Patents Assigned to Vodafone Group, PLC
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Patent number: 9072081Abstract: A cellular telecommunications network that facilitates communication connections for terminals having identification modules that are not associated with a subscriber record or Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN). The cellular telecommunications network implements providing a pool of unique connection numbers; in response to a request for communication with a device incorporating a token identification module, assigning a selected one of the pooled numbers to the token identification module in a location register; and initiating a reconnection event, thereby providing the assigned number to the device by associating the device with a temporary unique connection number in the location register. Embodiments described are directed to Machine-to-Machine (M2M) client terminals with embedded token identification modules.Type: GrantFiled: October 31, 2013Date of Patent: June 30, 2015Assignee: VODAFONE GROUP PLCInventors: Richard Gumbrell, Graeme Sandieson, Greg Reeve, Tony Smith, Yakeen Prabdial
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Patent number: 9072061Abstract: A mobile telecommunications network, such as a GSM, UMTS or LTE network, may include, in addition to the conventional radio access network comprising the base stations, one or more additional access points. An access point may be connected to the network core by an IP transport broadband connection. The access point may be configured to appear to the mobile terminal as a conventional base station. Arrangements are disclosed which allow the access point to dynamically adjust the power output through its Common Pilot Channel relative to one or more users. In other words, the greater the distance a user is from the access point, the greater the output power.Type: GrantFiled: April 4, 2008Date of Patent: June 30, 2015Assignee: VODAFONE GROUP PLCInventors: Toby Proctor, Youssef Chami
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Patent number: 9066219Abstract: Method for handling terminals in a network using VAMOS technology which performs a “virtual” pairing of the terminal with a simulated call. The method comprises the steps of generating a VAMOS support database with terminal information of terminals in the network; checking in the VAMOS support database for an entry corresponding to terminal information of a given terminal; if no entry is found in the VAMOS support database, pairing the terminal with a simulated call, launched by the network, in a VAMOS channel; measuring at least one indicator parameter of the terminal during the pairing with the simulated call; assigning an entry in the VAMOS support database indicating the applicability of the terminal with VAMOS technology; and allowing VAMOS channelization for the terminal in dependence upon the entry corresponding to the given terminal.Type: GrantFiled: November 10, 2011Date of Patent: June 23, 2015Assignee: VODAFONE GROUP PLCInventors: Davíd Valerdi Rodriguez, Kyriakos Exadaktylos
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Patent number: 9055507Abstract: A mobile telecommunications network includes a core and a radio access network having a wireless device for wireless communication with mobile terminals registered with the network, wherein the radio access network includes a controller operable to control the use of network resources by the mobile terminals. The controller may include an application programming interface (API) which provides a consistent interface to a multiplicity of applications hosted on the controller. The controller may be provided at an access node site and/or a gateway site.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2010Date of Patent: June 9, 2015Assignee: VODAFONE GROUP PLCInventors: Youssef Chami, David Andrew Fox, Steve Allen, Matthew Cheng, Marina Gallego-Lopez
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Patent number: 9049597Abstract: A terminal (1) for use with a cellular or mobile telecommunications network (3) includes authentication means (15) such as a SIM, USIM, UICC etc. for authenticating the terminal with the network. The terminal further includes a normal execution environment (30) and a secure execution environment (34). An interface controller (46) is provided in the secure execution environment and intercepts all communications directed to the authentication means to control access to the authentication means by these communications.Type: GrantFiled: August 29, 2008Date of Patent: June 2, 2015Assignee: VODAFONE GROUP PLCInventors: Caroline Belrose, Nicholas Bone
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Patent number: 9036547Abstract: The present invention proposes a method and system which improves the assignment of resources in communication networks providing multimedia services, which allows offering different qualities of service to the users of an IMS network. To that end, a new node which controls signaling, routing and security for the operator according to the content of the session and the user is introduced in the method or system.Type: GrantFiled: March 28, 2012Date of Patent: May 19, 2015Assignee: VODAFONE GROUP PLCInventors: Alfonso Gomez Diaz, Rogelio Martinez Perea, Jose Luis Tejedor Gutierrez
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Patent number: 9015282Abstract: Method and system for managing information stored and/or services configured in a mobile terminal from a remote terminal connected to a data network, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a web server having an API defined for each piece of information and for each service it provides, characterized by: requesting from a web server, from a remote terminal comprising a web browser, the creation of at least one web page configured to manage a piece of information stored or a service configured in a mobile terminal; making an HTTP request from the web server to the mobile terminal in accordance with said at least one API, wherein said HTTP request comprises an identifier of the information or service to be managed; sending an HTTP response from the mobile terminal to the web server in accordance with said at least one API; downloading in the remote terminal from the web server the at least one web page designed to manage said information or service of the mobile terminal.Type: GrantFiled: May 7, 2008Date of Patent: April 21, 2015Assignees: Vodafone Group PLC, Vodafone Espana, S.A.Inventors: Hector Berna Fornies, Guillermo Caudevilla Laliena
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Patent number: 9014618Abstract: A cellular telecommunications network base station repeater for a mobile terminal in a network having a power control function causes, during an active communication session, mobile terminal uplink transmit power to decrease in response to an increase in signal strength of the received uplink signal. The gain of the repeater is increased in response to an increase in the uplink signal received at the repeater above a threshold, and subsequently decreasing the gain until the measured power in the received uplink signal exceeds the threshold. Due to the power control function, increasing the gain causes the transmit power of the mobile terminal, and hence the uplink signal received at the repeater, to decrease. Decreasing the gain causes the transmit power, and hence the received uplink signal, to increase. The threshold not being exceeded is indicative of the communication no longer being active, and the repeater will eventually deactivate.Type: GrantFiled: December 4, 2007Date of Patent: April 21, 2015Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Youssef Chami, Allan Bartlett
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Patent number: 8989671Abstract: A cellular communication network is described wherein the power of the pilot channel transmitted by the base station is decreased when the uplink interference in its cell area increases above a threshold value. As a result the mobile terminals at the edge of the cell area are triggered to reselect to another base station and the number of call drops and failed call set-ups is reduced.Type: GrantFiled: April 23, 2010Date of Patent: March 24, 2015Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Francisco Javier Dominguez Romero, Beatriz Garriga Muñiz, Carlos Orobitg Morin
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Patent number: 8971243Abstract: In order to transmit data packets in multi-RAT networks, a method and a system of network controllers are proposed comprising: simultaneous establishment of radio connections over multiple different Radio Access Technologies or RATs, with a User Equipment or UE 13, being one radio connection firstly established over one primary RAT under a single PDP context and one or more radio connections established over at least one secondary RAT, different from the primary RAT, and under the same single PDP context; simultaneous transmission of data packets over the different RATs towards the UE 13 and combination of the transmitted data by higher layer protocols at the UE 13. In the present method/system, a connection is established for user plane transmission on the same PDP context between a primary network controller 11 of the primary RAT and the secondary network controller 12 of a secondary RAT. More than one secondary RAT may be involved.Type: GrantFiled: August 27, 2010Date of Patent: March 3, 2015Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Andrea De Pasquale, Francisco Javier Dominguez Romero, Yannick Le Pezennec
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Patent number: 8965419Abstract: It allows the transmission of short messages (SMS) between a remote server (1) and a mobile telephone user (7), that is in communication with a short message service center (5) via GSM network 10. It is characterized in that remote server (1) communicates with the short message server (5) via a hypertext transfer protocol (http), for which both server (5) and remote server (1) have means of bi-directional transmission/reception (2, 3, 8 and 9) of the short message via the Internet protocol (http).Type: GrantFiled: August 4, 2011Date of Patent: February 24, 2015Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Arturo Sordo Miralles, Santiago Borrero Ortiz
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Patent number: 8965948Abstract: The presence display system of the present invention displays presences and distances between buddies. The mobile station 11 performs poling to the user data section 26 at predetermined time intervals, transmits location information of the mobile station 11 to the presence server 27, receives buddies state information and information indicating the proximity between the user and the buddies, and displays the presence of the buddies by means of an icon with a size that corresponds with the proximity. The buddy list server 28 calculates the distance between the user and the buddies from the location information of the mobile station 11 and the location information of the requested buddies in accordance with the poling by the mobile station 11, determines the proximity by comparing the distance with a threshold value that is set by the user, and transmits the proximity to the mobile station 11.Type: GrantFiled: October 14, 2004Date of Patent: February 24, 2015Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Koichi Shimamura, Takenori Sekiya, Satoshi Nishizawa, Hideaki Suga, Jota Nakatsuma, Hisashi Kato, Yoshimi Saito
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Patent number: 8909222Abstract: A method is disclosed for registering a mobile terminal with a cellular telecommunications network, the network having a plurality of location areas and a plurality of extended areas of coverage, each extended area being represented by a list of a subset of cells on one or more the location areas, and the mobile terminal using information about a given one of the location areas to connect to the network. The method comprises transmitting a signal including a temporary identifier, which is unique to the mobile terminal when combined with the location area identifier that identifies the cell in which the temporary identifier was allocated a temporary identifier; transmitting an indication of whether the mobile terminal supports location registration based on extended areas (“soft location registration”); and if soft location registration is supported, performing location registration based on the extended area between the mobile terminal and the network.Type: GrantFiled: October 2, 2008Date of Patent: December 9, 2014Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventor: Christopher Pudney
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Patent number: 8907813Abstract: A traffic accident prevention service provides a method for improving traffic safety by using beacons. Each vehicle participating in the traffic accident prevention service includes a system for determining the speed of the vehicle, and a terminal connected to the system that has access to a wireless access network. Positioning beacons are located at different points of the road network and communicate via radio with the vehicles circulating close to them. The network warns the terminal of the safety parameters by knowing the position of the vehicle when it passes close to a beacon so that the driver can take appropriate actions.Type: GrantFiled: December 26, 2007Date of Patent: December 9, 2014Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Guillermo Cajigas Bringas, José Carlos Sendra Alcina, Miguel Angel Touset Rios
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Patent number: 8885633Abstract: A portable telephone unit 10 receives management information comprising size information for contents data wanting to be downloaded, and adjusts an environment for receiving the object data, based on size information for contents data contained in the management information. To adjust the environment for receiving the object data it is possible, for example, to determine a communication system for receipt, or to secure a storage region for storing object data that has been received. After that, the portable telephone unit 10 transmits a contents data download request, and receives contents data returned in response to the download request. As a result, it is possible for the communication terminal to download the contents data in a state where the receive environment has been optimized according to the size of the contents.Type: GrantFiled: March 14, 2006Date of Patent: November 11, 2014Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Yusuke Murai, Masayuki Doi, Akiho Shibata, Takafumi Okaniwa, Tatsuhiro Aoyagi
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Patent number: 8868094Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for improving bandwidth usage in a cellular communication network serving at least one mobile terminal, the network being arranged to use a predefined bandwidth range. The apparatus includes a base band unit for capable of supporting at least a first radio access technology and a second radio access technology, a counting means for determining the number of mobile terminals within a cell of the first radio access technology supporting the second radio access technology and a measuring means for determining the level of traffic carried by the first radio access technology cell. Bandwidth assignment means are also provided so that the bandwidth assigned to GSM and LTE can be configured to take account of changes in the traffic levels and device capabilities in either RAT.Type: GrantFiled: January 15, 2013Date of Patent: October 21, 2014Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Andrea De Pasquale, Francisco Javier Dominguez Romero, Brendan McWilliams
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Patent number: 8855602Abstract: A mobile telecommunications network and method of operation that includes establishing a first user plane connection between a telecommunications device registered with the network and a network gateway device of the network via a first access point; providing the telecommunications device with a token using the first user plane connection; establishing a second user plane connection between the telecommunications device and the network gateway device via a second access point by using the token information to validate the telecommunications device; and, subsequent to establishment of and corresponding to the second user plane connection, establishing a control plane connection between the telecommunications device and the network gateway device via the second access point.Type: GrantFiled: June 8, 2012Date of Patent: October 7, 2014Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Christopher Pudney, David Fox, Peter Howard
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Publication number: 20140295796Abstract: A GSM, UMTS or LTE mobile telecommunications network includes a radio access network comprising base stations, and further includes one or more additional access points. An access point may be connected to the network core by an IP transport broadband connection. The access point is configured to appear to the mobile terminal as a base station. Arrangements are disclosed which allow the network to restrict access to the network via these access points whilst also minimizing signaling requirements. The access points may be excluded from traditional Tracking Areas, but associated therewith by a network controller in a mapping in order to notify authorized mobile terminals of the Access Point's existence.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 27, 2014Publication date: October 2, 2014Applicant: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: David Fox, Timothy Frost, Gavin Wong, Jonathon Batkin, Jose-Luis Carrizo Martinez
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Patent number: 8831683Abstract: A mobile telecommunications network and method of operation that includes establishing a first user plane connection between a telecommunications device registered with the network and a network gateway device of the network via a first access point; providing the telecommunications device with a token using the first user plane connection; establishing a second user plane connection between the telecommunications device and the network gateway device via a second access point by using the token information to validate the telecommunications device; and, subsequent to establishment of and corresponding to the second user plane connection, establishing a control plane connection between the telecommunications device and the network gateway device via the second access point.Type: GrantFiled: June 8, 2012Date of Patent: September 9, 2014Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Christopher Pudney, David Fox, Peter Howard
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Patent number: 8832795Abstract: Systems and methods of searching a plurality of data items which include selected data items with respective access tags defining access criteria for those data items. A search request token including search criteria and data identifying a user from an entity associated with the user is received. The user by verified by seeking confirmation that the user is a subscriber with a communications network. Data items from the plurality of data items which are potentially relevant to the search criteria are identified. For any identified data items having access tags, determining whether the verified user has permission to access the identified data items with reference to the data of the search request token. Search results including an indication of identified data items but excluding any such data items for which it is determined that the user does not have permission to access are generated.Type: GrantFiled: May 9, 2006Date of Patent: September 9, 2014Assignee: Vodafone Group PLCInventors: Mark Dowds, Paul Richard Davey, Ian Ronald Maxwell