Handover Between a Cellular Network and an Unlicensed-Radio Access Network Using a Single Identifier for All the Access Points
First Claim
1. An access network adapted to communicate with a mobile terminal and a core network portion (20) of a mobile telecommunications network, said access network comprising:
- a plurality of local base stations (301) each defining a mini-cell and adapted to communicate with mobile terminals (1) located in a respective mini-cell over an unlicensed-radio interface (31);
an access network controller (303) adapted to communicate with said core network portion over a predetermined licensed mobile network interface and connected to said plurality of local base stations (301);
characterised in that all said mini-cells are assigned a common identifier associated with said access network controller.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In cellular mobile networks handover between base stations of adjacent cells requires the identity, address and frequency of all adjacent cells to be known to other elements of the network. Conventional networks can be extended by the addition of unlicensed-radio access networks. These include an access network controller (303) preferably connected via a broadband network (302) to a plurality of low-power local base stations (301), which communicate with mobile stations (1) over an unlicensed radio interface. The number and changing location of the local base station renders the operation and maintenance required to enable handover from the conventional network to these access networks prohibitively complex. This difficulty is alleviated by assigning the whole access network a single identifier. With this arrangement regardless of which base station mini-cell (304) an active call is being handed-over to, the conventional network will be able to route the request to the access network controller.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An access network adapted to communicate with a mobile terminal and a core network portion (20) of a mobile telecommunications network, said access network comprising:
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a plurality of local base stations (301) each defining a mini-cell and adapted to communicate with mobile terminals (1) located in a respective mini-cell over an unlicensed-radio interface (31);
an access network controller (303) adapted to communicate with said core network portion over a predetermined licensed mobile network interface and connected to said plurality of local base stations (301);
characterised in that all said mini-cells are assigned a common identifier associated with said access network controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A mobile telecommunications network including a core network portion (20), at least one first access network (10), and at least one second access network portion (30), wherein said first and second access network portions are adapted to communicate with a mobile terminal (1) and said core network portion (20) said at least one second access network comprising:
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a plurality of local base stations (301) each defining a mini-cell and adapted to communicate with mobile terminals (1) located in a respective mini-cell over an unlicensed-radio interface (31);
an access network controller (303) adapted to communicate with said core network portion over a predetermined licensed mobile network interface and connected with said plurality of local base stations (301), characterised in that all said mini-cells are assigned a common identifier associated with said access network controller. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for handing over communication with a mobile station from a cell of a public licensed mobile network to a mini-cell of an unlicensed-radio access network connected to said public mobile network, said public licensed mobile network comprising an access portion including a base station (10) defining said cell and a core network portion including a switching control part (202) connected to said base station, said unlicensed-radio access network (30) comprising a plurality of local base stations (301) each defining a mini-cell and adapted to communicate with a mobile station (1) via an unlicensed-radio interface and an access network controller (303) adapted to communicate with said local base stations and with the core network portion of said public mobile network, said method including:
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allocating a common identifier to all local base stations connected to said access network controller, each local base station communicating at least a part of said common identifier to a mobile station (1) located within the associated mini-cell via said unlicensed-radio interface, said access network controller (303) responding to a handover request message received from the core network portion by generating a handover reference and transmitting said handover reference as a handover acknowledgment message to said core network portion (10), said access network controller (303) receiving said handover reference from said mobile station via said local base station (301) and setting up a communication path over said fixed broadband network with said local base station in response to said received handover reference. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification