Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-03
2003-07-08
Chin, Vivian (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S410000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06591102
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to providing wireless communications. More particularly, this invention relates to a system for transmitting service and authentication information in a manner that reduces transmissions over the system.
Problem
Wireless communications have proliferated in the last few years. For purposes of this application, wireless communications include telephone services, pagers, Internet service, e-mail, and other service provided to mobile handsets.
FIG. 1
illustrates wireless network
100
providing wireless communications to a mobile handset
110
. For purposes of the present discussion, mobile handset may be a cellular telephone, a pager, or any other type of device that exchanges signals with a wireless network to provide a service to a user.
Radio signals
120
are transmitted between mobile handset
110
and one of antennas
130
. The antenna
130
transmits and receives radio signals
120
containing data for providing wireless services to handset
110
. Antenna
130
transmits data to and receives data from a base station
140
via path
131
. Base station
140
converts radios signals to signals to be transmitted over the telephone network. Each base station
140
is connected to a mobile switching system
150
. Mobile switching system
150
controls which base station
140
provides service to mobile handset
110
. Mobile switching system
150
also connects the base station
140
to public telephone switching network (PTSN)
160
via path
151
. One skilled in the art will recognize that path
151
is a plurality of trunks that connects mobile switching system
150
to switching systems in PTSN
160
.
Wireless communications are provided in the following manner. Mobile handsets enters a cell serviced by an antenna
130
and transmits a location registration request via radio signals
120
to the antenna
130
. Antenna
130
passes the location registration request to the connected base station
140
. The base station transmits a location registration request to mobile switching system
150
and transmits a signal to handset
110
to terminate the location registration request. Mobile switching system the forwards the request to service provider wireless server
170
. Service provider wireless server
170
maintains records as to which services that mobile handset
110
receives.
Service provider wireless server
170
transmits a message to mobile switching system
150
that includes service information and authentication information to mobile switching system
150
. Mobile switching system
150
in turn transmits the message to base station
140
. Base station
140
uses the information to determine which services that mobile handset
110
receives and to authenticate the handset
110
when service is requested. Every time mobile handset
110
moves to a new cell, the above process is executed.
As the number of services and users of wireless communications increase, the size of each cell decreases and the number of cells increases. As the number of cells increases, the traffic over the wireless network increases. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a reduction in the amount of data transmitted over the network.
Solution
The above and other problems are solved and an advance in the art is made by the provision of a method and a system for transmitting feature and authentication information for wireless communication services. This invention reduces the amount of data transmitted over a wireless network when a mobile handset is registered in a cell. The amount of data is reduced by only transmitting the service information for a handset to a base station when the handset registers with a base station. Authentication information is only transmitted to the base station when a request for a wireless service is requested for the wireless handset. This reduces the amount of data transmitted over the wireless network since authentication data is only transmitted when service is requested.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of this invention, wireless communication services are provided to a mobile handset in the following manner. A base station receives a location registration request from the mobile handset. In response to receiving the location registration request, the base station transmits a service information request to a mobile switching system. The base station then receives an information message from the mobile switching system in response to the service information request transmitted by the base station. The information message includes the service information for the mobile handset. When the base station receives a communication service request for the mobile handset in said base station, the base station also receives authentication information from the mobile switching system. After the base station receives the authentication information, the base station performs an authentication of the mobile handset in response to receiving the authentication information.
When the base station receives a service set-up message requesting a service for a wireless handset, the base station reads authentication information from a service information message in response to receiving a request for an incoming service to the mobile handset. The base station may then stores the authentication information in response to reading the authentication information from the service information message.
When the base station receives a request from the mobile handset for an outgoing service, the base station may determine whether the authentication information for the mobile handset is stored in a memory in the base station. If the authentication information is stored in the memory, the base station reads the authentication information from the memory. If the authentication information is not stored in the memory, the base station transmits a request to the mobile switching system for the authentication information. The base station then receives the authentication information from the mobile switching system. The authentication information may then be stored in the memory in response to receiving the authentication information.
The mobile switching system may perform in the following manner in an exemplary embodiment. First, the mobile switching system receives the service information request from the base station. The mobile switching system then generates an information message that includes the service information for the mobile handset. The information message is then transmitted by the mobile switching to the base station.
In order to generate the information message, the mobile switching system may determine whether the service information for the mobile handset is stored in a memory in the mobile switching system. If the service information is stored in the memory of the mobile switching system, the mobile switching system reads the service information from the memory.
If the service information is not stored in the memory of the mobile switching system, the mobile switching systems transmits a request for the service information to a service provider server. The service provider server transmits the service information to the mobile switching system. The mobile switching system receives the service information. After the service information is received, the mobile switching system may store the service information in the memory.
When the mobile switching system receives an authentication information request from the base station, the mobile switching system generates an authentication message including the authentication information and transmits the authentication message to the base station. In order to generate the authentication message, the mobile switching system may determine whether the authentication information is stored in a memory of the mobile switching system in response to receiving an authentication information request. If the authentication information is stored in the memory, the mobile switching system reads the authentication information from the memory.
If the authentication information is not stored in
Chavez David L.
Hardouin Larry J.
Thieler Stephen M.
Avaya Technology Corp.
Chin Vivian
Nguyen Tu X
Patton & Boggs LLP
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