Method and Apparatus for Determining the Country Where a Mobile Device Has Acquired Service

• US 20100099406A1
• Filed: 12/04/2008
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Kanade, Parag Mohan, Hutchison, James A., Anantharaman, Karthik, Gurganus, Bryan
• Granted Patent: US 8,565,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

An apparatus and method for identifying a serving country using at least one system specific parameter comprising extracting the at least one system specific parameter from a forward link signal; determining whether the at least one system specific parameter maps to a unique country; and identifying the serving country for a call.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a serving country using at least one system specific parameter comprising:

extracting the at least one system specific parameter from a forward link signal;

determining whether the at least one system specific parameter maps to a unique country; and

identifying the serving country for a call.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting one or more candidate countries wherein the one or more candidate countries is likely to be the serving country.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of identifying the serving country comprises selecting one of the one or more candidate countries as the serving country.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising using a dialing prefix based on the identified serving country to initiate the call.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising acquiring a wireless service for the forward link signal.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one system specific parameter comprises one or more of a system identification number, bandclass (i.e., frequency band) information, a network identification number, a local time offset or daylight savings information.

7. A user equipment for identifying a serving country using at least one system specific parameter comprising a processor and circuitry for performing the steps of:

extracting the at least one system specific parameter from a forward link signal;

determining whether the at least one system specific parameter maps to a unique country; and

identifying the serving country for a call.

8. The user equipment of claim 7 wherein the processor and circuitry further present one or more candidate countries wherein the one or more candidate countries is likely to be the serving country.

9. The user equipment of claim 8 wherein identifying the serving country comprises selecting one of the one or more candidate countries as the serving country.

10. The user equipment of claim 9 wherein the processor and circuitry use a dialing prefix based on the identified serving country to initiate the call.

11. The user equipment of claim 10 wherein the processor and circuitry acquire a wireless service for the forward link signal.

12. The user equipment of claim 7 wherein the at least one system specific parameter comprises one or more of a system identification number, bandclass (i.e., frequency band) information, a network identification number, a local time offset or daylight savings information.

13. The user equipment of claim 7 wherein the user equipment is a mobile phone.

14. A wireless device for identifying a serving country using at least one system specific parameter comprising:

means for extracting the at least one system specific parameter from a forward link signal;

means for determining whether the at least one system specific parameter maps to a unique country; and

means for identifying the serving country for a call.

15. The wireless device of claim 14 further comprising means for presenting one or more candidate countries wherein the one or more candidate countries is likely to be the serving country.

16. The wireless device of claim 15 wherein the means for identifying the serving country includes means for selecting one of the one or more candidate countries as the serving country.

17. The wireless device of claim 16 further comprising means for using a dialing prefix based on the identified serving country to initiate the call.

18. The wireless device of claim 14 wherein the at least one system specific parameter comprises one or more of a system identification number, bandclass (i.e., frequency band) information, a network identification number, a local time offset or daylight savings information.

19. A program recorded on a computer-readable medium and executable by a computer, comprising:

program code for extracting the at least one system specific parameter from a forward link signal;

program code for determining whether the at least one system specific parameter maps to a unique country; and

program code for identifying the serving country for a call.

20. The program of claim 19 further comprising program code for presenting one or more candidate countries and wherein the program code for identifying the serving country comprises program code for selecting one of the one or more candidate countries as the serving country.