Status update for a device identifier in a communication network

Abstract

According to one embodiment of present invention, there is provided a method of controlling access to a communication network. The method includes receiving a request from a communication device to connect to the communication network, the request including a substantially unique identifier of the device, and determining whether the identifier is contained in a local device database of the network. Where it is determined that the identifier is not contained in the local database, the method further includes authorizing the device to connect to the network, and at a subsequent update of the local device database, determining the status of the identifier from a shared device database, and updating the status of the determined identifier in the local device database with the determined status.

1 - 9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . A method, comprising:
 determining whether a device identifier of a communication device is contained in a local device database of a communication network, and   in response to determining that the device identifier is not contained in the local device database:   marking the device identifier for retrieval of a status update;   at a subsequent update of the local device database, retrieving the status update for the device identifier from a shared device database based on the marking of the device identifier; and   updating a local status of the device identifier in the local device database based on the status update.   
     
     
         11 . The method of claim  1 , comprising receiving a request by the communication device to connect to the communication network, wherein the request includes the device identifier. 
     
     
         12 . The method of claim  1 , wherein the device identifier is an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number. 
     
     
         13 . The method of claim  3 , wherein the local device is an equipment identity register (EIR) and the shared device database is a global IMEI database. 
     
     
         14 . The method of claim  1 , wherein marking the device identifier for retrieval of the status update comprises adding the device identifier to a gray-list of the local device database, wherein the gray-list lists device identifiers authorized to connect to the communication network but to be monitored. 
     
     
         15 . The method of claim  5 , wherein retrieving the status update for the device identifier from the shared device database based on the marking of the device identifier comprises:
 determining whether the gray list of the local device database contains the device identifier; and   in response to determining that the gray-list contains the device identifier, retrieving the status update from the shared device database.   
     
     
         16 . The method of claim  1 , wherein retrieving the status update of the device identifier from the shared device database based on the marking of the device identifier comprises sending a black-list from the local device database to the shared device database. 
     
     
         17 . The method of claim  1 , wherein the gray-list lists device identifiers authorized to connect to the communication network but to be monitored. 
     
     
         18 . The method of claim  1 , wherein the local device database comprises a white-list of device identifiers authorized to connect to the network, a black list of device identifiers not authorized to connect to the network, and a gray-list of device identifiers authorized to connect to the communication network but to be monitored. 
     
     
         19 . The method of claim  1 , comprising in response to determining that the device identifier is not contained in the local device database, authorizing the communication device to connect to the communication network. 
     
     
         20 . The method of claim  1 , wherein determining whether the device identifier is contained in the local device database comprises determining whether the device identifier is contained on a black-list of the local device database, wherein the method comprises in response to determining that the device identifier is contained in a black-list of the local device database, denying the communication device from connecting to the communication network, and wherein the black-list lists device identifiers not authorized to connect to the communication network. 
     
     
         21 . The method of claim  1 , wherein determining whether the device identifier is contained in the local device database comprises determining whether the device identifier is contained in the local device database, wherein the method comprises in response to determining that the device identifier is contained in a white-list of the local device database, authorizing the communication device to connect to the communication network, and wherein the white-list lists device identifiers authorized to connect to the communication network.