Registration of mobile packet data terminals after disaster

• US 6,771,634 B1
• Filed: 04/09/1999
• Issued: 08/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Wireless Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wright, Andrew S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chau
• Assistant Examiner(s): HYUN, SOON D
• Application Number:
  US09/289,362
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• Field of Search: 370/277, 370/278, 370/346, 370/347, 370/348, 370/349, 370/444, 370/445, 370/458, 370/461, 370/462, 370/447, 370/328, 370/329, 370/337, 445/435, 445/432, 445/466
• US Class Current: 370/349
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4035 in which slots of a TDMA packet structure are assigned based on a contention resolution carried out at a master unit TDM/TDMA multiplex systems per se H04J3/1694; hybrid switching systems H04L12/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02

Abstract

Registration attempts by a terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system are controlled by transmitting a registration index from the central system to the terminal at specified temporal periods, and modifying the value of the registration index when the terminal should attempt to register with the central system. A mode flag is transmitted from the central system to the terminal at predetermined temporal intervals, and the value of the mode flag is modified when the central system is recovering from a disaster so that the terminal refrains from immediately attempting to register with the central system. During disaster recovery, the terminal is able to associate itself with one of a plurality of sub-intervals. The central system transmits a sub-interval designator to the terminal at regular temporal periods during disaster recovery. The central system modifies the value of the sub-interval designator after a predetermined number of the regular temporal periods. The flow of registration attempts by a community of terminals is smoothed from a situation wherein essentially the entire community of terminals is contending to register after a disaster to a situation wherein subsets of the community try to register in respective sub-intervals after the disaster.

Claims

1. A method of controlling registration attempt by a terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a registration index from the central system to the terminal at specified temporal periods; and

modifying the value of the registration index when the terminal should attempt to register with the central system, wherein modifying the value of the registration index comprises modifying when a routing table included in the central system becomes unusable.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the registration index is modified after a failure at the central system, and wherein the registration index allows a sequence of system failures to be respectively distinguished.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the registration index has a length of at least two bits.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal obtains an identifier during registration and stores the identifier and the value of the registration index at the time the identifier was obtained.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the terminal compares the value of the stored registration index and the value of the transmitted registration index, and determines that it should attempt to register with the central system when the stored and transmitted values of the registration index do not match.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the terminal compares the value of the stored registration index and the value of the transmitted registration index, and determines that it should refrain from attempting to register with the central system when the stored and transmitted values of the registration index match.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a mode flag from the central system to the terminal at predetermined temporal intervals; and

modifying the value of the mode flag when the central system is recovering from a disaster so that the terminal refrains from immediately attempting to register with the central system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein when the terminal determines that the registration index has been modified and the mode flag has not been modified, the terminal immediately attempts to register.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein when the terminal determines that the registration index has been modified and the mode flag has been modified, the terminal refrains from immediately attempting to register.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the terminal is able to associate itself with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, and further comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at specified temporal intervals when the central system is recovering from a disaster, and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a predetermined number of the specified temporal intervals.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the terminal has a stored value, the terminal compares the stored value with the transmitted sub-interval designator, and the terminal determines it should associate itself with a sub-interval on the basis of the comparison.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the sub-interval designator designates a specified number of least significant bits of the stored value.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the stored value is an identifier obtained during registration.

14. A method of controlling a terminal communicating with a central system using a contention protocol when a central system is recovering from a disaster and wherein the terminal may relate to a sub-interval, the method comprising:

transmitting a mode flag from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods;

modifying the value of the mode flag when the central system is recovering from a disaster;

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at specified temporal intervals when the central system is recovering from a disaster, and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a predetermined number of the specified temporal intervals.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the central system suspends transmission of message data packets from an external system to the terminal when the central system is recovering from a disaster.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the terminal suspends transmission of message data packets for an external system to the central system when the central system is recovering from a disaster.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the terminal has a stored value, the terminal compares the stored value with the transmitted sub-interval designator, and the terminal determines it should associate itself with a sub-interval on the basis of the comparison.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the sub-interval designator designates a specified number of least significant bits of the stored value.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the stored value is an identifier obtained during registration.

20. A method of associating a terminal with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, the terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods, wherein the terminal has a stored value, wherein the terminal compares the stored value with the transmitted sub-interval designator, and wherein the terminal determines it should associate itself with a sub-interval on the basis of the comparison, and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a number of the regular temporal periods.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the sub-interval designator designates a specified number of least significant bits of the stored value.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the stored value is an identifier obtained during registration.

23. A method of associating a terminal with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, the terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods, wherein the number of the regular temporal periods is predetermined; and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a number of the regular temporal periods.

24. A method of associating a terminal with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, the terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods; and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a number of the regular temporal periods, wherein the number of the regular temporal period is dynamically determined.

25. A method of associating a terminal with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, the terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods; and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a number of the regular temporal periods, wherein the number of the regular temporal periods depends on characteristics of the contention protocol.

26. A method of associating a terminal with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, the terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods; and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a number of the regular temporal periods, wherein a plurality of terminals are served by the central system, and the number of the regular temporal periods depends on the number of terminals served by the central system.

27. A method of associating a terminal with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, the terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods; and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a number of the regular temporal periods, wherein the number of sub-intervals depends on characteristics of the contention protocol.

28. A method of associating a terminal with one of a plurality of sub-intervals, the terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

transmitting a sub-interval designator from the central system to the terminal at regular temporal periods; and

modifying the value of the sub-interval designator after a number of the regular temporal periods, wherein a plurality of terminals are served by the central system, and the number of sub-intervals depends on the number of terminals served by the central system.

29. A method for controlling a registration attempt by a terminal using a contention protocol to communicate with a central system, the method comprising:

modifying a value of a registration index when the terminal should attempt to register with the central system; and

registering the terminal with the central system in response to the modified value of the registration index, wherein the terminal remaining within an area served by the central system does not re-register with the central system unless a system failure has occurred at the central system.