Patent Application
20070047490
The present invention relates generally to wireless local area network communication and deals more particularly with voice communication on such networks. More specifically, the present invention deals with handoff of voice communication over wireless local area networks, specifically IEEE 802.11 networks.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the process of transmitting telephone calls over IP data networks. The delivery of voice information using the Internet Protocol (IP) typically involves transmission of small blocks of data utilizing packet switching. In packet switching, a connection is only opened for the packet transmission duration time to effectively minimize the connection that is maintained between systems to avoid loading down the network and thus multiple calls may share the same space. Voice in general, unlike data on IP networks does not tolerate glitches or breaks in communication and is delay sensitive. Consequently, latency which is defined as the time it takes for a packet to cross a network connection from an origination to a destination is an extremely important consideration in VoIP particularly in wireless local area networks (WLAN).
Wireless local area networks (WLAN), specifically IEEE 802.11 networks which are well known and understood by those skilled in the art are gaining in popularity and usage and are increasingly being used for voice communication using the Internet Protocol (IP). In general, a terminal device associates with an access point in its serving coverage area and which access point forwards or transmits data information having the terminal device destination IP address. As the terminal device moves within the service coverage area it may come into the range of a different access point from which the terminal device would now receive data information having the terminal device destination IP address. In moving from one access point to another access point, the call connection must be handed off from the one access point to the other access point using an appropriate handoff sequence for the involved access points, and often for the particular terminal device used.
One problem related to the use of wireless local access networks for voice is the latency of the handoff in communication between access points which results in breaks or interruptions in communication and poor quality of service particularly during the handoff interval. Accordingly, there is a need to maintain uninterrupted voice communication and quality of service during handoffs in wireless local access networks, particularly IEEE 802.11 networks.
Currently, standardization efforts are being pursued for fast handoffs in IEEE 802.11 networks in an attempt to minimize problems associated with latency; however, recent security enhancements using for example, wrong password attempts (WPA) and IEEE 802.11(i) have increased the latency encountered in associating with an access point. Various approaches and techniques have been proposed for the IEEE standardization including vendor specific fast handoff solutions which solutions require support in both the access point and the terminal device.
One drawback associated with prior art vendor specific fast handoff solutions is that not all vendors have access point products and accordingly the vendor specific approach is not suitable and satisfactory for those vendors not having access point products. Further, vendor specific solutions are unsatisfactory as an industry solution. Accordingly, a need exists to provide a product or overlay system solution that operates with existing IEEE 802.11 network installations to enable fast handoffs between any vendors' IEEE 802.11 access points and minimize problems associated with latency.
Additional prior art solutions have been proposed but these solutions are also generally not satisfactory for fast handoffs to maintain uninterrupted voice communication. One known prior art for fast handoff in IEEE 802.11 networks proposed to utilize pre-authentication wherein the terminal device authenticates with the neighboring access points without associating with them. The pre-authentication signaling is exchanged over the radio via the current access point which current access point in turn relays the signaling to the neighboring access point or points. The pre-authentication prior art approach enables a slightly faster handoff because the keys derived in the pre-authentication can be used when moving to a neighboring access point however, the pre-authentication solution is unduly complex and requires more sophisticated access points.
Another known prior art solution for fast handoff proposes to utilize optimized association wherein Message Integrity Codes (MIC) are included in the first messages during association with an access point, that is, the context transfer or some other key distribution mechanism is used along the local LAN network to obtain keying material to the new access point. This prior art solution is less than satisfactory and implementation is complex.
A further known prior art solution for fast handoff proposes to utilize a “make-before-break” association wherein the terminal starts to associate and authenticate with the new access point while still being associated with the old access point. The association frames are extended to indicate that this is a “make-before-break” association so that the new access point does not invoke an inter-access point protocol (IAPP) at the time of indication. A further mechanism is added to this solution whereby the terminal indicates when it will actually move to the new access point and after this indication, the IAPP is invoked by the new access point in anticipation of the movement of the terminal device. Although this “make-before-break” association approach attempts to minimize interruptions during handoff, it is unduly complex and requires more sophisticated and complex terminal devices for implementation.
It is also known in the prior art that a single LAN radio can join several different LAN networks simultaneously to create an-hoc network and an infrastructure network. The techniques used in a single LAN radio joining several different LAN networks may be used to implement the “make-before-break” prior art association solution described above however this solution is not satisfactory because it requires new or additional features to be added to the Wireless Local Area Network for implementation.
The known prior art fast handoff methods and schemes generally require some change to the Wireless Local Area Network for implementation and therefore are not entirely satisfactory to provide a fast handoff in IEEE 802.11 networks. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fast handoff method for a communication session in Wireless Local Area Networks, particularly IEEE 802.11 networks that overcomes the disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art.
In accordance with the present invention, handoff of a communication session in a wireless network is presented in a wireless network interface including a terminal device having a first address (ADD1) and a second address (ADD2) wherein an ongoing communication session between the terminal device and an associated first access point (AP1) in the wireless network uses the first address (ADD1) and upon detecting the need for handover of the terminal device to a second access point (AP2) in the wireless network establishes a communication session between the terminal device and an associated second access point (AP2) using the second address (ADD2).
Turning now to the drawings and considering the invention in further detail with particular reference to
In one embodiment, the invention is implemented with the terminal device 10 associating with the WLAN access point 12 (AP1) in step 52 using the first Medium Access Control (MAC1) address 16 (ADD1) of the mobile terminal 10. Next in step 54, a first internet protocol (IP1) address generally designated 18 is assigned using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) generally designated 20 and is bound to the MAC1 address 16 (ADD1). The first internet protocol (IP1) address 18 is registered with a mobility agent generally designated 22 in step 56. The mobility agent may be located at any location along the wireless local area network including within the mobile terminal 10 itself. The mobility agent 22 assigns a home internet protocol IP-home address generally designated 24 in step 58 to the terminal device 10 for purposes of identifying the terminal device 10 to receive IP home destined traffic transmitted from the access point 12 (AP1) as indicated in step 60. As the terminal device 10 moves into range of the access point 14 (AP2), a need for handoff from the access point 12 (AP1) to the access point 14 (AP2) is detected as indicated by the function block 26 in the terminal device 10 and as indicated in step 62. Once it is determined that a handover is required, the terminal device 10 begins to associate with the access point 14 (AP2) as indicated in step 64 using the second Medium Access Control (MAC2) address 28 (ADD2) of the terminal device 10 and begins authenticating with access point 14 (AP2) as indicated in step 66. In step 68, a second internet protocol (IP2) address 30 generated by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) 20 is bound to the (MAC2) address 28 (ADD2) and is registered with the mobility agent 22 in accordance with step 70. In step 72, the IP-home address 24 is bound to the (IP2) address 30. The terminal device 10 now has two active IEEE 802.11 associations and the terminal device 10 receives any IP-home destined traffic from the access point 14 (AP2) as indicated in step 74. Because the terminal device 10 is able to communicate using the IP-home address 24 via both the access point 12 (AP1) and the access point 14 (AP2) during the handover procedure, no interruption or further delay of IP-home destined traffic is incurred during the handover and thus many of the problems associated with latency are significantly reduced if not substantially eliminated. The mobile device 10 disassociates the (MAC1) address 16 (ADD1) from the access point 12 (AP1) to complete the handoff in step 76. The procedure is repeated as the terminal device 10 moves into another coverage area serviced by a different access point. Alternately, the first and second addresses ADD1 and ADD2 respectively, are implemented as link-layer addresses or as internet protocol (IP) addresses.
Turning now to
It is contemplated that the invention may also be implemented in a suitable hardware component configuration including but not limited to, a chip, chipset, integrated circuitry, discrete component circuitry, as an extension circuit board, an expansion circuit board, an add-on device such as an accessory card or as an attachment device to an existing device, for example, another hardware electronic device such as a PDA, mobile computer or other mobile devices well known and understood in the art. Referring to
In a further embodiment, the terminal device is suitably configured and arranged to emulate two separate wireless network interfaces with the first of the two emulated wireless network interfaces having the first address (ADD1) and the second of the two wireless network interfaces having the second address (ADD2).
A computer program which may be carried on a storage medium or stored within the memory 106 and which is executable by the CPU 104 in the terminal device 100 may be used to control the handing off of a communication session connection in an IEEE 802.11 network in accordance with the method of the present invention as described above.
The invention also contemplates a software application product for handing off a communication session in a wireless network and includes suitable program code for providing a wireless network interface including a terminal device having a first address (ADD1) and a second address (ADD2) wherein an ongoing communication session between the terminal device and an associated first access point (AP1) in the wireless network uses the first address (ADD1); for detecting the need for handover of the terminal device to a second access point (AP2) in the wireless network, and for establishing a communication session between the terminal device and an associated second access point (AP2) using the second address (ADD2).
The terminal device 100 also includes handoff detection functionality as indicated by the function block 118 to sense and detect in a well known manner the need to handoff the communication session connection from one access point to another access point.
A method, terminal device and system for fast handoff of a communication session connection in an IEEE 802.11 network has been described above in several preferred embodiments. It will be understood that numerous changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art to the embodiments described above and therefore the invention has been explained by way of illustration rather than limitation.
