METHOD AND APPARATUS OF IMPLEMENTING AN INTERNET PROTOCOL SIGNALING CONCENTRATOR

• US 20120044799A1
• Filed: 01/25/2011
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Invention Network LLC
• Original Assignee: AirWalk Communications, Inc. (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Cha, Hyunyung, D'Souza, Maurice Gerard, Sissom, Marc, Li, Ying
• Granted Patent: US 8,750,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition

Abstract

Communication between base station controllers and a mobile switching center may be provided by a consolidating device that operates between the BSCs and the MSCs. One example method of operation may include initiating an active process on an active network device and a standby process on a redundant network device configured as a backup to the active network device. Other operations may include receiving a data message from at least one base station controller on the active network device, and detecting a communication failure by at least one of the active process and the standby process, in response to the received data message. Other operations may include automatically configuring the redundant network device to become the active network device.

Claims

1. A method of communicating between a plurality of base station controllers and at least one mobile switching center, the method comprising:

initiating an active process on an active network device and a standby process on a redundant network device configured as a backup to the active network device;

receiving a data message from at least one of the plurality of base station controllers on the active network device;

detecting a communication failure by at least one of the active process and the standby process, in response to the received data message; and

automatically configuring the redundant network device to become the active network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data message is destined for the at least one mobile switching center.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allocating a port on the active network device for the at least one base station controller that transmitted the data message and forwarding the data message from the active network device to the at least one mobile switching center.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the failure occurred while being processed by the active process.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

disconnecting all active calls being processed by the plurality of base station controllers as a result of the communication failure being detected.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication failure is detected by the active network device, and wherein the communication failure is determined to be a lack of communication with the at least one mobile switching center.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon detection of the communication failure, shutting down the active network device and restarting the active network device, and during the shutting down and restarting operations, the redundant network device takes over the role as the new active network device and the active network device takes over the role as the new redundant network device.

8. An apparatus configured to communicate between a plurality of base station controllers and at least one mobile switching center, the apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to initiate an active process on the apparatus and a standby process on a redundant network device configured as a backup to the apparatus; and

a receiver configured to receive a data message from at least one of the plurality of base station controllers, wherein the processor is further configured to detect a communication failure by at least one of the active process and the standby process, in response to the received data message, and automatically configure the redundant network device to become an active network device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data message is destined for the at least one mobile switching center.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to allocate a port on the apparatus for the at least one base station controller that transmitted the data message, and further comprising a transmitter that is configured to forward the data message to the at least one mobile switching center.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the failure occurred while being processed by the active process.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to disconnect all active calls being handled from the plurality of base station controllers as a result of the communication failure being detected.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the communication failure is detected by the apparatus, and wherein the communication failure is determined to be a lack of communication with the at least one mobile switching center.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein upon detection of the communication failure, the processor is further configured to shut down the apparatus and restart the apparatus, and during the shutting down and restarting operations, the redundant network device takes over the role as the new active network device and the apparatus takes over the role as the new redundant network device.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform communications between a plurality of base station controllers and at least one mobile switching center, the processor being further configured to perform:

initiating an active process on an active network device and a standby process on a redundant network device configured as a backup to the active network device;

receiving a data message from at least one of the plurality of base station controllers on the active network device;

detecting a communication failure by at least one of the active process and the standby process, in response to the received data message; and

automatically configuring the redundant network device to become the active network device.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the data message is destined for the at least one mobile switching center.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

allocating a port on the active network device for the at least one base station controller that transmitted the data message and forwarding the data message from the active network device to the at least one mobile switching center.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

determining that the failure occurred while being processed by the active process.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

disconnecting all active calls being processed by the plurality of base station controllers as a result of the communication failure being detected.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the communication failure is detected by the active network device, and wherein the communication failure is determined to be a lack of communication with the at least one mobile switching center.