Providing routing information in a communication system

• US 20060121904A1
• Filed: 11/04/2003
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Boda, Peter Pal, Kulha, Jukka, Nikander, Jukka, Reuhkala, Erkki, Rautiola, Markku
• Granted Patent: US 9,338,637 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/16 WPBX [Wireless Private Branch Exchange]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/06 between gateways and public network devices

Abstract

A method for providing routing information for establishing connections over a communication system comprising a plurality of communication networks is described. The method comprises storing location dependent routing information in a data storage, providing a terminal with location dependent routing information stored in the data storage and establishing connection between the terminal and at least one other terminal using location dependent routing information provided by the data storage. At least one of the terminals is a mobile terminal and information for routing the connection between the terminals is selected based on the location of the at least one mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A method for providing routing information for establishing connections over a communication system comprising a plurality of communication networks, the method comprising:

storing location dependent routing information in a data storage;

providing a terminal with location dependent routing information stored in the data storage; and

establishing connection between the terminal and at least one other terminal using location dependent routing information provided by the data storage, wherein at least one of the terminals is a mobile terminal and information for routing the connection between the terminals is selected based on the location of the at least one mobile terminal.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of establishing the connection comprises initiating the connection establishment by the at least one mobile terminal.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of establishing the connection comprises initiating the connection establishment by a terminal other than the at least one mobile terminal.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further steps of storing at least two sets of location dependent routing information in the mobile terminal, and selecting information from one of the sets of routing information based on the location of the mobile terminal.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least two sets of location dependent routing information comprise sets of routing information for use in the home network and in at least one visited network.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, comprising the further step of receiving by the mobile terminal in a roaming situation the set of routing information relating to the visited network in which the mobile station is roaming.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cost of the connection is optimized by means of the location dependent routing information.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further step of updating the location dependent routing information in response to an event.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the updating is triggered by one of the following:

predetermined change in location of the mobile terminal, connection set-up by the mobile terminal, a request for update, receipt of information from a subscriber information database of a home network of the mobile terminal, change in the routing information associated with an individual mobile terminal, detection of wireless local are network, detection of personal area network, or change in presence status.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, the step of establishing the connection comprising routing the connection via a first communication network serving the calling terminal, a second communication network serving the called terminal and a third communication network.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of routing comprises routing the connection by means of an access point entity interfacing the third communication network with at least one of the first and second communication networks.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising selecting the access point entity based on the location of the mobile station.

13. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the third communication network comprises a packet switched data network.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein communication of data over said data network is based on the Internet Protocol.

15. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data storage is provided in a routing server, the step of providing a terminal with location dependent routing information comprising the step of transmitting the location dependent routing information to the terminal.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising initiating a procedure for connection establishment by sending a voice command from the terminal to the routing server.

17. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising determining the location of the mobile terminal based on an indicator received from a communication network serving the mobile terminal.

18. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising determining the location of the mobile terminal based on information regarding the geographical location of the mobile terminal.

19. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising computing at least one additional set of location dependent routing information based on location dependent routing information stored in the data storage and a master set of routing information.

20. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of inputting in the terminal a telephone number of the other terminal, and routing the connection between the terminals based on the location dependent routing information.

21. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a calling terminal automatically uses location dependent routing information for establishing connections.

22. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of the terminals is a computer, the step of establishing a connection comprising establishing a data connection between the at least one mobile terminal and the computer.

23. A computer program comprising program code means for performing any of the steps of claim 1 when the program is run on a computing means.

24. An arrangement in a communication system comprising a plurality of communication networks for providing a terminal with information for establishing a connection to at least one other terminal, the arrangement comprising:

a data storage for storing location dependent routing information;

means for transferring location dependent information from the data storage to the terminal; and

in the terminal, means for establishing a connection between the terminal and at least one other terminal using location dependent routing information provided by the data storage, wherein at least one of the terminals is a mobile terminal and information for routing the connection between the terminals is selected based on the location of the at least one mobile terminal.

25. A mobile terminal enabled to communicate via a plurality of communication networks of a communication system, the mobile terminal comprising:

input means for input of location dependent routing information for use in establishing a connection over the communication system; and

connection establishment means for initiating establishment of a connection to another terminal based on the location dependent routing information.

26. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 25, comprising processing means for processing information associated with the location of the mobile terminal and configured to select routing information for connection establishment based on the location thereof.

27. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 25, comprising memory means for storing at least two sets of location dependent information, and being configured to select information from one of the sets of information based on the location of the mobile terminal.

28. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 25, wherein the connection establishment means are configured to automatically use location dependent routing information if available.

29. A routing server configured to store location dependent routing information, to receive information of the location of a mobile station, to modify the location dependent routing information based on the location of the mobile station and to transmit location dependent routing information to terminals.