Mobile communication system

• US 7,123,599 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2002
• Issued: 10/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yano, Masashi, Nakazawa, Hiroaki, Hirata, Tetsuhiko, Hayashi, Masaya
• Primary Examiner(s): Rao, Seema S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mais, Mark A.
• Application Number:
  US10/084,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20030012179A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: 370/312, 370/328, 370/331, 370/338, 370/349, 370/395.21, 370/395.52, 370/389, 370/400, 370/401
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/668 Internet protocol [IP] address subnets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5084 Providing for device mobility network addressing or numbering for mobility support in wireless networks H04W8/26; mobile IP H04W80/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5092 by self-assignment, e.g. picking addresses at random and testing if they are already in use
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

A mobile data communication system capable of shortening the interruption time of communication includes an HA device, advertising routers, base stations, routers, and mobile terminal devices. Each base station advertises an address having “1” set in a different bit of an interface ID of a routing address. When a mobile terminal has received radio waves from a plurality of base stations in the vicinity of a boundary between cells, the mobile terminal combines a plurality of received routing addresses by logical summation and registers a resultant routing address with the HA device. As for a packet delivered from the HA device to the routing address and having “1” in a plurality of bits of the host section, a router resolves the address of the host section into destination addresses each having “1” in one bit, generates packets each having one of resultant addresses, and transmits the generated packets.

Claims

1. A mobile communication system comprising:

a mobile terminal having means for receiving radio waves from a plurality of base stations;

a home network to which the mobile terminal belongs;

a plurality of subnetworks to which the terminal might move;

advertising routers respectively provided in the subnetworks to advertise information of a pertinent subnetwork to the mobile terminal; and

a home agent device having means for managing location information of the mobile terminal and registering a routing address to be used temporarily in a subnetwork to which the mobile terminal moves, and means responsive to a movement of the mobile terminal when the routing address is already registered, for capturing a packet addressed to a home address of the mobile terminal in the home network and transferring the captured packet to the subnetwork to which the mobile terminal moves in accordance with the registered routing address,

wherein each of said advertising routers comprises means for advertising an interface ID and a prefix section of the routing address from a base station as pertinent subnetwork information, and

wherein said mobile terminal comprises a registration unit, and if the terminal has received a plurality of routing addresses having same prefix section and differing in interface ID from the plurality of base stations while moving from the home network to a different subnetwork, then the registration unit combines the plurality of routing addresses into one recognizable routing header address in accordance with a predetermined rule, and registers the routing header address with the home agent device.

2. The mobile communication system according to claim 1, wherein

one different bit is assigned to the interface ID every subnetwork,

each of the advertising routers comprises means for transmitting subnetwork information which includes a routing address having “

1”

set in a bit assigned every subnetwork, and

the mobile terminal comprises means responsive to coincidence among prefix sections of routing addresses contained in a plurality of received subnetwork information pieces, for conducting a logical sum operation on interface IDs of routing addresses contained in the plurality of received subnetwork information pieces and adopting a result of the logical sum operation as the routing header address.

3. The mobile communication system according to claim 2, wherein the home agent device comprises:

means for storing a combination of a care-of address sent from the mobile terminal, the routing header address, and the home address of the terminal;

means for setting the care-of address as a routing header address of a packet addressed to the home address of the terminal;

means for encapsulating the packet having the care-of address set therein, and setting the routing header address as a destination address; and

means for sending out the encapsulated packet.

4. The mobile communication system according to claim 1, wherein a router in a mobile communication network comprises:

means for generating a packet having a destination address set to “

1”

in one bit of an interface ID, from a packet having the routing header address set as a destination address delivered from the home agent device and having “

1”

set in a plurality of bits of the interface ID, and transmitting the generated packet;

or

a routing table set so as to transfer a packet having a prefix identical to that of a routing address of subnetwork information advertised by the advertising router, as a destination address as far as the advertising router that is advertising an address having “

1”

set in one bit of an interface ID.

5. The mobile communication system according to claim 1, wherein

a part of the prefix section of the subnetwork information advertised by the advertising router is assigned one bit that differs from subnetwork to subnetwork, as a subnetwork indication bit,

each of the base stations in the subnetworks comprises means for transmitting subnetwork information having “

1”

set in the assigned bit,

the mobile terminal comprises a registration unit, and if the prefix sections of a plurality of received subnetwork information pieces with the subnetwork indication bit excluded coincide, the registration unit conducts a logical sum operation on the prefix sections of the plurality of received subnetwork information pieces, generates a care-of address having a result of the logical sum operation as a prefix section, and registers the care-of address with the home agent device, and

a router in the mobile communication network comprises a routing table, and in case where a destination address of a packet to be transferred has “

1”

set in a plurality of the subnetwork indication bits, the routing table is set so as to transfer the packet as far as an advertising router that is advertising an address having “

1”

set in any one bit of the subnetwork indication section as a prefix section of subnetwork information.

6. The mobile communication system according to claim 1, wherein

the mobile communication system comprises a plurality of routers for transferring the packet in a mobile communication network,

the advertising router in each subnetwork comprises means for advertising subnetwork information, and the subnetwork information includes main subnetwork information for transferring a packet in the subnetwork and assistant subnetwork information,

the mobile terminal comprises:

means responsive to reception of the subnetwork information from one base station, for generating a care-of address based on the main subnetwork information;

means responsive to reception of the subnetwork information from a plurality of base stations and prefix sections of a plurality of received assistant subnetwork information pieces being identical, for generating a care-of address based on the prefix sections; and

means for transmitting the generated care-of address to the home agent device, and

each of the routers for transferring the packet comprises a routing table set so as to conduct multicast routing of a packet having a prefix section of the assistant subnetwork information as far as each base station transmitting the assistant subnetwork information.

7. The mobile communication system according to claim 4, wherein the mobile terminal comprises means for receiving and processing a packet addressed to a plurality of care-of addresses.

8. The mobile communication system according to claim 5, wherein

the mobile communication system comprises a plurality of routers for transferring the packet in a mobile communication network, and

at least one of the routers comprises:

means for creating a routing table based on routing information received from other routers and routing information of the own router and exchanging routing information with other routers; and

means responsive to coincidence between routing information the own router has or received from other routers and prefix sections of a plurality of subnetwork information pieces advertised by the advertising router with subnetwork indication sections excluded, for calculating a logical sum on the coinciding prefix sections of the plurality of subnetwork information pieces and adding a result of the logical sum calculation to the routing table.