Method, system and apparatus for providing mobility management of a mobile station in WLAN and WWAN environments
First Claim
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1. A method of managing mobility of a mobile station across an 802.xx wireless local area network (WLAN) and a wireless wide area network (WWAN) in which a mobile switching center (MSC) has been provisioned to act as a serving MSC for the WLAN, comprising:
- (a) the mobile station detecting the RF energy of the WLAN and validating its ability to be a member of the WLAN;
(b) in response to step (a), the mobile station issuing a registration request to the serving MSC for the WLAN;
(c) in response to step (b), the serving MSC for the WLAN causing the WWAN to recognize that the mobile station is registered with the serving MSC for the WLAN and that the mobile station is no longer served by a prior MSC;
(d) the mobile station communicating to entities outside of the WLAN by communicating with the WLAN via a WLAN protocol and the WLAN communicating with the WWAN via the serving MSC for the WLAN.
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Abstract
A method, system and apparatus for internetworking WLAN and WWAN environments are disclosed. More specifically, a method, system and apparatus for providing mobility management of a mobile station in WLAN and WWAN environments are disclosed. Roaming and handoffs are discussed.
205 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of managing mobility of a mobile station across an 802.xx wireless local area network (WLAN) and a wireless wide area network (WWAN) in which a mobile switching center (MSC) has been provisioned to act as a serving MSC for the WLAN, comprising:
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(a) the mobile station detecting the RF energy of the WLAN and validating its ability to be a member of the WLAN;
(b) in response to step (a), the mobile station issuing a registration request to the serving MSC for the WLAN;
(c) in response to step (b), the serving MSC for the WLAN causing the WWAN to recognize that the mobile station is registered with the serving MSC for the WLAN and that the mobile station is no longer served by a prior MSC;
(d) the mobile station communicating to entities outside of the WLAN by communicating with the WLAN via a WLAN protocol and the WLAN communicating with the WWAN via the serving MSC for the WLAN. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A wireless communication system, including
a wireless local area network (WLAN) including logic to communicate according to a WLAN air interface protocol; -
a wireless wide area network (WWAN) including logic to communicate according to a WWAN air interface protocol, the WWAN including at least one MSC for serving the WLAN and in IP communication therewith;
a mobile station including logic to communicate according to the WLAN air interface protocol, logic to communicate according to the WWAN air interface protocol, and logic to communicate mobility management messages to the WLAN as overloaded SIP messages for forwarding to the at least one MSC.
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Specification