U.S. patent application number 09/740181 was filed with the patent office on 2001-06-21 for method and apparatus for alerting a station in one network of a requested communication from a second network.
Invention is credited to Holmes, David William James, Smith, Adrian.
Application Number | 20010004593 09/740181 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25109971 |
Filed Date | 2001-06-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010004593 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Holmes, David William James ;
et al. |
June 21, 2001 |
Method and apparatus for alerting a station in one network of a
requested communication from a second network
Abstract
A mobile station can be selectively coupled to two or more
networks. By maintaining an address translation table and
introducing communication between the switching control units
within the multiple networks, it is possible to provide
notification to the mobile station of the existence of a
communication request from a first network while the mobile station
coupled to the second network.
Inventors: |
Holmes, David William James;
(Redmond, WA) ; Smith, Adrian; (Kirkland,
WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Brian Mudge, Esq.
Kenyon & Kenyon
Suite 700
1500 K Street, N.W.
Washington
DC
20005
US
|
Family ID: |
25109971 |
Appl. No.: |
09/740181 |
Filed: |
December 18, 2000 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09740181 |
Dec 18, 2000 |
|
|
|
08777336 |
Dec 27, 1996 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/426.1 ;
455/421 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 8/18 20130101; H04W
8/06 20130101; H04W 68/12 20130101; H04W 8/02 20130101; H04W 88/06
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/426 ;
455/421; 455/552; 455/414 |
International
Class: |
H04Q 007/20 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. In a communications system comprising a first wireless network
and a second wireless network wherein a mobile station is capable
of being coupled to either one of the first and second networks, a
method for notifying the mobile station of a communication on the
one of the first and second networks to which the station is not
presently coupled, the method comprising the steps of: storing a
first network address of said mobile station in said first network;
storing a second network address of said mobile station in said
second network; correlating said first network address with said
second network address via a message between said first network and
said second network; receiving a communication request on that one
of said first and second networks to which said mobile station is
not presently coupled; transmitting a communication request trigger
from that one of said first and second networks to which said
mobile station is not presently coupled to that one of said first
and second networks to which said mobile station is presently
coupled; transmitting an alert on that one of said first and second
networks to which said mobile station is presently coupled using
the network address of said first and second network addresses that
corresponds to that one of said first and second networks to which
said mobile station is presently coupled; wherein said alert
indicates that said communication request has been received on that
one of said first and second networks to which said mobile station
is not presently coupled.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of: storing a
first indicator flag in said first network; and storing a second
indicator flag in said second network, wherein said first indicator
flag indicates whether or not said mobile station is camped on said
first network, and said second indicator flag indicates whether or
not said mobile station is camped on said second network.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said alert includes information
regarding said communication request.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein said information includes how the
mobile station should respond to the communication request.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein said first network is a voice
network and said second network is a voice network.
6. The method of claim 2 wherein said first network is a packet
data network and said second network is a packet data network.
7. In a communications system wherein a mobile station is capable
of camping on only one wireless network at a time of a plurality of
wireless networks, a method for operating a mobile switching center
on that particular network of said plurality of networks to which
said mobile station is presently coupled to notify the mobile
station of a communication on one of said plurality of networks to
which the station is not presently coupled, the method comprising
the steps of: storing a network address of said mobile station in
said particular network; notifying at least one of said plurality
of wireless networks to which said mobile station is not presently
coupled of said stored network address; receiving a communication
request trigger from one of said plurality of wireless networks to
which said mobile station is not presently coupled; transmitting an
alert on said particular network using said stored network address;
wherein said alert indicates that a communication request has been
received on one of said plurality of wireless networks to which
said mobile station is not presently coupled.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of: storing an
indicator flag in said particular network, wherein said indicator
flag indicates whether or not said mobile station is camped on said
particular network.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein said particular network is a voice
network and at least one of said plurality of wireless networks to
which said mobile station is not presently coupled is a packet data
network.
10. The method of claim 8 wherein said alert includes information
regarding said communication request.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein said information includes how
the mobile station should respond to the communication request.
12. In a communications system wherein a mobile station is capable
of camping on only one wireless network at a time of a plurality of
wireless networks, a method for operating a mobile data
intermediate system on that particular network of said plurality of
networks to which said mobile station is presently coupled to
notify the mobile station of a communication on one of said
plurality of networks to which the station is not presently
coupled, the method comprising the steps of: storing a network
address of said mobile station in said particular network;
notifying at least one of said plurality of wireless networks to
which said mobile station is not presently coupled of said stored
network address; receiving a communication request trigger from one
of said plurality of wireless networks to which said mobile station
is not presently coupled; transmitting an alert on said particular
network using said stored network address; wherein said alert
indicates that a communication request has been received on one of
said plurality of wireless networks to which said mobile station is
not presently coupled.
13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of: storing
an indicator flag in said particular network, wherein said
indicator flag indicates whether or not said mobile station is
camped on said particular network.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein said particular network is a
packet data network and at least one of said plurality of wireless
networks to which said mobile station is not presently coupled is a
voice network.
15. The method of claim 13 wherein said alert includes information
regarding said communication request.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein said information includes how
the mobile station should respond to the communication request.
Description
[0001] This application is a 37 C.F.R. .sctn. 1.53(b) continuation
application of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 08/777,336, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Alerting a
Station in One Network of a Requested Communication From a Second
Network", filed Dec. 27, 1996.
[0002] The present application is directed to a method and system
for alerting a mobile station coupled to a first network that a
communication request for the station appears on a second network.
More particularly, the present invention is directed to a method
and system for tracking which network a mobile station is coupled
to and then translating address information to communicate alert
messages to the mobile station with regard to communications on yet
another network.
[0003] It is known in the field of wireless communications to
provide mobile terminal devices in accordance with a standard
referred to as IS-136. In accordance with that standard the mobile
terminal can have the capability of conducting communication on at
least two different networks. One network is the standard wireless
voice network while the other network is a packet data network
commonly referred to as CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data).
[0004] An example of a known communication configuration is
illustrated in FIG. 1. The mobile station 10 is capable of
communicating over either one of two networks, a voice network 100
and a packet network 150. In voice network 100 the mobile station
10 can communicate with any one of a plurality of base stations
(102a to 102n) depending on the cell in which the mobile station is
located. The base stations are coupled to a mobile switching center
(MSC) 101 which controls the switching for the wireless
communications. The MSC 101 can be coupled to the public switch
telephone network (PSTN). Typically, when the user of the mobile
station turns on the station it will automatically register with
the MSC 101 through the base station serving the cell in which the
mobile station is located. The mobile station performs this
registration through a digital control channel (DCCH) associated
with the base station.
[0005] A mobile station 10 is also capable of packet data
communication. These communications are handled via packet network
150. Packets symbolically represented as elements 151 are received
by a mobile data intermediate system or mobile gateway (MDIS) 152
which in essence is a packet data counterpart to the MSC 101. The
MDIS 152 can communicate with a plurality of mobile data base
stations such as MDBS 153 which can send wireless transmissions to
the mobile station 10 when that station is in the cell served by
the MDBS. When the mobile station wishes to register for purposes
of engaging in packet data communications, it does so over a packet
control channel (PCCH) associated with the MDBS 153.
[0006] Presently, because of the different architecture of these
two networks, the voice network and the packet network, there is a
lack of commonality of interfaces. As a consequence, while the
mobile station 10, is "camped on" to the control channel for one of
the two networks, (i.e., while it is set to communicate control
information to or receive information from a base station relating
to one of the control channels), it cannot receive any information
from the other network. For example, if mobile station 10 is camped
on to a DCCH, then any attempt at providing a packet data
transmission or communication to mobile station 10 in the known
network configuration, is impossible. There is no way to signal the
mobile station 10 over the PCCH since the mobile station is locked
onto or camped onto the DCCH. Similarly, should the mobile station
be camped onto the packet network, PCCH in anticipation of packet
data communication, it is unable to receive any notice of a
communication via the voice network.
[0007] It is desirable to provide a system in which the mobile
station, while active and camped on in one network, can receive
notices of communications on another network with which it is
capable of communicating.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In accordance with the present invention, the mobile
switching center of the voice network and the MDIS of the packet
data network can be in communication with one another either
indirectly via a memory or directly. The indirect or direct
communications operate to provide mobile station address
information from the network on which the mobile station is camped
to the alternative network. Then, alternative network, upon receipt
of a communication request for the mobile station, can generate a
request to the mobile station through the network on which it is
camped to advise the mobile station of the existence of an
attempted communication on the alternative network. This alert or
notice can be generated directly by the alternative network which
could use an address translator to identify the address of the
mobile station on the network on which it is camped and can create
a message of appropriate structure for the network in which the
mobile station is camped.
[0009] Alternatively, the network receiving the communication
request could send a communication request trigger to the network
to which the mobile station is camped and that latter network could
generate the appropriate address and message alert for the mobile
station.
[0010] The present invention permits the mobile station to receive
notice of communication requests from the network or networks with
which it has registered but on which it is not camped (that is, to
which it has identified itself while its in the region of
interest).
SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates a known network configuration of a voice
network and a data network with which a mobile station can
communicate.
[0012] FIG. 2 illustrates a first embodiment of the present
invention.
[0013] FIG. 3 illustrates an address translation table useful in
connection with the embodiment of FIG. 2.
[0014] FIG. 4 illustrates a process flow in connection with an
implementation of an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention.
The base station 102, the mobile database station 153 and the
mobile station 10 correspond to the same elements that appear in
FIG. 1. In accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2, the mobile
switching center 201 and the mobile data intermediate station or
gateway 252 are both coupled to a database 220. The two elements
are also coupled to one another.
[0016] It is known at present that in actual installation, the MSC
and MDIS may be in the same rack of equipment. In accordance with
the present invention, these two elements would now, for the first
time, be coupled to one another so as to be able to communicate
requests for data transmission through one another to enhance the
ability of the mobile station to be notified of pending
communication requests. The database 220 could store an address
translation table, an example of which is shown in FIG. 3. That
translation table would correlate a mobile identification number
(MIN) of the mobile station with the IP (Internet protocol) Address
associated with the mobile station. The embodiment illustrated in
FIG. 2 could operate in accordance with the process set forth in
FIG. 4.
[0017] In accordance with a known registration procedure, once the
mobile station is turned on, it will register with the DCCH of the
cell in which it is located. After registering with the DCCH, the
mobile station will then register with the PCCH in step 402. Then,
depending on the user's preference for communications, the mobile
station will camp onto either the DCCH or the PCCH as indicated in
step 403. After camping on, the visitor location register (VLR) for
that cell would be notified of the control channel selection of the
mobile station in step 404. As a consequence, the VLR would store,
for example as a flag, information identifying that network on
which the mobile station is camped on.
[0018] If a request for a voice communication is sent, then the
voice communication request arrives to MSC 201 which checks the VLR
for which network the mobile station is camped, step 410. If the
mobile station is camped on the DCCH, then the MSC will process the
voice communication as normal, step 411. If, however, the MSC
determines upon inspection of the VLR that the mobile station is
camped on the PCCH in the packet network the processing differs.
The MSC can then translate the MIN of the mobile station to an IP
address by accessing the address translation table stored in
database 220, step 412. Subsequently, the MSC sends a request to
the MDIS to send an alert to the appropriate IP address for the MS
10, step 413. In one possible embodiment, the MSC merely sends a
trigger along with the IP address and the MDIS creates a packet
data signal for transmission to MS 10 over the PCCH. Alternatively,
the MSC 201 could take the IP address data and construct its own
packet message, thereby replicating a packet data communication
request and transmit that request to the MDIS which would then act
merely as a pass through device.
[0019] Once the mobile station receives the notice of the
communication request from the voice network, the mobile station
can elect to camp on the DCCH or to not respond to the
communication request and remain camped on the PCCH.
[0020] An analogous operation is performed at the MDIS when a
request for packet communication is received. The MDIS can check
the VLR for determination of the network to which the MS is camped
on. If MS 10 is camped on the PCCH then MDIS 252 processes the
request for packet communication in a normal fashion. If, however,
mobile station 10 is camped on the DCCH, then MDIS 252 can access
the database 220 to translate the IP address to a MIN, step 422.
The MDIS then requests the MSC 201 to send an alert to the
appropriate MIN, step 433. As described above, the MDIS could
simply transmit a trigger to MSC 201 which would then initiate
signaling, via the DCCH, to notify mobile station 10.
Alternatively, MDIS 252 could attempt to replicate a voice
communication request such as those which arrive from the PSTN
using the appropriate MIN.
[0021] In accordance with the present invention, the voice network
and the packet data network communicate with one another in such a
manner that they can notify the mobile station 10 that a
communication awaits it on a network to which it is not camped
on.
[0022] In the embodiment described with respect to FIG. 4, it is
described that the mobile station first registers with DCCH and
then with PCCH. The order of registration could be reversed.
[0023] Furthermore, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, a
separate database is accessible by both the MSC and the MDIS. Other
alternatives exist. For instance, the database could be either the
MSC or MDIS and not directly connected to the counterpart in the
other network. Or, alternatively, MSC and MDIS could each maintain
its own address translation table. In such a circumstance then, the
MSC and MDIS would have to communicate with one another during the
registration process so as to advise one another of the appropriate
network addresses for the mobile station to guarantee that they
would be properly correlated with one another.
[0024] Additionally, the present invention has been described in
the context of voice/packet data networks. It has equal
applicability to any multimode station capable of communicating
with distinct networks in its different operational modes, such as
voice and paging networks for example. Thus, in accordance with the
present invention, a mobile station which is capable of
communicating with multiple networks such as a voice network and a
packet data network, can receive notification of the existence of a
communication request from one of the networks while the mobile
station is camped onto one of the other networks.
* * * * *