Conversion of international mobile station identity (IMSI) number

A base station for use in a wireless communication system, said base station adapted to provide increased functionality of an IMSI identification number associated with a mobile station, said base station comprising:

• an antenna for receiving a signal over a radio channel from said mobile station, said signal representing at least said IMSI identification number associated with said mobile station, said IMSI identification number comprising a plurality of parameters, each of said plurality of parameters comprising one or more decimal digits;
• a memory;
• and
• a controller connected to said memory, said controller adapted to:
• store each of said one or more decimal digits of each of said plurality of parameters of said IMSI identification number in a respective location of said memory;
• associate each of said respective locations of said memory with a respective position of an array;
• determine an equivalent BCD number for each of said one or more decimal digits of each of said plurality of parameters of said IMSI identification number;
• and
• insert each of said equivalent BCD numbers in a respective position of an octet structure.

A base station for use in a wireless communication system, said base station adapted to provide increased functionality of an IMSI identification number associated with a mobile station, said base station comprising:

• a controller, said controller adapted to receive, over a radio channel, an IMSI identification number associated with a particular mobile station in a first format, said first format comprising a plurality of parameters, each of said plurality of parameters comprising one or more numbers, each of said one or more numbers located in a respective one of a plurality of positions of an array;
• and
• a memory connected to said controller, said memory comprising a plurality of locations, each one of said plurality of locations in said memory being associated with a respective one of said plurality of positions of said array,
• wherein said controller is further adapted to convert each of said one or more numbers to an equivalent decimal number, and store each of said decimal numbers in a location of said memory associated with a respective one of a plurality of positions of an octet structure.