Method for discovering neighbor networks in mobile station and network system for enabling the method

• US 20090135758A1
• Filed: 06/05/2006
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Han, Youn-Hee, Jang, Hee-Jin, Choi, JinHyeock, Liu, Xiaoyu, Alper, Yegin
• Granted Patent: US 8,619,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4541 Directories for service discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wireless network, and more particularly, a method (*“and system”?*) which a mobile station discovers a neighbor network in an Internet protocol based wireless network, a network management server for enabling the method, and a method of operating the network management server. A network management server of a wireless network system, the server including: a neighborhood (NH) database maintaining configuration information with respect to at least one neighbor network; a communication interface receiving a request message for capability/configuration information of the neighbor network from a mobile station which is connected via a predetermined access point or a base station; and a database management unit extracting the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network which is included in the request message by referring to the neighborhood database, and controlling a reply message including the capability/configuration information to be transmitted to the mobile station via the communication interface.

Claims

1. A network management server of a wireless network system, the server comprising:

a neighborhood (NH) database maintaining configuration information with respect to at least one neighbor network;

a communication interface receiving a request message for capability/configuration information of the neighbor network from a mobile station which is connected via a predetermined access point or a base station; and

a database management unit extracting the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network which is included in the request message by referring to the neighborhood database, and controlling a reply message including the capability/configuration information to be transmitted to the mobile station via the communication interface.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein the network management server is a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server.

3. The server of claim 1, wherein the request message comprises a service identifier and an option length, and selectively includes media access control (MAC) address information of a target neighbor network.

4. The server of claim 3, wherein the reply message comprises the service identifier and the option length, and the reply message optionally includes:

1) the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network, when the MAC address information of the target neighbor network is included in the request message, and

2) the capability/configuration information of all networks which are recorded in the neighborhood database, when the MAC address information of the target neighbor network is not included in the request message.

5. The server of claim 1, wherein the request message is in a format of a media independent handover function (MIHF) frame according to IEEE 802.21, and comprises a media independent handover (MIH) identifier field comprising a service identifier and an option length and an MIHF payload field selectively including MAC address information of a target neighbor network.

6. The server of claim 1, wherein the reply message is in a format of an MIHF frame according to IEEE 802.21, and comprises an MIH identifier field comprising a service identifier and an option length and the MIHF payload field including the capability/configuration information of a target neighbor network.

7. The server of claim 6, wherein the capability/configuration information of the target neighbor network included in the MIHF payload field includes the capability/configuration information with respect to all neighbor networks which are recorded in the neighborhood database or a particular target neighbor network which included in the request message.

8. The server of claim 1, wherein the network management server is located for each wireless network of the wireless network system.

9. The server of claim 1, wherein the capability/configuration information comprises at least one of the access point of the neighbor network or a MAC address of the base station, an operator identifier, a network access server (NAS) identifier, IP identifier information, network type, IP version 4/6 (IPv4/6), a radio type, a roaming partner list, compatibility information of IPv4/IPv6, security, quality of service (QoS) level information of each network, current load information for each neighbor network, a geographical location, a pre-authentication function, a pricing plan, a location based service (LBS) list, information of supporting virtual private network (VPN), a physical layer type, and a channel parameter.

10. The server of claim 1, wherein the wireless network system is an all internet protocol (ALL-IP).

11. A method of discovering a neighbor network, the method comprising:

receiving beacon information from the neighbor network, and identifying the neighbor network by using the beacon information;

transmitting a request message for capability/configuration information of the neighbor network to a predetermined network management server via an access point or a base station; and

receiving a reply message including the capability/configuration information with respect to the neighbor network from the network management server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the beacon information comprises the access point or a MAC address of the base station.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the network management server is a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the request message comprises a service identifier and an option length, and selectively includes media access control (MAC) address information of a target neighbor network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the reply message comprises the service identifier and the option length, and the reply message further includes:

1) the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network, when the MAC address information of the target neighbor network is included in the request message, and

2) the capability/configuration information of all networks which are recorded in the neighborhood database, when the MAC address information of the target neighbor network is not included in the request message.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the request message is in a format of a media independent handover function (MIHF) frame according to IEEE 802.21, and comprises a media independent handover (MIH) identifier field comprising a service identifier and an option length, and an MIHF payload field selectively including MAC address information of a target neighbor network.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the reply message has the MIHF frame format according to the IEEE 802.21, and comprises the MIH identifier field comprising the service identifier and the option length, and the MIHF payload field including the capability/configuration information of the target neighbor network.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the capability/configuration information of the target neighbor network included in the MIHF payload field includes the capability/configuration information with respect to all neighbor networks which are recorded in the neighborhood database or in a particular target neighbor network which is included in the request message.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the network management server is installed for each wireless network of the wireless network system.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the capability/configuration information comprises at least one of the access point of the neighbor network or a MAC address of the base station, an operator identifier, a network access server (NAS) identifier, IP identifier information, network type, an IP version 4/6 (IPv4/6), a radio type, a roaming partner list, compatibility information of IPv4/IPv6, security, quality of service (QoS) level information of each network, current load information for each neighbor network, a geographical location, a pre-authentication function, a pricing plan, a location based service (LBS) list, information of supporting virtual private network (VPN), a physical layer type, and a channel parameter.

21. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

analyzing the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network which is included in the reply message;

selecting the neighbor network which will connect based on a result of the analysis; and

connecting the selected neighbor network.

22. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementing a neighbor network discovery method comprising, the method comprising:

receiving beacon information from the neighbor network, and identifying the neighbor network by using the beacon information;

transmitting a request message for capability/configuration information of the neighbor network to a predetermined network management server via an access point or a base station; and

receiving a reply message including the capability/configuration information with respect to the neighbor network from the network management server.

23. A method of providing neighbor network information, the method comprising:

maintaining a neighborhood database recording capability/configuration information with respect to at least one neighbor network which is located around a network management server;

receiving a request message for the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network from a mobile station which is connected via a predetermined access point or a base station; and

extracting the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network which is included in the request message by referring to the neighborhood database, and transmitting a reply message including the capability/configuration information to the mobile station.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the network management server is a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server.

25. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementing a method of providing neighbor network information, the method comprising:

maintaining a neighborhood database recording capability/configuration information with respect to at least one neighbor network which is located around a network management server;

receiving a request message for the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network from a mobile station which is connected via a predetermined access point or a base station; and

extracting the capability/configuration information of the neighbor network which is included in the request message by referring to the neighborhood database, and transmitting a reply message including the capability/configuration information to the mobile station.