A mobile telephony operator random selection device and procedure for cellular phones

Abstract: The mobile telephony operator random selection device and procedure for cellular phones prove useful when the user is abroad in an international roaming context. They give cellular phone manufacturers the possibility to equip the telephone with the means to select the network without giving preference to any of the operators present in the territory visited by the user, due to the fact that they are not conditioned by the level of the signals received. The number relating to the network to be selected is obtained by subjecting the signals containing the synchronisation information, transmitted on a specific channel by the cells of different operators, and are not temporally correlated and random, to a series of operations.

Description: This invention refers to the radio telecommunications systems, and in particular relates to a mobile telephony operator random selection device and procedure for cellular phones. As is already known, when a user with a digital radio-mobile network cellular phone travels abroad, he finds that the mobile telephony operator to which he subscribes in his own country is not available. To obtain the required services, the user must select one of the operators present in the country he is in, and register with them to be able to benefit from the international roaming agreements. When abroad, an operator can be selected either manually by the user or automatically by the cellular phone itself. In the latter case, one of the modes of selection of the operator is that the selection is generally made in a completely random way, regardless of the signal level received by the cellular phone. The ways of selection of an operator, i.e. of a public land mobile network (PLMW), is specified in 3GPP: "TS 23.122 (V3.4.2); NAS Functions related to Mobile Station (MS) in idle mode (Release 1999)' [Online] 30 November 2000 (2000-11-30), ETSI, VALBONNE, FRANCE XP002228619 Retrieved from the Internet: <URL: ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/archive/23_series/23.122/23122-342.zip> [retrieved on 2003-01-24], particularly chapters 4.4.3.1.1 and 4.4.3.2.1 where the automatic selection is described. The selection in random order is one of the choices, taken if some of the other choices are not applicable. The random selection is carried out in the mobile cellular phone, generally by a set of software instructions. It is also known (US-A-5 915 214, col. 14 2nd paragraph) that a random select option may be chosen if an information channel established by a central processing facility and serving as an intermediary between the mobile communication users and the operators can not be obtained. The fact that the selection is made at random means that no preference is to be given to those operators that transmit with power values that are higher than those of other operators, thus eliminating operator competition that would lead to increasingly higher power values. Generally, the operator is selected in the following way A number between 1 and m is assigned to the network of each of the m number of operators received. A device inside the cellular phone then generates in a pseudo-casual way a number in the same range, which is then used to extract and select one of the networks. One of the procedures used according to the known technique consists in reading pseudo-random numbers on the system counters inside the cellular phone. Unfortunately, there is a problem in that the value read from these counters does not guarantee a completely random choice, in that the counters are read at a pre-established moment by the telephone management software procedure, and therefore there is no certainty that the operator will be selected really at random. This technical problem can be resolved by the use of the mobile telephony operator random selection device and procedure for cellular phones referred to in this invention. These elements give the manufacturers of cellular phones the possibility to equip a cellular phone with the means to select a network without giving preference to any of the operators present in the territory visited by the user. In particular, the subject of this invention is a mobile telephony operator random selection device and procedure for cellular phones, as described in the characterising parts of claims 1 and 4. The foregoing and other characteristics of this invention will be made clearer by the following description of a preferred form of the invention, given by way of non-limiting example, and by the annexed drawing in which: Fig. 1 illustrates the scenario in which the cellular phone operates; Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of the operations performed by the device in the cellular phone. The scenario illustrated in Fig. 1 relates to a foreign country in which the user, with his cellular phone T, is travelling. A certain number, n, of radio-mobile networks, N1, N2, N3, ..., Nn, belonging to the same standard, with which the cellular phone is compatible, are to be found in this territory. The cells of each network are equipped with "broadcast" radio links, which transmit in the respective coverage areas information that permits the cellular phones to synchronise into the cell and use the services offered by the operator. In general the synchronisation information is transmitted on a dedicated channel by each operator, and consists of digital signals arranged in a stream of frame numbers, which are periodically increased. The operator random selection procedure uses this information in the following way. Let's suppose that telephone T receives m of the n broadcast radio links P1, P2, P3, ..., Pn, with a signal level higher than a pre-established minimum reception threshold. As happens in already existing telephones, telephone T scans the signals present and stores the list of the operators in its memory. In this way, at the same time or immediately afterwards it acquires the frame numbers FN1, ..., FNm transmitted at that moment on the broadcast radio links P1, P2, P3, ..., Pm received. The frame numbers are stored in real-time in volatile storage registers inside the telephone and associated to the respective operators. Since the m networks relate to different operators with network infrastructures that are not interconnected and not synchronised at radio interface level, the frame numbers FN1, ..., FNm are not temporally correlated and therefore can be considered as being supplied by m random number generators. As illustrated in Fig. 2, the m frame numbers FN1, ..., FNm received are stored in registers R1, R2, R3, ..., Rm and subsequently combined with a series of arithmetic logic operations, called EXCLUSIVE OR or EX-OR. In particular, an initial EXCLUSIVE OR operation is performed on the first two frame numbers. The result is subjected to a new EXCLUSIVE OR operation with the third frame number, and so on until all the frame numbers have been subjected to this operation. The result of this series of operations is a random variable csg, which is a function of the m random frame numbers FN1, ..., FNm and has a dimension that is equal to that of the frame numbers. csg = FN1 EX-OR FN2 EX-OR ... EX-OR FNm In the next step, a sel index ranging from 1 to m is obtained from the csg variable, calculated as described above in real-time by the telephone T. This sel index can be used to extract and select one of the m networks. To do this, the m MODULE operation is applied to the csg: as is known, this operation consists in the dividing of the csg variable by m, and using the remainder as the result, which by definition is less than the divisor and included between 0 and m-1. sel' = MODULE m (csg) sel=sel'+1 The sum with 1 is used to position the sel index in the required interval 1 ... m. The sel index value can now be used by the telephone T to select one of the networks present in the country visited. This result is obtained by the use of remote frame numbers, which are random and not temporally correlated, and are received from network infrastructures of different operators. The randomness of the variables is increased with the EXCLUSIVE OR operation that is normally used to make a variable "pseudo-random". To make the procedure possible, the set of software instructions in the cellular phone that select the operator according to internal criteria are substituted with a set of software instructions that perform the operations described. The cellular phone can also be fitted with a special device that is capable of performing the operations in the procedure described above. Obviously this description is given as a non-limiting example. Variants and modifications are possible, without emerging from the protection field of the claims.

Claims: A mobile telephone operator random selection procedure for cellular phones, operating in a context in which the cells of each of m networks received (N1, ..., Nm) transmit synchronisation information on a specific channel, consisting of digital signals arranged in streams of frame numbers (FN1, ..., FNm) that are periodically increased, characterised by the fact that the m frame numbers (FN1, ..., FNm) are stored in the telephone (T) during the scanning phase of the radio links (P1, ..., Pm) present, associated to the respective operators, and are subsequently combined by a series of EXCLUSIVE OR operations, the result being a variable (csg), which is subsequently subjected to an m MODULE operation, consisting in dividing the variable by m and taking the remainder plus 1 as the result, thus obtaining a value (sel index) included between 1 and m, which can be used by the telephone (T) to select one of the networks (N1, ..., Nm) present. A mobile telephony operator random selection procedure for cellular phones as in claim 1, characterised by the fact that said series of EXCLUSIVE OR operations consists of an EXCLUSIVE OR operation carried out on the first two frame numbers (FN1, FN2), the result is then subjected to another EXCLUSIVE OR operation with the third frame number (FN3), and so on until all the frame numbers have been subjected to this operation. A mobile telephony operator random selection procedure for cellular phones as in any of the previous claims, the cellular phones containing a set of stored software instructions determined to select the operator according to internal criteria, characterised by the fact that the set of software instructions in the cellular phone that select the operator according to internal criteria are substituted with another set of software instructions that carry out the operations described. Device for operating in a context in which the cells of each of m networks received (N1, ..., Nm) transmit synchronisation information on a specific channel, consisting of digital signals arranged in streams of frame numbers (FN1, ..., FNm) that are periodically increased, characterised by the fact that it includes: means for storing the said m frame numbers (FN1, ..., FNm) on the telephone (T) during the scanning phase of the radio links (P1, ..., Pm) present; means to combine said m frame numbers (FN1, ..., FNm) by a series of EXCLUSIVE OR operations in order to obtain the variable (csg); means to divide the said variable by m and extract the remainder (MODULE operation), in order to obtain an index (sel'); means to increase said index (sel') by 1, in order to obtain the index (sel) with a value included between 1 and m, which can be used by the telephone (T) to select one of the networks (N1, ..., Nm) present. Device as per claim 4, characterised by the fact that said means used to combine said m frame numbers (FN1, ..., FNm) are arranged to perform an EXCLUSIVE OR operation on the first two frame numbers (FN1, FN2), and to subsequently subject the result to another EXCLUSIVE OR operation on the third frame number (FN3), and so on until all the frame numbers have been subjected to this operation. A cellular phone comprising a device for selecting a mobile telephone operator, said device being realised according to claim 4 or 5.

Inventors: LUPANO MICHELE, LUPANO, MICHELE
Applicants: TELECOM ITALIA SPA, TELECOM ITALIA S.P.A.
Application year: 2001
Main classification: H04Q7
IPC codes: H04W48