US 10,772,020 B2Granted

Cellular telecommunications network

AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company

InventorsMaria Cuevas Ramirez, Ruth Brown

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Abstract

This disclosure relates to a method of operating a management node in a cellular telecommunications network, the cellular telecommunications network further including a User Equipment (UE) and a first and second base station, wherein the UE is connected to the first base station by a first connection and to the second base station by a second connection, and the first and second connection relate to a first and second subscription, respectively, the method including detecting a first home network identifier of the first connection; detecting a first network operator identifier of the first base station; determining that a first home network identifier of the first connection is different to the first network operator identifier of the first base station; determining a preferred partner network associated with the first home network identifier; and initiating a transfer of the first connection to the preferred partner network.

Claims3

Dependent claims

A method of operating a management node in a cellular telecommunications network, the cellular telecommunications network further including a User Equipment (UE), a first base station, and a second base station, wherein the first base station and the management node are associated with a first network operator and the second base station is associated with a second network operator, wherein the UE is connected to the first base station by a first connection and to the second base station by a second connection, and the first connection and the second connection relate to a first subscription and a second subscription, respectively, the management node storing a database identifying a preferred partner network for the first network operator, the method comprising:

receiving, from a second management node associated with the second network operator, a message relating to the second connection between the UE and the second base station, the message indicating:
a UE identifier of the second connection,
a second home network identifier of the second connection identifying the first network operator, and
a second network operator identifier of the second base station identifying the second network operator;
defining a first connection group including the first and second connection based on:
the first connection and the second connection relating to different subscriptions, and
a UE identifier of the first connection being the same as the UE identifier of the second base station;
determining that the second home network identifier of the second connection identifies a different network operator than that identified by the second network operator identifier of the second base station;
and, in response,
determining a preferred partner network associated with the first home network;
and
initiating a transfer of the second connection to the preferred partner network.

9 more elements

A management node for a cellular telecommunications network, the cellular telecommunications network including a User Equipment (UE), a first base station, and a second base station, wherein the first base station and the management node are associated with a first network operator and the second base station is associated with a second network operator, wherein the UE is connected to the first base station by a first connection and to the second base station by a second connection, and the first connection and the second connection relate to a first and second subscriber identifier, respectively, the first subscriber identifier and the second subscriber identifier uniquely identifying a first user and a second user in the cellular telecommunications network, respectively, the management node comprising:

a receiver configured to receive, from a second management node associated with the second network operator, a message relating to the second subscriber identifier, the message indicating:
a UE identifier of the second connection,
a second home network identifier of the second subscriber identifier identifying the first network operator, and
a second network operator identifier of the second base station identifying the second network operator;
a processor adapted to:
define a first connection group including the first connection and the second connection based on:
the first connection and the second connection relating to different subscriber identifiers, and
a UE identifier of the first connection being the same as the UE identifier of the second connection,
determine that the second home network identifier of the second connection identifies a different network operator than that identified by the second network operator identifier of the second base station, and
determine the preferred partner network associated with the first home network from the database;
and
memory adapted to store a database identifying a preferred partner network for the first network operator;
wherein the processor is further adapted to, in response to the determination that the second home network identifier of the second connection is different than that identified by the second network operator identifier of the second base station, initiate a transfer of the second connection to the preferred partner network.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/487,744Filed 20 Feb 2018
Priority: EP 1716285424 Mar 2017
Published: US 2020/0236603 A123 Jul 2020
Granted: 8 Sep 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

H04W 76/11
Connection setup: allocation or use of connection identifiers
H04W 8/04
Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of…:…
H04W 8/12
Mobility data transfer: between location registers or mobility servers
H04W 8/26
Network data management: network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Family

US 2020/0236603 A1Pre-grant publication · published 23 Jul 2020
US 10,772,020 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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