Method of paging mobile stations, and equipment for implementing that method

• US 20040147271A1
• Filed: 12/17/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Billon, Thierry, Gruet, Christophe
• Application Number:
  US10/739,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20040147271A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/458
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

An infrastructure of a radiocommunication network transmits mobile station paging messages. Each paging message transmitted is preceded by a paging indication message comprising paging indication information identifying a mobile station intended to receive a request contained in the paging message. The paging indication message further comprises a repetition indication field to indicate whether the paging message contains at least one request already contained in a previously transmitted paging message.

Claims

1. A method of paging, via an infrastructure of a radiocommunication network, mobile stations in a group of mobile stations subdivided into sub-groups, comprising the steps of:

transmitting from the infrastructure paging messages for mobile stations in the group, in paging cycles repeated according to a time recurrence scheme, each active paging message containing at least one request intended for a respective mobile station; and

transmitting from the infrastructure, prior to each paging message transmitted for at least one mobile station in the group, a paging indication message comprising paging indication information for each sub-group including at least one mobile station intended to receive a request contained in said paging message, the paging indication message further comprising a repetition indication field to indicate whether said paging message contains at least one request already contained in a previously transmitted paging message.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the repetition indication field precedes, in the paging indication message, the paging indication information.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the repetition indication field is activated only when, if a paging indication is to be activated to page a mobile station in a sub-group, no paging indication has been activated to page another mobile station belonging to the same sub-group during a predetermined number of previous successive paging cycles.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the repetition indication field is encoded by a Boolean variable.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the repetition indication field comprises a plurality of sections each corresponding to a respective sub-group.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a section is activated to indicate a repetition for the corresponding sub-group only when no paging indication has been activated to page a mobile station belonging to said sub-group during a predetermined number of previous successive paging cycles, other than the station for which a paging indication has already been activated.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein an activated section is positioned, in the repetition indication field, according to a sequence number of the corresponding sub-group amongst those of the sub-groups for which a paging indication is activated in the paging indication message.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein an activated section comprises part of the coding of the paging indication information of a sub-group for which a paging indication is activated in the paging indication message.

9. A fixed radiocommunication unit, comprising means for paging mobile stations in a group of mobile stations subdivided into sub-groups, wherein the paging means comprise:

means for controlling transmission of paging messages for mobile stations in the group, in paging cycles repeated according to a time recurrence scheme, each active paging message containing at least one request intended for a respective mobile station; and

means for controlling transmission, prior to each paging message transmitted for at least one mobile station in the group, of a paging indication message comprising paging indication information for each sub-group including at least one mobile station intended to receive a request contained in said paging message, the paging indication message further comprising a repetition indication field to indicate whether said paging message contains at least one request already contained in a previously transmitted paging message.

10. The unit as claimed in claim 9, wherein the repetition indication field precedes, in the paging indication message, the paging indication information.

11. The unit as claimed in claim 9, wherein the means for controlling transmission of the paging indication message are arranged to activate the repetition indication field only when, if a paging indication is to be activated to page a mobile station in a sub-group, no paging indication has been activated to page another mobile station belonging to the same sub-group during a predetermined number of previous successive paging cycles.

12. The unit as claimed in claim 11, wherein the repetition indication field is encoded by a Boolean variable.

13. The unit as claimed in claim 9, wherein the repetition indication field comprises a plurality of sections each corresponding to a respective sub-group.

14. The unit as claimed in claim 13, wherein the means for controlling transmission of the paging indication message are arranged to activate a section to indicate a repetition for the corresponding sub-group only when no paging indication has been activated to page a mobile station belonging to said sub-group during a predetermined number of previous successive paging cycles, other than the station for which a paging indication has already been activated.

15. The unit as claimed in claim 13, wherein an activated section is positioned, in the repetition indication field, according to a sequence number of the corresponding sub-group amongst those of the sub-groups for which a paging indication is activated in the paging indication message.

16. The unit as claimed in claim 13, wherein an activated section comprises part of the coding of the paging indication information of a sub-group for which a paging indication is activated in the paging indication message.

17. A radiocommunication mobile station, comprising:

transceiver means for communicating with an infrastructure of a radiocommunication network transmitting mobile station paging messages according to a time recurrence scheme and paging indication messages each preceding at least one of said paging messages, each active paging message containing at least one request intended for a recipient mobile station of a group of mobile stations subdivided into sub-groups;

means for receiving said messages;

means for analyzing paging indication information included in each paging indication message for each sub-group including at least one mobile station intended to receive a request contained in said paging message;

means for analyzing a repetition indication field included in said paging indication messages to indicate whether said paging message contains at least one request already contained in a previously transmitted paging message; and

means for controlling the reception means to interrupt reception of the paging messages in response to the information carried by the repetition indication field.

18. The mobile station as claimed in claim 17, wherein the means for receiving said messages have a discontinuous reception mode.