Methods and Arrangements For Enabling Data Transmission Between a Mobile Device and a Static Destination Address

• US 20160157094A1
• Filed: 01/21/2016
• Published: 06/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Skog, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 9,967,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4675 Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/72 Routing based on the source address
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A solution for simplifying data transmission between a mobile device (MD) and a destination address (DA). In some embodiments, the solution includes a connector, associated with a gateway, that has access to a first mapping between a subscriber identity (SI) associated with the MD and a DA to which the data from the MD should be sent. The gateway is configured to send a second mapping between a temporary IP address of the MD and the SI associated with the MD to the connector. When the gateway receives data from the temporary IP address of the MD, the gateway requests information of the address to which the GGSN should route that data. Since, the connector can identify from which IP address the data is received, the connector can then retrieve the address by using the first mapping and the second mapping.

Claims

1. A method performed by a connector node for facilitating data transmission between a wireless communication device (WCD) and a destination address, the method comprising:

obtaining first information mapping a destination address with a subscription identifier for use by the WCD to obtain access to an operator network;

receiving a first message transmitted by the gateway node, the first message comprising second information associating a network address allocated to the WCD with the subscription identifier;

after receiving first message, using the first information and second information to map the destination address with the network address; and

providing to the gateway node the destination address.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the method further comprises:

receiving a second message transmitted by the gateway node, the second message comprising the network address, and using the network address to retrieve the destination address, and

the providing step is performed after and as a result of receiving the second message and retrieving the destination address.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of mapping the destination address with the network address comprises storing in a data storage system a record comprising a first field in which the network address is stored and a second field in which the destination address is stored.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein using the network address included in the first message to obtain the destination address mapped with the network address comprises using the network address to retrieve destination address from the data storage system.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the subscription identifier is an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) or a Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number (MSISDN).

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the destination address is a static IP address.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the static IP address is virtual private cloud IP address.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the WCD is a machine-to-machine device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the network address is a temporary network address allocated by the gateway to the WCD.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is a GPRS Gateway Support Node (GGSN) or a packet data network gateway (PDN-GW).

21. A network node, comprising

a processor;

a transmitter; and

a receiver, wherein

the network node is configured to perform the method of claim 1.

11. A method performed by a gateway for facilitating data transmission between a wireless communication device (WCD) and a destination address, the method comprising:

receiving a first message transmitted by the WCD, the first message comprising a subscription identifier for use in accessing an operator network;

after receiving the first message, allocating a network address to the WCD;

receiving a second message transmitted by the WCD, the second message comprising the network address and application data;

in response to receiving the second message comprising the network address allocated to the WCD, using the network address allocated to the WCD to look-up the destination address; and

after looking-up the destination address using the network address allocated to the WCD, transmitting a third message to the destination address, the third message comprising the application data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of using the network address allocated to the WCD to look-up the destination address consists of the gateway transmitting a request to a network node that has access to mapping information mapping the network address allocated to the WCD with the destination address and the gateway receiving a response from the network node, wherein the response comprises the destination address.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the gateway transmitting fourth message to the network node after receiving the first message and before transmitting the request, wherein the fourth message comprises the subscription identifier and the network address allocated to the WCD, thereby enabling the network node to map the destination address with the network address.

22. A network node, comprising

a processor;

a transmitter; and

a receiver, wherein

the network node is configured to perform the method of claim 11.

14. A method for facilitating data transmission between a wireless communication device (WCD) and a destination address, the method comprising:

storing in a data storage system first mapping information mapping the destination address with a subscription identifier for use by the WCD to access a wireless network;

receiving a first message comprising the subscription identifier;

after receiving the first message, allocating a network address to the WCD;

after allocating the network address to the WCD, mapping the destination address to the network address using the subscription identifier and the first mapping information;

receiving a second message comprising the network address and application data;

in response to receiving the second message comprising the network address, using the network address included in the second message to obtain the destination address mapped with the network address; and

after obtaining the destination address mapped with the network address, transmitting a third message to the destination address, the third message comprising the application data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein

the network address is a temporary network address allocated by a gateway to the WCD, and

the gateway receives the first message and the second message and transmits the third message to the destination address.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the gateway is a GPRS Gateway Support Node (GGSN) or a packet data network gateway (PDN-GW).

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of mapping the destination address with the network address comprises storing in the data storage system a record comprising a first field in which the network address is stored and a second field in which the destination address is stored.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein using the network address included in the first message to obtain the destination address mapped with the network address comprises using the network address to retrieve the destination address from the data storage system.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of using the network address included in the message to obtain the destination address mapped with the network address is performed by a gateway node and comprises the gateway node sending to a connector node a request for the destination address, said request comprising the network address.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the connector node performs the step of mapping the destination address to the network address.

23. A network node, comprising

a processor;

a transmitter; and

a receiver, wherein

the network node is configured to perform the method of claim 14.