U.S. patent application number 09/938484 was filed with the patent office on 2002-01-03 for page response on existing radio signaling channel.
This patent application is currently assigned to Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ). Invention is credited to Lagneborg, Johan, Willars, Per Hans Ake.
Application Number | 20020001291 09/938484 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22753511 |
Filed Date | 2002-01-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020001291 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Willars, Per Hans Ake ; et
al. |
January 3, 2002 |
Page response on existing radio signaling channel
Abstract
When a mobile terminal in a mobile radio network has a user data
connection established to a core network node, and receives a page
message on a paging channel from a second core network node to
which the terminal has no data connection established, the mobile
terminal can send a page response message to the second core
network node on the existing signaling channel between the mobile
terminal and the radio access network associated with the
established data connection to that core network node. The page
response then triggers a multiplexing between the mobile terminal
and radio access network, of the established connection with the
first core network node and the desired call connection
(precipitated by the page request) from the second core network
node. This way, the mobile station can receive simultaneous calls
from two different core network nodes over a common traffic and
signaling connection.
Inventors: |
Willars, Per Hans Ake;
(Stockholm, SE) ; Lagneborg, Johan; (Alvsjo,
SE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
NIXON & VANDERHYE P.C.
1100 North Glebe Road, 8th Floor
Arlington
VA
22201-4714
US
|
Assignee: |
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
(publ)
|
Family ID: |
22753511 |
Appl. No.: |
09/938484 |
Filed: |
August 27, 2001 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09938484 |
Aug 27, 2001 |
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09203326 |
Dec 2, 1998 |
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6285667 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/329 ;
370/338 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 68/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/329 ;
370/338 |
International
Class: |
H04Q 007/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of connecting calls through a radio access network to a
mobile radio in active communication with a first core network on a
first call, comprising the steps of: receiving the first call on a
first core network channel; delivering the first call to the mobile
radio on a call channel; receiving a page request from a second
core network; delivering the page request to the mobile radio on a
page channel while continuing to maintain the first call on the
call channel; receiving a page response from the mobile radio on
the call channel; establishing a second core network channel to the
second core network; and delivering the page response to the second
core network on the second core network channel.
2. A method according to claim 1, further including the steps of:
receiving a second call from the second core network, multiplexing
the first call from the first core network with the second call
from the second core network, delivering the multiplexed first and
second calls to the mobile radio on the call channel.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second core
networks are the same core network.
4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the
page request occurs over a page channel monitored by the mobile
radio while in said active communication on the first call.
5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the page response is
delivered on a signaling line of the call channel.
6. A method according to claim 2, further including the step, after
the step of delivering the multiplexed first and second calls, of:
simultaneously processing the first and second calls at the mobile
radio.
7. A radio access network, comprising: a plurality of network links
to establish call traffic communications with a plurality of core
networks, a plurality of mobile station links to establish call
traffic communications with a plurality of mobile stations, a page
channel monitored by the plurality of mobile stations and in
communication with the core networks to receive page requests for
the establishment of call connections to the mobile stations, a
multiplexer for combining call traffic communications from first
and second core networks onto a single channel for communication of
a plurality of calls to a single mobile station, said multiplexer
being initiated by a page request on said page channel from said
first core network and a page response on said single channel from
said single mobile station.
8. A radio access network according to claim 7, wherein: said page
channel is in substantially continuous communication with said
plurality of mobile stations.
9. A radio access network according to claim 7, wherein: said
plurality of network links establish a first call on a first core
network channel from said first core network and a second call on a
second core network channel from said second core network.
10. A radio access network according to claim 9, wherein: said
multiplexer combines said second call with said first call and
delivers the combined signals onto said single channel.
11. A radio access network according to claim 7, wherein: said
plurality of network links and said plurality of mobile station
links comprise traffic channels and signal channels, and said
multiplexer combines traffic channels from said first and second
core networks and combines signal channels from said first and
second core networks.
12. A radio access network according to claim 7, wherein: said
plurality of network links and said plurality of mobile station
links comprise traffic channels and signal channels, and said
multiplexer routes traffic channels to corresponding first and
second core networks and routes signal channels to corresponding
first and second core networks.
13. A system for connecting a second call to a mobile radio engaged
in an active first call, comprising: a first core network, a second
core network, a generic radio access network in communication with
said first core network via a first core network channel and with a
second core network via a second core network channel and
containing a page channel in communication with said first and
second core networks, a plurality of mobile terminals in
communication with said generic radio access network and monitoring
said page channel, a first of said mobile terminals engaged in said
active first call with said first core network via a mobile
terminal call channel and the first core network channel, wherein
said generic radio access network includes a multiplexer to receive
via the mobile terminal call channel a page response signal from
said first mobile terminal and to route the page response signal to
the second core network via the second core network channel while
continuing to route said active first call from said mobile
terminal call channel to said first core network via the first core
network channel.
14. A system according to claim 13, wherein: the first call is
communicated between said generic radio access network and said
first mobile terminal via first traffic and control channels of
said mobile terminal call channel, and after said page response,
said multiplexer consolidates said first and second calls to first
one mobile terminal via said first traffic and control
channels.
15. A system according to claim 13, wherein: the first call is
communicated from said first core network to said generic radio
access network via first traffic and control channels of said first
core network channel, the second call is communicated from said
second core network to said generic radio access network via second
traffic and control channels of said second core network channel,
the first and second calls are communicated from said generic radio
access network to said first mobile terminal via third traffic and
control channels of said mobile terminal call channel; and the page
request is received by said first mobile terminal via said page
channel, the page response is sent by said first mobile radio to
the generic radio access network via said third traffic and control
channels, and the page response is sent by said generic radio
access network to said second core network via said second traffic
and control channels.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application relates to U.S. Application Ser. No. ______
filed ______, (Atty. Docket No. 2380-18); entitled "Common Channel
Changing" which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to telecommunications and more
particularly to communication protocols in a mobile radio
network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Mobile radio networks are wide-spread today and provide a
mobile radio user with a large variety of communication options,
including voice communications, data communications, short message
service communications, voice paging communications, etc. As mobile
radios become increasingly prolific in society, the strain on
mobile radio communication network to accommodate the volume of
mobile radio communications increases. For this reason,
efficiencies are always desired in the mobile radio communications
environment to simplify and improve call connection procedures and
call connection protocols between telephone networks and mobile
radios accessing them.
[0004] Typically, when a call request is made from a core telephone
network to a mobile radio, the core network sends a page request
through a radio access network to the mobile station. This page
request is sent via a common paging channel monitored by all of the
mobile stations assigned to the radio access network. The page
request includes a unique identifier associated exclusively with
the mobile radio to which the call is destined. The mobile radio
(which, as stated previously, is monitoring the page channel)
receives the page request and identifies the unique mobile radio
identifier associated with the page request as its own. The mobile
station then initiates a connection between itself and the caller.
The call connection is performed by the radio access network by
assigning a channel for use between the mobile station and the core
network through which the mobile station and the call originator
can communicate.
[0005] One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that radio
access networks consist of a variety of basic building blocks such
as base stations, base station controllers, mobile service
switching centers, etc., which permit the mobile stations to
communicate with a number of core networks as public telephone
switched networks, etc. In this regard, throughout this
specification, the phrase "generic radio access network" will refer
to the building blocks requested to perform the call connection
procedures between a mobile terminal and a core network.
[0006] As the volume of traffic in the mobile radio environment
increases, it becomes increasingly likely that mobile stations
receive simultaneous requests for call connections (or receive a
request for a call connection while engaged in an active call). In
such situations, the mobile station usually acknowledges to the
second requester that it is busy with another call on another
channel and therefore cannot accept the second call. It is
possible, however, with current technology, for the mobile stations
to accept two calls simultaneously, provided the generic radio
access network can employ an efficient procedure to connect them.
Thus, for example, a mobile station can engage in an active voice
telephone call with one core network and still receive on another
channel a short message service message from another core network,
which can be displayed to the user when the voice telephone call is
completed. Unfortunately, however, the present systems usually
require the mobile station to employ multiple channels to receive
multiple simultaneous messages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] In the present invention, a mobile station can receive
simultaneous messages from two different core networks while
employing only a single channel between the generic radio access
network and the mobile station. Because the number of channels
available to the generic radio access network to be employed
simultaneously is limited, the consolidation of multiple
simultaneous calls into a single channel reserves capacity in the
generic radio access network for other mobile station call
connections. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention,
the simultaneous call connection is accomplished using a unique
page procedure between the core networks, generic radio access
network, and mobile station to which the simultaneous calls are
destined.
[0008] First, a call is established between the mobile station and
a first core network through the generic radio access network.
Then, another core network pages the mobile station to initiate a
second call connection. The page passes from the second core
network through the generic radio access network to the mobile
station via the dedicated page channel monitored continuously by
the mobile station. The mobile station then returns the page
response to the second core network using the existing signaling
channel between the generic radio access network and the mobile
station associated with the established user data channel. This is
contrary to traditional thinking which would not provide the page
response from the mobile station to the radio access network via
the same channel in active use by the mobile station for the
previously established call. In the present invention, the mobile
station provides the page response to the second core network via
the same channel being used for the established call (up to the
generic radio access network) and via a newly established
multiplexed channel (from the radio access network to the second
core network). Thus, the page response triggers a multiplexing in
the radio access network of two user connections: one from the
radio access network to the first core network and a second from
the radio access network to the second core network. The
multiplexed connections are then fed from the mobile station to the
radio access network via a single channel, preferably the
previously established channel used by the first core network to
communicate from the radio access network to the mobile
station.
[0009] In alternative embodiments, the same procedure is used when
a call is established with a first core network and a second call
comes through the same core network. In such a case, the core
network can multiplex the calls without coordinating with existing
connections.
[0010] In some embodiments, the existing channel is reused.
However, in other embodiments, the page message is kept
uncoordinated (sent in parallel on the page channel). Thus, by
avoiding the need to coordinate the page message with a possibly
existing radio channel significantly reduces the complexity of the
generic radio access network, e.g. in the case where a page request
from the core network is sent to another node within the generic
radio access network other than the one currently handling the
connection to the mobile terminal. In this case, the added
complexity in the mobile terminal to monitor a page channel in
parallel to communication on a dedicated radio channel is minor
compared to requiring the mobile terminal to receive and especially
transmit two radio channels independently.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] Other advantages and objects of the present invention will
be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a simplified mobile radio
network;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a page and page response in
accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention;
and
[0014] FIG. 3 is an example embodiment of a generic radio access
network 10 in simplified form in accordance with an example
embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a simplified
mobile radio services network in accordance with an example
embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, core networks
CN.sub.1, CN.sub.2, . . . CN.sub.n communicate with a generic radio
access network 10. The principle function of the generic radio
access network 10 is to establish channels for calls to connect
between the various core networks CN.sub.1, CN.sub.2, . . .
CN.sub.n and the various mobile stations MS1, MS2, MS3 . . .
MS.sub.n to which the generic radio access network 10 communicates.
One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the generic
radio access network 10 comprises a number of basic building blocks
including base stations, base station controllers, etc. The various
functionalities of these building blocks are well-known in the art
for establishing call connections between the core networks
CN.sub.1, CN.sub.2, . . . CN.sub.n and the various mobile
stations.
[0016] In FIG. 1, a user data channel (UDC) 13 is established
between core network 1 and mobile station 1 through the generic
radio access network 10. The UDC 13 consists of a signaling channel
14 and a traffic channel 15. The UDC 13 is the channel assigned by
the generic radio access network 10 for an active call between the
core network 1 and the mobile station 1. That is, in the instant in
time reflected in FIG. 1, mobile station 1 is engaged in active
communication between itself and the core network 1 via the UDC
13.
[0017] At the same time, the mobile station 1 is continually
monitoring the common page channel 12 of the generic radio access
network 10. Equally so, all of the mobile stations MS2, MS3, MSn
are also monitoring the page channel 12 for page requests. The
pages received via the page channel contain information identfying
the mobile station to which the page is intended to be delivered.
The mobile stations monitor the page channel 12 for pages, as shown
in FIG. 1 (via the dotted lines).
[0018] In the moment in time shown in FIG. 1, although mobile
station MS1 is engaged in the active call between itself and
CN.sub.1 via UDC 13, a page request comes from CN.sub.n at channel
17 to the generic radio access network 10, which passes the page
request onto the common page channel 12 where it is received by the
mobile station MS1 via page request channel 16. The mobile station
MS1 is thus in a conflict since it is engaged in an active call
from CN.sub.1 while receiving a page request on channel 16.
Traditionally, the mobile station MS1 would have to respond to the
page request (to CNN) by indicating its busy status or (if very
sophisticated) by requesting a second UDC to be established between
the CN.sub.1 and the mobile station MS1 via the generic radio
access network 10.
[0019] In accordance with the present invention, however, the
situation shown in FIG. 1 is handled by multiplexing call
connections from the core networks CN.sub.1 and CN.sub.n at the
generic radio access network 10 such that the mobile station 1
receives both calls (from CN.sub.1 and CN.sub.n) simultaneously
over a single UDC access channel portion 13'. In order to
accomplish this, the page request sent from CNn to generic radio
access network 10 (item 17) is received by the mobile station MS1
via channel 16. Then, MS1 responds to the page request via UDC
access channel portion 13' (to the radio access network 10). That
is, the mobile station receives the page request from core network
CN.sub.n and then responds to the page request on the same channel
being actively used for a communication session with a different
core network CN.sub.1. In particular, the page response from the
mobile station MS1 is sent to radio access network 10 via the same
channel portion 13' used by the core network CN.sub.1 to engage in
the active call with the mobile station MS1.
[0020] The receipt of the page response in the radio access network
10 triggers the situation illustrated in FIG. 3. In particular, the
UDC 13 from core network CN.sub.1 is shown entering the generic
radio access network 10 and continuing through a multiplexer 33 to
access channel portion 13' to the mobile station MS1. Also, UDC 30
is established from core network CN.sub.n to multiplexer 33 in the
generic radio access network 10. Like UDC 13 from CN.sub.1, the UDC
30 from CN.sub.n includes a traffic channel 32 and a signaling
channel 31. The traffic channel 32 and signaling channel 31 connect
communications between the core network CN.sub.n and the
multiplexer 33. Then, when the MS1 responds to a page request, it
does so via channel 13' to radio access network 10 (that is, the
same channel being used previously to communicate from CN.sub.1 to
MS1). MUX 33 then splits the signal such that data and signaling
relevant to the previously established call are routed to CN.sub.1,
while data and signaling relevant to the page response are routed
to CN.sub.1. From radio access network 10, the established call
data and signaling travels via UDC 13 (as before) and the page
data/signaling travels via channel 30 (established between radio
access network 10 and CN.sub.n).
[0021] Methods for routing traffic information in a multiplexer 33
are well-known and vary widely depending on the kinds of
efficiencies desired and the practical constraints of core
networks. One example method is to assign headers associated with
the respective core networks (or, alternatively associated with the
respective data types) to identify to the radio access network 10
(and specifically MUX 33) to which core network (and hence which
caller) the data packets should be routed. One of ordinary skill in
the art will well understand other ways to generically combine
traffic information (such as packet data) in multiplexer 33, as
depicted in FIG. 3. The effect of multiplexing the traffic at MUX
33 is a single channel between the generic radio access network 10
and the mobile station MS1 containing the traffic and signal
information to/from both the core network CN.sub.1 and the core
network CN.sub.n. As depicted in FIG. 3, the same UDC 13' is
employed from the generic radio access network 10 to the mobile
station MS1 to provide the multiplexed traffic information 33 and
the multiplexed signaling information 34 to the mobile station MS1,
thus requiring the radio access network to assign and tie up only
one channel (13') for the one mobile station MS1.
[0022] As also depicted in FIG. 3, the mobile station MS1 will
continue to monitor the page channel 12 from the generic radio
access network 10.
[0023] As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily understand,
the present invention allows a mobile station to receive
simultaneous calls from two different core networks, without
further burdening mobile station channel availability at the radio
access network. This can be particularly advantageous when the
mobile station is engaged in an active voice telephone call and
receives a page request for, for example, a short message service
message. While the user is engaged in the voice telephone call, the
mobile station can receive the short message service message from
another core network and then display the short message service
message to the user when the user has completed the voice telephone
call, all over the same channel 13'. Other types of simultaneous
call embodiments can also be envisioned in which the present
invention allows multiplexed simultaneous calls to be received by a
mobile station on a single channel.
[0024] By assigning two simultaneous calls to the same channel
between a generic radio access network and a mobile station,
channel capacity in the generic radio access network is reserved
for other calls between the generic radio access network and other
mobile stations. This thus preserves channel availability and
reduces consumed radio resources. In addition, the generic radio
access network in accordance with the present invention needs only
to coordinate the connections when the paging is successful, which
reduces the load on the generic radio access network 10.
[0025] The present invention also provides the advantage of
eliminating any requirement of the generic radio access network to
maintain a table of identities of mobile stations for paging
coordination purposes.
[0026] In an alternative embodiment, the core network CN.sub.1 is
engaged in an active call via UDC 13 and then receives a second
call request through the same core network (CN.sub.n) to the same
mobile station MS1. In this embodiment, the same procedure can be
employed in that the core network CN.sub.1 pages the mobile station
MS1 with the second call request and the mobile station MS1
responds to the page indicating its ability to receive the calls
simultaneously. In this embodiment, there is the added advantage of
the core network node CN.sub.1 not needing to coordinate with
existing connections to place the second call since the connection
already exists between the core network CN.sub.1 and the mobile
station MS1.
[0027] While the invention has been described in connection with
what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred
embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be
limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is
intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements
included within the spirit and scope of the appended
* * * * *