System and method for handling inactive sim cards
AssigneeBuzzinbees
InventorsMichel ANSLOT, Philippe BOUCKAERT, Jean-Rene BOUVIER
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Abstract
A method in a cellular communication network comprising the steps of: marking a SIM card as inactive when said SIM card has not been used for at least a quarantine duration, provisioning a recycler node by backing up managing parameters related to said inactive SIM card, in a database.
Claims29
A method in a cellular communication network comprising at least a home location register/home subscriber server (HLR/HSS) that stores managing parameters related to a SIM card associated to a cellular terminal configured to be connected to the network, said managing parameters comprising at least an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI), and at least a routing node configured to route requests between the cellular terminal and the HLR/HSS, wherein:
- the method comprises at least a step of provisioning a recycler node which comprises backing up in at least a database of said recycler node said managing parameters comprising said IMSI;
- when said SIM card has not been used for at least a quarantine duration the method performs the following steps:
- de-provisioning at least the HLR/HSS by removing from the HLR/HSS an identifier of a subscription (MSISDN 19) associated to the SIM card;
- wherein the method also comprises the following steps performed when said SIM card has not been used for at least the quarantine duration;
- sending any attachment request emanating from said SIM card to the recycler node, which comprises associating, in the routing tables of the routing node, the IMSI of said inactive SIM card with an address of said recycler node;
- after the provisioning of the recycler node, after the de-provisioning of at least the HLR/HSS and upon reception at the recycler node of an attachment request emanating from said SIM card, the method comprises reactivating the SIM card through performing the following step:
- re-provisioning at least the HLR/HSS by associating in the HLR/HSS the set of managing parameters related to said reactivated SIM card restored from the database with a new identifier of a subscription (new MSISDN 19), the set of managing parameters comprising said IMSI.
Computer-program product that contains software program instructions, where execution of the software program instructions by at least one data processor results in performance of operations that comprise execution of at least the following steps:
- identifying that a SIM card has not been used for at least a quarantine duration, then:
- provisioning a recycler node which comprises backing up in at least a database stored in at least a data storage device of said recycler node:
- managing parameters comprising at least an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI);
- sending an instruction to modify at least a routing table of a routing node so that the routing node can redirect any attachment request emanating from said SIM card to the recycler node;
- after the provisioning of the recycler node, and upon reception of an attachment request emanating from said SIM card performing the following steps:
- allocating a new identifier of a subscription (new MSISDN 19);
- providing to a managing node the set of managing parameters related to said reactivated SIM card restored from the database in association with the new identifier of a subscription (new MSISDN 19), the set of managing parameters comprising said IMSI;
- sending an instruction to modify at least the routing table of the routing node so that the routing node redirects any message emanating from said SIM card to said managing node.
Recycler node configured to be connected in a cellular communication network comprising at least a managing node that stores managing parameters related to a SIM card associated to a cellular terminal configured to be connected to the network and at least a routing node configured to route requests between the cellular terminal and the managing node, said managing parameters comprising at least an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI), wherein:
- the recycler node is configured to execute the following steps when said SIM card has not been used for at least a quarantine duration:
- provisioning a database of the recycler node which comprises backing up in at least a database stored in at least a data storage device of said recycler node:
- managing parameters comprising at least said IMSI;
- sending an instruction to modify at least a routing table of the routing node so that the routing node can redirect any attachment request emanating from said SIM card to the recycler node;
- and wherein the recycler node is configured to execute the following steps after the provisioning of the recycler node, and upon reception of an attachment request emanating from said SIM card:
- allocating a new identifier of a subscription (new MSISDN 19);
- providing to a managing node at least said IMSI related to said reactivated SIM card restored from the database in association with a new identifier of a subscription (new MSISDN 19);
- sending an instruction to modify at least the routing table of the routing node so that the routing node redirects any message emanating from said SIM card to said managing node.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.