MXPA06008838A - Packet radio transmission over an unlicensed-radio access network - Google Patents

Abstract

An unlicensed-radio access network is connected to a packet service node (200) in a core network portion of a licensed mobile network. The unlicensed-radio access network includes an access controller (303) connected to the core network portion and having a packet controller (3032), a fixed broadband network (302) connected to the access controller (303) and having a plurality of access points (301). Each of the access points (301) defines a mini-cell coverage area (304) and supports an unlicensed-radio interface permitting communication of packet data between mobile stations (1) located within a respective mini-cell and the access controller (303). In accordance with the invention the access controller comprises a database (3031) for storing the identification of mobile stations (1) in association with packet path information addressing said mobile station (1) on the fixed broadband network (302).

Description

RADIO TRANSMISSION PACKAGE ON A RADIO ACCESS NETWORK WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The field of the invention relates to packet radio service transmissions by means of an unauthorized radio access network. The handling of identification of mobile stations for packet radio data in a radio access network without authorization has specific relevance.

ANTECEDENTS OF THE TECHNIQUE In the packet service (Global Packet Radio Service) in a GSM cellular network the packets (logical link control or freims or LLC frames) are exchanged between a mobile station MS and the GPRS support nodes in the core of the SGSN network, which have the corresponding protocol layers. This exchange is handled by a processor called the PCU packet control unit, which is part of a conventional base of a BSS station subsystem.

Mobile stations that communicate with the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) of a GSM cellular network are assigned to a mobile identity, called Packet Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (P-TMSI). This P-TMSI is used on the Mobile Handling (GMM) layer, GPRS Mobility Management. Any mobile station can have several different types of P-TMSI, some of which are located by the network, for example by the Support Node (GPRS Support Node) (SGSN), during the union with the GPRS, Area update of Routine or relocation procedures of P-TMSI. The GMM protocol layer also assigns a Temporary Logical Link Identity (TLLI) (Temporary Logical Link Identity), which is derived from the P_TMSI for use by the lower layers, such as the Logical Link control layer (LLC) (Logical Link control layer) and the Radio Link Control layers (Radio Link control) and Medium Access Control (Medium Access Control) (RLC / MAC).

Fig. 1 shows the GPRS signaling planes for a mobile station MS, base station subsystem BSS and support node GPRS SGSN corresponding to GSM 03.60. At the top of the protocol shown, the mobile station MS and the GPRS support node SGSN are stacked with GPRS mobility handling layers per session / GMM / SM session handling protocol and logical link control protocol. The GMM / SM and LLC protocol messages are repeated by the base station subsystem, which does not have an equivalent protocol layer. The protocol layers are present at the Um interface between the mobile station, the RLC Radio link control and the MAC medium access control over the GSM radio frequency RF protocol layers, through the Gb interface between the subsystem of the base station and the GPRS support node SGSN the GPRS protocol of the base station subsystem BSSGP is supported above the service protocol and the layer 1 protocols.

This TLLI logical link temporary identity is one of the main address components for the exchange of packets between a mobile station and the core of the network, in addition to a layer of the base station subsystem package BSSGP virtual circuit identifier, referred to as the BVCI. Each packet between the mobile station and the network core will include the TLLI in a header.

While the packet control unit PCU uses the temporary logical link identity TLLI to assign the packets the correct temporary flow of TBF blocks and direct the packets to the corresponding mobile station, the packet control unit PCU has no prior knowledge of this identifier. The mobile station includes its assigned TLLI in the uplink messages. The core of the network also transmits the TLLI if it has data to send but the mobile station is in an inactive state, ie TBF is not found.

When the LLC frames are sent from a mobile station to the core of the network, the packet control unit PCU identifies the logical link temporary identifier TLLI when a temporary block uplink (TBF) flow is established.

For LLC frems sent to the mobile station, the packet control unit PCU directs the LLC freims to a particular cell (BVC), and uses temporary block-downlink (TBF) flow if available. If the temporary block downlink flow is not available, the packet control unit PCU may assign the mobile station to a temporary downlink flow per block using the temporary link identifier TLLI.

The TLLI is essentially a temporary telephone number that is used when the mobile station is in a specific Address Area. A TLLC is valid for as long as the mobile station remains in the Address Area, which comprises several cells. The GMM protocol layer of the mobile station informs the network of the location of the mobile station.

When a mobile station is not active in a packet transfer, the GMM protocol layer is in a substitute state called GMM-STANDBY. In this state, the GMM protocol layer of the mobile station notifies the core of the network when the mobile station crosses from one Address Area to another with the Address Area Update. Any message that the network core needs to send to the mobile station while the mobile station is in this state will require the mobile station to search all the cells belonging to its current Address Area. When the mobile station sends an uplink data packet (LLC-PDU) to the network cores, it enters the GMM-READY state. When the mobile station is in the GMM-READY state, that is, it is active in the packet transfer mode, the GMM layer notifies the network when a cell border is crossed when performing a cell update. In this state, the exact location of the mobile station is known at the cell level; any packet transmitted to this mobile station by the core of the network can be sent directly to the mobile station by means of the correct base station subsystem (BSS). A mobile station remains in the GMM-READY state for a set period of time after sending an LLC uplink packet. A timer, called READY-STATE TIMER, is used to count down this period and is reset by sending each LLC uplink packet. The cell update message does not reset the timer. The value of the timer is coordinated between the mobile station and the GPRS support node SGSN during the GPRS connection and the Address Area Update procedures. The GMM states are located in the mobile station and in the GPRS support node SGSN to which it is connected.

Recent proposals have been made to extend conventional cellular networks by including access networks that use a radio interface without low-energy authorization to communicate with mobile stations. The access networks are designed to be used in conjunction with the core elements of a standard public mobile network and consist essentially of radio transceiver couplings without low-power authorization, or access points, each designed to establish a radio link without authorization with a mobile station MS and a controller or node of the interface that connects the unauthorized radio transceivers to the mobile network core. The connection between the controller and the access points is a fixed broadband network. Appropriate formats of unauthorized radios include enhanced digital cordless telecommunications (DECT), wireless LAN and Bluetooth. An adapted mobile handset capable of operating over the standard air interface (ie the Um interface) and the unauthorized radio interface means that the subscriber requires only one mobile station for all environments. The access network should be constructed in such a way that the core elements of the public mobile network see the interface node as a conventional base station controller BSC. In other words, the interface between the access network and the network core follows the 3GPP specifications.

However, the combination of the small size of the coverage areas of the access points and the ease with which they can be installed and moved means that each access controller will control a large, but frequently changing, number of cell phones compared to the equivalent of the base station controller of the conventional cellular network. Moreover, mobile stations served by an unapproved radio access network are connected to the access network by means of at least one dedicated control connection, typically a static TCP connection over the broadband network connected to the controller. access points access. Conventional mechanisms for routing packet service data between the mobile station and the network core are not useful in this access network for reasons of scale and signaling load.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION In view of the aforementioned problems, the object of the present invention is to provide an unauthorized radio access network capable of handling packet service traffic without the burden of undue signaling.

This and other objects are achieved in a radio access network without authorization and the method for carrying out the same according to the appended claims.

Specifically, the unauthorized radio access network is connected to a service node per packet in a part of the network core of a mobile network with authorization. The unauthorized radio access network includes an access controller connected to the core part of the network and has a packet controller, a fixed broadband network connected to the access controller and having a plurality of access points. Each of the access points defines a mini cellular coverage area and supports an unauthorized radio interface that allows data communication per packet between the mobile stations located within a respective mini-cell and the access controller. According to the invention, the access controller consists of a database for storing the identification of mobile stations in association with the route information of the packets that the mobile station (1) addresses over the fixed broadband network.

The provision of a database for associating the temporary identification of the mobile station with a broadband network address or the access point by means of which the mobile station communicates with the access network essentially provides an intermediate level of management of mobility. In this way the access network can actively direct messages from the core of the network to a specific address, access point or group of access points to reduce the amount of signaling to and from the access points.

The access points may also consist of separate entities capable of establishing a connection with the access controller even when a mobile station is not located in the coverage area, or they may also be essentially transparent access points or nodes for the band network wide that simply transmit messages between a mobile station and the access controller while providing the conversion between the unauthorized radio interface and the fixed broadband network. In the latter case, the mobile stations will be assigned to a network address in the broadband network, since the access points are not recognized as separate entities by the access controller.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the database is updated without the participation of the core of the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The later objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments which are given by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the figures: Fig. 1 schematically represents the signaling plane between a mobile station and a GPRS support node in the conventional GSM GPRS network.

Fig. 2 schematically represents parts of a modified GSM network to include a radio access network without authorization.

Fig. 3 schematically represents the radio access network without authorization in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows the signaling plane between a mobile station and a local base station controller in a radio access network without authorization according to a first mode.

Fig. 5 shows the signaling plane between a mobile station and a local base station controller in a radio access network without authorization according to a second mode.

Figs. 6 to 9 show the signaling between a mobile station and an access controller of a radio access network without authorization in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The cellular mobile network represented in Fig. 1 includes parts of a conventional GSM network supporting the General Packet Radio Service GPRS. This network is essentially divided into a part of the core of the network 20 and an access part 10. The core elements of the network shown in the figure include the GPRS SGSN 200 support nodes, which can access one or more external networks 30, such as ISDN and PSTN networks and data networks in switched circuit packets such as Intranets, extranets and the Internet by means of one or more gateway GPRS support nodes GGSN 201. The function and structure of these architecture elements conventional GSM are known to those skilled in the art and are not described in detail herein.

The access part essentially consists of base station subsystems BSS 10, one of which is shown in Fig. 1, which is communicated by means of a fixed standard Gb interface defined with an SGSN 200 in the core portion of the network 20. Each base station subsystem BSS 10 includes a base station controller BSC 103 that communicates with one or more base transceiver stations BTS 101 via the defined air interface Abis 102. The base transceiver stations 101 communicate with the Mobile stations MS 1 on the standard GSM radio air interface are Um. It will be understood that while BTS 101 and BSC 103 are shown as forming a single entity in BSS 10, BSC 103 is often separated from TASS 101 and can even be located in the mobile MSC service hub MS 202.

In addition to the standard access network portion provided by the BSS's network 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a modified access network part 30 which is shown in the lower middle portion of the figure. Hereafter will be described as a part of the radio access network without authorization 30.

The components forming this part of radio access network without authorization 30 also allow the mobile terminal 1 to access the part of the GSM core network, and through this, with other communication networks by means of an X interface of radio without authorization, represented in Fig. 1 by means of the bi-directional arrow. Radio without authorization means any radio protocol that does not require the operator operating the mobile network to obtain a license from an appropriate regulatory agency. In general, unauthorized radio technologies should have low power and limited range compared to licensed mobile radio services. This means that the battery life of mobile terminals will be longer. Moreover, because the radio range without authorization is low, it can be a broadband radio, so it provides better voice quality. The radio interface can use any radio protocol without proper authorization, for example a wireless LAN protocol or Digital Enhanced Telecommunications without Cable (DECT). Preferably, however, Bluetooth radio is used, which has a high broadband and lower power consumption than conventional public radio mobile networks.

The Bluetooth standard specifies a two-way digital radio link for short-range connections between different devices. The devices are equipped with a transceiver that transmits and receives at a band frequency of around 2.45 GHz. This band is available worldwide with some broadband variations depending on the country. In addition to the data, up to three voice channels are available. Each device has a unique 48-bit address from the IEEE 802 standard. Coding and verification is also available.

The unauthorized radio access network part 30 shown in Fig. 1 includes an access network controller 303 also designated as a local base station controller HBSC. The local base station controller HBSC 303 communicates with a GPRS service support node SGSN 203 on a standard Gb interface in the central network part and provides the connection between the SGSN 203 and the mobile terminal 1. The controller of the local base station HBSC 303 is connected to a plurality of unauthorized radio access points 301, to which a fixed broadband network by switched packets 302 will refer as local base stations HBS. The local base stations HBS 301 are adapted to communicate through the Bluetooth interface and for this purpose to handle the radio link protocols with the mobile terminal MS 1 contains radio transceivers that define a cell in a manner similar to the operation of the transceiver of the GSM base station BTS 101. The binding function of the local base station HBS 301 and the controller of the local base station HBSC 303 emulates the operation of a conventional BSS 10 towards the SGSN 201. In other words, when viewed from the elements of the core network 20 such as the GPRS service node (SGSN) 201, the part of the fixed access network 30 constituted by means of the local base stations HBS 301 and the controller of the local base station 303 appear a part of conventional access network 10.

The applications running in the mobile terminal MS 1 at the top of the public mobile radio network interfaces also run on top of the Bluetooth radio between the mobile terminal 1 and the local base station HBS 301.

The local base station 301 is intended to be a small device that can be purchased by a subscriber and installed at the desired location such as the house or office to obtain fixed access to a mobile network. However, the operator can also install them in hot spots of traffic. In order to reduce installation costs by the operator, the interface between the local base station 301 and the local base station controller 303 preferably preferentially exploits an already existing connection provided by the fixed network 302. Suitable networks can include those based on ADSL, Ethernet, LMDS, or similar. Local connections to these networks are increasing their availability to subscribers. Although not shown in Fig. 1, the local base station HBS 301 will be connected to a network terminal that accesses the fixed network 302, while the controller of the local base station HBSC 303 may be connected to an edge of the router ER of the network 302 that also links the fixed network 302 to other networks such as intranets and the Internet. The IP is used to communicate between the local base station HBS 301 and the controller of the local base station HBSC 303 over the fixed network 302 to provide the data transport service independent of the network type. The link between the local base station BHS 301 and the controller of the local base station HBSC 303 is preferably always open, so this connection is always available without the need to reserve a channel.

The local base station HBS 301 is installed by connecting it to a port of a modem, such as an ADSL or CATV modem, to access the fixed network 302. The port is connected to an Intranet that has a bridge or is addressed at the IP level. According to a first mode, the local base station HBS 301 connected to the modem uses standard protocols, such as IP, DHCP, DNS to establish a connection with a local base station controller HBSC 303. A procedure for accessing a local base station 301 connected for the first time or reconnected to a local base station controller HBSC 303 is described , for example, in the European patent application No EP-A-1 207 708. Before establishing a voice or data connection between the local base station controller HBSC 303 and the local base station JBS 3'1 a connection is established static TCP between these elements through the fixed broadband network 302.

According to an alternative embodiment, the local base station 301 is not recognized as a separate entity by the local base station controller 303 but simply serves as an unauthorized radio access point to the access network and repeats the received packets over the radio interface without authorization to the network based on IP 203 or vice versa. In this mode, the mobile station MS is provided with the functionality necessary to establish and maintain a static connection with a local base station controller HBSC 303 over the broadband network 302. When the local BSE station HBS 301 is simply a point of transparent access to the radio access network without authorization, does not communicate with the local base station controller 303 independently of a mobile station and therefore there is no access procedure.

The signaling planes of radio access networks without authorization according to these two modalities shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In both modes, the mobile station has two parallel protocol stacks. For handling communication over the conventional GSM radio interface, the mobile station has a GSM radio layer below a RR sublayer of a radio resource. Above this is an SSCS service coordination sublayer that also connects to radio sublayers without authorization. Above the SSCS service coordination sublayer is the logical link control layer, the mobility management layer for managing the switched circuit and the GPRS mobility management (MM and GMM) and the CM connection management layer with the handling of GPRS SM session, short message service, SMS and equivalent protocols for circuit switching traffic. Above this is the convergence protocol dependent on the SNDCP subnetwork and the IP application layer. The radio interface without authorization, which Bluetooth in the present example, is supported by different layers of protocol in the two different modes. In FIG. 4 a Bluetooth BT radio layer is provided below a Bluetooth BAL adaptation layer and a Bluetooth GPRS radio BGRR resource layer. In addition to these new radio resource protocols, one more layer of a new protocol is supported, the GPRS Local HGRR radio resource layer. The HGRR protocol essentially replaces the RLC Radio Link Control protocol layer in a conventional GSM access network. In the local base station HBS, the Bluetooth BT radio layer, the Bluetooth BAL adaptation layer and the Bluetooth BGRR radio GPRS resource layer are provided. The local base station also includes a GPRS Local HGRR radio resource layer for repeating the HGRR messages between the local base station controller and the mobile station MS. A local mobility management layer HMM is present to partially repeat the mobility management protocol messages. The broadband access or Y interface is supported by a partial protocol of local mobile application up TCP over IP. The protocols of OSI layers 1 and 2 are below the IP protocol layer. In the controller of the local base station, those protocol layers are duplicated. Above these, the logical link control protocol and the GPRS mobility management messages are repeated. The Bf interface is supported by the same protocol layers present in a conventional BSS as described with reference to Fig. 1.

In Fig. 5, the protocol layers of the X interface in the mobile station consist of the lower radio layers without authorization. An IP and TCP / UDP protocol layer is provided above these. The HGRR protocol layer of local GPRS radio resource is also provided on this interface, in addition to the local mobility management HMM protocol layer. In the local base station HBS that serves as a transparent access point the X interface is supported by the radio protocol without authorization under IP. The Y interface is supported on the local HBS base station only by the protocols of OSI Layer 1 and 2 below IP. The protocol layers that support the Y interface in the local base station controller HBSC are essentially the same as those shown in Fig. 4.

The mobile stations served by the radio access network without authorization are registered in this access network and connected to the access network with at least one dedicated control connection. This can be a static TCP connection established over the fixed broadband network, or another static connection maintained based on UDP, for example. This connection is maintained even when the mobile station is in an inactive state.

In a conventional GSM access network, the LLC frems received from the central network when a mobile station is in the GMM-STANDY state, ie, it is not active in the packet transfer mode, can not be directed to the mobile station, because the location of the mobile station is known only at a Location Area level. Therefore, to ensure that the message reaches the mobile station to which it was directed, it is sent to all BSS coverage areas, or cells, within the same Routing Area of the mobile station. In an unauthorized radio access network, a single local base station controller will control at least one Routing Area. The small size of the cells in the radio access network without authorization means that potentially many more local base stations, or access points, will be assigned to a single Routing Area. The transmission of LLC freims between the local HBSC 303 base station controller and all local base stations within the Routing Area would result in prohibitively heavy signaling loading in the access network. This problem can be solved by providing a look-up table or database accessible to the controller of the local base station to store the routing information that can be accessed with a mobile station identifier, typically the IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity. The IMSI is known by the core of the network and is typically used in the exchange of both switched circuits (ie, voice) and packet switched traffic. However, the database will be very large since it contains entries for each mobile station located in the coverage area of the radio access network without authorization, whether they are inactive or active. This will result in a highly prohibitive signaling load when a mobile station is actively exchanging data per packet with the core of the network, since for each packet received from the core network, the controller of the local HBSC base station has to enter the database. Another problem with this solution is that the IMSI is not included in all the LLC frems received from the central network. According to the present invention, therefore, the local base station controller HBSC 303 actively assigns service messages per packet to the correct mobile station MS 1 or local base station HBS 301 using the temporary link identifier TLLI. Moreover, this mechanism is used only when the mobile station is actively exchanging packets of service per packet with the core of the network. This can be seen as equivalent to the period when the mobile station is in the GMM-READY state. This is shown in more detail in Fig. 3, which represents the radio access network without authorization in more detail.

The unauthorized radio access network represented in Fig. 3 includes a local base station controller HBSC 303 connected via a fixed broadband network 302 to two access points or local base stations HBS1 and HBS2 301. radio coverage without authorization 304 of each local base station is represented by a dotted line. These coverage areas 304 will hereinafter be referred to as mini-cellular to distinguish them from the cells of a conventional GMS network. In the mini-cell 304 of these local base station controllers HBS 301 three mobile stations MSI-MS3 1 are located. The local base station controller HBSC 303 is connected to the support node GPRS SGSN 200. The remaining elements of a network core conventional cellular 20 are omitted from the figure.

The local base station controller HBSC 303 in FIG. 3 comprises a packet control unit 3032 and a database 3031 shown schematically as a table in the figure accessible by the packet control unit 3032. The control unit of Packet is a processor to handle GPRS. The database 3031 is used to store the temporary identifier of the mobile station assigned to a mobile station by the core of the network. This identifier is preferably the logical link identifier TLLI assigned to a mobile station by the core of the network. In any case, the identifier will be the same or at least indicative of the temporary identification assigned by the core of the network 20 to a mobile station MS 1 and will be contained in each LCC freim exchanged between a mobile station and the network core. As mentioned above, the IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity is not suitable as an identifier. The IMSI, while useful for identifying central network 20 search messages, is not always available to the packet control unit from a downlink LLC frem received from the core network.

In this database 3031 the temporary identifier of the mobile station is coupled with the packet-directed information to the mobile station 1. When the local base stations HBS 301 are independent entities within the radio access network without authorization 30 it can establishing a connection with a mobile station 1 and with the controller of the local base station HBSC 303 independently, the information that addresses the packets will be the address of the packet to the local base station that controls the mini-cell 304 where the station is currently located mobile. This is shown as an example in Fig. 3, where the database contains TLLI, TLLI-a to TLLI-c values, associated with the information identifying the local base station HBS 301, HBS1 or HBS2. The information that the packet addresses can be an identifier assigned to this local base station HBS 301 or it can indicate the network address (ie the IP address and the UDP port) of a packet route for this local HBS base station in the fixed broadband network 302. Naturally, when the local base station is a transparent access point, the temporary identifier of the mobile station will be determined in accordance with the packet route or network address (IP address and UDP port of the mobile station 1 by itself.

As an example, the mobile station MSI is located in the mini cellular of the local base station 1. Consequently, the TLLI assigned to this mobile station MSI, TLLI will be determined according to the IP address of the packet route of the local base station HBSI in the controller database of the local base station 3031. Similarly, the T11I of the mobile station MS2, the TLLI-b will be determined in accordance with the local base station HBSI and the TLLI of the mobile station MS3, TLLI- c will be determined according to the local base station HBS2.

The packet control unit 3032 uses the database 3031 in the following manner. When a downlink freim is received from the core network (i.e., in the BSSGP protocol layer), a TLLI value is also received. The packet control unit 3032 performs a search database using the TLLI value received as the search key. This browser returns the packet path of the mobile station to this mobile station and the packet control unit of the 3032 packet sends the received freim LLC to that destination.

As a result of the small size of the coverage areas of each HBS 301 local base station, the number of mini-cellular phones within a Routing Area under the control of a single controller of the local HBSC 303 base station can be thousands. Moreover, this number can change constantly as a consequence of the ease with which local HBS 301 base stations can be added or removed from a radio access network without authorization 30.

By allowing the controller of the local base station HBSC 303 to direct the LLC freims to a particular local base station HBS 301 in contact with the mobile station MS 1 means that the amount of signaling that would otherwise be required between the station controller local base BHSC 303 and local base stations HBS 301 is greatly reduced. In addition, making an additional layer of mobility management in the local base station controller 303 means that the unauthorized radio access network does not need to emulate the temporary block flow mechanism used in the conventional GSM access network, but it can identify the mobile station in both downlink and uplink freimes during a period of intense packet traffic exchange.

To limit the size of the database 3031, a temporary identifier of the mobile station is maintained in the database only for the period that the mobile station is actively sending the LLC freims. This essentially corresponds to the period within which a mobile station is in the GMM-READY state.

The packet control unit 3032 creates a new entry in the database 3031 when a freim LLC, which is not empty, is received from the mobile station. The temporary identifier of the mobile station or TLLI is contained in the freim LLC. Alternatively, an entry can be recorded when implementing a procedure in the mobile station. This is shown in Fig. 6. Specifically, when the GPRS mobility management layer GMM is assigned to a new P-TMSI, it assigns the temporary identifier of the derived mobile station or TLLI to the LLC logical link control and to the local GPRS radio resources HGRR. The HGRR layer in the mobile station sends a signaling message "hGRR_REGISTER_TLLI (new TLLI)" to the controller of the local base station HBSC to register the new TLLI value. The controller of the local base station HBSC registers the TLLI entry with the packet route to the associated local base station, or directly to the mobile station, and returns an acknowledgment message NHGRR_REGISTER_TLLI_ACK ".

A temporary identifier of the mobile station TLLI is changed when the service node GPRS SGSN indicates that a change must be made. This is recorded in a similar way to what is shown in Fig. 6. In this case the registration message contains both the new and the previous TLLI. Upon receiving the new TLLI value, the previous TLLI entry can be deleted.

This registration procedure can be performed by the mobile station each time there is an uplink LLC freim to be sent to a newly assigned TLLI.

To eliminate the temporary identifier of the mobile station from the database 3031 there is a large number of possibilities. Fig. 7 shows a procedure carried out by the local base station HBS. When the mobile station leaves the coverage area of a local HBS base station, this is signaled to the local HBS base station. The HGRR layer of the local base station can then inform the controller of the local base station HBSC that the temporary identifier entry of the mobile station in the database 3031 is no longer valid by sending a registration cancellation message "HGRR_DEREGISTER_TLLI". The controller of the local base station acknowledges this with a message HGRR_DEREGISTER_TLLI_ACK ".

The registration cancellation procedure shown in Fig. 7 obviously can not be implemented in an unapproved radio access network using a transparent access point as shown in Fig. 5, since the local HBS base station it is not able to recognize when a mobile station has left its coverage area, or to signal this fact to the controller of the local HBSC base station. Moreover, because the intense packet exchange periods are still relatively short, it will be more common for this level of traffic to cease while a mobile station is within the coverage area of a mini cell 304 and as a result of this exit a mini-cell. The protocol stack of the mobile station MS 1 can be modified so that the lower layers, specifically the CLL layer of logical link control is reported by the GMM layer when the GMM-READY state has switched to the GMM-STANDBY state. The mobile station can then inform the controller of the local base station of this change of state using an LLC message. The TLLI entry in the database 3031 associated with this mobile station can be eliminated because the heavy traffic flow will have ceased.

To allow the unauthorized access network 30 to control the update of the database without modifying the protocol stack of the mobile station, a timer is implemented in the controller of the local base station HBSC, accessible by means of the control unit of the 3032 packets or in the mobile station. This timer starts or restarts when a freim LLC containing data is sent or received from the mobile station. Optionally it can also be restarted when an LLC freim is transmitted to the mobile station. When the timer time expires, the associated input of the temporary identifier of the mobile station is removed from the database 3131. The duration of this timer preferably reflects the duration of the timer defining the GMM-READY state in the mobile station. This value is also defined in the GPRS service node SGSN and communicated to the mobile station. The database timer can be configured to have the same timer value of the GMM-READY state. A similar timer can be implemented in the mobile station. Fig. 8 shows the case when the timer is implemented in the mobile station. When the timer time has expired, the mobile station sends a TLLI cancellation message "HGRR_DEREGISTRATION_TLLI" to the controller of the local base station HBSC. The local base station acknowledges the message with a subsequent message "HGRR_DEREGISTRATION_TLLI_ACK" and removes the corresponding TLLI entry in database 3031. In Fig. 9, the same procedure occurs, but it is initiated by the local base station controller BHSC.

When the unauthorized radio access network is implemented using transparent access points as shown in Fig. 5, the mechanisms described above and shown in Figs. 6, 8 and 9 can also be used. However, the HBS access point is not able to communicate to the access network when a mobile station has left its coverage area. In this way, the signaling shown in 1 Fig. 7 is not possible. As an alternative to implementing a timer in a local HBSC base station controller, the local base station can monitor the static connection with the mobile station and operate a connection maintenance mechanism. Specifically, the connection, which is preferably a static TCP connection, is maintained through the exchange of messages to maintain the active line. If the local base station detects that a connection maintenance message was not received recently, you can delete the TLLI entry from the database.

The packet control unit 3032 described above as a single central processor, the GPRS router or a similar packet service can be further simplified by implementing a packet control unit as a number of loosely coupled devices. Specifically, although the HBS local access points or base stations may present different cell identifiers to the mobile stations, a controller of the local HBSC base station may present only a few BVCI virtual circuit identifiers of the pack layer of the station subsystem BSSGP base to the core network (SGSN). Each BVCI can be controlled by a part of the package control unit and the 3031 TLLI database can be divided into several parts for each processing device. The packet control unit may then present one or more unique BVCIs for each processing device to the core of the network. This allows the packet control unit to more easily route the downlink LLC frems to the dedicated processing device that handles the addressed mobile station.

Claims (17)

1. An unauthorized radio access network is connected to a packet service node (200) in a part of the core network (20) of a mobile network with authorization; the unauthorized radio access network (30) includes an access controller (303) connected to the central network part and has a packet controller (3031), a fixed broadband network (302) connected to the controller of access and that has a plurality of access points (301), each of the access points defines a mini-cellular coverage area (304) and supports an unauthorized radio interface that allows communication of the data in packets between the mobile stations (1) located within its respective mini-cells and the access controller (303), characterized in that the access controller consists of a database (3031) for storing the temporary identification information assigned to the mobile stations for use in the packet service messages in association with the route information of the packets that route the mobile station over the fixed broadband network.

2. The access network of claim 1, characterized in that the database (3031) is adapted to store the identification of the mobile stations in association with at least one specific access point (301) for the coverage area in which the mobile station is located.

3. The access network of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the access point controller (303) is adapted to receive from the central network part (20) a data message per packet containing the temporary identification information of a mobile station (1) located in the associated location area, to retrieve the address path of the packet associated with the identified mobile station and transmit the data message by packet to that identified packet address path.

4. The access network of any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the access network controller (303) is adapted to receive from a mobile station (1) a message that records the temporary identification information for the mobile station and store those new temporary identification information data in the database associated with the address information per packet of the mobile station or fixed broadband network (302).

5. The access network of any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the temporary identification information of the mobile station is the temporary logical link identifier (TLLI).

6. The access network of any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the address information of the packets is a network address of the access points (301) over the fixed broadband network (302).

7. The access network of claim 6, characterized in that the address information of the packets is assigned to an access point (3019) communicating with the mobile station.

8. The access network of any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the access controller (303) is adapted to eliminate the temporary identification information upon receipt of a message from at least one of the access points (301) and the temporary identification that stored the mobile station was not valid for longer.

9. The access network of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the access network controller (303) is adapted to determine whether the connection to the mobile station is maintained and to remove the temporary identification information from the database (3031). ) when determining that the connection is not maintained for longer.

10. The access network of claim 9, characterized in that the access controller (303) comprises a timer with a predetermined duration and adapted to restart upon receipt of the packet data message from the mobile station containing stored temporary identification information , the packet controller (3031) is arranged to eliminate the identification of the mobile station when the timer has finished counting the predetermined duration •

11. A method of an unauthorized radio access network consisting of a plurality of access points (301) adapted to communicate with mobile stations (1) over an unauthorized radio interface and an access controller (303) connected to those access points and a service node per packet (200) in a part of the central network of an authorized radio cellular network, the method includes the steps of: receiving temporary identification information to be used in service messages per specific packet to a mobile station of the mobile station, recording the temporary identification information of the mobile station in the access point controller associated with the packet route information identifying at least one access point.

12. The method of claim 11, further characterized by the steps of: receiving in the access controller a packet service message from the part of the central network addressed to a mobile station, retrieving the temporary identification information from the service message by package; identifying a packet address path to at least one access point for the addressed mobile station, and sending that packet service message to at least one identified access point associated with the identification information of the registered mobile station .

13. The method of claims 11 or 12, further characterized by the steps of: updating the identification information of the mobile station upon receipt of the message from the identified access point associated with the identification information of the mobile station, which is no longer It is valid.

14. The method of claims 11 or 12, further characterized by the step of: setting a timer upon receiving the service message per packet containing the stored temporary identification information of the mobile station, readjusting the timer if, in addition, it is received from a mobile station the service message per packet containing the temporary identification information stored within a predetermined delay time period and delete the identification information of the registered mobile station if no other service message per packet containing the temporary identification information stored from the mobile station within a predetermined delay time period.

15. A method of an unauthorized radio access network consisting of a fixed broadband network with a plurality of access points (301) and an access controller (303) connected to the fixed broadband network and a node of service per packet of a part of the central network of a cellular radio network authorized and adapted to exchange service messages per packet with the mobile stations (1) on a radio interface without authorization through the access points, this method includes the steps of: the access controller establishes communication with a mobile station using a network address in the fixed broadband network for the radio station, receiving temporary identification information to be used in the service messages by specific packet to a mobile station from the mobile station, record the identification information of the mobile station associated with a network address in the fixed broadband network spec fies for the mobile station to retrieve information temporary message identification packet data received from the core network, and route the message packet data to the network address associated with the information stored temporary ID.

16. The method of claim 15, further characterized by the step of: the access point controller determines when a connection established with the mobile station is not maintained for a longer time and eliminate the identification of the mobile station when it is determined that the connection is no longer maintained for longer.

17. The method of claim 15, further characterized by the step of: setting a timer upon receiving the service message per packet containing the stored temporary identification information of a mobile station, resetting the timer if another service message is received another packet containing the stored temporary identification information of a mobile station within a predetermined delay time and removing the identification information of the registered mobile station for that mobile station if no other service message is received per packet containing the identification information stored time of the mobile station within a predetermined delay time period.