WO2006134510A1

WO2006134510A1 - A system and method for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication

Info

Publication number: WO2006134510A1
Application number: PCT/IB2006/051789
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xiaohui Jin; Xiaoling Shao; Bo Liu; Lei Feng; Yonggang Du
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2005-06-15
Filing date: 2006-06-06
Publication date: 2006-12-21

Abstract

The present invention proposes a communication system and method for the associative communication of a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal. The system receives the register information from a mobile terminal, and then establishes a mapping relationship between the mobile terminal and a corresponding fixed terminal according to the register information of the mobile terminal. When some other communication device wants to communicate with the mobile terminal, the mapping relationship will be sent to the communication device so that the communication device can establish a communication connection with the corresponding fixed terminal to reduce the cost or enhance QOS.

Description

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CORRELATING A MOBILE TERMINAL AND A FIXED TERMINAL FOR COMMUNICATION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a communication system and more particularly relates to a communication system, which combines a wireless communication network and a fixed communication network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, more and more communication terminals need to be configured different wireless interfaces to access different wireless network, such as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Cellular Network, Near Field Communication (NFC) and so on. There are lots of researches on overlay networks, where these networks have overlapping coverage. What concern is how to provide services in different kinds of wireless network, including location management, network selection, network convergence and so on.

Meanwhile, fixed networks, like public switched telephone network (PSTN), Ethernet, Internet, are still playing important roles in communication service. Many companies have embranchments in different cities, countries and even continents. Some companies still use and willing to keep the use of fixed networks in business affairs because of the agio provided by fixed network operators and other concerns, like cost, QoS and security of wireless telecommunication.

So it is necessary to provide a system and method for combining a fixed network and a wireless network to integrate the convenience of wireless network and the low cost of fixed network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to build a mapping relationship between a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal so that the communication can be realized agilely over the connections between different mobile terminals, a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal, or different fixed terminals. In that way, wireless network and fixed network are combined together.

According to the present invention, a method for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication is provided, which comprises the steps of:

a. receiving register information from a mobile terminal; b. establishing a mapping relationship between the mobile terminal and a corresponding fixed terminal according to the register information from the mobile terminal; and c. transmitting the mapping relationship to a communication device that want to communicate with the mobile terminal so that the communication device can establish a communication connection with the fixed terminal according to the mapping relationship.

According to the present invention, a communication system for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication is provided, the system comprising:

- a receiving means for receiving register information from a mobile terminal;

- a mapping means for establishing a mapping relationship between the mobile terminal and a corresponding fixed terminal according to the register information from the mobile terminal;

- a transmitting means for transmitting the mapping relationship to a communication device that needs to communicate with the mobile terminal so that the communication device can establish a communication connection with the fixed terminal according to the mapping relationship.

By means of the communication system and method, when another mobile terminal wants to communicate with the above-mentioned mobile terminal, a connection with a corresponding fixed terminal can be established to save money or provide better QoS.

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, following description is made with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiments of the present invention as follow is given with reference of companying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows the system for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows the system for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 shows the system for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication according to the third preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 shows the flow chart of the network registering process of the system showed in

Figure 1;

Figure 5 shows the flow chart of the network registering process of the system showed in Figure 2;

Figure 6 shows the flow chart of the network registering process of the system showed in

Figure 3;

Figure 7 shows the flow chart of the network searching process of the system showed in figure 1 to figure 3.

In the drawings same numerals indicate same or similar features.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the preferred embodiments, the code of Mobile Station Integrated Service Digital Center

Network (MSISDN) is used as the identifier of the mobile terminal. Network Access Identifier, e-mail address, Instant Message account can also be used in place of MSISDN.

The present invention discloses a network system for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication, the system comprises mobile terminals, fixed terminals, and a network database for storing related information of the mobile terminals and fixed terminals. Currently, different multi-mode mobile terminals have different wireless interfaces. For example, some mobile terminals have WLAN and cellular modules when some others are configured with Bluetooth or NFC and cellular modules and so forth. Different method can be used to correlate a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication according to different configuration of mobile terminals and fixed terminals. In the present invention three kinds of different systems are listed, which comprise different mobile terminals, fixed terminals and network elements.

Figure 1 shows the first kind of network system (so-called system A) for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein:

1) Mobile terminal 1 (so-called mobile terminal A) supports WLAN and cellular network thus it has WLAN module 11 to access WLAN and cellular module 12 to access cellular network. Mobile terminal A can access cellular network such as GSM.

2) Fixed terminal 3 (so-called fixed terminal A) can be a conventional PSTN telephone.

3) Network database 2 is used to store and/or exchange the mapping relationship between mobile terminal 1 and fixed terminal 3, which can be achieved by using a network device. The network database 2 (so-called database A) stores the mapping relationship between WLAN and the fixed terminals in its coverage. For example, fixed terminal ISDNl, ISDN2, ...ISDNn are in the coverage of the first access point API of WLAN and ISDNm is in the coverage of the second access point AP2 of WLAN... The mapping relationship can be set by the IT department of the company or a company as the third party providing service. Network database 2 can be in network device of cellular network or Internet. If database 2 is in cellular network, the mobile terminal A can access to network database 2 via GSM network or using cellular network to relay the access from WLAN.

Figure 2 shows the second kind of network system (so-called system B hereafter) for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein: 1) Mobile terminal 1 (so-called mobile terminal B) have a cellular module 11 and a near field wireless interface 15 for the access to cellular network wherein the cellular module 12 is used to access cellular network, such as GSM CSD, GPRS, WCDMA, CDMA2000, and/or Internet. The near field wireless interface 15 can be used for access to

Bluetooth, Zigbee, NFC or some other near field wireless network and the message exchange with the fixed terminals in that several kinds of network. Further more, the mobile terminal 1 can comprise a bar code scan device 13 to scan bar code and transform it into data information and/or a camera 14 for catching images or texts and transforming them into data information.

2) Fixed terminal 3 (so-called fixed terminal B) have near field wireless interface 24. Fixed terminal 3 can get its own phone number (PSTN or ISDN number) and then transmit it to the mobile terminal 1 using Bluetooth, Zigbee, NFC or other near field wireless technology. It can also be set to have a bar code, image or text which contains its own phone number so that the mobile terminal 1 which equipped with a bar code scan device 13 or a camera 14 can get the phone number of fixed terminal 3 by scanning the bar code or catching the images or texts. Fixed terminal 3 can get its phone number by using the inner technology of PSTN or the management and settings of the IT department of the company.

3) Network database 2 is used to store and/or exchange the mapping relationship between mobile terminal 1 and fixed terminal 3. This function can be achieved by using a network device. The network database 2 (so-called database B) can be in a network device of cellular network or Internet. If the database is in the core network of cellular network, then the network database 2 can be a presence server in 3G system. If the network database locates in Internet, the network database 2 can be a instant message server or some other server that can provide information exchanging platform. The mapping relationship between mobile terminal B and fixed terminal B can be set by network database 2 in a dynamic way so there is no need to set it manually beforehand.

Figure 3 shows the third kind of network system (so-called system C hereafter) for correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication according to the third preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein: In system C, mobile terminal 1 can be the same with the mobile terminal 1 in system B; fixed terminal 3 can also be the same with the fixed terminal 3 in system B, it can be a normal PSTN telephone. Network database 2 can be similar with database A except for the difference that network database 2 is mainly used to store the mapping relationship between mobile terminal 1 and the office location. Fixed terminal 3 also possess a device 21 like an electronic gate lock or an electronic display, the location of the fixed terminal 3 can be displayed and informed as "Shanghai embranchment of company A" or "New York embranchment of company B" in every single embranchment. Mobile terminal 1 of system C can use NFC, Bluetooth or other near field wireless method to get the location information of the local office it locates in.

Detailed description of the method to realize associative communication of a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal with the three kinds of systems is given hereinafter. In any kind of system, the achieving of associative communication of a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal must comprises steps of discovering network, registering network and searching network. The methods and process of the three kinds of systems performs are as follows:

During the discovering network stage:

Before accessing a network, mobile terminal 1 should discover the network first. According to different configuration of different mobile terminals, different methods and processes will be used.

In system A shown in figure 1, mobile terminal 1 starts a WLAN scan process to find a WLAN network when it enters an office. The stimulating condition can be its inner algorithm or user's intervention. The algorithm is similar to the scan algorithm of IEEE802.il standard or other scan algorithms, which belongs to another company. The scan process may obey the standard process of IEEE802.11 standard. If there is a valid

WLAN network, mobile terminal 1 will get a beacon. After getting the beacon frame sent by AP of the WLAN, the information of WLAN and the current AP such as the Extended Service Set Identifier (ESSID), Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), the name Media Access Control (MAC) of WLAN even the IP address of the current AP address are gotten by the mobile terminal 1. Authenticated by the WLAN, mobile terminal 1 gets the authorization to access the WLAN. Mobile terminal 1 can have access to the network database 2 via WLAN, Internet or Intranet. The IP address of mobile terminal 1 can be configured dynamically by WLAN or Dynamic Host Configure Protocol (DHCP) server.

When using DHCP, the location of the mobile terminal can be deduced based on its IP address. When moving and switching in different AP and/or WLAN, mobile terminal 1 can get the latest information of accessing AP.

The result of discovering network performed by mobile terminal 1 in system A is that mobile terminal 1 knows all or part of the network information of WLAN, including ESSID, BSSID, MAC address, the name of WLAN, the IP address of AP associated and the IP address assigned by DHCP itself when using it.

In system B shown in figure 2, when mobile terminal 1 enters an office of the company, user can get the phone number of the nearest fixed terminal by using Bluetooth, NFC or other method supported by the mobile terminal B. For example, if mobile terminal 1 and fixed terminal 3 both support NFC, user can make the mobile terminal 1 approach fixed terminal 3 and get its phone number by utilizing NFC; if getting digital information from bar code or image/text is supported, user can get the phone number from the bar code or image/text on fixed terminal 3 by using bar code scanner 13 or camera 14 of mobile terminal 1.

The result of discovering network performed by mobile terminal 1 in system B is that it gets the phone number of the nearest or preferred fixed terminal 3 so that the phone number can be put into network database 2 during the next step to establish the mapping relationship between mobile terminal 1 and fixed terminal 3.

In system C shown in figure 3, when mobile terminal 1 enters an office of the company, user can get the current location information by making mobile terminal approach an electronic lock or a display device, which can provide the location information. The result of discovering network performed by mobile terminal 1 in system C is that it gets the location information. The location information that can be denoted as identifier or readable (character) string must be uniquely to avoid confusion. In actual practice, what mobile terminal C gets can be the global unique address of the Bluetooth or NFC module of the electronic gate lock in that system (maybe just in a company). Then the global unique address is transmitted to network database 2, which stores the mapping relationship between the address and the phone number of fixed terminal 3.

During the network registering stage:

Figure 4-6 show the flow chart of the step of network registering of the three kinds of systems shown in Figure 1-3, wherein:

Figure 4 shows the network registering process of system A shown in Figure 1. After mobile terminal 1 gets the information of WLAN, in step 402, the network device receives the related information, sending from the mobile terminal 1 via WLAN, including the MSISDN of mobile terminal and the information of the WLAN which the mobile terminal

1 locates in. optionally, if mobile terminal supports GPRS or 3G, it can send the information via GPRS or 3G. The network device stores the information (MSISDN of mobile terminal, Information of WLAN) into the list of network database 2. If DHCP is used, the latest IP address of mobile terminal 1 can be stored in the list of network database 2 dynamically. Database can store the mapping relationship between the location information of WLAN and the number of fixed phone beforehand. For example, API of WLAN can be stored having one or several corresponding fixed telephone(s) in its coverage, like ISDNl, ISDN2... ISDNn. This can be denoted as (WLANl, API, ISDNl (, ISDN2,... ISDNn)) or in other similar expression.

Consequently, in step 403, network device can search WLAN according to the binding mapping relationship between WLAN and fixed terminal. Then in step 404, the network device searches the list of database 2 to find whether there are one or several corresponding fixed terminals according to the information of WLAN provided by mobile terminal. If so, bind the number of fixed terminal with the mobile terminal 1 and keep the binding relationship in network database 2 for coming searching process. The binding relationship can be denoted with information combination (MSISDN of mobile terminal, information of WLAN, one or more numbers of fixed phone) or information combination (MSISDN of mobile terminal, one or more numbers of fixed phone). In this way, database A can always possess the latest location information of mobile terminal A and the binding mapping relationship between the mobile terminal and usable fixed telephone. Further more, when DHCP is used, the IP address of mobile terminal A can be used to extract the its location information. The location information can be used to obtain one or several corresponding fixed terminals' number.

In step 404, if there is no corresponding fixed terminal is founded from the list of database 2, the registration process is terminated.

For system A, another optional scheme besides the one shown in Figure 4 is that database A sends information like (WLAN information, ISDNl, ISDN2,... ISDNn) or (ISDNl, ISDN2, ... ISDNn) back to mobile terminal 1 after receive the related information (MSISDN of mobile terminal, information of WLAN) from mobile terminal 1 and find the information as (WLAN information, ISDNl , ISDN2, ... , ISDNn) in database A. User can choose one of the fixed telephone numbers as its preferred fixed telephone number and also set a default preferred fixed telephone number for one WLAN. Here, after receiving MSISDN and WLAN information from the user, database A can set user's preferred fixed telephone number in the binding mapping relationship.

Figure 5 shows the network registering process of system B shown in Figure 2. Wherein in step 502 network device receives MSISDN information and the fixed telephone number gotten by the mobile terminal via cellular network. After receive the information of (MSISDN, latest fixed telephone number) , in step 503, network device stores the information into the list of network database 2 so that a binding mapping relationship between mobile terminal 1 and fixed terminal 3 is established in network database 2.

Figure 6 shows the network registering process of system C shown in Figure 3. Wherein in step 602, database C receives location information of the office or building mobile terminal 1. The information is sent by mobile terminal 1 and can be denoted with (MSISDN,

CN123456), (MSISDN, "Shanghai embranchment of company A") or (MSISDN, "ISDN", "Shanghai embranchment of company A", +86-21-12345678) and so forth. Here, CN123456 is the identifier of current company embranchment, +86-21-12345678 is the telephone number given to the visitor and stored in the electronic gate lock or display. The location information can be sent by GPRS, 3G or Short Message Service (SMS). In step 603, after receiving the location information provided by C kinds of mobile terminal, network device searches in the list of network database 2 to find one or more fixed telephone number(s) that correspond to the particular location and then establish a new binding mapping relationship between mobile terminal 1 and valid fixed terminal 3 and keep that binding mapping relationship for coming searching process (step 605). The binding mapping relationship can be denoted with (MSISDN, ISDNl, (ISDN2,...ISDNm)) and so forth.

After receiving a new location information, which is different from the previous one from mobile terminal 1, network device will scan the list in network database 2 and update a new binding mapping relationship.

The register information of mobile terminal 1 can be eliminated by setting a timer or according to the eliminating information request from mobile terminal 1. if a timer is used, the time limit must be long enough, maybe 8 or 24 hours to avoid unnecessary elimination when user is still at the location registered. For mobile terminal A , when it moves out of the coverage of WLAN or loses connection with WLAN suddenly, a message should be sent via WLAN or GSM SMS to its network database 2 to delete the information registered in network database 2. Any changes of registered information in network database 2 should be informed to mobile terminal 1 via Internet, WLAN, GSM SMS, GPRS, 3G or in other methods.

At the end of registering process, the binding mapping relationship will be stored in network database 2 for later searching process.

Optionally, binding mapping information could be sent back to mobile terminal 1 via WLAN, GPRS, WCDMA, CDMA2000 or SMS.

Figure 7 shows the network searching process of the three kinds of systems shown in Figure 1 to Figure 3, wherein: When mobile terminal l(no matter which kind of mobile terminal (A, B, C) it is) has binding mapping relationship with one or more fixed terminal(s) (or fixed telephone(s)), user of mobile terminal 1 can communicate using fixed terminal 3. For example, a mobile terminal MTl with its number MSISDN_1, the binding mapping is (MSISDN_1, ISDNl, ISDN2, ISDN3), network database is DBl. Another mobile terminal MT2 (with its number

MSISDN_2) wants to establish a connection with MSISDN_1. In step 702, after inputting MSISDN_1 on the dialing board, enters into step 703. In step 703, MT2 intercepts that number by using a daemon application, and starts a searching process in the network database 2 (DB2) of MT2 to make sure if there is valid binding mapping of a fixed terminal for MSISDN_1.

Thereafter, in step 704, MT2 gets the location information of MSISDN_1. If the two mobile terminals belong to the same type and have the same database or their databases can exchange the binding mapping, MT2 can get the binding mapping information from DBl.

In step 705 it is estimated that whether there is a corresponding fixed terminal, which has binding mapping with MSISDN_1. If no, DBl replies a blank mapping to MT2, as shown in step 708. Here, MT2 establishes a connection between MSISDN_1 and MSISDN_2. if there is a fixed terminal which has binding mapping with MSISDN_1, perform step 708,

DBl or DB2 tells MT2 the binding mapping information of mapped one or all fixed terminals, like (MSISDN_1, ISDNl) or (MSISDN_1, ISDNl, ISDN2, ISDN3). After receiving the binding mapping information, MT2 can establish a connection between MSISDN2 and ISDNl or one of (ISDNl, ISDN2, ISDN3). Then, user of MTl can communicate with MT2 via one fixed terminal.

Moreover, user of MT2 can only use MT2 to get the number of the fixed terminal that binding to MTl, and then establish connection with the fixed terminal binding to MTl by using a fixed terminal near to MT2.

In step 704, if MTl and MT2 are of different types but have the same database or though have different databases but the databases can exchange information with each other, MT2 can still get the binding information of MTl. So it can still establish a connection between MSISDN2 and ISDNl or one of (ISDNl, ISDN2, ISDN3).

Steps of network discovering, registering and searching process can be performed by existing corresponding function modules in network controlling/storing/exchanging devices. The function modules can be in the same device as network database 2 is or be realized via different devices.

Using the technical schemes, users have several choices. They can set connections between mobile terminals, between a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal or between fixed terminals according to the cost and/or other reasons to get the cost more reasonable and the QOS better.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method for the associative communication of a mobile terminal and an fixed terminal, comprising steps of: a. receiving register information from a mobile terminal; b. establishing a mapping relationship between said mobile terminal and a corresponding fixed terminal according to said register information of the mobile terminal; and c. transmitting said mapping relationship to a communication device that need to communicate with said mobile terminal for establishing a communication connection between said communication device and said fixed terminal according to said mapping relationship.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said register information of mobile terminal comprises the information of WLAN in which said mobile terminal locates.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said information of WLAN is information that set by system beforehand to identify said WLAN uniquely.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said register information of mobile terminal comprises number of said fixed terminal nearest to said mobile terminal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said number of said fixed terminal is got by mobile terminal via short-range wireless network between said mobile terminal and said fixed terminal.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said register information of mobile terminal comprises the current location information of said mobile terminal.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said location information is the global unique address for identifying the geographical location where said mobile terminal locates.

8. The method according to claim 2 or 6, further comprising a step prior to step a: setting the number of said fixed terminal corresponding to said register information of said mobile terminal.

9. A communication system for the correlating a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal for communication, comprising: a receiving means for receiving register information from said mobile terminal; a mapping means for establishing a mapping relationship between said mobile terminal and said corresponding fixed terminal according to said register information of said mobile terminal; and a transmitting means for transmitting said mapping relationship to a communication device that need to communicate with said mobile terminal for establishing a communication connection between said communication device and said fixed terminal according to said mapping relationship.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said register information of said mobile terminal comprises information of WLAN in which said mobile terminal locates.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein said register information of said mobile terminal comprises the number of the fixed terminal that is the nearest to said mobile terminal.

12. The system according to claim 9, wherein said register information of said mobile terminal comprises the current location information of said mobile terminal.

13. The system according to claim 10 or 12, wherein said mapping means stores the number of said fixed terminal which corresponds to said register information of the mobile terminal.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein said mapping means comprises a network database.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said network database locates in a cellular network.

6. The system according to claim 15, wherein said mobile terminal accesses to said network database via said cellular network.