Patent Application
20070008931
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-198907, filed Jul. 7, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handover processing system in a mobile communication system using a gateway device to connect a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and an Internet protocol (IP) network with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, information communication services including sound and data communications have diversified with the increase in information communication needs and with the liberalization of communications. Such background increases the number of carriers entering into the communication service field and raises service competition among the carriers. Each new carrier is called a new common carrier (NCC) and provides a variety of services by using a technology such as a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). VoIP is a technology to integrate a sound-based network and a data-based network by packetizing digital sound data to transmit it (for instance, refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-56336).
In many case, the NCC is able to loan facilities, such as an exchange, at a default rate from a specified carrier that owns a subscriber line. And many of the NCCs construct their own exchange networks, for example, IP networks using their own resources. Additionally adding a PSTN of the specified carrier to this exchange network forms a communication system. To provide services to general users, these facilities are utilized complexly. The NCC, obtaining the loan of the subscriber line, has to pay a line rental fee to the specified carrier at a flat rate and a pay-as-you-go rate in response to the use. Thus, a communication resource to be rented is minimized by setting up a gateway device between the subscriber network and the PSTN and by flowing traffic on the side of the IP network.
Incidentally, position information about a radio terminal (information indicating a service area being present in a specific are) is managed by the specified carrier. Thereby, the position information of the radio terminal not known in the IP network, handover processing (processing to change base station with which radio terminal communicates, also refereed to as handoff) is matched with the movement of the radio terminal.
As mentioned above, the flow of traffic to the side of the IP network by setting the gateway device to decrease charging from a carrier network has been presented. In the mobile communication system; however, being impossible to utilize information about the specified carrier in performing the handover processing in the mobile communication system, a failure involving handover accompanied by the movement of the radio terminal occurs.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a handover processing system in a mobile communication system, which is implemented in a gateway device connected to a subscriber network including a base station in the mobile communication system, a public network and an internet protocol (IP) network and is accompanied by a movement of a radio terminal in the mobile communication system, wherein the gateway device comprises: a line exchange connection unit performing line exchange processing; a voice over IP (VoIP) connection unit controlling a communication function to transmit/receive IP-packetized sound data to/from the IP network to make a communication and a call control function for the VoIP communication function; a handover detection unit determining whether or not a call originating request from the base station is a handover call; a communication call detection unit determining whether or not a communication source call of handover is present in its own device; a call information storage unit storing call information including caller information, recipient information, call references and call types; a handover source call retrieval unit retrieving a handover source call in the IP network; and a handover processing unit taking over a communication call from a communication partner to continue the communication, and performing handover processing of a VoIP communication call in the IP network.
With implementation of such a means, a call becoming a source of handover processing in an IP network (hereinafter referred to as handover source call) is retrieved, and the handover processing caused by a movement of a radio terminal is realized by autonomous processing of a gateway device. According to the present invention, the handover processing becomes enabled to be performed uniquely in the IP network. Thus, a handover processing system in a mobile communication system capable of providing a flexible service to a subscriber is provided.
Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Each gateway device 10, 20 and 30 distributes signals (digital signal such as sound data and video and image data) transmitted from the base stations CSs to either the PSTN XN or the IP network DN to transmit them. The gateway devices 10, 20 and 30 transmit signals addressed to radio terminals PSs from the PSTN XN and the IP network DN toward the base stations CSs so that they arrive at the corresponding radio terminals. Thereby, the communication system can arbitrarily set radio terminals belonging to the PSTH XN and the IP network DN and interactive communication channels.
Out of these units, the exchange connection unit 101 is connected to the subscriber line interfaces 201 and 202 to achieve line exchange connections. The VoIP connection unit 102 makes a communication by receiving/transmitting sound data IP-packetized by the IP interface 203. The VoIP connection unit 102 also conducts call control processing for a VoIP communication function. The handover detection unit 103 determines whether or not a call originating request from the base station CS is a handover call origination. The communication call detection unit 104 determines whether or not a communication call of a source (hereinafter referred to as communication source call) of handover is present in its own device. The call information storage unit 105 stores call information including caller information, recipient information, call references and call types. Specifically, the foregoing information is managed in a form such as a call information database shown in
In the step S52, when determining the handover call, the gateway device 30 retrieves the call information database (
If the interrogated gateway device responds that the source call is not present (N in step S58), the gateway device 30 makes a handover call to the PSTN XN to perform the handover processing (step S59). Thereby, the handover processing utilizing the function of the PSTN XN is implemented. If the gateway device responds to the effect that the source call is present (Y in step S58), the gateway device 30 acquires information relating to the communication partner of the source call from the gateway device which has made the response to implement the handover connection with a communication partner gateway through the VoIp connection (step S5a).
As mentioned above, according to the present invention, after establishing the communication through the VoIP communication via the IP network DN, it becomes possible for the gateway device to autonomously implement handover processing caused by the movement of the radio terminal PS, without use of the PSTN XN. Therefore, this handover system does not require the PSTN XN resource in performing the handover, which reduces the burden of the charging.
In addition, as each gateway device is connected to the PSTN XN and IP network DN, the handover system can set the communication channel more freely and configure a failure-resistant communication system. Furthermore, the present invention can provide a communication system that is capable of enhancing economical efficiency by making traffic take an inexpensive IP network DN detour and responding to traffic demand flexibly and economically.
The present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment. For instance, to acquire the address information of the gateway device to be inquired in the flowchart in
As shown in
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-198907 | Jul 2005 | JP | national |
