WO2009008582A1

WO2009008582A1 - System and method for processing subscription of subscriber identity module

Info

Publication number: WO2009008582A1
Application number: PCT/KR2008/001426
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tae Gon Kim; Jin Woo Lee
Original assignee: Sk Telecom Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2007-07-09
Filing date: 2008-03-13
Publication date: 2009-01-15
Also published as: KR100922978B1; KR20090005501A

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for processing the subscription of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card subscribers. The system includes a virtual home location register and a home location register. The virtual home location register receives subscriber profile information for processing of subscription of a SIM card, for which subscription is performed in advance and which is then distributed, from a subscriber information management system, temporarily stores the received subscriber profile information, and, when a first location registration event occurs, provides the corresponding subscriber profile information to a home location register and then deletesthe corresponding subscriber profile information. When the first location registration event occurs, the home location register acquires the corresponding subscriber profile information from the virtual home location register and stores the acquired subscriber profile information in an internal database, thus performingthe processing of the subscription and location update.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING SUBSCRIPTION OF SUBSCRIBER IDENTITY MODULE

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates generally to a method and system for processing the subscriptionof SIM card subscribers, and, more particularly, to a method and system for processing the subscription of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card subscribers, which increase the number of subscribers that can be accommodated in thedatabase of a home location register in the mobile communication market, which has a distribution structure in which the subscription for a large number of SIM cards is performed in advance and then the SIM cards are distributed. Background Art

[2] In order to receive mobile communication services, the mobile identification information of a subscriber (a Mobile Identification Number (MIN), a Mobile Directory Number (MDN), an Electronic Serial Number (ESN), etc.) and a Mobile Network Code (MNC), which is the code of the provider of a mobile communication serviceto which the subscriber has subscribed, are required. A device or program for storing subscriber information, such as mobile identification information and an MNC, is generally called a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM).

[3] Such a SIM, which can be used in a mobile communication terminal in the form of a chip or a card, may be used after prepayment is made. When a prepaid SIM card is purchased and then inserted into a mobile communication terminal, service is made available immediately at the time of the insertion and mobile communication service can be received.

[4] Meanwhile, a home location register generally uses a memory DataBase (DB) in order to maintain the performance of a system. That is, a space corresponding to the number of subscribers that can be accommodated in the memory DB is assigned in advance, and fields are created therein. When new subscription is processed, values required for mobile communication service for each subscriber are entered into the respective fields and then used.

[5] In this case, the subscription information of respective prepaid SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed to distributors, occupies the subscriber information storage region of the home location register at the time of the subscription. Therefore, as the rate of SIM cards, which are distributed to distributors but are not sold (hereinafter such SIM cards are referred to as "dormant SIM cards"), increases, a problem occurs in that the burden of expense of a service provider increases because the home location register is required to be extended due to dormant SIM cards which are not being used, or because additional licenses must be purchased, even though actual system resources for processing service are sufficient. When the number of prepaid subscribers is larger than the number of postpaid subscribers, the problem becomes more serious.

[6] Therefore, in the case in which the distribution structure in which a service provider performs subscription for a large number of SIM cards in advance and then distributes them is employed in the prepaid subscriber-oriented mobile communication market, a more efficient method of managing system capacity and processing subscription is demanded.

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[7] Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers, which can increase the number of subscribers that can be accommodatedin a home location register in the prepaid subscriber-oriented mobile communication market, which has a distribution structure in which a service provider performs subscription for a large number of SIM cards and then distributes them.

[8] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers, which manages the subscriber information of prepaid subscribers based not on the time at which SIM cards are issued, that is, the time of subscription, but on the time at which service is actually made available, so that dormant SIM card subscribers can be efficiently managed without the burden of limitation onthe memory capacity of the home location register, with the result that the problem of the expenses of service providers, attributable to the increase in the capacity of the home location register and the purchase of additional licenses, can be solved.

[9] In particular, the present invention is intended to provide a method and system for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers, in which, in order to manage prepaid subscriber information based on the time at which service is actually made available, the actual processing of the subscription of dormant SIM card subscribers is performed at the time of first location registration, so that subscriber information is managed in the memory of a home location register from the time of first location registration. For this purpose, an object of the present invention is to provide a separate virtual home location register for storing and managing subscriber information before the time of first location registration, so that the home location register can process subscription using the corresponding information at the time at which service is actually made available (the time of the actual processing of the subscription).

[10] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers, in which a separate dedicated virtual home location register for managing dormant SIM card subscribers is constructed, so that, when dormant SIM card subscribers and general subscribers are separately managed in a commercial home location register, service can be managed efficiently without the burden of subscriber migration and the burden of the modification of the logic of the home location register, which may occurdue to the exhaustion of the memory capacity of the home location register. Technical Solution

[11] In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a system for processing subscription of SIM card subscribers, including a virtual home location register for receiving subscriber profile information for processing of subscription of a SIM card, for which subscription is performed in advance and which is then distributed, from a subscriber information management system, temporarily storing the received subscriber profile informationin an internal database, and, when a first location registration event for the corresponding SIM card occurs, providing the corresponding subscriber profile information to a home location register and then deleting the corresponding subscriber profile information from the internal database; and the home location register for, when the first location registration event for the SIM card occurs, acquiring the corresponding subscriber profile information from the virtual home location register and storing the acquired subscriber profile information in an internal database, thus performing the processing of the subscription and location update.

[12] Here, the database of the virtual home location register includes a default region for storing default profile information of the subscriber profile information received from the subscriber information management system, which is identical information for a plurality of SIM cards, in order to perform the processing of the subscription of the SIM card; and a virtual region for temporarily storing only mobile identification information of the subscriber profile information of the SIM card.

[13] In this case, when the subscriber profile information for the processing of the subscription of the SIM card is received from the subscriber information management system, the virtual home location register extracts only the mobile identification information, assigned to the SIM card, from the corresponding subscriber profile information, and stores the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region. Meanwhile, when the first location registration event for the SIM card, the mobile identification information of which has been stored in the virtual region, occurs, the virtual home location register creates subscriber profile information by combining the corresponding mobile identification information with the default profile information stored in the default region, and provides the created subscriber profile information to the home location register.

[14] In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a virtual home location register separately constructed in order to support processing of subscription of SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, wherein the virtual home location register temporarily stores subscriber profile information of a SIM card, received from a subscriber information management system, in a database, and provides the corresponding subscriber profile information to a commercial home location register when a first location registration event for the specific SIM card occurs.

[15] Preferably, the database includes a default region for storing default profile information of the subscriber profile information received from the subscriber information management system, which is identical information for a plurality of SIM cards; and a virtual region for temporarily storing only mobile identification information of the subscriber profile information of the SIM card.

[16] Furthermore, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a home location register responsible for location update of a mobile communication terminal, wherein, when a first location registration event for a specific SIM card, for which subscription is performed in advance and which is then distributed, occurs, the home location register acquires corresponding subscriber profile information from a virtual home location register separately constructed to temporarily store the subscriber profile information of the SIM card, stores the acquired subscriber profile information in a database, and performs processing of new subscription and location update.

[17] Here, when a location update request message for a specific mobile communication terminal is received, the home location register determines whether mobile identification information of the corresponding mobile communication terminal has been stored in the database, and, if, as a result of the determination, the mobile identification information of the corresponding mobile communication terminal has not been stored in the database, transfers the location update request message to the virtual home location register and then acquires profile information of the corresponding subscriber from the virtual home location register.

[18] Furthermore, the home location register stores the subscriber profile information, received from the virtual home location register, in the database, performs processing of new subscription, and transmits results of the processing of the new subscription to the virtual home location register. [19] In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides amethod of processing subscription of SIM card subscribers using a virtual home location register separately constructed to temporarily store subscriber profile information of SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and whichare then distributed, the method including a temporary storage step of the virtual home location register receiving subscriber profile information for processing of subscription of a SIM card from a subscriber information management system and temporarily storing the received subscriber profile information; a subscriber profile acquisition step of, when a first location registration event for the SIM card occurs, a commercial home location register of the corresponding subscriber acquiring corresponding subscriber profile information from the virtual home location register; and a subscription process step of the home location register storing the corresponding subscriber profile information in a database, performing processing of new subscription, and transmitting results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system.

[20] In this case, the temporary storage step is a step of the virtual home location register extracting only the mobile identification information from the subscriber profile information and storing the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[21] Furthermore, at the subscriber profile acquisition step, when the subscriber profile information for the specific mobile identification information is requested by the home location register, the virtual home location register combines the corresponding mobile identification information with the default profile information stored in the default region, and provides combined information to the home location register.

[22] Furthermore, the method further includes, before the temporary storage step, a DB generation step of the virtual home location register separately creating the default region and the virtual region in the database, and creating fields for storing the default profile information in the default region and fields for storing the mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[23] Furthermore, the subscriber profile acquisition step includes a first location update notification step of, when the home location register receives a location update request message for a specific SIM card, transferring the location update request message, including the mobile identification information, to the virtual home location register; and a new subscription request step of the virtual home location register transmitting the subscriber profile information, including the corresponding mobile identification information, to the home location register in response to the location update request message.

[24] Here, the first location update notification step includes a step of, when the location update request message, including the specific mobile identification information, is received, the home location register determining whether corresponding mobile identification information has been stored in the database; and a step of, if, as a result of the determination, the corresponding mobile identification information has not been stored in the database, the home location register transferring the location update request message to the virtual home location register.

[25] Furthermore, the subscription process step includes a subscription step of the home location register storing the corresponding subscriber profile information in the database, performing processing of new subscription, and transmitting results of the processing of the subscription to the virtual home location register; and a subscription notification step of the virtual home location register deleting the profile information of the corresponding subscriber from the database and transmitting the results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system.

[26] In this case, at the subscription notification step, the virtual home location register deletes only the mobile identification information of the profile information of the corresponding subscriber from the database.

[27] Furthermore, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a method of processing subscription ofSIM card subscribers, that is, a method of operating a home location register for processing the subscription of the SIM card subscribers using a virtual home location register separatelyconstructed to temporarily store subscriber profile information of the SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, the method including a step of, when a location update request message, including specific mobile identification information, is received, the home location register determining whether corresponding mobile identification information has been stored in a database; a step of, if, as a result of the determination, the corresponding mobile identification information has not been stored in the database, the home location register transferring the location update request message to the virtual home location register, and receiving subscriber profile information, including the corresponding mobile identification information, from the virtual home location register in response thereto; and a step of the home location register storing the corresponding subscriber profile information in the database, performing processing of new subscription, and providing results of the processing of the subscription to a subscriber information management system.

[28] Moreover, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a method of processing subscription of SIM card subscribers, that is, a method of supporting the processing of the subscription of the SIM card subscribers in a virtual home location register separately constructed to temporarily store subscriber profile information of the SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, the method including a temporary storage step of receiving subscriber profile information for processing of subscription of a SIM card from a subscriber information management system and temporarily storing the received subscriber profile information in a database; a new subscription request step of, when a location update request message, including specific mobile identification information, is received from a commercial home location register of a corresponding subscriber, providing the subscriber profile information for the corresponding mobile identification information to the home location register; and a subscription notification step of, when results of the processing of the subscription are received from the home location register, deleting the corresponding subscriber profile information from the database and transmitting the results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system.

Advantageous Effects

[29] The system and method for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers according to the present invention enable a larger number of subscribers to be managed in a home location register in the prepaid subscriber-oriented mobile communication market, which has a distribution structure in which service providers process subscription for a large number of SIM cards and then distribute them, so that the present invention has an advantage in that the expense of a service provider for the extension of DBs and the additional acquisition of licenses, attributable to an increase in the number of prepaid subscribers, can be reduced.

[30] Further, according to the present invention, the subscriber information of prepaid subscribers is not managed based on the time of subscription but is managed based on the time at which service is actually made available, so that there is an advantage in that dormant SIM card subscribers can be managed efficiently without the burden of the limitation ofthe memory capacity of the home location register, and there is a further advantage in that subscriber information can be managed effectively by changing only some of the location registration-related logic of the home location register, without requiring major changes to the logic of other systems, such as a customer information management system, related to the processing of subscriber information.

[31] In particular, according to the present invention, the subscription of dormant SIM card subscribers can be processed through a virtual home location register, which is separate from a commercial home location register, so that, when dormant SIM card subscribers and general subscribers are separately managed in a commercial home location register, service can be operated efficiently and stably without the burden of subscriber migration and the burden of the modification of the logic of the home location register, which may occur due to the exhaustion of the memory capacity of the home location register.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[32] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the network configuration of a mobile communication system in order to describe the present invention; [33] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers according to an embodiment of the present invention [34] FIG. 3 is a flowchart sequentially showing a method of processing the subscription of

SIM card subscribers according to an embodiment of the present invention; [35] FIG. 4 is a flowchart sequentially showing the operation of a virtual home location register according to an embodiment of the present invention; and [36] [37] *FIG. 5 is a flowchart sequentially showing the operation of a home location register according to an embodiment of the present invention. [38]

[39] <Description of reference numerals of principalelements in the drawings>

[40] 100: mobile communication terminal

[41] 101: SIM card

[42] 110: base station

[43] 120: mobile switching center (MSC)Msitor location register (VLR)

[44] 130: home location register (HLR)

[45] 131: memory DB

[46] 131a: active region

[47] 140: service control point (SCP)

[48] 150: subscriber information management system

[49] 160: virtual home location register

[50] 161a: virtual region

[51] 161b: default region

[52]

Mode for the Invention [53] Details of the above-described objects, technical configuration and operational effects of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description, which is based on the attached drawings.

[54] First, FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the network configuration of a mobile communication system in order to describe the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers according to an embodiment of the present invention. [55] As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile communication system includes a base station 110, a mobile switching center/Visitor Location Register (VLR) 120, a home location register 130, and a service control point 140. The home location register 130 and the service control point 140 operate in conjunction witha subscriber information management system 150 in order to manage subscriber information based on subscription to and the start of mobile communication service, and the registration, cancellation, and change of additional services.

[56] Furthermore, in thepresent invention, the home location register 130 and the subscriber information management system 150 operate in conjunction with a virtual home location register 160 separately provided for dormant SIM card subscribers.

[57] The virtual home location register 160 proposed in the present invention does not perform the location registration function, and does not provide routing information for call processing and additional service information, unlike the commercial home location register 130. The virtual home location register 160 is a device that performs only functions related to the processing of subscription, such as the functions of storing and managing the profile information of dormant SIM card subscribers right before the time of first location registration and providing corresponding information to the home location register at the time of first location registration, thereby performing the processing of new subscription when service is actually made available. Accordingly, it is evident that the virtual home location register 160 proposed in the present invention cannot be considered to be the same as a general commercial home location register 130 from its name.

[58] Meanwhile, generally, when a new subscriber is added, the subscriber information management system 150 provides subscriber profile information to the home location register 130. Accordingly, the home location register 130 stores the corresponding subscriber profile information in the subscriber profile information storage field of an internal database, thereby enabling the mobile communication terminal of the corresponding subscriber to use mobile communication service normally thereafter.

[59] Meanwhile, in the case of general subscribers, service is actually made available at the time of subscription. In contrast, in the case of prepaid subscriber identity module cards (hereinafter referred to as "SIM cards"), subscription for a large number of SIM cards is performed in the name of a SIMcard provider in advance, and then the SIM cards are distributed. Therefore, the start of service is realized only when a user who has purchased a SIM card 101 inserts a SIM card 101 into the user's mobile communication terminal 100.

[60]

[61] *In this case, if all of the subscriber profile information of corresponding SIM cards is stored in the database of the home location register 130 at the time of the subscription, resources are unnecessarily wasted. Therefore, the present invention manages the subscriber profile information of SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, using a method different from that for general subscribers. For this purpose, the virtual home location register 160 is utilized.

[62] A method of managing the subscriber profile information of SIM cards according to the present invention will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 2 below.

[63] First, according to the present invention, when a SIM card subscriber is added, the subscriber information management system 150 transmits the corresponding subscriber profile information to the virtual home location register 160, rather thanthe actual home location register 130 of the corresponding subscriber, so that the subscriber profile information of the corresponding SIM card does not needlessly occupy the memory of the home location register before the SIM card is sold. Meanwhile, when a general new subscriber is added, the subscriber information management system 150 provides subscriber profile information to the home location register 130 normally.

[64] When thesubscriber profile information of the SIM card is received from the subscriber information management system 150, the virtual home location register 160 stores the corresponding subscriber profile information in a memory database 161, and provides the corresponding subscriber profile information to the home location register 130 when a first location registration event occurs, so that an actual subscription process is performed when service is actually made available.

[65] Thereafter, when a location registration event for a specific mobile communication terminal occurs, the commercial home location register 130 determines whether corresponding mobile identification information has been stored in a database 131. If, as a result of the determination, the corresponding mobile identification information has not been stored in the database 131, the commercial home location register 130 determines that the location registration is the first location registration of the SIM card, requests the corresponding subscriber profile information from the virtual home location register 160, and stores the subscriber profile information, received from the virtual home location register 160, in the database 131, thereby enabling the mobile communication terminal of the corresponding subscriber to use the mobile communication service normally thereafter.

[66] Meanwhile, the information,provided by the subscriber information management system 150 for the subscription of SIM cards for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, includes the same information fora plurality of SIM cards and unique information for each card, such as MIN, MDN, andESN. In the present invention, the same information for a plurality of SIM cards is referred to as "default profile information," and unique information about each card is referred to as "mobile identification information." [67] As described above, since the default profile information is the same information for a plurality of subscribers, the general commercial home location register 130 assigns space corresponding to the number of subscribers that can be accommodated in the memory database 131 in advance and creates all fields for storing subscriber profile information. In contrast, the virtual home location register 160 of the present invention separately creates a virtual region 161a and a default region 161b within the database 161 in order to prevent memory from being consumed by storing information that is the same for a plurality of subscribers for respective subscribers.

[68] Furthermore, the virtual region 161a creates and manages only fields for mobile identification information assigned to SIM cards,and the default region 161b stores default profile information in advance. When the first location registration event of the SIM card, the mobile identification information of which has been stored in the virtual region 161a, occurs, the virtual region 161a creates subscriber profile information by combining the default profile information, stored in the default region 161b in advance, with the mobile identification information of the corresponding SIM card,and provides the created subscriber profile information to the home location register 130.

[69] In this case, when the subscriber profile information is received from the subscriber information management system 150, the virtual home location register 160 stores the default profile information in the default region 161b and the mobile identification information in the virtual region 161a. Thereafter, when subscriber profile information including the same default profile information is received, the virtual home location register 160 extracts only the mobile identification information from the received information and stores the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region 161a.

[70] Meanwhile, the general commercial home location register 130 creates all fields for storing subscriber profile information, such as mobile identification information, additional service information and terminal information, for each subscriber in the memory database 131, as capacity allows. When subscriber profile information for the processing of new subscriptionsis received from the subscriber information management system 150 or the virtual home location register 160, the general commercial home location register 130 stores the subscriber profile information in a corresponding region. As described above, the region in which all of the subscriber profile information is stored is referred to as an active region 131a.

[71] In summary, in the case of SIM cards for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, the time of subscription is quite different from the time at which service is actually made available. Accordingly, atthe time of subscription, only minimum information is stored in the virtual region 161a, and, when service is actually made available, that is, at the time of first location registration, subscriber profile information, in which information stored in the default region 161b and information stored in the virtual region 161a are combined together, is stored in the active region 131a.

[72] As described above, in the system for processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers according to the present invention, when the subscriber information management system 150 provides subscriber profile information for the subscription of an SIM card, the virtual home location register 160 extracts only mobile identification information from the corresponding subscriber profile information, and stores and manages the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region 161a. Thereafter, when the corresponding SIM card 101 is distributed and inserted into the mobile communication terminal 100 and first location registration is performed, the virtual home location register 160 provides the home location register 130 with the subscriber profile information, in which the mobile identification information of the corresponding terminal (or the SIM card) and the default profile information are combined together, deletes the mobile identification information stored in the virtual region 161a, and informs the subscriber information management system 150 that subscription has been performed and service has actually been made available, so that the corresponding subscriber information can be managed inother systems, such as the service control point 140, which require subscriber information, based on the time at which the service was actually made available.

[73] Meanwhile, although, in FIG. 2, the databases included in the home location register

130 and the virtual home location register 160 are illustrated as being memory databases, it will be apparent that the type of databases is not limited thereto in the present invention.

[74] Next, a method of processing the subscription of SIM card subscribers according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 to 5 below.

[75] First, FIG. 3 is a flowchart sequentially showing a process of processing the subscription of SIM cards according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is used to describe a methodin which the home location register of the present invention manages subscriber information.

[76] As shown in this drawing, in the present invention, the subscriber information management system 150 requests the processing ofsubscription by transmitting subscriber profile information for the subscription of an SIM card, for which subscription is performed in advance and which is then distributed, to an additional virtual home location register 160, rather than transmitting the subscriber profile information to the home location register 130, at step S301.

[77] The virtual home location register 160 extracts only mobile identification in- formation assigned to the corresponding SIM card from the received subscriber profile information, and stores the extracted mobile identification information in thepreviously created virtual region 161a at step S302. Although, in FIG. 3a, the mobile identification information is described as being a MIN, this is performed for ease of understanding, and the mobile identification information according to the present invention is not limited to specific information. Accordingly, the mobile identification information may be any type of information that is different for (unique to) each SIM card.

[78] Next, when location registration is requested by the corresponding mobile communication terminal at step S303 as the subscriber who purchases the above-described SIM card, for which subscription has been performed in advance, inserts the SIM card into his/her own mobile communication terminal, the mobile switching center 120 transmits a location update request message, including the mobile identification information of the corresponding SIM card, to the home location register 130 at step S304.

[79] At this time, the home location register 130 according to the present invention recognizes that the corresponding mobile identification information is information that has not been stored in the database, and transfersthe corresponding location update request message to the virtual home location register 160 at step S305. When the corresponding mobile identification information has beenstored in the virtual region 161a, the virtual home location register 160 creates subscriber profile information by combining the corresponding mobile identification information with default profile information, and requests the processing of the new subscription by transmitting the created subscriber profile information to the home location register 130 at step S306.

[80] The home location register 130 processes the subscription by storing the corresponding subscriber profile information in respective fields of the active region 131a, which was created in advance, as common subscriber information and then performs location update at step S307. In response to the location update request message from the mobile switching center 120 at step S308, the mobile switching center 120 transmits a location update response message to the mobile communication terminal 100, thereby completing location registration at step S309.

[81] Meanwhile, the results of the processing of the subscription must be provided to respective systems that require the subscriber information. Accordingly, the home location register 130 stores the subscriber profile information normally and returns the results of the processing of the subscription to the virtual home location register 160 at step S310. The virtual home location register 160 deletes the corresponding mobile identification information from the virtual region 161a and then responds to the step S301 by transmitting the results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system 150 at step S311. Accordingly, the subscriber information management system 150 provides corresponding subscription information to devices such as the SCP 140, which require the subscriber information.

[82] FIG. 4 is a flowchart sequentially showing the operation of the virtual home location register according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart sequentially showing the operation of thehome location register according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[83] As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the virtual home location register 160 according to the present invention first separately creates the default region 161b and the virtual region 161a in the memory database at step S401, stores the default profile information of each SIM card in advance at step S402-1, and creates only fields for storing mobile identification information in the virtual region 161a at step S402-2. Here, the time at which the default profile information is stored in advance may be the time at which subscriber profile information for processing the subscription of a previous SIM card subscriber is received.

[84] Next, when the profile information of a specific subscriber is received from the subscriber information management system 150 at step S403, the virtual home location register 160 according to the present invention extracts only the mobile identification information from the corresponding subscriber profile information and stores the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region 131b at step S404. This corresponds to the case in which the default profile information of the corresponding subscriber profile information has been stored in advance. When default profile information within the subscriber profile information that is received is different from previously stored default profile information, an operation of storing the default profile information in the default region 161b may also be performed.

[85] Thereafter, when a first location registration event using the corresponding SIM card occursand a location update request message is received from the home location register 130 at step S405, the virtual home location register 160 transmits the corresponding subscriber profile information to the home location register 130 at step S406, with the result that the home location register 130 stores the corresponding subscriber profile information in the active region 131a, so that subscription is actually performed at step S407.

[86] If the subscription is actually performed and service is actually made available as described above, the virtual home location register 160 deletes the corresponding mobile identification information from the virtual region at step S408 and informs the subscriber information management system 150 of the results of the processing of the new subscription, sothat the subscriber information management system 150 can perform a subsequent procedure, such as the transmission of subscription information to the service control point, at step S409.

[87] Meanwhile, the operation of the home location register 130, which performs the subscription of an SIM card subscriber while operating in conjunction with the virtual home location register 160,operating as shown in FIG. 4, is described with reference to FIG. 5.

[88] When a location update request message is received from the mobile switching center 120 at step S501, the home location register 130 determines whether the profile information (mobile identification information) of a corresponding subscriber has been stored in the active region 131a at step S502. If, as a result of the determination, the profile information has been stored in the active region 131a, the home location register 130 acquires the profile information of the corresponding subscriber, that is, the subscriber profile information of the SIM card, from the virtual home location register 160 at step S503.

[89] The home location register 130 creates new subscriber information within the database by storingthe subscriber profile information of the SIM card in the active region 131a at step S504, and transmits the results of the processing of the new subscription to the virtual home location register 160 at step S505. Meanwhile, although, in the embodiments of the present invention, the home location register 130 is configured to inform the virtual home location register 160 of the results of the processing of the subscription, the results of the processing of the subscription may be transmitted directly to the subscriber information management system 150 in actuality because the results of the processing of the subscription are information that is required by the subscriber information management system 150.

[90] After the actual processing of the subscription of the SIM card (the storage of the subscriber profile information in the home location register) is completed as described above, the home location register 130 performs location update by storing location information, including information about the mobile switching center of an area in which the corresponding subscriber is located, in a corresponding subscriber profile information field. After the processingis completed, the home location register 130 transmits a message responding to the location update request to the mobile switching center 120 at step S506.

[91] Since those skilled in the art to which the present inventionpertains may practice the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention, it should be appreciated that the above- described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and are not limitative. The scope of the present invention is defined by the attached claims, rather than the above detailed description, and it should be appreciated that all variations or modifications derived from the meaning, scope and equivalent concepts of the claims are included in the scope of the present invention. Industrial Applicability

[92] The above-described method for processing subscription according to the present invention may be usedto process subscriber information in the mobile communication market, which has a distribution structure in which the subscription for a large number of products, such as SIM cards, is performed in advance and then the products are distributed, and may be applied to devices for a mobile communication system, such as a home location register, for which it is necessary to increase the number of subscribers that can be accommodated in a database.

Claims

[1] A system for processing subscription of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card subscribers, comprising: a virtual home location register for receiving subscriber profile information for processingof subscription of a SIM card, for which subscription is performed in advance and which is then distributed, from a subscriber information management system, temporarily storing the received subscriber profile information in an internal database, and, when a first location registration event for the corresponding SIM card occurs, providing the corresponding subscriber profile information to a home location register and then deleting the corresponding subscriber profile information from the internal database; and the home location register for, when the first location registration event for the SIM card occurs, acquiring the corresponding subscriber profile information from the virtual home location register and storing the acquired subscriber profile information in an internal database, thus performing the processing of the subscription and location update.

[2] The system according to claim 1, wherein the database of the virtual home location register comprises: a default region for storing default profile information of the subscriber profile information received from the subscriber information management system, which is identical information for a plurality of SIM cards, in order to perform the processing of the subscription of the SIM card; and a virtual region for temporarily storing only mobile identification information of the subscriber profile information of the SIM card.

[3] The system according to claim 2, wherein, when the subscriber profile information for the processing of the subscription of the SIM card is received from the subscriber information management system, the virtual home location register extracts only the mobile identification information, assigned to the SIM card, from the corresponding subscriber profile information, and stores the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[4] The system according to claim 2, wherein, when the first location registration event for the SIM card, the mobile identification information of which has been stored in the virtual region, occurs, the virtual home location register creates subscriber profile information by combining the corresponding mobile identification information with the default profile information stored in the default region, and provides the created subscriber profile information to the home location register.

[5] The system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: when the first location registration event for thespecific SIM card occurs, the home location register transmits a location update request message, including the mobile identification information of the corresponding SIM card, to the virtual home location register; and the virtual home location register transmits the subscriber profile information of the corresponding SIM card to the home location register in response to the location update request message from the home location register.

[6] A virtual home location register separately constructed in order to support processing of subscription of SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, wherein the virtual home location register temporarily stores subscriber profile information of a SIM card, received from a subscriber information management system, in a database, and provides thecorresponding subscriber profile information to a commercial home location register when a first location registration event for the specific SIM card occurs.

[7] The virtual home location register according to claim 6, wherein the database comprises: a default region for storing default profile information of the subscriber profile information received from the subscriber information management system, which is identical information for a plurality of SIM cards; and a virtual region for temporarily storing only mobile identification information of the subscriber profile information of the SIM card.

[8] The virtual home location register according to claim 7, wherein, when the subscriber profile information is received from the subscriber information management system, the virtual home location register extracts only the mobile identification information from the corresponding subscriber profile information and stores the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[9] The virtual home location register according to claim 7 or 8, wherein, when the first location registration event for theSIM card, the mobile identification information of which has been stored in the virtual region, occurs, the virtual home location register creates subscriber profile information by combining the corresponding mobile identification information with the default profile information stored in the default region,and provides the created subscriber profile information to the home location register in which the location registration event has occurred.

[10] The virtual home location register according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein, when the subscriber profile information is provided to the home location register and results of the processing of thesubscription are then received from a corresponding home location register, the virtual home location register deletes the corresponding mobile identification information from the database.

[11] The virtual home location register according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein, when the subscriber profile information is provided to the home location register and results of the processingof the subscription are then received from the corresponding home location register, the virtual home location register transmits the results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system.

[12] A home location register responsible for location update of a mobile communication terminal, wherein, when a first location registration event for a specific SIM card, for which subscription is performed in advance and which is then distributed,occurs, the home location register acquires corresponding subscriber profile information from a virtual home location register separately constructed to temporarily store the subscriber profile information of the SIM card, stores the acquired subscriber profile information in a database, and performs processingof new subscription and location update.

[13] The home location register according to claim 12, wherein, when a location update request message for a specific mobile communication terminal is received, the home location register determines whether mobile identification information of the corresponding mobile communication terminal has been stored in the database, and, if, as a result of the determination, the mobile identification information of the corresponding mobile communication terminal has not been stored in the database, transfers the location update request message to the virtual home location register and then acquires profile information of the corresponding subscriber from the virtual home location register.

[14] The home location register according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the home location register stores the subscriber profile information, received from the virtual home location register, in the database, performs processing of new subscription, and transmits results of the processing of the new subscription to the virtual home location register.

[15] A method of processing subscription of SIM card subscribers using a virtual home location register separately constructed to temporarily store subscriber profile information of SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and whichare then distributed, the method comprising: a temporary storage step of the virtual home location register receiving subscriber profile information for processing of subscription of a SIM card from a subscriber information management system and temporarily storing the re- ceivedsubscriber profile information; a subscriber profile acquisition step of, when a first location registration event for the SIM card occurs, a commercial home location register of the corresponding subscriber acquiring corresponding subscriber profile information from the virtual home location register; and a subscription process step of the home location register storing the corresponding subscriber profile information in a database, performing processing of new subscription, and transmitting results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system.

[16] The method according to claim 15, wherein: a database of the virtual home location register comprises a default region for storing default profile information of the subscriber profile information received from the subscriber information management system, which is identical i nformation for a plurality of SIM cards, and a virtual region for temporarily storing only mobile identification information of the subscriber profile information of the SIM card and the temporary storage step is a step of the virtual home location register extracting only the mobile identification information from the subscriber profile information and storing the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[17] The method according to claim 16, wherein, at the subscriber profile acquisition step, when the subscriber profile information forthe specific mobile identification information is requested by the home location register, the virtual home location register combines the corresponding mobile identification information with the default profile information stored in the default region, and provides combined information to the home location register.

[18] The method according to claim 16, further comprising, before the temporary storage step, a DB generation step of the virtual home location register separately creating the default region and the virtual region in the database, and creating fields for storing the default profile information in the default region and fields for storing the mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[19] The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein the subscriber profile acquisition step comprises: a first location update notification step of, when the home location register receives a location update request message for a specific SIM card, transferring the location update request message, including the mobile identification information, to the virtual home location register; and a new subscription request step of the virtual home location register transmitting the subscriber profile information, including the corresponding mobile iden- tification information, to the home location register in response to the location update request message.

[20] The method according to claim 19, wherein the first location update notification step comprises: a step of, when the location update request message, including the specific mobile identification information, is received, the home location register determining whether corresponding mobile identification information has been stored in the database; and a step of, if, as a result of the determination, the corresponding mobile identification information has not been stored in the database, the home location register transferring the location update request message to the virtual home location register.

[21] The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein the subscription process step comprises: a subscription step of the home location register storingthe corresponding subscriber profile information in the database, performing processing of new subscription, and transmitting results of the processing of the subscription to the virtual home location register; and a subscription notification step of the virtual home location register deleting the profile information of the corresponding subscriber from the database and transmitting the results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system.

[22] The method according to claim 21, wherein, at the subscription notification step, the virtual home location register deletes only the mobile identification information of the profile information of the corresponding subscriber from the database.

[23] A method of processing subscription of SIM card subscribers, that is, a method of operating a home location register for processing the subscription of the SIM card subscribers using a virtual home location register separately constructed to temporarily store subscriber profile information of the SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and whichare then distributed, the method comprising: a step of, when a location update request message, including specific mobile identification information, is received, the home location register determining whether corresponding mobile identification information has been stored in a database; a step of, if, as a result of the determination, the corresponding mobile identification informationhas not been stored in the database, the home location register transferring the location update request message to the virtual home location register, and receiving subscriber profile information, including the corresponding mobile identification information, from the virtual home location register in response thereto; and a step of the home location register storing the corresponding subscriber profile information in the database, performing processing of new subscription, and providing results of the processing of the subscription to a subscriber information management system.

[24] A method of processing subscription of SIM card subscribers, that is, a method of supporting the processing of the subscription of the SIM card subscribers in a virtualhome location register separately constructed to temporarily store subscriber profile information of the SIM cards, for which subscription is performed in advance and which are then distributed, the method comprising: a temporary storage step of receivingsubscriber profile information for processing of subscription of a SIM card from a subscriber information management system and temporarily storing the received subscriber profile information in a database; a new subscription request step of, when a location update request message, including specific mobile identification information, is received from a commercial home location register of a corresponding subscriber, providing the subscriber profile information for the corresponding mobile identification information to the home location register; and a subscription notification step of, when results of the processing of the subscription are received from the home location register, deleting the corresponding subscriber profile information from the database and transmitting the results of the processing of the subscription to the subscriber information management system.

[25] The method according to claim 24, wherein: the database of the virtual home location register comprises a default region for storing default profile information of subscriber profile information, whichis identical information for a plurality of SIM cards, and a virtual region for temporarily storing only mobile identification information of the subscriber profile information of the SIM cards; and the temporary storage step is a step of extracting only the mobile identification information from the subscriber profile information and storing the extracted mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[26] The method according to claim 25, wherein the temporary storage step comprises a step of storing the default profile information of the subscriber profile in- formation, which is identical information for the plurality of SIM cards, in the default region.

[27] The method according to claim 25, wherein, at the new subscription request step, the virtual home location register combines the mobile identification information with the default profile information stored in the default region, and provides combined information to the home location register.

[28] The method according to claim 25, further comprising, before the temporary storage step, a DB generation step of separately creating the default region and the virtual region in the database, and creating fields for storing the default profile information in the default region and fields for storing the mobile identification information in the virtual region.

[29] The method according to any one of claims 24 to 28, wherein, at the subscription notification step, the virtual home location register deletes only the mobile identification information of the profile information of the corresponding subscriber from the database.