Technique for IP communication among wireless devices

• US 7,050,416 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2002
• Issued: 05/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Magnolia Licensing LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Bichot, Guillaume, Verma, Shaily, Zhang, Junbiao
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Philpott, Justin M.
• Application Number:
  US10/144,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20030214929A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/331, 370/389, 370/392, 370/395.52, 370/340, 370/395.3, 370/401, 455/438, 455/440, 455/445, 455/417
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/34 Modification of an existing route
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/36 due to handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

A General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network (14₁) includes at least one, and preferably, a plurality of radio access networks (16₁–16_m), each providing radio access to one or more mobile terminal users (12₁–12_n). Associated with one or more of the access networks is a corresponding one of a plurality of Serving GPRS Service Nodes (SGSNs) (24₁–24_m), each node serving to identify and authenticate a mobile terminal user. Advantageously, each SGSN also serves to cache IP packets from a sending mobile terminal user and to examine each packet to determine if the destination IP address corresponds to another mobile terminal user in the network. If so, then that SGSN routes the packet to the destination mobile terminal user. Otherwise, if the packet destination lies outside the network, the SGSN routes the packet to a gateway (32) for routing beyond the network.

Claims

1. A method for communicating at least one data packet among mobile terminal users served by a General Packet Radio Service Network having at least one source service node for managing at least one radio access network and performing identification and authentication of mobile terminal users on the radio access network served by the source service node and a gateway node for establishing a packet data protocol (PDP)context with the mobile terminal user upon initial attachment, and for establishing a communications path between the mobile terminal user and an external network, comprising the steps of:

identifying and authenticating the mobile terminal user at the source service node in the network;

caching at the source service node in the network a packet from the mobile terminal user, the packet having a destination IP address;

checking at the source service node whether the destination IP address of the packet identifies any mobile terminal users served by each radio access network managed by the source service node in accordance with the PDP context assigned upon initial attachment, and if so,

routing the packet to a destination mobile terminal user identified by the destination IP address in the packet, otherwise routing the packet to a gateway when the destination IP address identifies an external destination destined to receive the packet, wherein the checking step includes querying a routing table maintained by the source service node that lists mobile terminal users and their corresponding IP addresses.

2. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of updating the source service node each time a new mobile terminal user attaches itself to the network.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the source service node discards routing information in its routing table after a prescribed interval.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the source service node updates its routing table by querying the home location register in the network when the source service node lacks knowledge of whether the destination IP address lies within the network.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein the source service node dynamically updates the home location register with dynamically allocated IP address information each time a new mobile terminal user attaches itself to the service node.

6. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

determining at the source service node whether the mobile terminal user whose packet the service node had cached no longer remains associated with that service node, and if so,

updating an internal routing table maintained by the source service node to reflect that the mobile terminal user no longer remains associated with that node.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein the source service node alerts at least a second service node in the network that the mobile terminal is no longer associated with the first service node.

8. The method according to claim 6 wherein the source service node alerts at least a second service node in the network when a new mobile terminal user has become attached to the source service node.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the routing step includes the step of routing the packet to a destination service node to which the destination mobile terminal user is attached.

10. The method according to claim 9 wherein the packet is temporarily routed by the source service node to the destination service node even after the destination mobile terminal user has detached itself from the destination service node and attached itself to a new destination service node, such temporary routing continuing until the new destination service node notifies the source service node of a new routing path.

11. A General Packet Radio Service Network, comprising:

at least one radio access network for radio access to mobile terminal users;

at least one source service node for;

(1) managing the at least one radio access network, (2) performing identification and authentication of mobile terminal users on the at least one radio access network, (3) caching a packet from the mobile terminal user having a destination IP address;

(4) determining whether the destination IP address of the packet identifies a particular mobile terminal users served the at least one radio access network managed by the source service node in accordance with a PDP context assigned upon initial attachment and if so, (5) routing the packet to the particular mobile terminal user identified by the destination IP address in the packet, and

a gateway node for establishing the packet data protocol (PDP) context with the mobile terminal user upon initial attachment, and for establishing a communications path between the mobile terminal user and an external network, and for routing the packet to the external network when the destination IP address identifies the external network as the destination destined for that wherein said determining includes querying a routing table maintained by the source service node that lists mobile terminal users and their corresponding IP addresses.