Method and system for automatic configuration of fixed cellular terminals

Abstract

A method and system enables a fixed cellular terminal (FCT) (135) to be automatically configured to accommodate landline phones (105) of the country (210, 240) and / or landline network (220, 230, 250, 260) in which it is physically located. The FCT (135) includes a memory (410) and a data structure (420, 500) therein. The data structure (420, 500) includes instructions on how landline phones (105) interface with Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs) (220, 230, 250, 260). Consequently, the FCT (135) may be connected to a landline phone (105) in any country (210, 240) and / or landline network (220, 230, 250, 260) once the FCT (135) is informed of the country (210, 240) and / or landline network (220, 230, 250, 260) in which it is being used. According to one embodiment, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) (310), which is needed to activate cellular phones in some systems, is used to inform the FCT (135) of the country (210, 240) and / or landline network (220, 230, 250, 260). Specifically, the FCT (135) may extract (610, 620) the Mobile Country Code (MCC) (330) and the Mobile Network Code (MNC) (340) from the SIM (310) in order to determine (630, 640) the country (210, 240) and / or mobile network (270) in which it is operatively imstalled and therefore the associated landline network (220, 230, 250, 260) in which it is physically located and thus the corresponding (650) landline phone interface (520, 530, 540, 560, 570, 580, 590) to be implemented (660) by the FCT (135).

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of communications and, more particularly, to a system and method for enabling a fixed cellular terminal (FCT) to automatically activate appropriate landline parameters. Background technique [0002] Cellular telephone (or, more broadly, wireless) systems offer an attractive alternative to conventional wire-based (e.g., land-line) telephone systems, In terms of providing new or expanded telephone services to remote areas that are or have experienced tremendous growth. The installation and use of cellular telephone systems greatly reduces the expense, hassle, and time involved in obtaining rights of way and setting up the infrastructure to provide telephone service, however, cellular telephone system mobility is the primary cause of ever-increasing customer service costs The advantage of flexibility is often a feature that many phone service users do not want to pay for or require. [0003] According...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] However, conventional FCTs add cost to the service provider, since substantial time and expense are invested in programming each FCT for the public switched telephone network associated with a given geographic area in which the FCT will actually be located (PSTN) POTS Phone Junction

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