Importance

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Abstract

In the prior art, equipment lists (B, G, W) are searched successively, or a list is searched which contains all equipment numbers (MEI.sub.1 to MEI.sub.n) along with the respective equipment lists to which they are assigned. Thus mobile stations (MEI.sub.1 to ME.sub.n) are assigned to one of several equipment lists (B, G, W; black, grey, white list). This assignment must be checked by the mobile switching center (MSC) prior to the establishment of a connection. The present method uses an algorithm where each equipment number (MEI.sub.1 to MEI.sub.n) is assigned a search key (KEY.sub.1 to KEY.sub.p ; KEY) such that groups of equipment numbers (MEI.sub.1 to MEI.sub.n) correspond with a respective one of the search keys (KEY.sub.1 to KEY.sub.p ; KEY), and that the search key (KEY.sub.1 to KEY.sub.p ; KEY) covers a number of different structural elements (S.sub.1 to S.sub.q ; DAT). In a corresponding apparatus for determining the assignment of a mobile station (ME.sub.1 to ME.sub.n) to equipment lists (B, G, W) containing a number of equipment numbers (MEI.sub.1 to MEI.sub.n), a memory device (MEM) has as a memory device for different structural elements (S.sub.1 to S.sub.q ; DAT), and the controller is provided with a converting device (GEN) for generating a search key (KEY.sub.1 to KEY.sub.p ; KEY) from an equipment number (MEI.sub.1 to MEI.sub.n), with a comparator (COMP) for determining the association of an equipment number (MEI.sub.1 to MEI.sub.n) with a structural element (S.sub.1 to S.sub.q ; DAT), and has an access device (ACC) for reading different structural elements (S.sub.1 to S.sub.q ; DAT) from the memory device (MEM), the access device (ACC) being designed to access the structural elements (S.sub.1 to S.sub.q ; DAT) by means of a search key (KEY.sub.1 to KEY.sub.p ; KEY).

First Claim