CONVERT IP TELEPHONY NETWORK INTO A MOBILE CORE NETWORK

• US 20100265880A1
• Filed: 01/18/2007
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Oukka, Heikki, Rautiola, Markku
• Granted Patent: US 9,084,032 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5084 Providing for device mobility network addressing or numbering for mobility support in wireless networks H04W8/26; mobile IP H04W80/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/005 Multiple registrations, e.g. multihoming
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A system includes a terminal, a wireless access network, an IP telephony network, a core network gateway from the IP telephony network to the public mobile phone network and a network device, which connects the wireless access network to the IP telephony network and adapts the IP telephony network services to be used by utilizing the circuit-switched signaling protocols of the terminal. A location updating request is received from the terminal over the wireless access network. Location updating is performed via a core network gateway. The network device performs user registration to the IP telephony network using a domain name formed by the phone number of the user and the domain name of the network device or the numeric IP address as the address connection to be registered and as location data in the IP telephony network.

Claims

1. A method for registering a terminal (6) in a multi-service network (102), characterized in that the location of the terminal (6) in the multi-service network (102) is specified with an address combination according to a fully unambiguous identifier of the user and the domain name of a multi-radio protocol gateway (4) or a SS7 gateway (23), or a fully unambiguous domain name formed by a numeric IP address, which connection may be service-specific, or shared by all services.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that said registration is a synchronized combination of a location updating procedure of a circuit-switched part (5) of mobile core network and the registration procedures of a multi-service network (102).

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the registration procedure of the multi service network (102) is performed completely before the acceptance or refusal message of the location updating procedure of the circuit-switched part (5) of the mobile core network is sent to the terminal (6).

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that said address connection is set as a fully unambiguous domain name formed by said user'"'"'s phone number, the multi-radio-protocol-gateway-specific identifier and the domain name of the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) or a numeric IP address when the terminal (6) is located in the area of the multi-service network (102).

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that said address connection is set as a fully unambiguous domain name formed by said user'"'"'s phone number, said multi-radio-protocol-gateway-specific identifier and the domain name of the SS7 gateway (23) or a numeric IP address when the terminal (6) is located in the area of the public mobile phone system.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that as said address connection is registered a fully unambiguous domain name formed by said user'"'"'s phone number, said multi-radio-protocol-gateway-specific identifier and the domain name of the SS7 gateway (23) or a numeric IP address when the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) receives from the multi-service network (102) a response indicating failure or the like to its registration request, or when the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) receives a cancellation of a location updating from a home location register (7).

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the registration of the address connection addressing the SS7 gateway (23) is cancelled, if the acceptance response of the registration request addressing said SS7 gateway (23) received by the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) also includes other address connections than said address connection addressing the SS7 gateway, and if said user'"'"'s fully unambiguous identifier in any of said other address connections includes said multi-radio-protocol-gateway-specific identifier.

8. A system for registering a terminal (6) to a multi-service network (102), characterized in that it comprises

a. a terminal (6), which comprises means to function in a wireless manner or over a fixed connection, and means for performing a location updating procedure of a circuit-switched part of a public mobile core network,

b. a wireless access network (104), which can be a radio network of a public mobile phone system or a radio network utilizing unlicensed frequencies, and

c. a multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which comprises means for registering the terminal (6) to the multi-service network (102) and which together with the subscriber data pool (24) of the multi-service network (102) implements the visitor location register of the public mobile core network.

9. A method for connecting a multi-radio protocol gateway (4) to a subscriber data pool (24) of a multi-service network (102), characterized in that the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) and the subscriber data pool (24) of the core network (102) together form a uniform and combined subscriber data pool.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) is linked to the subscriber data pool (24) of the multi-service network (102) when an address connection addressing the multi-radio protocol gateway is registered in the multi-service network (102) as the address of the terminal (6).

11. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the linking of the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) to the subscriber data pool (24) of the multi-service network (102) is removed when an address connection addressing a SS7 gateway is registered in the multi-service network (102) as the address of the terminal (6).

12. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that said connection is terminal-specific.

13. A system for connecting a multi-radio protocol gateway (4) to a subscriber data pool (24) of a multi-service network (102), characterized in that it comprises

a. a multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which comprises means for registering the terminal (6) to the multi-service network (102), and which together with the subscriber data pool (24) of the multi-service network (102) implements a linked subscriber pool,

b. a multi-service network (102) and its services, which include, for example, IP voice service and the supplementary services connected to it, and the directory service, and

c. an SS7 gateway (23) through which the multi-service network (102) is connected to the public mobile core network.

14. A method for forming a connection between a terminal (6) and a multi-service network (102), characterized in that a phone call establishing procedure of a circuit-switched part (5) of a public mobile core network is connected to a registration and connection formation procedure of the multi-service network (102).

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that as the address of the terminal (6) in the multi-service network (102) is registered an address connection addressing an SS7 gateway (23) when the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) receives a ‘

Not Found’

response or the like to its connection formation request from the multi-service network (102).

16. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that as the address of the terminal (6) in the multi-service network (102) is registered an address connection addressing an SS7 gateway (23) when the terminal repeatedly fails to respond to the paging procedure.

17. A system for connecting a phone call establishing of a packet-switched part (5) of a public mobile core network to a registration and connection formation procedure of a multi-service network (102), characterized in that it comprises

a. a terminal (6), which comprises means for functioning in a wireless manner and means for performing a connection formation procedure of a circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network,

b. a wireless access network (104), which can be a radio network of a public mobile phone system or a radio network utilizing unlicensed frequencies, and

c. a multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which comprises means for performing the registration and connection formation procedure of the multi-service network, and which together with the telephony service (26) of the multi-service network (102) implements the mobile services switching center of the public mobile core network.

18. A method for connecting a handover procedure of a public mobile phone system to the connection transfer procedure of a multi-service network (102),

characterized in that a new channel is selected from the area of the multi-radio protocol gateway (4), if the handover request received by the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) has suggested this and if there are free channels in the area of the multi-radio protocol gateway (4),

and which is characterized in that otherwise said new channel is selected from the area of another multi-radio protocol gateway in the same domain area, if said handover request received by the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) has suggested this and if there are free channels in the area of said other multi-radio protocol gateway,

and which is characterized in that otherwise said new channel is selected from the area of another multi-radio protocol gateway in another domain area, if said handover request received by the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) has suggested this and if there are free channels in the area of the other multi-radio protocol gateway of said other domain,

and which is characterized in that otherwise said new channel is selected from the area of said public mobile phone system.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that after receiving said handover request from the wireless access network (104) the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) relays said handover request to another selected multi-radio protocol gateway (which can also be the same as the multi-radio protocol gateway (4)), which said other multi-radio protocol gateway after receiving said handover request sends it to another wireless access network (which may also be the same as the wireless access network (104)), which said second wireless access network after allocating the necessary resources, including the new channel, sends a handover request response indicating the acceptance of said handover back to said second multi-radio protocol gateway, which said second multi-radio protocol gateway directs said handover request response further to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which multi-radio protocol gateway (4) after receiving said handover request response sends a handover command to the wireless access network (104), which wireless access network (104) relays said handover command to the terminal (6), which terminal (6) after receiving said handover command transfers to said new channel and notifies it to said second wireless access network, which said second wireless access network notifies of said transfer to said second multi-radio protocol gateway, which said second multi-radio protocol gateway notifies to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) of the transfer of the terminal (6) to said new channel, which second said multi-radio protocol gateway, after receiving the handover completion response from said second wireless access network after said second wireless access network has detected that the terminal (6) communicates successfully on said new channel, send said handover completion response to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which multi-radio protocol gateway (4) commands the wireless access network (104) to release the allocated (old) resources.

20. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that after receiving said handover request from the wireless access network (104) the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) can relay said handover request to the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, which circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, after allocating the necessary resources, sends said handover request response to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) which multi-radio protocol gateway (4), after receiving said handover request response, sends to the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network a circuit set-up request, if no circuit is in use, which circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, after receiving said circuit set-up request, acknowledges said circuit set-up request to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which multi-radio protocol gateway (4), after receiving said circuit set-up request, acknowledgement sends said handover command to the wireless access network (104), which wireless access network (104) relays said handover command to the terminal (6), which terminal (6) after receiving said handover command transfers to said new channel and notifies it to the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, which circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, after receiving said transfer notification from the terminal (6), notifies the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) of the transfer of the terminal (6), which circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network sends said handover completion response to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) which multi-radio protocol gateway (4), after receiving said handover completion response, commands the wireless access network (104) to release the allocated (old) resources.

21. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that after receiving said handover request from the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) sends it to the wireless access network (104), which wireless access network (104), after allocating the necessary resources, sends said handover request response indicating the acceptance of said handover back to said second multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which multi-radio protocol gateway (4) directs said handover request response to the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, which circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, after receiving said handover request response, sends to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) said circuit set-up request, if no circuit is in use, which multi-radio protocol gateway (4) acknowledges said circuit set-up request to the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, which circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network sends said handover command to the terminal (6), which terminal (6), after receiving said handover command, transfers to said new channel and notifies it to said second wireless access network (104), which wireless access network (104) notifies the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) of the transfer, which multi-radio protocol gateway (4) notifies the transfer of the terminal (6) to the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network, which multi-radio protocol gateway (4), after receiving the handover completion response from said second wireless access network (104) after the wireless access network (104) has detected that the terminal (6) communicates successfully on the new channel, sends said handover completion response to the circuit-switch part (5) of the public mobile core network.

22. The method according to claims 18 and 19, characterized in that after receiving said handover request form the wireless access network (104) the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) can relay to said second multi-radio protocol gateway selected in said handover request the connection data of the second end point of the telephony service (26) of the multi-service network of the connection in question in order to create a connection to said second end point of the telephony service (26), which said second multi-radio protocol gateway, after receiving said handover request, sends it to said second wireless access network, which said second wireless access network, after allocating said necessary resources, sends said handover request response indicating the acceptance of said handover request back to said second multi-radio protocol gateway, which said second multi-radio protocol gateway directs said handover request response further to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which multi-radio protocol gateway (4), after receiving said handover request response, sends said connection transfer request to said second end point of the telephony service (26), which said second end point, after receiving said connection transfer request, sends the connection transfer request to said second multi-radio protocol gateway, which said second multi-radio protocol gateway accepts and responds to said connection formation request of said second end point of the telephony service (26) with a connection formation request response including said connection data of the telephony service (26) of said second multi-radio protocol gateway, which said second endpoint of the telephony service (26), after receiving said connection formation request response, notifies said connection formation progress to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which said second multi-radio protocol gateway, after receiving said handover completion response from said second wireless access network after said second wireless access network has detected that the terminal (6) communicates successfully on said new channel, sends a connection formation acceptance response to said second end point of the telephony service (26), which said second end-point of the telephony service (26), after receiving said connection formation acceptance response notifies said connection transfer completion of the telephony service (26) to the multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which multi-radio protocol gateway (4) can cancel said connection for its own part with said second end point of the telephony service (26).

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that said second multi-radio protocol gateway uses the said connection data of said second end point of the telephony service (26) received from the multi-radio protocol gateway for forming a connection with said second end point of the telephony service (26), unless said second multi-radio protocol gateway received said connection data of said second end point of the telephony service (26) in said connection transfer request send by said second end point of the telephony service (26).

24. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that the multi-radio protocol gateway (4) and said second multi-radio protocol gateway have a specific address of the end point of the telephony service (26) for said handover, to which specific address of the end point of the telephony service (26) said connection transfer is made.

25. A system for connecting a handover procedure of a public mobile phone system to a connection transfer procedure of a multi-service network (102), characterized in that it comprises

a. a terminal (6), which comprises means for functioning in a wireless manner and means for communicating with the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network by using the connection procedure of the circuit-switched part (5) of the public mobile core network over the wireless access network (104),

b. a wireless access network (104), which can be a radio network of a public mobile phone system or a radio network utilizing unlicensed frequencies, and

c. a multi-radio protocol gateway (4), which comprises means for performing said handover procedure of the public mobile phone system and means for performing said connection transfer procedure of the multi-service network.

d. a multi-service network (102) and its services, which include, for example, IP voice service and the supplementary services connected to it, and the directory service, and

e. end points of the multi-service network (102), which are, for example, SIP user agents and Skype clients.