Note: Within nine months of the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent in the European PatentBulletin, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to that patent, in accordance with theImplementing Regulations. Notice of opposition shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has beenpaid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention).

Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR)

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(12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION

(45) Date of publication and mention of the grant of the patent: 01.01.2014 Bulletin 2014/01

(21) Application number: 98304671.5

(22) Date of filing: 12.06.1998

(51) Int Cl.:H04W 8/02 (2009.01) H04W 48/18 (2009.01)

H04W 84/14 (2009.01)

(54) Method and apparatus for providing partitioned telecommunication service

Verfahren und Einrichtung zur Versorgung mit geteilten Telekommunikationsdiensten

Méthode et appareil fournissant des services de télécommunication partagées

(84) Designated Contracting States: DE FI FR GB SE

(30) Priority: 26.06.1997 US 882804

(43) Date of publication of application: 30.12.1998 Bulletin 1998/53

(73) Proprietor: AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.Reno, NV 89502 (US)

(72) Inventor: Amin, Umesh J.Redmond,Washington 98052 (US)

(74) Representative: Asquith, Julian Peter et alMarks & Clerk LLP Fletcher House Heatley Road The Oxford Science ParkOxford OX4 4GE (GB)

(56) References cited: US-A- 5 371 782 US-A- 5 884 157

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Description

Field of the Invention

[0001] This invention relates generally to wirelesscommunications, and more particularly to providing par-titioned telecommunications services to wireless termi-nals.

Background of the Invention

[0002] In any given geographic area, there is currentlya small number of service providers providing wirelessservice in that area. Generally, each of the service pro-viders maintains its own wireless network infrastructureto provide such services. For example, consider a geo-graphic area which is served by two wireless service pro-viders. Each service provider will have its own network,consisting of at least one mobile switching center (MSC)and a number of radio base stations (RBS) connected tothat MSC. The MSCs and RBSs are used to provide thestandard wireless communication functions in a geo-graphic area, and the architecture and operation of MSCsand RBSs is well known for providing these functions. Inaddition to the MSCs and RBSs, a wireless telecommu-nication network will generally include other networknodes as well. These other nodes include message cent-ers (MC) for sending text messages to messaging capa-ble wireless terminals, voice message systems (VMS)for providing voice mail services, and home location reg-isters (HLR) which are databases which store subscriberprofile information. It is the use and configuration of theseother network nodes which allow a service provider toprovide additional services and functionality to its sub-scribers. It is the use and configuration of these othernetwork nodes in the provisioning of wireless serviceswhich allows a service provider to differentiate itself fromother service providers. Thus, a given service provider’sservices will have a certain "look and feel", based on theuse and configuration of these other network nodes.[0003] For example, service provider A may providenetwork call forwarding and voice mail services to its sub-scribers, whereas service provider B providing service inthe same area may provide short message service, butno call forwarding or voice mail services. Thus, the "lookand feel" of wireless service experienced by subscribersin that geographic area will be different depending onwhich service provider is providing service.[0004] Currently, there exist service providers whichdo not maintain their own network, but resell the networkservices of other service providers. These resellers mustaccept the network configuration of the service providerfrom which they are reselling. In such a case, subscribersof both the network owner and the reseller will experiencethe same wireless network features and services. Simi-larly, there are certain geographic markets in which twoor more service providers are in a partnership and theyboth provide wireless services using the same network

infrastructure. In such markets, the partnering serviceproviders cannot distinguish or customize their servicesbecause they are both using the same network infrastruc-ture to provide service to their customers.[0005] Currently the only way for a service provider toprovide customized wireless network services in a geo-graphic area is to maintain its own network in that area.However, this is often economically impossible or imprac-tical. This is especially true as the number of service pro-viders in an area grows.[0006] Thus, there is a need for a technique which al-lows service providers to share the basic resources of atelecommunications network infrastructure while allow-ing each service provider to customize the services andfeatures provided to its subscribers.[0007] Another example can be found in US 5 371 782Casey William, 6 December 1994.

Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present invention provides a method, tele-communication system and machine readable mediumas set out in the accompanying claims.[0009] The principles of the present invention may beapplied to systems which provide service to any type ofwireless terminal, including mobile stations and fixed sta-tions.[0010] These and other advantages of the inventionwill be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art byreference to the following detailed description and theaccompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0011]

Fig. 1 shows the components of a prior art wirelessnetwork.Fig. 2 shows the components of a wireless telecom-munications network in accordance with one embod-iment of the present invention.Fig. 3 shows the contents of an exemplary partitiontable.Fig. 4 is a flow diagram showing the steps performedby the MSC when a mobile station attempts to reg-ister.Fig. 5 shows a fixed wireless embodiment of thepresent invention.

Detailed Description

[0012] Fig. 1 shows some of the components of a priorart wireless network. Assume that the network shown inFig. 1 is a partnership network such that it is owned andmaintained by two service providers, service provider Aand service provider B. Service provider A provides serv-ice to the subscriber using mobile station 102, and serviceprovider B provides service to the subscriber using mo-

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bile station 104. Assume also that both mobile station102 and mobile station 104 are in their home system.That is, both mobile station 102 and mobile station 104are being provided with service by their own service pro-viders in their home geographic area. Thus, neither mo-bile station 102 nor mobile station 104 are roaming. Amobile station is roaming when it is operating in a geo-graphic area outside of its home geographic area. Theconcepts of mobile station roaming and home geographicareas are well known in the art of wireless communica-tions and will not be described in further detail herein.[0013] The wireless network of Fig. 1 includes MSC110 and RBSs 106 and 108 which are connected to, andcontrolled by, MSC 110. The MSC 110 and RBSs 106and 108 are the basic components of a wireless commu-nication network and they provide the basic connectivityfunctions required for wireless communications. Thus,mobile station 102 communicates with RBS 106 via airinterface 105 and mobile station 104 communicates withRBS 108 via air interface 107. In turn, RBS 106 and RBS108 communicate with MSC 110 via links 109 and 111respectively. MSC 110 is also connected to other net-works, such as the public switched telephone network(PSTN) (not shown) or other communication networks(not shown). This allows the mobile stations to commu-nicate with each other, or with other communication de-vices in other networks.[0014] MSC 110 is also connected to a home locationregister (HLR) 114, a visitor location register (VLR) 112,and a voice mail system (VMS) 116. The HLR 114 storesthe subscriber profiles for all subscribers which have astheir home switch MSC 110. As is well known in the artof wireless communications, when a mobile station at-tempts to register with an MSC, the MSC performs a da-tabase lookup to an HLR to retrieve the subscriber profileinformation, and that subscriber profile information isstored in a VLR while that subscriber is registered withthe system. For example, when mobile station 102 at-tempts to register with MSC 110, it sends its electronicserial number (ESN), mobile identification number (MIN),and a registration request to MSC 110. Based on thisinformation, MSC 110 performs a database lookup toHLR 114 to retrieve the subscriber profile information as-sociated with mobile station 102 and stores the retrievedsubscriber profile information in VLR 112 while mobilestation 102 is registered in the geographic area servedby MSC 110. Similarly, when mobile station 104 attemptsto register with MSC 110, it sends its electronic serialnumber (ESN), mobile identification number (MIN), anda registration request to MSC 110. Based on this infor-mation, MSC 110 performs a database lookup to HLR114 to retrieve the subscriber profile information associ-ated with mobile station 104 and stores the retrieved sub-scriber profile information in VLR 112 while mobile sta-tion 104 is registered in the geographic area served byMSC 110. Mobile stations 102 and 104 will then be pro-vided with wireless service in accordance with the profileinformation stored in VLR 112. If voice mail services are

required by either mobile station 102 or 104, such servicewill be provided by VMS 116.[0015] Thus, although mobile station 102 and mobilestation 104 are subscribers of different service providers,both profiles are stored in a single HLR 114 and bothsubscribers are provided with the same features and net-work services (e.g. voice mail services by VMS 116).Since both service provider A and service provider Bshare the same network nodes (e.g. HLR 114 and VMS116) the service provided to their subscribers looks thesame.[0016] Fig. 2 shows the components of a wireless tel-ecommunications network in accordance with one em-bodiment of the present invention. Elements of Fig. 2which are the same as elements of Fig. 1 have the samenumbers and perform the same functions. Thus, in Fig.2, mobile station 102 is provided with service by serviceprovider A while mobile station 104 is provided with serv-ice by service provider B. However, in accordance withthe present invention, each service provider can provideits subscribers with customized services and featureseven though the two service providers share the samebasic wireless infrastructure nodes (e.g. RBSs 106,108,MSC 202, and VLR 112).[0017] In accordance with the invention, MSC 202 islogically partitioned so as to provide differentiated serviceto mobile stations 102 and 104. As is well known, MSC202 is an intelligent switch which operates in accordancewith computer program instructions stored in a memoryof the MSC 202. These stored program instructions con-trol the operation of the MSC 202, including the switchingfunctions, as well as other functions of the MSC 202.Thus, MSC 202 is configured to operate in accordancewith the present invention by appropriate computer pro-gram instructions and data being stored in memory ofthe MSC 202. Such programming could be implementedby one of ordinary skill in the art given the present dis-closure.[0018] In order to provide partitioned service in accord-ance with the invention, the MSC 202 is provided with apartition table stored in memory of MSC 202. Contentsof an exemplary partition table 300 are shown in Fig. 3.Partition table 300 contains two columns, MIN 302 andService Provider 304. Thus, this table associates a serv-ice provider with a MIN for all mobile stations which haveMSC 202 assigned as their home switch. For example,record 306 of partitioning table 300 indicates that all mo-bile stations which have a MIN with the first six digitsbeing 206-123 are provided service by service providerA. Thus, service provider A provides service to mobilestations with a MIN in the range of 206-123-0000 through206-123-9999. Similarly, record 308 indicates that all mo-bile stations which have a MIN with the first six digitsbeing 206-345 (e.g. in the range of 206-345-0000 through206-345-9999) are provided service by service providerB. Of course, the partition table 300 may be set up at anylevel of granularity. In the illustrative partition table 300shown in Fig. 3, each service provider is associated with

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a range of MINs. In such a situation, MINs would be as-signed to mobile stations depending on the service pro-vider. In a similar manner, a partition table could containa record for each mobile station which has MSC 202 asits home MSC, and each MIN would be individually as-sociated with a service provider. Of course, any combi-nation of individual MIN records and range MIN recordscould also be used. This partition table 300 is stored inMSC 202 and is used by the MSC 202 to provide parti-tioned service within a geographic area as follows.[0019] A flow diagram showing the steps performed byMSC 202 when a mobile station attempts to register withthe system are shown in Fig. 4. As described above,these steps are performed by the MSC 202 under controlof computer program instructions. For purposes of illus-tration, suppose mobile station 102 powers up in the ge-ographic service area served by MSC 202. In step 402MSC 202 receives a registration request, including MIN(206-123-4455) and ESN from the MS 102. In step 404the MSC 202 determines the service provider associatedwith mobile station 102 (e.g. the service provider whichprovides service to mobile station 102) by performing atable lookup to the partition table 300. MSC recognizesthat the MIN of mobile station A falls within the range ofMINs indicated by record 306 of partition table 300, andtherefore that mobile station 102 is provided service byservice provider A.[0020] Referring again to Fig. 2, in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention, the wirelesstelecommunications network is provided with two sets ofresources, with each set being associated with one ofthe service providers. In this way, each service providermaintains its own set of resources and can provide serv-ice to its subscribers using its own set of resources. Forexample, as shown in Fig. 2, the wireless communica-tions network contains two independent HLRs, HLR A206 and HLR B 208. Service provider A provides andmaintains HLR A 206 and service provider B providesand maintains HLR B 208. In this way, each service pro-vider can independently maintain the subscriber profilesfor its own subscribers. Similarly, the wireless telecom-munications network also contains two separate voicemessage systems, VMS A 204 which is provided andmaintained by service provider A, and VMS B 210 whichis provided and maintained by service provider B.[0021] Returning now to the flowchart of Fig. 4, in step406 MSC 202 performs a database lookup to HLR A 206to retrieve the subscriber profile information for the sub-scriber associated with registering mobile station 102.The MSC 202 knows to access HLR A 206, and not HLRB 208, because in step 404 it determined that serviceprovider A is the service provider for registering mobilestation 102. When the subscriber profile information isretrieved from HLR A 206 it is stored in VLR 112. There-after, as illustrated in step 410, telecommunication serv-ices are provided to the mobile station 102 in accordancewith the subscriber profile information stored in VLR 112.[0022] As an example of the provisioning of telecom-

munication services, consider an incoming call to mobilestation 104, which is provided with service from serviceprovider B. Assume that mobile station 104 is not regis-tered with the MSC 202. An incoming call to mobile sta-tion 104 is routed to MSC 202. MSC 202 determines thatmobile station 104 is not registered with the system be-cause there is no subscriber profile for mobile station 104stored in VLR 112. MSC 202 accesses partition table 300and determines from record 308 that mobile station 104is associated with service provider B. MSC 202 then ac-cesses HLR B 208 to get information from the subscriberprofile of mobile station 104 regarding how to handle in-complete incoming calls to that mobile station. Assumethat the subscriber profile stored in HLR B 208 for mobilestation 104 indicates that incomplete incoming calls areto be routed to voice mail. Since MSC 202 knows thatmobile station 104 is associated with service provider B,MSC 202 routes the incoming call for further handling toVMS B 210, which is the VMS node associated with serv-ice provider B.[0023] Fig. 2 shows the configuration of the presentinvention in accordance with mobile wireless implemen-tation in which mobile stations were provided with cellularwireless service. However, the invention is not limited toa mobile wireless implementation, but instead the prin-ciples of the present invention may be applied to anytype of wireless terminal. Fig. 2 shows mobile stations102 and 104 as one type of wireless terminal. In accord-ance with another embodiment of the present invention,the aspects of the invention can be implemented in afixed wireless environment, in which the wireless termi-nals are fixed stations, for example residential structures.A fixed wireless embodiment of the present invention isshown in Fig. 5. The fixed wireless network of Fig. 5 con-tains a fixed wireless access (FWA) switch 502 connect-ed to RBSs 512, 514, 516. In such a configuration, FWAswitch 502 performs essentially the same functions asMSC 202 and RBSs 512, 514, 516 perform essentiallythe same functions as RBSs 106 108. Thus, FWA switch502 provides service to residential buildings 518, 520 viaRBS 512, to residential buildings 522, 524 via RBS 514,and residential buildings 526, 528 via RBS 516. Sincethe residential buildings are fixed, there is no need for aVLR as in the mobile embodiment shown in Fig. 2 be-cause the residential buildings do not move and they aretherefore always registered with the FWA switch 502. Bypartitioning the FWA switch 502 in a manner similar tothat described above in conjunction with the mobile wire-less embodiment, multiple service providers may cus-tomize the service they provide to residential wirelesscustomers.[0024] Although the basic concept is the same, sincethere is no concept of registration, the FWA switch 502functions somewhat differently than the MSC 202 of Fig.2. For example, consider an incoming call to residence518. The call is routed to FWA switch 502 in a conven-tional manner and the FWA switch 502 sends appropriatecall notification signals to residence 518 via RBS 512 and

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air interface 513. If the call is not answered at residence518 FWA switch 502 determines the service provider as-sociated with residence 518. This determination is similarto that of step 404 of Fig. 4. FWA switch 502 may performthis step by accessing a table similar to that of partitioningtable 300, thus associating the phone number of resi-dence 518 with a service provider. Assume for purposesof this description that residence 518 is provided withservice by service provider C. FWA switch 502 then per-forms a database inquiry to subscriber profile C database508 to determine how to handle an unanswered call forresidence 518. Suppose the subscriber profile for resi-dence 518 indicates that unanswered calls are to be sentto network voice mail. Thus, upon retrieving this informa-tion from subscriber profile C 508, the FWA switch 502will route the call to VMS C 504 which is associated withservice provider C. Thus, in a manner similar to that ofthe mobile embodiment of Fig. 2, a fixed wireless accessenvironment can be partitioned to allow multiple serviceproviders to provide customized and differentiated serv-ices to subscribers while sharing the same basic networkcomponents.[0025] As can be seen from the above description, thepresent invention provides a valuable advantage overprior art communication systems. The partitioning as-pects of the present invention allow several service pro-viders to share the expense of providing and maintainingthe basic components of a communication network whileallowing the various service providers to provide differ-entiated services to their customers via that shared net-work.[0026] The embodiments described herein were de-scribed with illustrative sets of communication networkresources, such as voice mail nodes and subscriber pro-file databases. However, the principles of the presentinvention may be applied to any set of communicationresources and any number of service providers. The par-titioning aspects of the present invention allow for veryflexible service provisioning among any number of serv-ice providers.[0027] Further, the principles of the present inventioncould also be applied to a communication network inwhich some of the network resources are shared amongsome of the service providers while others are not. Forexample, the service providers could all share the voicemails system nodes of the network, but could maintainseparate HLRs.[0028] Further, the invention was described above withservice providers providing and maintaining certain phys-ically separate network nodes. For example, the embod-iment of Fig. 2 shows service provider A maintaining VMSA 204 and HLR A 206 which are physically partitionedfrom HLR B 208 and VMS B 210 maintained by serviceprovider B. In alternate embodiments, certain networknodes may be logically partitioned between service pro-viders. For example, there could be one physical sub-scriber database node, but the storage facilities withinthat node could be logically partitioned between the serv-

ice providers.[0029] Further, the present invention was describedwith the illustrative functions of mobile station registrationand incoming calls to mobile stations and residences. Ofcourse, all types of communications services can be pro-vided using the principles of the present invention. Forexample, call origination may also be provided to sub-scribers using the aspects of the present invention. Suchother services are well known and could be provided inaccordance with the principles of the present inventionby those skilled in the art.[0030] The foregoing Detailed Description is to be un-derstood as being in every respect illustrative and exem-plary.

Claims

1. A method of sharing network systems among wire-less telecommunication service providers, the meth-od characterised by:

receiving a network request from a shared wire-less telecommunication switch (202) by ashared network system (112, 204, 206, 208,210), the shared network system (112, 204, 206,208, 210) adapted to provide a customized net-work service, wherein the service is customizedat least in terms of data indicative of a wirelesstelecommunications service provider (204, 210)that provides the service;the network request requesting the shared net-work system (112, 204, 206, 208, 210) to gen-erate the customized network service based ona service request from a wireless terminal (102,104); andgenerating the customized network service withthe shared network system (112, 204, 206, 208,210), wherein the shared network system isshared by a plurality of wireless telecommuni-cation service providers and the wireless termi-nal (102, 104) is associated with one of the serv-ice providers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating is toenable the shared wireless telecommunicationswitch to provide the customized network service tothe wireless terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared networksystem is a call forwarding system and the custom-ized network service comprises a call forwardingservice.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared networksystem is a voice mail system and the customizednetwork service comprises a voice mail service.

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5. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared networksystem is a short message service system and thecustomized network service comprises a short mes-sage service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized net-work service for the wireless terminal was previouslyselected by a user of the wireless terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storingassociation data indicative of an association be-tween the wireless terminal and the one of the plu-rality of wireless telecommunication service provid-ers, wherein the generating is based on the associ-ation data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the service requestcomprises identifier data associated with the wire-less terminal.

9. A telecommunication system characterised by:

a set of shared network systems (112, 204, 206,208, 210) adapted to provide a customized net-work service, wherein the service is customizedat least in terms data indicative of a wirelesstelecommunications service provider that pro-vides the network service, wherein the sharednetwork systems are capable of communicatingwith a shared wireless telecommunicationsswitch (202);the shared network systems (112, 204, 206,208, 210) adapted to receive a network requestfrom the shared wireless telecommunicationsswitch (202), the network request requesting theshared network systems to generate custom-ized network service based on a service requestreceived from a wireless terminal (102, 104);the shared network systems further adapted togenerate the customized network service (204,210), the shared network systems being sharedby a plurality of service providers and the wire-less terminal (102, 104) being associated withone of the service providers.

10. The telecommunication system of claim 9, whereinat least one of the shared network systems is a callforwarding system and the customized network serv-ice comprises a call forwarding service.

11. The telecommunication system of claim 9, whereinat least one of the shared network systems is a voicemail system and the customized network servicecomprises a voice mail service.

12. The telecommunication system of claim 9, whereinat least one of the shared network systems is a shortmessage service system and the customized net-

work service comprises a short message service.

13. The telecommunication system of claim 9, furthercomprising a memory for storing association dataindicative of an association between the wireless ter-minal and the one of the plurality of wireless tele-communication service providers, wherein the gen-erating is based on the association data.

14. The telecommunication system of claim 9, whereinthe service request comprises identifier data asso-ciated with the wireless terminal.

15. A method or telecommunication system accordingto claims 1 or 9, wherein said generating the cus-tomized network service with the shared networksystem (112, 204, 206, 208, 210) further comprisesdetermining the customized telecommunication net-work service by employing the shared network sys-tem (112, 204, 206, 208, 210).

16. A machine readable medium characterised by in-cluding stored instructions, which when executed bya processor, performs the method of any of claims1-8 or 15.

Patentansprüche

1. Verfahren zum gemeinsamen Nutzen von Netzsy-stemen durch Provider von drahtlosen Telekommu-nikationsdiensten, wobei das Verfahren gekenn-zeichnet ist durch:

Empfangen einer Netzanforderung von einergemeinsam genutzten drahtlosen Telekommu-nikations-Vermittlungsstelle (202) durch ein ge-meinsam genutztes Netzsystem (112, 204, 206,208, 210), wobei das gemeinsam genutzteNetzsystem (112, 204, 206, 208, 210) dazu an-gepasst ist, einen kundenspezifisch angepas-sten Netzdienst bereitzustellen, worin derDienst mindestens mit Bezug auf Daten kunden-spezifisch angepasst ist, die für einen Providervon drahtlosen Telekommunikationsdiensten(204, 210) bezeichnend sind, der den Dienst be-reitstellt;wobei die Netzanforderung das gemeinsam ge-nutzte Netzsystem (112, 204, 206, 208, 210) an-fordert, den kundenspezifisch angepasstenNetzdienst auf der Basis einer Dienstanforde-rung von einem drahtlosen Endgerät (102, 104)zu erzeugen; undErzeugen des kundenspezifisch angepasstenNetzdienstes mit dem gemeinsam genutztenNetzsystem (112, 204, 206, 208, 210), worin dasgemeinsam genutzte Netzsystem durch eineVielzahl von Providern von drahtlosen Telekom-

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munikationsdiensten gemeinsam genutzt wirdund das drahtlose Endgerät (102, 104) mit ei-nem der Dienstprovider assoziiert ist.

2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, worin das Erzeugen dergemeinsam genutzten drahtlosen Telekommunika-tions-Vermittlungsstelle ermöglichen soll, demdrahtlosen Endgerät den kundenspezifisch ange-passten Netzdienst bereitzustellen.

3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, worin das gemeinsamgenutzte Netzsystem ein Rufweiterleitungssystemist und der kundenspezifisch angepasste Netzdiensteinen Rufweiterleitungsdienst umfasst.

4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, worin das gemeinsamgenutzte Netzsystem ein Sprachmailsystem ist undder kundenspezifisch angepasste Netzdienst einenSprachmaildienst umfasst.

5. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, worin das gemeinsamgenutzte Netzsystem ein SMS(Kurznachrichten-dienst)-System ist und der kundenspezifisch ange-passte Netzdienst einen Kurznachrichtendienst um-fasst.

6. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, worin der kundenspe-zifisch angepasste Netzdienst für das drahtlose End-gerät vorher von einem Benutzer des drahtlosenEndgeräts ausgewählt wurde.

7. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, außerdem das Spei-chern von Assoziationsdaten umfassend, die für ei-ne Assoziation zwischen dem drahtlosen Endgerätund dem einen der Vielzahl von Providern von draht-losen Telekommunikationsdiensten kennzeichnendsind, worin das Erzeugen auf den Assoziationsdatenbasiert.

8. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, worin die Dienstanfor-derung Identifikatordaten umfasst, die mit demdrahtlosen Endgerät assoziiert sind.

9. Telekommunikationssystem, gekennzeichnetdurch:

einen Satz von gemeinsam genutzten Netzsy-stemen (112, 204, 206, 208, 210), angepasstzum Bereitstellen eines kundenspezifisch ange-passten Netzdienstes, worin der Dienst minde-stens in Bezug auf Daten kundenspezifisch an-gepasst ist, die für einen Provider von drahtlo-sen Telekommunikationsdiensten bezeichnendsind, der den Netzdienst bereitstellt, worin diegemeinsam genutzten Netzsysteme befähigtsind, mit einer gemeinsam genutzten drahtlosenTelekommunikations-Vermittlungsstelle (202)zu kommunizieren;

die gemeinsam genutzten Netzsysteme (112,204, 206, 208, 210), die dazu angepasst sind,eine Netzanforderung von der gemeinsam ge-nutzten drahtlosen Telekommunikations-Ver-mittlungsstelle (202) zu empfangen, wobei dieNetzanforderung die gemeinsam genutztenNetzsysteme anfordert, kundenspezifisch an-gepassten Netzdienst auf der Basis einerDienstanforderung zu erzeugen, die von einemdrahtlosendrahtlosen Endgerät (102, 104) emp-fangen wird;wobei die gemeinsam genutzten Netzsystemeaußerdem dazu angepasst sind, den kunden-spezifisch angepassten Netzdienst (204, 210)zu erzeugen, wobei die gemeinsam genutztenNetzsysteme von einer Vielzahl von Dienstpro-vidern gemeinsam genutzt werden und dasdrahtlose Endgerät (102, 104) mit einem derDienstprovider assoziiert ist.

10. Telekommunikationssystem nach Anspruch 9, worinmindestens eines der gemeinsam genutzten Netz-systeme ein Rufweiterleitungssystem ist und derkundenspezifisch angepasste Netzdienst einen Ruf-weiterleitungsdienst umfasst.

11. Telekommunikationssystem nach Anspruch 9, worinmindestens eines der gemeinsam genutzten Netz-systeme ein Sprachmailsystem ist und der kunden-spezifisch angepasste Netzdienst einen Sprach-maildienst umfasst.

12. Telekommunikationssystem nach Anspruch 9, worinmindestens eines der gemeinsam genutzten Netz-systeme ein SMS(Kurznachrichtendienst)-Systemist und der kundenspezifisch angepasste Netzdiensteinen Kurznachrichtendienst umfasst.

13. Telekommunikationssystem nach Anspruch 9, au-ßerdem einen Speicher zum Speichern von Asso-ziationsdaten umfassend, die für eine Assoziationzwischen dem drahtlosen Endgerät und dem einender Vielzahl von Providern von drahtlosen Telekom-munikationsdiensten kennzeichnend sind, worin dasErzeugen auf den Assoziationsdaten basiert.

14. Telekommunikationssystem nach Anspruch 9, worindie Dienstanforderung Identifikatordaten umfasst,die mit dem drahtlosen Endgerät assoziiert sind.

15. Verfahren oder Telekommunikationssystem nachAnspruch 1 oder 9, worin das Erzeugen des kunden-spezifisch angepassten Netzdienstes mit dem ge-meinsam genutzten Netzsystem (112, 204, 206,208, 210) außerdem umfasst, dass der kundenspe-zifisch angepasste Telekommunikationsnetzdienstbestimmt wird, indem das gemeinsam genutzteNetzsystem (112, 204, 206, 208, 210) eingesetzt

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wird.

16. Maschinenlesbares Medium, gekennzeichnetdurch Einschließen von gespeicherten Anweisun-gen, die, wenn sie durch einen Prozessor ausge-führt werden, das Verfahren nach einem der Ansprü-che 1-8 oder 15 ausführen.

Revendications

1. Procédé de partage de systèmes de réseau entredes fournisseurs de services de télécommunicationsans fil, le procédé étant caractérisé en ce qu’ilconsiste à :

recevoir une demande de réseau en provenan-ce d’un commutateur de télécommunicationsans fil partagé (202), par le biais d’un systèmede réseau partagé (112, 204, 206, 208, 210), lesystème de réseau partagé (112, 204, 206, 208,210) étant apte à fournir un service de réseaupersonnalisé, dans lequel le service est person-nalisé au moins en termes de données indicati-ves d’un fournisseur de services de télécommu-nication sans fil (204, 210) qui fournit le service ;la demande de réseau invitant le système deréseau partagé (112, 204, 206, 208, 210) à gé-nérer le service de réseau personnalisé, sur labase d’une demande de service en provenanced’un terminal sans fil (102, 104) ; etgénérer le service de réseau personnalisé avecle système de réseau partagé (112, 204, 206,208, 210), dans lequel le système de réseau par-tagé est partagé par une pluralité de fournis-seurs de services de télécommunication sansfil et le terminal sans fil (102, 104) est associé àl’un des fournisseurs de services.

2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel la gé-nération consiste à permettre au commutateur detélécommunication sans fil partagé de fournir le ser-vice de réseau personnalisé au terminal sans fil.

3. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel le sys-tème de réseau partagé est un système d’achemi-nement d’appels et le service de réseau personna-lisé comprend un service d’acheminement d’appels.

4. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel le sys-tème de réseau partagé est un système de messa-gerie vocale et le service de réseau personnalisécomprend un service de messagerie vocale.

5. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel le sys-tème de réseau partagé est un système de servicede messages courts et le service de réseau person-nalisé comprend un service de messages courts.

6. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel le ser-vice de réseau personnalisé pour le terminal sans fila été précédemment sélectionné par un utilisateurdu terminal sans fil.

7. Procédé selon la revendication 1, consistant en outreà stocker des données d’association indiquant uneassociation entre le terminal sans fil et ledit un four-nisseur de la pluralité de fournisseurs de servicesde télécommunication sans fil, dans lequel la géné-ration est basée sur les données d’association.

8. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel la de-mande de service comprend des données d’identi-fication associées au terminal sans fil.

9. Système de télécommunication caractérisé par/ence que :

un ensemble de systèmes de réseau partagés(112, 204, 206, 208, 210) aptes à fournir unservice de réseau personnalisé, dans lequel leservice est personnalisé au moins en termes dedonnées indicatives d’un fournisseur de servi-ces de télécommunication sans fil qui fournit leservice de réseau, dans lequel les systèmes deréseau partagés sont aptes à communiqueravec un commutateur de télécommunicationsans fil partagé (202) ;les systèmes de réseau partagés (112, 204,206, 208, 210) sont aptes à recevoir une deman-de de réseau en provenance du commutateurde télécommunication sans fil partagé (202), lademande de réseau invitant les systèmes de ré-seau partagés à générer un service de réseaupersonnalisé, sur la base d’une demande deservice reçue à partir d’un terminal sans fil (102,104) ;les systèmes de réseau partagés sont en outreaptes à générer le service de réseau personna-lisé (204, 210), les systèmes de réseau partagésétant partagés par une pluralité de fournisseursde services et le terminal sans fil (102, 104) étantassocié à l’un des fournisseurs de services.

10. Système de télécommunication selon la revendica-tion 9, dans lequel au moins l’un des systèmes deréseau partagés est un système d’acheminementd’appels et le service de réseau personnalisé com-prend un service d’acheminement d’appels.

11. Système de télécommunication selon la revendica-tion 9, dans lequel au moins l’un des systèmes deréseau partagés est un système de messagerie vo-cale et le service de réseau personnalisé comprendun service de messagerie vocale.

12. Système de télécommunication selon la revendica-

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tion 9, dans lequel au moins l’un des systèmes deréseau partagés est un système de service de mes-sages courts et le service de réseau personnalisécomprend un service de messages courts.

13. Système de télécommunication selon la revendica-tion 9, comprenant en outre une mémoire destinéeà stocker des données d’association indiquant uneassociation entre le terminal sans fil et ledit un four-nisseur de la pluralité de fournisseurs de servicesde télécommunication sans fil, dans lequel la géné-ration est basée sur les données d’association.

14. Système de télécommunication selon la revendica-tion 9, dans lequel la demande de service comprenddes données d’identification associées au terminalsans fil.

15. Procédé ou système de télécommunication selon larevendication 1 ou 9, dans lequel ladite générationdu service de réseau personnalisé avec le systèmede réseau partagé (112, 204, 206, 208, 210) consisteen outre à déterminer le service de réseau de télé-communication personnalisé en employant le systè-me de réseau partagé (112, 204, 206, 208, 210).

16. Support lisible par machine, caractérisé en ce qu’ilinclut des instructions stockées qui, lorsqu’elles sontexécutées par un processeur, mettent en oeuvre leprocédé selon l’une quelconque des revendications1 à 8 ou 15.

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REFERENCES CITED IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader’s convenience only. It does not form part of the Europeanpatent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot beexcluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.

Patent documents cited in the description

• US 5371782 A, Casey William [0007]