ROUTING OF CALLS TO CORE NETWORK BASED ON THE LOCATION OF THE FEMTO CELL

• US 20110069674A1
• Filed: 09/21/2009
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Starent Networks Corporation (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: SRIVASTAVA, Anal, GAUTAM, Sandeep, OSWAL, Anand, KARNAVAT, Mahavir
• Granted Patent: US 8,599,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A femto gateway maintains information about the location of femto cells and areas served by mobile switching centers. The gateway maintains a mapping so that it selects a desired mobile switching center (MSC) and SGSN that is likely to be used if the user equipment leaves the coverage area of the femto cell and enters a macro cell or vice versa.

Claims

1. A femto gateway for communication with at least one femto cell and a plurality of mobile switching centers, the gateway maintaining location information for the geographical location of the femto cell, and for maintaining a mapping between the location of femto cells and the mobile switching centers, the gateway responsive to a request for service from user equipment (UE) for routing information for communications to a selected mobile switching center that is determined to be likely to cover an area near the femto cell so that if the UE leaves an area served by the femto cell, the UE will likely be served by the same mobile switching center without requiring an inter-MSC handover.

2. The gateway of claim 1, wherein the gateway is responsive to a local area code/routing area code (LAC/RAC) and geographical location of the femto cell while registering the femto cell for use with the gateway.

3. A method for use by a femto gateway comprising:

receiving from a femto cell registration information including geographical location information;

the gateway storing the geographical location of the femto cell;

the gateway maintaining information about the locations of a plurality of mobile switching centers with which the gateway can communicate;

in response to a call through a femto cell, determining a selected mobile switching center that serves a macro cellular area near the femto cell; and

the gateway causing the mobile switching center selected by the gateway to communicate with the user equipment;

the mobile switching center being selected based on femto cell location information to increase the likelihood of the UE using the same mobile switching center if it leaves the range of the femto cell.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the gateway is responsive to a local area code/routing area code (LAC/RAC) and geographical location of the femto cell while registering the femto cell for use with the gateway.