METHOD AND STRUCTURES FOR MOBILITY POLICY IN A WIMAX COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

• US 20110149926A1
• Filed: 05/15/2008
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Pandey, Ravi Shankar, LI, Zexian, Pichna, Roman
• Granted Patent: US 8,644,274 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed

Abstract

The invention relates to method and structures for mobility policy e.g. in a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMAX, based communication. According to embodiments, a method and devices for mobility control of a terminal are provided wherein a mobility policy parameter defines the mobility control of the terminal. The mobility policy parameter preferably is part of a mobility policy or subscription record stored for a subscriber of the terminal in a subscriber data base. The mobility policy parameter may include at least one of an indication of mobility restriction, possibly indicating included or excluded cells or areas etc; an indication of fixed access, indicating a fixed base station to which the subscriber has to request access; nomadicity, indicating that no handover is allowed for that particular subscriber; and restricted mobility limited to a group of base stations or areas. Embodiments allow to deploy mobile WiMAX for fixed access applications, enabling reuse of existing technology and further development towards full mobility.

Claims

1. Method for mobility control of a terminal, wherein a mobility policy parameter is provided which defines the mobility control of the terminal, the mobility policy parameter preferably being part of a mobility policy or subscription record stored for a subscriber of the terminal in a subscriber data base.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the mobility policy parameter includes at least one of an indication of mobility restriction;

an indication of fixed access, indicating a fixed base station to which the subscriber has to request access;

nomadicity, indicating that no handover is allowed for that particular subscriber; and

restricted mobility limited to a group of base stations or areas.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal and an access network or access services network are configured for communication based on mobile worldwide interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX.

4. Method according to claim 1, wherein the mobility policy parameter includes, for defining a mobility restriction of the subscriber, at least one of base station identifiers,

paging group identifiers,

zone identifiers which comprise at least one of a list of paging group identifiers or base station identifiers,

a list of base station identifiers for small zones,

a list of paging group identifiers for large zones,

a list of zone identifiers;

or

a list of base station identifiers/paging group identifiers/zone identifiers,

wherein each identifier or list may optionally be accompanied by an indication indicating inclusion or exclusion of the respective base station, paging group or zone into or from e.g. an allowed network entry, handover, location update or mode change.

5. Method according to claim 1, wherein the mobility policy parameter is provisioned into a base station, and is propagated to an access services network gateway;

or a base station announces its membership to zones of the mobility policy parameter to an access services network gateway in a discovery phase;

or a network entry signaling is augmented with paging group or zone identifiers.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the mobility policy parameter is provided by provisioning a zone/base station identifier mapping into at least one access services network gateway.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein an authorization message carries the mobility policy parameter.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein a mobility restriction is enforced in at least one of the following procedures, network entry;

idle/active transition;

location update;

or handover.

9. Method according to claim 1, wherein a network entry of the terminal at a new location triggers a hot-lining of the terminal to register a new address, street address or location.

10. Method according to claim 1, wherein a terminal repetitively attempting access after being denied to a certain base station is rejected at subscriber basic capability level negotiation between the terminal and network.

11. Method according to claim 1, wherein a network element performs a policy check based on the mobility policy parameter when the terminal requests at least one of the following procedures, network entry;

idle/active transition;

location update;

or handover.

12. Method according to claim 11, wherein the network element is a gateway or another entity of an access network or access services network.

16. Computer program product comprising program code means adapted to perform any of the steps of claim 1 when the program is run on a computer or processor.

13. Network element adapted to store or retrieve a mobility policy parameter for a terminal, configured to perform a mobility policy check based on the mobility policy parameter when the terminal requests access or a change, and to decide on granting or denying the requested access or change depending on the mobility parameter.

14. Network element according to claim 13, wherein the network element is configured to perform the mobility policy check depending on at least one of the following procedures, network entry;

idle/active transition;

location update;

or handover of the terminal.

15. Network element according to claim 13, wherein the network element is a gateway or another entity of an access network or access services network.

17. System comprising a network element of claim 13, a terminal and a network.