Method and apparatus for an SIP based paging scheme

• US 7,020,440 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2002
• Issued: 03/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Wu, Gang, Watanabe, Fujio
• Primary Examiner(s): Beamer, Temica
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEREZ, JULIO R
• Application Number:
  US10/318,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20040203894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,201 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.1, 455/423, 455/414, 455/422, 455/458, 455/456.1, 455/42, 370/395.52, 370/331, 370/338, 370/401, 370/469, 370/465
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A location update system for updating a location of a mobile terminal. The system includes a paging area with a mobile terminal present within the paging area, a domain area with the mobile terminal present within the domain area and a paging location update server that is communication with the mobile terminal and updates a location of the mobile terminal and updates the domain area.

Claims

1. A method of paging a mobile terminal which moves between paging areas and between domain areas associated with an application layer protocol, the method comprising:

when said mobile terminal moves from a first paging area to a second paging area, receiving a single message at a location server, said message indicating said mobile terminal to be currently located in said second paging area, and including a current domain area associated with said mobile terminal;

based on said second paging area, determining whether or not said mobile terminal has moved outside of said current domain area associated with said mobile terminal into a second domain area; and

updating said location of said mobile terminal to associate said mobile terminal with said second paging area and, when said mobile terminal has moved outside of said current domain area, with said second domain area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said application layer protocol is an SIP application layer protocol and said domain area is an SIP domain area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a paging area and a domain area covers a substantially identical geographical area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a paging area and a domain area do not always cover a substantially identical geographical area.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said paging areas relate to an L2 protocol.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said paging areas relate to an L2 protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said message comprises a paging location area update signal to a paging location update server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said mobile terminal is in a dormant mode with respect to said application layer protocol, when said mobile terminal moves to said second paging area.

9. A method of updating a location of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

sending a signal from a mobile terminal to a paging location update server;

identifying a location of an L2 paging area from which said signal was sent from said mobile terminal;

determining whether said paging area is the same as an associated paging area to which said mobile terminal is currently being associated or connected;

sending a current location update and a current SIP domain address of said mobile terminal to said paging update location server;

determining if an SIP domain address of said mobile terminal where it moves to a new paging area is the same as said current SIP domain address of said mobile terminal; and

sending a new SIP location of said mobile terminal to a current SIP location server where said mobile terminal is located when said SIP domain address of said mobile terminal where it is located in a new paging area is different than said current SIP domain address of said mobile terminal.

10. A location update system for updating a location of a mobile terminal with respect to paging areas and domain areas, said domain areas being associated to an application layer service, said location update system comprising:

a paging area register that relates said location of said mobile terminal to a paging area;

a domain area register that relates said location of said mobile terminal to a domain area; and

a paging location update server that, upon receiving a location update request from a mobile terminal indicating said mobile terminal'"'"'s current paging area, updates said location of said mobile terminal in said paging area register and said domain area register, in accordance with said current paging area.

11. The location update system of claim 10, wherein said paging areas is L2 based.

12. The location update system of claim 10, wherein said domain area is SIP based.

13. The location update system of claim 11, wherein said domain area is SIP based.

14. The location update system of claim 10, further comprising a location server maintaining said domain area register, wherein said paging location update server sends a message to said location server to update said location of said mobile terminal in said domain area register.

15. The location update system of claim 12, further comprising an SIP location server maintaining said domain area register, wherein said paging location update server sends a message to the SIP location server to update said location of said mobile terminal in said domain area register.

16. A paging location update server having responsibility for registering the locations of mobile devices in a paging area, comprising:

an L2 paging protocol handler for receiving a location update request from a mobile device coming into the paging area; and

an application layer protocol handler for communicating with a location server associated with an application layer service, wherein when the L2 paging protocol handler receives the location update requests, the L2 paging protocol handler causes the application layer protocol handler to provide the location server associated with the application layer service with the location of the mobile device.

17. A paging location update server as in claim 16, wherein the application layer service uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

18. A paging location update server as in claim 16, wherein the application layer service relates the mobile device to a domain area.

19. A paging location update server as in claim 18, wherein the domain area geographically coincides with the paging area.

20. A paging location update server as in claim 18, wherein the location server associated with the application layer service is provided the location of the mobile device irrespective of whether or not the mobile device is in a dormant mode of operation.