The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 30, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 07, 2000
Rosemary McGowan, Richardson, TX (US);
Ian MaClean, Dallas, TX (US);
Donald Keeler, McKinney, TX (US);
Nortel Networks Limited, St. Laurent, CA;
Abstract
An improved method and system for accessing wireless data services that reduce messaging and enable roaming subscribers to access data services are described. A wireless communication system in accordance with the present invention includes at least a service control point and a gateway system (e.g., a Gateway Generalized Packet Radio Service Serving Node (GGSN)) that is coupled to a data network. To obtain access to data services, a wireless subscriber unit establishes communication with a gateway system and requests data services from the gateway system. In response to the request, the gateway system queries the service control point regarding authorized data services for the subscriber unit. If the gateway system receives a negative reply from the service control point, then the gateway system denies access to the data services by the subscriber Unit. However, if the gateway system receives a positive reply from the service control point, then the gateway system enables access to the data services by the subscriber unit. In a preferred embodiment, the gateway system tracks the requested data services utilizing pre-defined resource units. In one embodiment, the gateway system tracks service utilization by periodically querying and receiving a reply from the service control point after each pre-defined resource unit has been utilized. In this embodiment, the service control point updates an account balance of remaining resource units in response to receiving the queries and informs the gateway system when data access should be denied.