Handover method and device for mobile node in wireless LAN

• US 20040146035A1
• Filed: 12/23/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Sun-Woo, Lee, Jae-Hwang, Kim, Pyung-Soo
• Granted Patent: US 7,328,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0011 for data sessions of end-to-end connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00837 Determination of triggering parameters for hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/36 by user or terminal equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/362 Conditional handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• 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 handover method and a handover device for a mobile node in a wireless LAN environment are provided. The handover method involves a) scanning beacon signals transmitted from neighboring access routers while a mobile node moves from place to place; b) predicting a new access router (NAR) based on the beacon scanning results; c) obtaining information on the predicted NAR before an L2 trigger of a link layer occurs; and d) carrying out binding update using the information on the predicted NAR when the L2 trigger of the link layer occurs.

Claims

1. A handover method in a wireless LAN environment, comprising:

a) scanning beacon signals transmitted from neighboring access routers to a mobile node;

b) predicting a new access router (NAR) based on the beacon scanning results;

c) obtaining information on the predicted NAR before an L2 trigger of a link layer occurs; and

d) carrying out binding update using the information on the predicted NAR when the L2 trigger of the link layer occurs.

2. The handover method of claim 1, wherein in step b), if among the scanned beacon signals, there is a beacon signal whose intensity continues to increase and a ratio of the intensity of the corresponding beacon signal to the intensity of a beacon signal transmitted from a current access router exceeds a predetermined value, an access router that has transmitted the corresponding beacon signal is predicted as the NAR, and the current access router is predicted to be a previous access router (PAR).

3. The handover method of claim 1, wherein step c) comprises:

c1) issuing a request for prefix information of the predicted NAR to the PAR;

c2) receiving the prefix information of the predicted NAR from the PAR; and

c3) storing the received prefix information of the predicted NAR.

4. The handover method of claim 3, wherein step d) comprises:

d1) creating a care-of-address (CoA) using medium access control (MAC) information of the mobile node and the stored prefix information of the predicted NAR;

d2) sending a binding update message to the PAR using the created CoA; and

d3) receiving a binding acknowledgement message from the PAR.

5. A handover device for a mobile node in a wireless LAN environment, the device comprising:

a beacon scanning unit which scans beacon signals transmitted from access routers adjacent to a mobile node;

a NAR prediction unit which predicts a NAR based on the beacon scanning results;

a preprocessing unit which obtains information on the NAR, predicted by the NAR prediction unit, before an L2 trigger of a link layer occurs;

a NAR information storing unit which stores the information on the NAR, obtained by the preprocessing unit; and

a binding update processing unit which carries out binding update using the information of the NAR, stored in the NAR information storing unit, when the L2 trigger of the link layer occurs.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein if among the scanned beacon signals, there is a beacon signal whose intensity continues to increase and a ratio of the intensity of the corresponding beacon signal to the intensity of a beacon signal, transmitted from a PAR, exceeds a predetermined value, the NAR prediction unit predicts an access router that has transmitted the corresponding beacon signal as the NAR.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein the preprocessing unit issues a request for prefix information of the NAR to the PAR, receives the prefix information of the NAR from the PAR, and stores the received prefix information of the NAR in the NAR information storing unit.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the binding update processing unit creates a care-of-address (CoA) using medium access control (MAC) information of the mobile node and the prefix information of the NAR, stored in the NAR information storing unit, sends a binding update message to the PAR using the created CoA, and receives a binding acknowledgement message from the PAR.

9. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program enabling a handover method is written, the handover method comprising:

a) scanning beacon signals transmitted from neighboring access routers to a mobile node;

b) predicting a new access router (NAR) based on the beacon scanning results;

c) obtaining information on the predicted NAR before an L2 trigger of a link layer occurs; and

d) carrying out binding update using the information on the predicted NAR when the L2 trigger of the link layer occurs.