Context synchronization method in mobile communication system

• US 7,366,156 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2004
• Issued: 04/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahn, Kye-Hyuk
• Primary Examiner(s): Gary; Erika A.
• Application Number:
  US10/780,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20040165577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,531 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/350
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• 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 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Disclosed is a context synchronization method in a mobile communication system dealing with a packet transmission/reception. If two peers of a protocol have the same information and their data are not frequently updated, the invention makes the QUERY about the STATUS or CONTEXT of the relative side to acquire the previous information of the relative side, thereby enabling to cope with the situation more flexibly. In a protocol of a radio system having a client and a server communicating with each other, the invention includes the steps of performing idle and normal procedures in the client, performing a recovery procedure if an error occurs in performing the idle and normal procedures, and performing a re-attach procedure and an activation procedure according to the error and an error occurring point. Also, the invention includes the steps of having a mobile station (MS) to select a cell fitting for a corresponding network to register the mobile station to the network, performing general idle and normal procedures, and performing a recovery procedure if a failure occurs.

Claims

1. A context synchronization method performed in a radio system having a client and server communicating with each other, comprising:

performing idle and normal procedures in the client;

performing a recovery procedure if an error occurs in performing the idle and normal procedures, the error occurring when the client and server have different context information; and

performing a re-attach procedure and an activation procedure according to the error and an error occurring point, wherein performing said recovery procedure includes;

transmitting context information managed by the server to the client when the error occurs in the client, to achieve synchronization between the client and server as a result of the client and server having same context information, and

transmitting context information managed by the client to the server when the error occurs in the server, to achieve synchronization between the server and client as a result of the server and client having same context information, wherein transmitting the context information to the client or server occurs without performing a power down operation or returning to an initialization state,

wherein if the failure occurs in the network, the network receives the context information of the MS by sending a packet paging with an international mobility subscriber identity (IMSI) to the MS so that the received context information of the MS is used as context information of the network, and wherein the context information of the MS received by the network includes INFO-type context information.

2. The synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the client is a mobile station (MS) and the server is a network.

3. The synchronization method of claim 2, wherein the error occurring point is at the MS or the network.

4. The synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the radio system is a general packet radio service (GPRS) system which deals with a packet communication.

5. The synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the radio system operates based on a protocol which includes peers having same information which is updated at predetermined time periods.

6. The synchronization method of claim 5, wherein the protocol includes a GPRS mobility management (GMM) protocol or a session management (SM) protocol.

7. The synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the error is a GMM failure.

8. The synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the error is a packet data protocol (PDP) failure.

9. A context synchronization method performed in a radio system having a client and server communicating with each other, comprising:

performing idle and normal procedures in the client;

performing a recovery procedure if an error occurs in performing the idle and normal procedures, the error occurring when the client and server have different context information; and

performing a re-attach procedure and an activation procedure according to the error and an error occurring point, wherein performing said recovery procedure includes;

transmitting context information managed by the server to the client when the error occurs in the client, to achieve synchronization between the client and server as a result of the client and server having same context information, and

transmitting context information managed by the client to the server when the error occurs in the server, to achieve synchronization between the server and client as a result of the server and client having same context information, wherein transmitting the context information to the client or server occurs without performing a power down operation or returning to an initialization state, wherein if the error occurs in the MS, the MS performs a query procedure and transfers INFO-type context information to the network.

10. The synchronization method of claim 9, wherein, in the query procedure, the MS transfers a query type context information to the network and receives a response from the network.

11. The synchronization method of claim 10, wherein the response is a status information of a previous packet data protocol (PDP).

12. A context synchronization method in a mobile communication system comprising:

selecting a cell in a network by a mobile station;

registering the mobile station in the network;

performing general idle and normal procedures; and

performing a recovery procedure if a failure occurs, wherein performing said recovery procedure includes;

transmitting context information managed by the mobile station to the network when the failure occurs in the network, to achieve synchronization between the mobile station and network as a result of the mobile station and network having same context information, and

transmitting context information managed by the network to the mobile station when the failure occurs in the mobile station, to achieve synchronization between the network and mobile station as a result of the network and mobile station having same context information, wherein transmitting the context information to the network or mobile station occurs without performing a power down operation or returning to an initialization state, wherein INFO-type context information is transmitted to the network if the failure occurs in the network.

13. The synchronization method of claim 12, wherein the mobile communication system is a packet communication system which includes a general packet radio service (GPRS) system.

14. The synchronization method of claim 12, wherein the mobile station functions as a client and the network functions as a server.

15. The synchronization method of claim 12, wherein the mobile station registers itself to the network through location update (LUP) or routing area update (RAU).

16. The synchronization method of claim 12, wherein the failure is GMM failure or packet data protocol (PDP) failure.

17. The synchronization method of claim 12, wherein if the failure occurs in the network, having the network send a packet paging with an international mobility subscriber identity (IMSI) to the mobile station before the mobile station transmits the context information.

18. A context synchronization method in a mobile communication system comprising:

selecting a cell in a network by a mobile station;

registering the mobile station in the network;

performing general idle and normal procedures; and

performing a recovery procedure if a failure occurs, wherein performing said recovery procedure includes;

transmitting context information managed by the mobile station to the network when the failure occurs in the network, to achieve synchronization between the mobile station and network as a result of the mobile station and network having same context information, and

transmitting context information managed by the network to the mobile station when the failure occurs in the mobile station, the achieve synchronization between the network and mobile station as a result of the network and mobile station having same context information, wherein transmitting the context information to the network or mobile station occurs without performing a power down operation or returning to an initialization state,

wherein if the failure occurs in the mobile station;

transmitting query-type context information to the network; and

transmitting INFO-type information to the mobile station from the network in response to the query.

19. A context synchronization method, comprising:

detecting a failure in a client; and

transmitting information managed by a server to the client to resynchronize the client with the server as a result of the client and server having same information, wherein the client is resynchronized to the server based on said same information without performing a power down operation or returning to an initialization state, said method further comprising;

transmitting a query from the client to the server;

transmitting INFO-type context message from the client to the server,

wherein the client receives said information from the server in response to the query and INFO-type context message.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the failure includes a GPRS mobility management (GMM) error.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the failure includes a packet data protocol (PDP) error.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein said information is one of status information or context information stored in the server.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein said information include status information of a previous packet data protocol (PDP).

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the client is a mobile station and the server is a network in a mobile communication system.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the mobile communication system operates according to a general packet radio service (GPRS) protocol.

26. A context synchronization method, comprising:

detecting a failure in a server; and

transmitting information managed by a client to the server to resynchronize the server with the client as a result of the server and client having same information, wherein the server is resynchronized to the client based on said same information without performing a power down operation or returning to an initialization state, said method further comprising;

transmitting a packet paging with an international mobility subscriber identity (IMSI) from the server to the client, said information including an INFO-type context message transmitted from the client to the server in response to the packet paging.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the failure includes a GPRS mobility management (GMM) error.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the failure includes a packet data protocol (PDP) error.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the information is one of status information or context information stored in the server.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the client is a mobile station and the server is a network in a mobile communication system.