Cluster mobile switching center
First Claim
1. A wireless mobile switching system arrangement for controlling calls to and from a plurality of mobile telephone devices, said arrangement includinga plurality of interconnected processors executing modular software as a set of distributed processes;
- and communications middleware for controlling said distributed processes, said distributed processes being arranged to emulate and perform the functions of;
(a) a plurality of interworking managers that act as gateways between said mobile switching system and a telecommunications network, and (b) a plurality of core servers that define software objects in order to perform call processing functions, wherein said core servers are functionally segmented to individually perform separate functions, including (i) user signaling, (ii) call connection and (iii) channel control.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A “cluster mobile switching center” (cMSC) is arranged to perform the switching and control functions of a conventional mobile switching center (MSC), including, if desired, the additional functions of a conventional visitor location register (VLR). The cMSC is implemented on distributed processors using modular software. Advantageously, a specific instance of middleware, known as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), is used as the communications middleware. Functionally, the cMSC is arranged to have two classes of servers: (1) Interworking managers (IMs) that act as gateways and provide interfaces to external network elements, and (2) core servers that perform call processing (registration, location updates, incoming and outgoing call processing) functions and communicate with each other using CORBA. IMs terminate standard protocols with the external elements and use CORBA to communicate with the core servers. Software objects are defined to perform specific tasks, manage particular resources, and interact to provide end-to-end services.
88 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A wireless mobile switching system arrangement for controlling calls to and from a plurality of mobile telephone devices, said arrangement including
a plurality of interconnected processors executing modular software as a set of distributed processes; - and
communications middleware for controlling said distributed processes, said distributed processes being arranged to emulate and perform the functions of;
(a) a plurality of interworking managers that act as gateways between said mobile switching system and a telecommunications network, and (b) a plurality of core servers that define software objects in order to perform call processing functions, wherein said core servers are functionally segmented to individually perform separate functions, including (i) user signaling, (ii) call connection and (iii) channel control. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. Apparatus for processing wireless telephone calls to and from a plurality of mobile telephones, said apparatus comprising
at least two interconnected distributed processors operating under software control for cooperatively providing telecommunications functionality, said distributed processors including (a) means for providing interworking managers that interface between said apparatus and external communications networks, and (b) means for providing a plurality of core servers each arranged to perform specific call processing functions, including user signaling call connection and channel control, wherein said core servers are constituted by objects that are accessible only by said interworking managers and not by elements outside of said apparatus.
Specification