Importance

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Abstract

A mobile communication system is disclosed including one or more home location registers, one or more visitor location registers and one or more mobile terminal equipments. Each mobile terminal equipment is served by a single home location register. Each registration area or geographical area of mobile communication service is covered or served by a visitor location register. 'Overflow' mobile terminals, i.e., more mobile terminals than user records that can be maintained at the visitor location registers, are permitted to register at the visitor location registers. To that end, each home location register maintains an indication, e.g., a bit, for each mobile terminal it manages indicating whether or not the mobile terminal is an overflow mobile termninal. When a mobile terminal is registered at the visitor location register and no user records are available, the visitor location record nevertheless registers the mobile terminal. One mobile terminal is selected as an overflow terminal and the user record for that terminal is deleted or is not generated. The home location register for the overflow mobile terminal then sets the overflow indicator for the mobile terminal to indicate that it is is the overflow terminal. Overflow mobile terminals are easily canceled--no user record is stored for such mobile terminals at the visitor location register. Calls can be originated by overflow mobile terminals by first forcing them to re-register. To terminate calls to overflow mobile terminals, the visitor location register must allocate a user record to the overflow terminal, including possibly selecting another mobile terminal as an overflow mobile terminal, thereby making a user record available.

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First Claim