SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MOBILITY MANAGEMENT IN OVERLAID MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS

• US 20110256849A1
• Filed: 05/06/2011
• Published: 10/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ATC Technology Corporation (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ATC Technology Corporation (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Dutta, Santanu
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,293 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18545 Arrangements for managing station mobility, i.e. for station registration or localisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18563 Arrangements for interconnecting multiple systems data switching networks H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/12 between location registers or mobility servers

Abstract

Communications of a mobile station with a satellite mobile communications system and a terrestrial mobile communications system are coordinated. The mobile station is registered with the terrestrial mobile communications system and, responsive to the registration of the mobile station with the terrestrial mobile communications system, the mobile station is concurrently registered with the satellite mobile communications system. The concurrent registration may include implicitly registering the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system, e.g., by storing information identifying the mobile station may be stored in a location register of the satellite mobile communications system responsive to the registration of the mobile station with the terrestrial mobile communications system, and maintaining synchronization between the two registrations. Authentication tokens may be pre-generated for quick re-registration with a satellite mobile communications system.

Claims

1. A method of coordinating communications of a mobile station with a satellite mobile communications system, the method comprising:

generating respective copies of a set of authentication tokens at respective ones of the mobile station and the satellite mobile communications system; and

then

performing successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using successive ones of the authentication tokens.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein each of the successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system comprises:

communicating an authentication token from the mobile station to the satellite mobile communications system; and

determining whether the communicated authentication token matches an authentication token generated by the satellite mobile communications system.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein performing successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using successive ones of the authentication tokens comprises:

registering the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using a first one of the authentication tokens;

establishing communications between the mobile station and a terrestrial mobile communications system;

re-establishing communications between the mobile station and the satellite mobile communications system; and

re-registering the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using a second one of the authentication tokens.

4. A method according to claim 3, further comprising communicating security data for the mobile station from the terrestrial mobile communications system to the satellite mobile communications system, and wherein generating respective copies of a set of authentication tokens at respective ones of the mobile station and the satellite mobile communications system comprises generating the respective copies of the set of authentication tokens at respective ones of the mobile station and the satellite mobile communications system from the communicated security data.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein re-registering the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using a second one of authentication tokens comprises re-registering the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system without retrieving additional security data from the terrestrial mobile communications system.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the communicated security data comprises a plurality of triplets, each including a random number, an encrypted value generated from the random number according to a key associated with a subscriber, and a cipher key, and wherein generating respective copies of a set of authentication tokens at respective ones of the mobile station and the satellite mobile communications system from the communicated security data comprises:

communicating the random numbers from the satellite mobile communications system to the mobile station; and

generating matching triplets at the mobile station from the communicated random numbers.

7. A method according to claim 4, further comprising:

communicating new security data from the terrestrial mobile communications system to the satellite mobile communications system responsive to detecting that a predetermined number of the previously generated authentication tokens have been used; and

generating respective copies of a new authentication token at respective ones of the mobile station and the satellite mobile communications system from the communicated new security data.

8. A mobile communications system, comprising:

a satellite mobile communications system that supports generation of respective copies of a set of authentication tokens at respective ones of a mobile station and the satellite mobile communications system and that is further operative to subsequently accept successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using successive ones of the authentication tokens.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the satellite mobile communications system is operative to receive security data for the mobile station from a terrestrial mobile communications system and to generate the copy of the set of authentication tokens from the received security data.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the satellite mobile communications system is further operative to transfer at least a portion of the received security data to the mobile terminal to support generation of the copy of the set of authentication tokens at the mobile station.

11. A system according to claim 9, wherein the satellite mobile communications system is operative to re-register the mobile station therewith without retrieving additional security data from the terrestrial mobile communications system.

12. A system according to claim 9, wherein the received security data comprises a plurality of triplets, each including a random number, an encrypted value generated from the random number according to a key associated with a subscriber, and a cipher key.

13. A system according to claim 9, wherein the satellite mobile communications system is further operative to receive new security data from the terrestrial mobile communications system responsive to detecting that a predetermined number of the previously generated authentication tokens have been used and to generate a copy of a new authentication token from the received new security data.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the satellite mobile communications system is further operative to transfer at least a portion of the received new security data to the mobile terminal to support generation of a copy of the new authentication token at the mobile station.

15. A method performed by a mobile station to coordinate communications of the mobile station with a satellite mobile communications system, the method comprising:

providing a set of authentication tokens; and

then

performing successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using successive ones of the authentication tokens.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein each of the successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system comprises:

communicating an authentication token from the mobile station to the satellite mobile communications system; and

determining whether the communicated authentication token matches an authentication token generated by the satellite mobile communications system.

17. A method performed by a satellite mobile communications system to coordinate communications of a mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system, the method comprising:

generating a set of authentication tokens at the satellite mobile communications system; and

then

performing successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system using successive ones of the authentication tokens.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein each of the successive registrations of the mobile station with the satellite mobile communications system comprises:

receiving an authentication token from the mobile station at the satellite mobile communications system; and

determining whether the communicated authentication token matches an authentication token generated by the satellite mobile communications system.

19. A mobile communications device, comprising:

a mobile station that includes a set of authentication tokens and that is operative to successively register with the satellite mobile communications system using successive ones of the authentication tokens from the set of authentication tokens.

20. A device according to claim 19, wherein the mobile station is further operative to receive security data from the satellite mobile communications system and to generate the set of authentication tokens at the mobile station from the security data.

21. A device according to claim 20, wherein the security data comprises a plurality of triplets, each including a random number, an encrypted value generated from the random number according to a key associated with a subscriber, and a cipher key.