Method of providing a mobility service

• US 10,009,818 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2017
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) (MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management))
• Original Assignee: Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) (MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management))
• Inventors: Ohman, Ville, Makela, Tero, Rapin, Fabien
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Mahendra
• Application Number:
  US15/725,308
• Publication Number:
  US 20180098259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 264 Days
• Field of Search: 455436, 455408, 4554261, 455465, 709223, 379 2701
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1446 wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/26 by agreed or negotiated communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method comprising running an application on user equipment; providing a mobility service; using a packet switched connection when said mobility service is unavailable; and using said mobility service when said mobility service becomes available.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

executing one or more applications at a user equipment within a mobility service via a home agent to which the user equipment is registered;

then, responsive to availability of the home agent, attempting to connect the user equipment to the home agent;

responsive to the attempting step failing one or more times, for each connection handle in one or more applications executing at the user equipment;

associating the connection handle with a mobility service destination network; and

running a signalling procedure to select a best access of the mobility service destination network for the connection handle;

then, after a timeout period, again attempting to connect the user equipment to the home agent in the mobility service; and

responsive to the again attempting step succeeding, associating each connection handle in one or more applications executing at the user equipment with the mobility service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of associating the connection handle with a mobility service destination network and running a signalling procedure are performed for those connection handles that used the mobility service in the executing step.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of associating each connection handle with the mobility service is performed for those connection handles that used the mobility service in the executing step.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the step of executing the one or more applications at the user equipment with the mobility service, finding an available access.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the available access comprises one of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and a public land mobile network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of associating the connection handle with a mobility service destination network and running a signalling procedure are performed responsive to the attempting step failing a predetermined number of times.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobility service operates as a Mobile IP mobility service;

and wherein the user equipment corresponds to a Mobile IP instance.

8. A user equipment apparatus configured to:

execute one or more applications, each of the one or more executing applications having a connection handle associated with a mobility service via a home agent to which the user equipment apparatus is registered;

responsive to loss of availability of the home agent, cause each of the one or more executing applications to inherit a destination network from the mobility service;

then attempt to connect to the home agent in the mobility service;

responsive to the attempt to connect failing one or more times, for each of the connection handles in the one or more applications;

associate the connection handle with a mobility service destination network; and

run a signalling procedure to select a best access of the mobility service destination network for the connection handle;

then, after a timeout period, again attempt to connect to the home agent in the mobility service; and

responsive to the again attempting step succeeding, associate each of the connection handles in the one or more executing applications with the mobility service.

9. The user equipment apparatus of claim 8, wherein the user equipment apparatus is configured to attempt to connect to a home agent responsive to availability of the home agent.

10. The user equipment apparatus of claim 8, wherein the user equipment apparatus is configured to associate the connection handle with a mobility service destination network and run a signalling procedure for those connection handles that used the mobility service in the executing step.

11. The user equipment apparatus of claim 10, wherein the user equipment apparatus is configured to associate each connection handle with the mobility service for those connection handles that used the mobility service in the executing step.

12. The user equipment apparatus of claim 8, wherein the user equipment apparatus is further configured to:

prior to the executing of one or more applications at the user equipment with the mobility service, find an available access.

13. The user equipment apparatus of claim 12, wherein the available access comprises one of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and a public land mobile network.

14. The user equipment apparatus of claim 8, wherein the user equipment apparatus is configured to associate the connection handle with a mobility service destination network and run a signalling procedure responsive to the attempt to connect failing a predetermined number of times.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed on a user equipment apparatus, cause the user equipment apparatus to perform a plurality of operations comprising:

execute one or more applications, each of the one or more executing applications having a connection handle associated with a mobility service via a home agent to which the user equipment apparatus is registered;

responsive to loss of availability of the home agent, cause each of the one or more executing applications to inherit a destination network from the mobility service;

then attempt to connect to the home agent in the mobility service;

responsive to the attempt to connect failing one or more times, for each of the connection handles in the one or more applications;

associate the connection handle with a mobility service destination network; and

run a signalling procedure to select a best access of the mobility service destination network for the connection handle;

then, after a timeout period, again attempt to connect to the home agent in the mobility service;

responsive to the again attempting step succeeding, associate each of the connection handles in the one or more executing applications with the mobility service.