Context transfer in a communication network comprising plural heterogeneous access networks

• US 7,688,785 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2004
• Issued: 03/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Bachmann, Jens, Bourgett, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez-Gutierrez, Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): PILAPITIYA, NALIN B
• Application Number:
  US10/579,063
• Publication Number:
  US 20070110009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,981 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/328, 455/440, 709/227
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0033 with transfer of context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area 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 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for a context transfer in a communication network comprising a plurality of heterogeneous access networks, (220, 221, 222) wherein a mobile terminal is attached to one of the access networks. Further, the present invention relates to a context transfer manager performing the method (220, 600). Moreover, the present invention relates to a mobile terminal specially adapted to perform the provided method for a context transfer. To facilitate a context transfer between heterogeneous access networks, the present invention introduces a context transfer manager generating at least one context based on capabilities and parameters associated to the mobile terminal and capabilities and parameters of the neighboring access networks taking into account the respective access technology (FIG. 5). Further the context transfer manager is common to the heterogeneous access networks in the communication network and performs the context transfers related to a particular mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A method for a context transfer in a communication network comprising a plurality of heterogeneous access networks wherein a mobile terminal is attached to one of the access networks, the method comprising:

receiving location information at a context transfer manager, wherein the context transfer manager is common to the plurality of heterogeneous access networks in the communication network,

determining by the context transfer manager neighboring access networks for the mobile terminal based on the location information,

generating by the context transfer manager at least one context for the neighboring access networks and the mobile terminal,

transmitting by the context transfer manager a context to each of the neighboring access networks and the mobile terminal,

wherein the generation of the at least one context is based on capabilities and parameters associated to the mobile terminal and capabilities and parameters of the neighboring access networks taking into account the respective access technology, and

wherein the context transfer manager common to the plurality of heterogeneous access networks performs the context transfers related to said mobile terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the mobile terminal receiving at the mobile terminal a beacon signal indicating the presence of another access network, performing a handover from the current access network to the new access network from which the beacon signal is received.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the handover is performed upon having received context information from the context transfer manager related to the new access network.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the context generated for each of the neighboring access networks and the mobile terminal comprises a static or temporary identifier of the mobile terminal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the static or temporary identifier is used by a context manager in the new access network to associate the mobile terminal to its context received from the context transfer manager.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the mobile terminal includes the static or temporary identifier in the data transmitted to the new access network.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising pre-configuring the mobile terminal based on the context received from the context transfer manager.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving status information from the mobile terminal at the context transfer manager, wherein the status information indicates the quality of service achieved in the current access network and/or indicates unsuccessful access attempts to at least one other access network than the current access network.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining neighboring access networks comprises adapting a selection algorithm used for determining the neighboring access networks based on the status information from the mobile terminal.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing information on failed access attempts to access networks reported by the mobile terminal at the context transfer manager.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the capabilities and parameters associated to the mobile client comprise at least one of authentication, authorization and accounting parameters comprising static and/or temporary terminal identifiers, user preferences comprising the requirements for the terminal'"'"'s communications, guaranteed service quality parameters, and/or access permissions to services, session data comprising encryption keys, seeds, ciphers and/or header compression information, terminal capabilities comprising information on the display, network interfaces, processing power, supported applications and/or video/audio codecs.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the capabilities and parameters of the neighboring access network comprise at least one of access technology specific attributes comprising a radio frequency, data rates, channels, and/or coding schemes, access network specific attributes comprising cryptographic capabilities of the respective access network, an access network identifier, supported quality of service mechanisms, available traffic classes, local services, information portals, and/or public transportation information.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location information received by the context transfer manager is received in a paging message transmitted by the mobile terminal or by a signaling message from an authentication server in the home domain of the context transfer manager after an authentication procedure performed between the mobile terminal and the authentication server.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location information is based on a geographical location obtained from a location determining device or a network related location determined based on a network address and/or network prefix.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein a markup language based data format is used to describe the context transferred from the context transfer manager to the plurality of access networks and the mobile terminal.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an authentication server in a neighboring access network receiving the context from the context transfer manager performing an registration and/or authentication procedure of the mobile terminal with the neighboring access network using the received context information.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the registration and/or authentication procedure comprises registering a security key of the mobile terminal.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising using by the mobile terminal the registered security key for communication upon attaching to the neighboring access network in which the security key has been registered.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the context transfer manager resides in a visited communication network.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising transmitting by a context transfer manager in a home communication network of the mobile terminal data relevant for the generation of the at least one context to the context transfer manager of the visited communication network.

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving at a context manager in an access network the context from the context transfer manager, wherein the context manager maintains no connection to another context manager in another access network.

22. A context transfer manager in a communication network comprising a plurality of heterogeneous access networks, wherein a mobile terminal is attached to one of the access networks, the context transfer manager comprising:

receiving unit operable to receive location information,

processing unit to determine neighboring access networks for the mobile terminal based on the location information,

context generation unit to generate at least one context for the neighboring access networks and the mobile terminal,

transmitting unit to transmit the respective context to each of the neighboring access networks and the mobile terminal,

wherein the context generation unit is operable to generate the at least one context based on capabilities and parameters associated to the mobile terminal and capabilities and parameters taking into account the respective access technology of the neighboring access network, and

wherein the context transfer manager is common to the plurality of heterogeneous access networks in the communication network and performs the context transfers related to said mobile terminal.

23. A mobile terminal for use in a communication network comprising a plurality of heterogeneous access networks and a context transfer manager common to the plurality of heterogeneous access networks performs the context transfers related to said mobile terminal, wherein the mobile terminal is attached to one of the access networks, the mobile terminal comprising:

a transmitter adapted to transmit location information to the context transfer manager via the first access network wherein the location information are for use in determining a context at the context transfer manager,

a receiver adapted to receive from the context transfer manager a context via an interface of the mobile terminal to a first out of the plurality of access networks,

wherein the mobile terminal is adapted to pre-configure another interface of the mobile terminal to another, second access network based on information comprised in said context, and

wherein, upon handover of the mobile terminal to the second access network, the mobile terminal is further adapted to start communication via the second access network utilizing the pre-configured interface.

24. The mobile terminal according to claim 23, wherein the mobile terminal is adapted to pre-configure the interface to the second access network by configuring at least one of a terminal identifier, a cryptographic key a cryptographic algorithm, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Service Set Identifier (SSID), a new Internet Protocol (IP) address, and a new default gateway according to the information comprised in said context.

25. The mobile terminal according to claim 23, wherein the transmitter is adapted to transmit the location information to the context transfer manager within a paging message.

26. The mobile terminal according to claim 23 further comprising a storage unit that stores information on failed access attempts to access networks.

27. The mobile terminal according to claim 23 wherein the transmitter is adapted to report status information to the context transfer manager indicating the quality of service achieved in the current access network and/or failed access attempts to at least one other access network than the current access network.