Arrangement for the wireless connection of terminals to a communication system

• US 7,570,971 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2004
• Issued: 08/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Unify GmbH & Co. KG (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Benning, Gerhard, Klein, Josef
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brandt, Christopher M
• Application Number:
  US10/767,676
• Publication Number:
  US 20040184418A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,014 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/338, 370/328, 370/401, 370/466, 455/552.1, 455/41.2, 709/203, 709/227, 709/249, 709/246
• US Class Current: 455/552.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

The aim of the invention is to connect terminals to a communication system in a wireless manner by means of a data packet network. At least one transition device to which a short-range radio module is coupled, and a server for controlling connections to the terminals, are coupled to said data packet network. The transition device is provided with a coupling table comprising addresses of terminals which are situated within the radio coverage of the short-range radio module. The server comprises an allocation table in which a network address of the transition device which enables the terminal to be wirelessly reached is respectively allocated to an address of a terminal. According to the invention, a packet-based alignment protocol is provided in order to dynamically align the allocation table with the coupling table.

Claims

1. An arrangement for a wireless connection of terminal devices to a communication system, comprising:

a data packet network for the transmission of data packets using network addresses valid within the network;

a transition device coupled to the data packet network, the transition device comprises a short-range radio module and a coupling table, the short-range radio module locates a terminal device within range of the module, the coupling table includes an address of the located terminal device;

a server coupled to the data packet network controls connections to the terminal device and controls roaming for the terminal device, the server includes an allocation table that comprises for each transition device;

an aligned copy of the coupling table and a network address for the respective transition device such that the address of the located terminal device is associated with the copied table; and

a packet-based alignment protocol for the dynamic alignment of the allocation table with the coupling table,

wherein via the alignment protocol a content of the coupling table is transmitted to the server to dynamically update the allocation table thereby aligning the copy of the coupling table in the allocation table.

2. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein the data packet network is realized by a network based on an Internet protocol.

3. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein the transition device further comprises a translator for translation between a network protocol used in the data packet network and a protocol specific to the short-range radio module.

4. An arrangement in accordance with claim 3, wherein the translator further comprises a detection unit for detecting, via the network protocol used, which terminal device-specific application a connection to a terminal device is allocated to, in order to be able to perform an application-specific protocol conversion accordingly.

5. An arrangement in accordance with claim 3, wherein the protocol specific to a radio module having a specific voice interface and a specific data interface.

6. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein the short-range radio module is based on an IEEE 802.15.1 standard.

7. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein the allocation table is used for determining a momentary location of a particular terminal.

8. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein a gateway device is coupled to the data packet network for coupling the data packet network to a forwarding communication network.

9. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a headset as a terminal device for voice connections.

10. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) as a terminal device for data connections.

11. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) as a terminal device for entering destination addresses for outgoing connections and for initiating those connections.

12. An arrangement in accordance with claim 2, wherein the transition device comprises a translator for translation between a network protocol used in the data packet network and a protocol specific to a radio module.

13. An arrangement in accordance with claim 4, wherein the protocol specific to a radio module having a specific voice interface and a specific data interface.

14. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein the address of the detected terminal is a telephone number.

15. A method for a wireless connection of terminal devices to a communication system, comprising:

detecting a terminal located within range of a short-range radio module integrated within a gateway;

storing an address of the detected terminal in a coupling table of the gateway;

providing a server having an allocation table containing addresses of terminals,

transmitting a data content of the coupling table from the gateway to the server, and

updating the allocation table in the server to associate an address in the allocation table with the address of the detected terminal stored in the coupling table of the gateway,

wherein the transmission uses an alignment protocol for the purposes of aligning the coupling table and the allocation table, and

wherein the allocation table is used for roaming, handover, or roaming and handover of the terminal device.

16. The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the address of the detected terminal is a telephone number.

17. The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the address of the detected terminal is an e-mail address.

18. The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the address of the detected terminal is an universal resource locator.

19. The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the address of the detected terminal is an Internet Protocol address.

20. The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the address of the gateway is an Internet Protocol address.