Method of communication supporting media independent handover

• US 20060227747A1
• Filed: 04/06/2006
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kwak, Yong Won, Lee, Jin, Kim, Yong Ho
• Granted Patent: US 7,596,118 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/005 involving radio access media independent information, e.g. MIH [Media independent Hand-off]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface

Abstract

The present invention relates to performing handover of a mobile terminal to a network. Preferably, the present invention generates a first heterogeneous protocol message from a heterogeneous network handover module to a medium access control (MAC) of the mobile terminal, wherein the heterogeneous network handover module is configured to provide convergence of information from at least one network interface module associated with one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into a unified presentation. A management request associated with a handover process is then transmitted to a serving network, wherein the management request comprises the first heterogeneous protocol message. Accordingly, messages can be remotely exchanged via a radio section between heterogeneous network handover modules of a mobile terminal and a serving network. Therefore, messages are transferred faster and media independent handover is performed more quickly.

Claims

1. A method for performing handover of a mobile terminal to a network, the method comprising:

generating a first heterogeneous protocol message from a heterogeneous network handover module to a medium access control (MAC) of the mobile terminal, wherein the heterogeneous network handover module is configured to provide convergence of information from at least one network interface module associated with one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into a unified presentation; and

transmitting a management request associated with a handover process to a serving network, wherein the management request comprises the first heterogeneous protocol message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a management response associated with the handover process from the serving network, wherein the management response comprises a second heterogeneous protocol message prepared by the serving network; and

communicating the second heterogeneous protocol message to the heterogeneous network handover module of the mobile terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first heterogeneous protocol message comprises at least one of a handover imminent message and a control and management message related to the heterogeneous network handover module.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first heterogeneous protocol message comprises at least one of event data, command data and information data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the management request is provided from the heterogeneous network handover module and is communicated to the MAC through one of a control service access point and a management service access point.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second heterogeneous protocol message in the heterogeneous network handover module of the serving network in response to the first heterogeneous protocol message;

communicating the second heterogeneous protocol message from the heterogeneous network handover module to the medium access control (MAC) of the serving network; and

transmitting a management response associated with the handover process to the mobile terminal, wherein the management response comprises the second heterogeneous protocol message.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the management response is provided from the heterogeneous network handover module and is communicated to the MAC through one of a control service access point and a management service access point.

6. A method for performing handover of a mobile terminal to a network, the method comprising:

receiving in a medium access control (MAC) of a serving network a management request associated with a handover process from the mobile terminal, wherein the management request comprises a first heterogeneous protocol message; and

communicating the first heterogeneous protocol message to a heterogeneous network handover module of the serving network, wherein the heterogeneous network handover module is configured to provide convergence of information from at least one network interface module associated with one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into a unified presentation.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first heterogeneous protocol message comprises at least one of a handover imminent message and a control and management message related to the heterogeneous network handover module.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the first heterogeneous protocol message comprises at least one of event data, command data and information data.

11. A method for performing handover from a mobile terminal to a network, the method comprising:

providing a heterogeneous protocol message from a heterogeneous network handover module to a convergence sublayer module, wherein the heterogeneous network handover module is configured to provide convergence of information from at least one network interface module associated with one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into a unified presentation;

providing a service flow creation request from the convergence sublayer module to a medium access control (MAC) of the mobile terminal in response to the heterogeneous protocol message;

transmitting a request to a serving network, the request being associated with setting up a protocol to communicate the heterogeneous protocol message;

receiving a response associated with setting up the protocol to communicate the heterogeneous protocol message; and

communicating a service flow creation confirmation from the MAC to the convergence sublayer module.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the heterogeneous protocol message is communicated to the serving network through a frame having an identifier for distinguishing the heterogeneous protocol message.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing the heterogeneous protocol message from the convergence sublayer module of the mobile terminal to a heterogeneous network handover module of the serving network.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting an acknowledgment to the serving network for acknowledging successful receipt of the response associated with setting up the protocol to communicate the heterogeneous protocol message.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the heterogeneous protocol message comprises at least one of event data, command data and information data.

16. A method for performing handover from a mobile terminal to a network, the method comprising:

receiving a request in a medium access control (MAC) of a serving network, wherein the request is associated with setting up a protocol to communicate a heterogeneous protocol message;

providing a service flow creation indication from the medium access control (MAC) to a convergence sublayer module of the serving network in response to the request;

communicating the service flow creation indication from a convergence sublayer module to a heterogeneous network handover module of the serving network, wherein the heterogeneous network handover module is configured to provide convergence of information from at least one network interface module associated with one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into unified presentation;

providing a service flow creation response from the heterogeneous network handover module to the convergence sublayer module in response to the service flow creation indication;

communicating the service flow creation response from the convergence sublayer module to the medium access control (MAC); and

transmitting a response to the mobile terminal, wherein the response is associated with setting up the protocol to communicate the heterogeneous protocol message.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the heterogeneous protocol message is communicated to the serving network through a frame having an identifier for distinguishing the heterogeneous protocol message.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving the heterogeneous protocol message from a convergence sublayer module of the mobile terminal to the heterogeneous network handover module of the serving network.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving an acknowledgment from the mobile terminal for acknowledging successful receipt of the response associated with setting up the protocol to communicate the heterogeneous protocol message.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the heterogeneous protocol message comprises at least one of event data, command data and information data.

21. A method for performing handover from a mobile terminal to a network, the method comprising:

receiving a request in a medium access control (MAC) of a serving network, wherein the request is associated with setting up a protocol to communicate a heterogeneous protocol message;

providing a service flow creation indication from the medium access control (MAC) to a convergence sublayer module of the serving network in response to the request;

providing a service flow creation response from the convergence sublayer module to the medium access control (MAC) in response to the service flow creation indication; and

transmitting a response to the mobile terminal, wherein the response is associated with setting up the protocol to communicate the heterogeneous protocol message.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the heterogeneous protocol message is communicated to the serving network through a frame having an identifier for distinguishing the heterogeneous protocol message.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving the heterogeneous protocol message from a convergence sublayer module of the mobile terminal to a heterogeneous network handover module of the serving network, wherein the heterogeneous network handover module is configured to provide convergence of information from at least one network interface module associated with one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into a unified presentation.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving an acknowledgment from the mobile terminal for acknowledging successful receipt of the response associated with setting up the protocol to communicate the heterogeneous protocol message.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the heterogeneous protocol message comprises at least one of event data, command data and information data.