Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Patent
1995-05-01
2000-02-29
Chin, Wellington
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
455435, 455575, 455552, 455525, H04Q 724
Patent
active
060320427
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a cellular radio network and especially to improved location updating in cellular networks.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Base stations of a cellular radio network broadcast information about themselves and their environment continuously. Such network configuration information may contain, for instance a location area identifier, a base station identifier, a base station type identifier and so-called neighboring cell information. When being currently registered to a base station of a particular cell, a mobile station also monitors the quality of the transmission of the base stations indicated by the neighboring cell information of the current base station and moves to some of these base stations if the field strength of the present base station becomes lower. The cellular network knows the location of the mobile station usually with an accuracy of a so-called location area, to which belong a suitable number of predetermined cells with their base stations. The location area information sent by the base station indicates to the mobile station to which location area the base station belongs. When the mobile station moves to another cell within the same location area, no location updating is needed in the cellular network. On the other hand, upon observing on the basis of location area information a change of location area when moving to a coverage area of a new base station, the mobile station initiates a location updating by sending a location updating request to the cellular network. As a consequence of this location updating request, the cellular network stores the new location area of the mobile station in subscriber registers.
In the future, it is conceivable that both public cellular networks maintained by different operators and several kinds of private Customer Premises Networks (CPN) will be utilized, such as, for instance Business Customer Premises Networks (BCPN), Domestic Customer Premises Networks (DCPN), and Mobile Customer Premises Networks (MCPN). In such a situation, it would be preferable for the service of the networks that a mobile station would be capable of registering automatically or manually to these different networks. The public cellular networks and the CPNs would have separate location area structures. The amount of location updates would be high in such an environment, with the user moving from one place to another. In particular areas of the network, for instance at the edges of a private cellular network, signals of the other networks are so strong that a mobile station may try to initiate the location updates to an external network. Such location updates are unnecessary and annoying when the user wishes to remain registered within the area of a particular network, irrespective of received signal level, for instance. Moreover, unnecessary location updates and location updating attempts cause an unreasonable increase of the signaling load of the network.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to reduce unnecessary location updates and location updating attempts and thereby unnecessary signaling in a cellular radio network having a plurality of subnetworks.
According to one aspect of the invention, a cellular radio network, comprising a primary network having a first location area configuration, mobile radio stations capable of moving in the primary network from one location area to another, a mobile station starting a location updating procedure in the cellular network each time a changeover from one location area of the primary network to another is observed, is characterized in that at least some of the mobile stations are capable of moving, except in the primary network, in at least one other network having a second location area configuration differing from said first location area configuration, and that the mobile radio station comprises means, which, when activated by the user, temporarily prevent the mobile radio station from initiating location updates to other networks from the network used a
REFERENCES:
patent: 4905301 (1990-02-01), Krolopp et al.
patent: 5159625 (1992-10-01), Zicker
patent: 5212822 (1993-05-01), Fukumine et al.
patent: 5442680 (1995-08-01), Schallinger et al.
patent: 5487174 (1996-01-01), Persson
Chin Wellington
Nokia Telecommunications Oy
Sobutka Philip J.
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