Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-13
2001-04-03
Trost, William G. (Department: 2744)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S410000, C455S461000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06212390
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the use of restricted mobility areas in mobile communications systems, and more particularly to a method of allowing subscriber access to the system based on a real-time definition of restricted geographical areas, rather than allowing subscriber access to the system based on an area defined in terms of restricted lists of cells.
RELATED ART
Normally a user in a mobile cellular network can move around and access the network in the entire service area of the network. In some cases, however, restricting the area in which the user is allowed to move around and access the network can be regarded as a feature.
For example, charges could be differentiated on the basis of the allowed range of mobility. A user could have different tariffs for different geographic areas e.g. a part of a city, the entire city, or the entire country. Restricted mobility could also be used to introduce services in specific areas, i.e. specific services might only be allowed for particular geographic areas.
The problems with state of the art solutions are that restricted mobility in a cellular system has to be predefined (i.e. not real-time), and the geographical area is defined merely by using a list of cells available for access. Thus, there exists a problem with defining a general restricted geographic area without knowledge of the cellular structure of the network, and defining this area in real-time.
Although this problem exists with any cellular network, it is particularly acute in a Generic Radio Access Network (“GRAN”). A GRAN can be described as a radio access network with a generic interface to which any type of core network (e.g. GSM, ISDN, PSTN, Internet, etc.) can connect. See FIG.
1
. The basics of a GRAN have been described, in PCT/SE96/00510, “METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR INCREASING THE RANGE FOR A TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK IN A TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEM.” It is part of the ongoing development of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”) within the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (“ETSI”).
UMTS has been described as a ‘third-generation’ mobile communications system, as compared with current mobile systems like GSM which are referred to as ‘second-generation.’ UMTS is a broadband multimedia system that will support all that current wired and wireless technology can offer and have the ability to support new applications that are common to both, or unique to UMTS. Thus, UMTS is seen as a way of facilitating the convergence of wired and wireless networks as seamlessly as possible.
In terms of today's technology, UMTS can be thought of as having many different faces: PLMN, PSTN, wireless PABX, wireless LAN, RLL, private mobile radio, satellite systems, paging networks, mobile data networks, etc. Since the UMTS aids access between these networks, parts of the UMTS ‘network’ will be installed and operated by competing telecommunications operators. Other parts will be under private ownership. It is therefore foreseen that roaming between different zones under different ownership, probably resulting in a changing tariff scheme, will be supported in the UMTS environment.
UMTS will be operating in a highly competitive environment, so it must allow an individual service provider
50
FIG. 1
(e.g. ISDN
10
, GSM
20
, PSTN
30
, INTERNET
40
FIG. 1
) to provide services with features that are distinct from similar services from other providers, without causing limitations for roaming in other networks. For UMTS users roaming outside their home network, any visited network should be transparent to the call procedures the roaming customer is used to. The user should not notice that he, or she, has moved to another UMTS network that may offer its own clients a different set of arrangements.
One result of UMTS is that the access network
80
responsible for communication with terminals
70
over the air interface
90
will probably be independently owned and operated from those who own and operate as service providers
50
. For example, a GSM user may access the GSM network
20
through an independent access network
80
in the UMTS. Similarly, a customer of the PSTN at home may also access the PSTN
30
through the same, or perhaps a different, access network.
There will thus be a need in the UMTS of a radio access network with a generic interface to which any type of core network can connect. That is the concept of the GRAN, as described in PCT/SE96/00510 and shown in FIG.
1
. The mobile cellular network
80
will probably be owned and operated by an access provider
60
, the GRAN operator, by providing access to the service providers
50
over the air interface
90
. The GRAN operator
60
will have no subscribers of its own, but will be merely providing access to the core network service providers
50
for their subscribers.
Each of the core networks
50
will be able to access the cellular network
60
, the GRAN, through one or more ‘access ports’
100
as shown in FIG.
1
and FIG.
2
. These access ports
100
will then be connected to Radio Network Controllers (“RNC”)
120
which control the various base stations
130
in the cellular network
80
. The individual subscribers to the various service providers
50
will be provided access to their service provider through appropriate base stations
130
.
A diagrammatic view of this system can be seen in FIG.
2
. The Future core networks may be tailored to fit the generic interface, but existing core networks will have to use an interworking unit (“IWU”)
110
between itself and the GRAN
60
. The terminals
70
used while accessing the GRAN
60
will consist of one part that logically belongs to the GRAN
60
and a second part that logically belongs to the core network.
Core network subscribers can access their respective core network
50
through the GRAN
60
, which is done using bearer services that the GRAN
60
offers the core networks
50
. Thus, two major purposes of the GRAN
60
are to extend the ranges of existing core networks and to provide wireless access and mobility to their subscribers.
As mentioned above, the GRAN
60
has no subscribers. Only the core network service providers
50
have subscribers. The users of the GRAN
60
exist only while they communicate. The GRAN
60
is also independent of the service control signalling used by the service providing operators
50
. It does, however, provide basic terminal control, including: idle mode control, basic access with control establishment to the service providing network associated with the terminal and service, and resource control with handover control and performance.
The GRAN
60
also provides interworking functions for interworking with and between the service providers' networks. This interworking is part of the access network, but may be implemented as part of the service providers' networks as shown in FIG.
2
. This functionality will allow roaming between networks and within a given network, depending on the service provided by the user's service providers.
For example, a user might use his terminal to access the PSTN while at home, a GSM network while driving to work, and an ISDN while at work. Usage like this should be allowed whereby the different service providers could limit their services based on geographic location. These various service provLders would like to be able to restrict the user's access to a geographic location, based generally on physical location, using e.g. longitude and latitude.
This restriction in the past was done by one operator who served as both the access provider and the service provider. It was done by making a list of cells that the user would be restricted to. This required a knowledge of the cell structure of the mobile system. In the future, the service providers in the UMTS will have no knowledge of the cell structure of the mobile system and yet would like to be able to restrict their users' access based on some generally described physical area. Thus, a problem exists allowing service providers to define restri
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
Trost William G.
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