programmed to;

receive, over a network, from a plurality of mobile computing devices, a plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs, each pair of the plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs including additional data representing the corresponding mobile operator of the pair;

determine, from the received plurality of pairs, a quantity of received first pairs having the same values of the CONs, the SPNs and the additional data;

compare the quantity of the received first pairs with a threshold value;

on determining that the quantity of the received first pairs exceeds the threshold value, store the values of the CONs, the SPNs and the additional data representing the corresponding mobile operator of the first pairs in the memory;

receive an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), one of the CONs, and one of the SPNs from the mobile computing device over the network, the one of the CONs and the one of the SPNs being separate from the IMSI of the mobile computing device;

determine validity of the IMSI of the mobile computing device received over the network;

on determining that the IMSI is invalid, determine if the received CON and the received SPN match the values of the CONs and the SPNs of the first pairs stored in the memory;

on determining that the received CON and the received SPN match the values of the CONs and the SPNs of the first pairs stored in the memory, identify the corresponding mobile operator from the additional data associated with the first pairs; and

bill the identified mobile operator for purchases made by the mobile computing device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

receive another IMSI from the mobile computing device over the network;

extract, on determining that the another IMSI is valid, a mobile country code (MCC) and a mobile network code (MNC) from the received IMSI; and

determine a mobile operator associated with the mobile computing device based on the extracted MCC and MNC.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further programmed to compare the received CON and the received SPN to the extracted MCC and MNC to identify a discrepancy.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is further programmed to remove the additional data representing the mobile operator associated with the first pairs on identifying the discrepancy.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further programmed to identify the mobile operator using the received CON and the received SPN when a correlation for the extracted MCC and MNC with the mobile operator does not exist in the memory.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to identify a market for the mobile computing device based on the identified mobile operator.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores a market associated with the mobile operator.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one of the CONs and the one of the SPNs are received from configuration settings of the mobile computing device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to receive CONs and SPNs with the additional data representing the corresponding mobile operators from a cloud service.

10. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), a current operator name (CON), and a service provider name (SPN) from a mobile computing device over a communication network, the CON representing a mobile operator currently serving the mobile computing device and the SPN representing a mobile operator to whom the mobile computing device is subscribed;

receiving, over the communication network, from a plurality of mobile computing devices, a plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs, each pair of the plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs including additional data representing a corresponding mobile operator of the pair;

determining, from the received plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs, a quantity of received first pairs having the same values of the CONs, the SPNs and the additional data representing the corresponding mobile operator of the first pairs;

comparing the quantity of the received first pairs with a threshold value;

on determining that the quantity of received first pairs exceeds the threshold value, storing the values of the CONs, the SPNs and the additional data representing the corresponding mobile operator of the first pairs;

determining validity of the IMSI of the mobile computing device received over the communication network;

on determining that the received IMSI is invalid, determining if the received CON and the received SPN match the stored values of the CON and the SPN of the first pairs;

on determining that the received CON and the received SPN match the stored values of the CONs and the SPNs of the first pairs, identifying the mobile operator associated with the received CON and the received SPN from the additional data associated with the first pairs; and

billing the identified mobile operator for purchases made by the mobile computing device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising identifying a discrepancy, on determining that the IMSI is valid, by comparing the received CON and the received SPN to a mobile country code (MCC) and a mobile network code (MNC) extracted from the IMSI.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising removing, on identifying the discrepancy, a correlation between the received CON, received SPN and the mobile operator.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein one of a plurality of mobile operators is associated with a plurality of same pairs of CONs and SPNs received from a plurality of mobile computing devices only when the received pluralities of same pairs of CONs and SPNs exceed a pre-defined threshold value.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein determining validity of the IMSI comprises confirming that the received IMSI has 15 digits.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising identifying a market for the mobile computing device based on the received CON and the received SPN.

16. One or more computer storage memories storing computer-executable components, said components when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:

receive an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), a current operator name (CON), and a service provider name (SPN) from a mobile computing device over a communication network, the CON representing a mobile operator currently serving the mobile computing device and SPN representing a mobile operator to whom the mobile computing device is subscribed;

receive, over the communication network, from a plurality of mobile computing devices, a plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs, each pair of the plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs including additional data representing a corresponding mobile operator of the pair;

determine, from the received plurality of pairs of the CONs and the SPNs, a quantity of received first pairs having the same values of the CONs, the SPNs and the additional data representing the corresponding mobile operator of the first pairs;

compare the quantity of the received first pairs with a threshold value;

on determining that the quantity of received first pairs exceeds the threshold value, store the values of the CONs, the SPNs and the additional data representing the corresponding mobile operator of the first pairs;

determine validity of the IMSI of the mobile computing device received over the communication network;

on determining that the received IMSI is invalid, determine if the received CON and the received SPN match the stored values of the CON and the SPN of the first pairs;

on determining that the received CON and the received SPN match the stored values of the CONs and the SPNs of the first pairs, identify the mobile operator associated with the received CON and the received SPN from the additional data associated with the first pairs; and

bill the identified mobile operator for purchases made by the mobile computing device.

17. The computer storage memories of claim 16, wherein the received CON and the received SPN are compared to a mobile country code (MCC) and a mobile network code (MNC) extracted from the IMSI to identify a discrepancy, the MCC and MNC being extracted on determining that the IMSI is valid.

18. The computer storage memories of claim 17, wherein the additional data representing the mobile operator associated with the first pairs is removed on identifying the discrepancy.

19. The computer storage memories of claim 16, wherein a market is identified for the mobile computing device based on the identified mobile operator.

20. The computer storage memories of claim 16, wherein the CON and the SPN are received from the configuration settings of the mobile computing device.