ACCESS NETWORK DISCOVERY AND SELECTION IN A MULTI-ACCESS TECHNOLOGY CELLULAR COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20110044253A1
• Filed: 02/16/2009
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Zisimopoulos, Haris
• Granted Patent: US 8,493,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/75 Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0007 for multicast or broadcast services, e.g. MBMS multicast or broadcast application services H04W4/06; resource management for broadcast services H04W72/30; connection management for selective distribution or broadcast H04W76/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/12 Reselecting a serving backbone network switching or routing node
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1443 between licensed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
• 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 wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) is capable of communicating with a plurality of communication networks in a cellular communication system, where the plurality of communication networks employ a respective plurality of radio access technologies. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) comprises a receiver for receiving a message from a network device in the cellular communication system; and signal processing logic, operably coupled to the receiver, for determining from the received message a hierarchical policy of network information that applies to the plurality of radio access technologies.

Claims

1. A wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) capable of communicating with a plurality of communication networks that are operably coupled to a gateway in a cellular communication system, where the plurality of communication networks employ a respective plurality of radio access technologies, the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) comprising:

a receiver for receiving a message from a network device in the cellular communication system; and

signal processing logic, operably coupled to the receiver, for determining from the received message a hierarchical policy of network information that applies to the plurality of radio access technologies.

2. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical policy of network information comprises a global policy of network information that is associated with the plurality of radio access technologies in the geographical area of the cellular communication system.

3. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 1 wherein the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) is attached to a first communication network and wherein the hierarchical policy of network information is segmented according to the first communication network'"'"'s mobility management geographical index.

4. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 3 wherein the message comprising a global policy of network information is received at the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) when the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) attaches to the first communication network.

5. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 3 wherein the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) is in an active mode when attached to a first communication network, such that the signal processing logic is capable of retrieving a local policy of network information according to the first communication network'"'"'s mobility management from the network device.

6. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 5 wherein the signal processing logic is further capable of retrieving a local policy of network information related to at least one radio access technology of the plurality of radio access technologies when in close proximity to a geographical location of the a second communication network based on the hierarchical policy message.

7. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 3 wherein the message comprises a local policy of network information received by the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) when the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) is in an idle mode and moves into a new tracking area of the communication system.

8. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 5 wherein the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) is attached to a first communication network in idle mode such that the local policy is retrieved following the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) moving into an active mode in the first communication network.

9. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 5 wherein the local policy is associated with at least one second network, such that the mobility management geographical index of the first communication network indicates that the at least one second communication network is a neighbouring network of the first communication network.

10. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 1 wherein the signal processing logic is further capable of retrieving the hierarchical policy of network information that applies to the plurality of radio access technologies using a protocol that is transparent to at least one network element associated with the plurality of communication networks.

11. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 10 wherein the protocol causes the message to be transparent to the at least one network element associated with the plurality of communication networks as it is perceived as user plane traffic.

12. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 1 further comprising a memory element operably coupled to signal processing logic and arranged to store the hierarchical policy of network information that applies to the plurality of radio access technologies.

13. The wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) of claim 1 wherein the plurality of communication networks comprise at least one of:

an universal telecommunications radio access network (UTRAN) version of a third generation partnership project (3GPP) network, a GSM-EDGE radio access network (GERAN), a long-term evolution (LTE) version of a 3GPP network and a Mobile WiMAX network.

14. A network device (430, 530, 630) for assisting discovery and selection of available networks from a plurality of communication networks that are operably coupled to a gateway in a cellular communication system and employ a respective plurality of radio access technologies, the network device (430, 530, 630) comprising:

logic for transmitting a message in the cellular communication system to a wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605);

wherein the message comprises a hierarchical policy of network information associated with the plurality of radio access technologies.

15. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the hierarchical policy of network information comprises a global policy of network information that applies to the plurality of radio access technologies

16. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the hierarchical policy is segmented according to a first communication network'"'"'s mobility management geographical index.

17. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the message comprises a global policy and the logic transmits the message to a wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) when the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) attaches to a first communication network.

18. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the logic transmits the message comprising a global policy to a wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) when the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) is identified as being in an idle mode and having moved into a new tracking area of the communication system.

19. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the logic for transmitting a message transmits to the wireless communication unit a local policy related to at least one radio access technology of the plurality of radio access technologies based on the hierarchical policy information message.

20. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the local policy is segmented according to the respective communication network'"'"'s mobility management geographical index.

21. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein a protocol used to transmit the message is transparent to network elements associated with the plurality of communication networks.

22. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 21 wherein the protocol causes the message to be transparent to network elements associated with the plurality of communication networks as it is perceived as user plane traffic.

23. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the network device is adapted to support communications in at least one of:

an universal telecommunications radio access network (UTRAN) version of a third generation partnership project (3GPP) system, a GSM-EDGE radio access network (GERAN), a long-term evolution (LTE) version of a 3GPP system and a Mobile WiMAX system.

24. The network device (430, 530, 630) of claim 14 wherein the network device is an Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) network device.

25. A communication system comprising a plurality of communication networks employing a respective plurality of radio access technologies that are operably coupled to a gateway, wherein the communication system comprises:

at least one wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) capable of communicating with the plurality of communication networks, and

at least one network device (430, 530, 630) for assisting discovery and selection of a communication network from the plurality of communication networks, the at least one network device (430, 530, 630) comprising;

logic for transmitting a message to the at least one wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605);

wherein the message comprises a hierarchical policy of network information associated with the plurality of radio access technologies.

26. A method for assisting discovery and selection of a communication network from a plurality of communication networks by a wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) capable of communicating with the plurality of communication networks, where the plurality of communication networks are operably coupled to a gateway in a cellular communication system and employ a respective plurality of radio access technologies, the method comprising:

receiving a message from a network device; and

determining from the received message a hierarchical policy of network information associated with the plurality of radio access technologies.

27. A method for assisting discovery and selection of a communication network from a plurality of communication networks by a wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) capable of communicating with the plurality of communication networks, where the plurality of communication networks employ a respective plurality of radio access technologies, the method comprising:

transmitting a message from a network device to the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) wherein the message comprises a hierarchical policy of network information associated with the plurality of radio access technologies.

28. A computer program product comprising program code for assisting discovery and selection of a communication network from a plurality of communication networks by a wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) capable of communicating with the plurality of communication networks, where the plurality of communication networks are operably coupled to a gateway in a cellular communication system and employ a respective plurality of radio access technologies,

wherein the computer program product comprises program code for:

receiving a message from a network device; and

determining from the received message a hierarchical policy of network information associated with the plurality of radio access.

29. The computer-readable storage element of claim 28, wherein the computer readable storage medium comprises at least one of a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), a EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), a EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flash memory.

30. A computer program product comprising program code for assisting discovery and selection of a communication network from a plurality of communication networks by a wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) capable of communicating with the plurality of communication networks, where the plurality of communication networks employ a respective plurality of radio access technologies,

wherein the computer program product comprises program code for:

transmitting a message from a network device to the wireless communication unit (302, 405, 505, 605) wherein the received message comprises a hierarchical policy of network information associated with the plurality of radio access technologies.

31. The computer-readable storage element (408) of claim 30, wherein the computer readable storage medium comprises at least one of a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), a EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), a EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flash memory.