SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING HANDOFF BETWEEN DIFFERENT TYPES OF NETWORKS BY USING A SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE

• US 20110317663A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KT Corporation
• Original Assignee: KT Corporation
• Inventors: CHOI, Woo-Jin, PAIK, Eun-Kyoung, LEE, Seong-Choon, JIN, Sung-Il
• Granted Patent: US 8,718,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0066 of control information between different types of networks in order to establish a new radio link in the target network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/322 by location data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/326 by proximity to another entity

Abstract

A system and method for handing off from a first network to a second network. A determination may be made as to whether an accessible base station of the second network is located in the vicinity of a user equipment based on information on a current location of the user equipment in the first network. An activation message may be generated with a first telephone number as a caller number when an accessible base station of the second network is located in the vicinity of the user equipment based on the determination result. The activation message indicates an initiation of a search for an accessible base station of the second network, and an accessible base station of the second network may be searched for when the activation message with the first telephone number is received. A handoff from the first network to the second network may then be executed when the accessible base station of the second network is located.

Claims

1. A method for handing off a communication session of a user equipment from a first network to a second network, the method comprising;

determining whether an accessible base station of the second network is located in a vicinity of the user equipment based on information on a current location of the user equipment within the first network;

generating an activation message with a first telephone number as a caller number when the accessible base station of the second network is determined to be located in the vicinity of the user equipment;

transmitting the generated activation message to the user equipment;

searching, by the user equipment, for the accessible base station of the second network when the activation message with the first telephone number is received by the user equipment; and

executing the handoff from the first network to the second network when the user equipment finds the accessible base station of the second network and enters a service area of the accessible base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment deletes a record of receiving the activation message without informing a corresponding user when the user equipment receives the activation message with the first telephone number as the caller number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching for the accessible base station of the second network is repeated by the user equipment at an interval of time.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an inactivation message when the user equipment leaves the service area of the accessible base station of the second network; and

transmitting the generated inactivation message to the user equipment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user equipment stops searching for the accessible base station of the second network when the inactivation message is received.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user equipment deletes a record of receiving the inactivation message without informing a corresponding user when the user equipment receives the inactivation message with the second telephone number as the caller number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the accessible base station of the second network is located in the vicinity of the user equipment comprises comparing the information on the current location of the user equipment with base station information of registered base stations within the second network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the base station information is provided from at least one of a home location register (HLR), a home subscriber server (HSS), an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) based location information server, a media independent server (MIS) as defined in IEEE 802.21, and an access network detection and selection function (ANDSF) as defined in third generation partnership project (3GPP) specifications.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the base station information is provided by users.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the base station information is collected from a network management system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network is a mobile network and the second network is a wireless data network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network is a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) network and the second network is a Wi-Fi network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the searching for the accessible base station of the second network comprises initiating a Wi-Fi modulator-demodulator (MODEM) for searching for an accessible Wi-Fi access point of the Wi-Fi network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the user equipment turns off the Wi-Fi MODEM when the user equipment receives an inactivation message with a second telephone number as the caller number.

15. A method for handing off a communication session of a user equipment from a first network to a second network, the method comprising:

registering information on a current location of the user equipment located within the first network;

initiating a means for searching for an accessible base station of the second network when an activation message with a first telephone number as a caller number is received by the user equipment; and

executing the handoff from the first network to the second network when the user equipment finds the accessible base station of the second network and enters a service area of the accessible base station.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

deleting a record of receiving the activation message without informing a corresponding user when the user equipment receives the activation message with the first telephone number as the caller number.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising;

turning off the means for searching for the accessible base station of the second network when the user equipment receives an inactivation message with a second telephone number as the caller number.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising;

deleting a record of receiving the inactivation message without informing a corresponding user when the user equipment receives the inactivation message with the second telephone number as the caller number.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first network is a mobile network and the second network is a wireless data network, and the user equipment comprises an interface unit for accessing the first network and the second network.

20. A system for handing off a communication session from a first network to a second network, the system comprising;

a message server configured to transmit an activation message with a first telephone number as a caller number; and

a user equipment configured to search for an accessible base station of the second network when the activation message with the first telephone number is received,

wherein the message server transmits the activation message with the first telephone number as the caller number when the accessible base station is determined to be within a vicinity of the user equipment, and

wherein the user equipment executes the handoff from the first network to the second network when the user equipment finds the accessible base station of the second network and enters a service area of the accessible base station.