Sbc Technology Resources, Inc.

At&t Labs, Inc.

At&t Intellectual Property I, LP

Southwestern Bell Technology Resources, Inc.

Jesse Bradley Bridges

Cameron Kelly Coursey

Mark Steven Wuthnow

Steven A Harbin

Gregory Gene Williams

Thomas Edward Ferry

Ramgopal Kankara Reddy

A communications network administers intelligent roaming capabilities and features in a mobile station. The network includes a central database to store intelligent roaming information corresponding to respective service providers; and a service database to store and forward information corresponding to the intelligent roaming information to be programmed into the mobile station, which information is updated periodically by the central database. The mobile station is connected to a mobile coverage area based on the forwarded information.

Intelligent roaming system with over the air programming

A method for providing a wireless network connection between a device and a wireless network includes storing data related to wireless service providers. The method includes selecting at least one of the wireless service providers based on information related to at least one of services subscribed to by the device and characteristics of a selected wireless service provider. The method includes establishing the wireless network connection between the device and the selected wireless service provider.

A mobile station is used by one of a plurality of subscribers of a home area wireless service provider. The mobile station includes a memory for storing a home area wireless network identity and a plurality of preferred wireless network identities. The mobile station further including a controller controlling said mobile station to connect to the home area wireless network when in a home area and controlling said mobile station to connect to one of the preferred wireless networks when outside the home area.

A mobile station is used by one of a plurality of subscribers of a home area wireless service provider. The mobile station includes a memory that stores a list of preferred wireless carrier identities for use by the mobile station when roaming. The list of preferred wireless carrier identities is stored based upon a national account assigned to the mobile station for a plurality of market areas. The mobile station also includes a selector that automatically selects a preferred wireless carrier from the list stored in the memory when the mobile station is roaming and enters one of the market areas of the plurality of market areas.

An apparatus for selecting a preferred wireless carrier from a plurality of wireless carriers for use by a mobile station when the mobile station is roaming outside of a home market area is provided. The apparatus comprises a database, a generator, and a data providing device. The database stores preferred wireless carrier identities for a plurality of market areas based upon predetermined classes of service, predetermined national accounts, and predetermined home market areas. The generator generates a list of the preferred wireless carrier identities based upon a selected class of service, a selected national account, a selected home market area of the mobile station. The data-providing device transmits the generated list to each mobile station designated with the selected class of service, selected national account and selected home market area. The list of preferred wireless carriers may be based upon the roaming wireless carriers' airtime rates and services provided for each of the plurality of market areas. The list may also be based upon a preferred or required air interface technology. The generator may update the list of preferred wireless carriers when one of the plurality of wireless carriers changes a communication characteristic (such as roaming airtime rates the wireless carrier charges for a market area, and services the wireless carrier offers to a market area). The data-providing device provides the updated list of preferred wireless carrier identities to each mobile station previously provided with the list the generator updated.

The personal communication system of the present invention includes one or more mobile stations which operate in conjunction with a Private/Residential Base Station and a Mobile Station Emulator to provide seamless rerouting of existing telephone connections between the Private/Residential Base Station and a cellular telephone system. The Mobile Station Emulator associated with the Private/Residential Base Station communicates with either a cellular network or a personal communications service (PCS) over a digital channel to enable hand-in and hand-out, control the emissions of the Private/Residential Base Station, and provide control and monitoring functions to other devices connected to the Private/Residential Base Station. Calls directed to a mobile station may be coupled to the Private/Residential Base Station via a landline connection to the public-switched telephone network or via a radio-frequency link between the mobile station and a cellular network, either directly or via the Mobile Station Emulator. Devices that are controlled and/or monitored from the cellular network may be connected to the Private/Residential Base Station via a radio frequency link or via a wired connection to either the Private/Residential Base Station or the Mobile Station Emulator.

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

Jesse Bradley Bridges