Validating international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) in mobile networks
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsRanjit Kumar Avasarala, Vamsidhar Sivadi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A control plane entity can perform validation checks to confirm the validity of a device identifier, for example, an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), received from a user equipment (UE) during registration of the UE with a communication network. In one aspect, the control plane entity can verify that the IMEI conforms to a defined format; for example, the IMEI is fifteen digits long, does not comprise alphabets and/or symbols, and/or comprises a valid type allocation code (TAC) of eight decimal digits, etc. The validation of the IMEI can reduce errors in billing that can otherwise result in revenue loss for the service provider.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
- in response to determining that a communication session associated with a user equipment is served by a network device is to be initiated, receiving identifier data indicative of a hardware identifier of the user equipment;
- and
- prior to initiating the communication session, validating the identifier data based on verifying that a format of the hardware identifier conforms to a defined identifier format, wherein the validating is independent of a communication between the network device and a network data store.
A method, comprising:
- receiving, by a system comprising a processor, identifier data indicative of a hardware identifier of a user equipment served by a network device;
- determining, by the system, that a format of the hardware identifier satisfies a defined format criterion, wherein the determining is performed independent of a communication between the network device and a network data store;
- and
- in response to the determining, authorizing, by the system, a communication session associated with the user equipment.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
- receiving, via a network device of a communication network, identifier data indicative of a hardware identifier of a user equipment;
- determining that a format of the hardware identifier satisfies a defined format criterion, wherein the determining is performed independent of a communication between the network device and a network data store;
- and
- in response to the determining, facilitating a registration of the user equipment with the communication network.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.