1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of location registration to base station side conducted by mobile machines in a mobile communication network, and more particularly to a mobile communication network using a moving network, in which, when users carrying mobile machines move on a train or the like, location registration is conducted by using particular location information assigned to a particular area in advance without using conventional location information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a mobile communication system, when transmission is conducted to a particular mobile machine existing in a service area, an operation is conducted in which an area including the location of the mobile machine in the service area is specified to some extent and only base stations in the specified area make a call for the mobile machine.
For the above reason, mobile machines have to register the locations thereof to a network side such as a core network side in advance. And this operation is called location registration, and an area serving as a unit of the location registration is called a location registration area.
Each mobile machine has to conduct location registration to such a network side as a core network side as it enters in another location registration area as it moves. In order to conduct such location registration, each mobile machine stores location registration area information of the current location thereof, monitors the change of the location registration area information as the mobile machine enters in another radio zone and transmits new a location registration signal to a core network side when the change of the information is detected. The word “radio zone” used here means an area which a radio signal from one base station can cover. And one location registration area consists of a plurality of radio zones generally.
The following publications disclose techniques of location registration, method of setting location registration areas, method of switching to a train travel mode, and a mobile phone system in a toll road, in mobile communication systems.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 11-7562, a mobile phone system in a toll road is disclosed in which a cost of equipments can be reduced by employing a configuration in which installations of special devices dedicated for the collection of the tolls is made unnecessary just by installing wireless base stations at the entrances and the exits of the toll roads utilizing the existing mobile phone system.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 11-355835, a method of location registration is disclosed in which, when mobile machines exist in a traveling space such as a bus or a train, and move together with the traveling space, location registration operations of a plural mobile machines (for example, n mobile machines) in the traveling space are represented by the location registration of the traveling space by updating registered locations of the mobile machines depending on the update of location registration of the traveling space so that the frequency of the location registration can be reduced to 1/n.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2000-23234, a technique is disclosed in which the frequency of the location registration by each mobile communication terminal is reduced by setting areas with high percentage that the mobile communication terminals are in the area for respective mobile communication terminals as logical location registration areas so that load of location registration processings in a mobile communication system can be reduced.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2000-152314, a technique is disclosed in which, when there is a difference between location information Pb reported from a base station in a microcell system and location information Pa reported from a base station for a mobile phone service, the location information Pb is transmitted to a switching machine of a mobile phone so that location of mobile terminals in a radio zone corresponding to a base station in a microcell system can be detected.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2001-169332, a technique is disclosed in which dynamic traffic information of mobile machines is collected and when the frequency of location registration request exceeds a predetermined value, an area to be registered as a destination is incorporated in a registered current area so that new location registration request is prevented from occurring.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2002-165255, a technique is disclosed in which a plurality of division patterns for dividing a communication service area into a plurality of location areas and mobile machines select division patterns according to their mobile characteristics in order to conduct location registration so that loss of traffic concerning the location registration and receiving can be avoided.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2002-300632, a technique is disclosed in which it is certainly determined that users carrying mobile machines are on a train, and the mobile machines are turned off or the modes thereof are switched into a manner mode or train travel mode or the like, based on the determination.
However, in the above techniques there is a problem that when users carrying mobile machines move for a long distance on a public conveyances such as a train, a bus or an airplane, location registration of a large number of mobile machines carried by the users on the conveyances simultaneously occurs inevitably every time as the mobile machines enter in another location registration area. This problem occurs similarly when users carrying mobile machines move on a speedway on automobiles. Although, many location registration areas are provided respectively corresponding to traveling routes and speedways for trains and automobiles, the location registration areas can be defined as sets in advance.
As described above, when users carrying mobile machines move on a train for example, there are three problems. The first problem is that there is an increased load on a network by location registration accompanied with movement of mobile machines. The second problem is that the power consumption of mobile machine side and network side is increased by the location registration. The third problem is that quality of wireless transmission path for other mobile machines is deteriorated due to the location registration. These problems are further explained, referring to
In 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) as an organization for establishing specifications of the third generation mobile communication system, an expanded version of W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) system for wireless access system and an expanded version of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) for core network system are employed. And in this 3GPP specification, wireless communication service area is defined by location areas LA for a plurality of circuit switches (CS) or routing areas RA for packet switch (PS) and location information is managed by core network side. For example, when transmitting to a mobile machine, a paging request is issued to a radio network controller (RNC) existing among a core network and base stations by using the managed location information in the core network. The RNC conducts paging for the area to be reported about the request of receiving, corresponding to the paging request.
However, the above techniques cannot prevent the increase of the frequency of location registration when a large number of users carrying mobile machines move on a train or the like. Even in the technique of Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 11-355835, location registration processings accompanied with the travel of a train are necessary and there is a problem that all of the location information of respective mobile machines have to be updated corresponding to such location registration processings.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent an increase of load on a network accompanied with an increase of location registration processings, an increase of power consumption, and deteriorations of transmission paths, by providing a configuration in which, when a large number of subscribers carrying mobile machines move on a train for example, location registration is conducted by using particular location information corresponding to the traveling route of the train completely without the location registration accompanied with the travel of the train.
A mobile communication network of the present invention comprises a plurality of base stations and a plurality of mobile machines, and further, the mobile communication network comprises at least a particular location information notifying unit.
Each mobile machine conducts location registration to the base station at a time when the mobile machine enters in the particular area, by using the particular location information.
According to the present invention, at a time when a mobile machine joins in a moving network e.g. a time when a user carrying the mobile machine gets on a train, location registration is conducted by using particular location information defined as a set of a plurality of conventional location information corresponding to a traveling route of the train without conducting any location registration processing while the mobile machine joins in the moving network so that the frequency of the location registration processings conducted over the entirety of the mobile communication network can be reduced greatly. Therefore, increase of load on the network and of the power consumption can be prevented, and the quality deteriorations in wireless transmission paths can be prevented.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail, referring to the drawings. As described above, in the present embodiments, a moving network is configured based on specifications of 3GPP system with the possible least modification to the 3GPP system. Also, the embodiments will be explained based on a principle that the moving network itself does not conduct location registration, mobile machines do not conduct location registration accompanied with the movement thereof while they join in the moving network, and the transmitting/receiving between the mobile machines and base stations are conducted not through such a device as a moving network device described later.
The particular location information notifying unit 3 supplies to the mobile machines 2 moving in the corresponding particular area a particular location information assigned to such a predetermined particular area as an area of traveling route of a train. Each mobile machine 2 conducts location registration to the base station 1 at a time when it enters in the particular area.
In the present invention, there can be a configuration in which the base station 1 reports to each mobile machine 2 parameters necessary for receiving information reported by the particular location information notifying unit 3 so that the mobile machine 2 receives the particular location information by using the parameters.
Also, the mobile machine 2 can conduct operations including transmitting and receiving by the conventional processings, without a concernment of the particular location information notifying unit 3.
Further, the particular location information notifying unit 3 can transmit a pilot signal which indicates the existence of the above predetermined particular area and the receiving of which can be used as one of location registration conditions for the base station 1 using particular location information conducted by the mobile machine 2.
Further, in the present invention, a configuration in which the particular location information notifying unit 3 is provided in a moving network device 4 existing among mobile machines 2 and base stations 1, constituting a moving network corresponding to the above particular area by the base stations 1, the moving network device 4 and the mobile machines 2 so that the mobile machines 2 can join in the moving network based on a location registration using the above particular location information.
In an embodiment of the present invention, there can be a configuration in which a mobile machine 2 joins in the moving network when the mobile machine 2 receives from a base station 1 a report signal for search of the moving network and receives from the moving network device 4 a moving network related information including the above particular location information by using the report signal. Or there can be a configuration in which the mobile machine 2 joins in the moving network when, in addition to the receiving of the moving network related information, the mobile machine 2 further detects the correspondence between GPS information included in the mobile machine 2 itself and joining point GPS information which is further included in the moving network related information. Or, there can be a configuration in which when, in addition to the above conditions, a receiving level of the pilot signal received from the moving network device 4 exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the mobile machine 2 joins in the moving network.
Further, in the embodiment of present invention, there can be a configuration in which when a receiving level of the pilot signal transmitted from the moving network device 4 falls less than a predetermined threshold value while the mobile machine 2 joins in the moving network, the mobile machine 2 conducts location registration using conventional location information of the current location thereof instead of the above particular location information and the mobile machine 2 leaves the moving network. Or there can be a configuration in which when the mobile machine 2 makes a comparison between a moving network joining continuation area corresponding to a leaving point GPS information and a GPS information included in the mobile machine 2 itself and detect that the mobile machine 2 has gotten out of the joining continuation area while the mobile machine 2 joins in the moving network, the mobile machine 2 leaves the moving network by conducting location registration using conventional location information.
Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the above particular location information can be defined as a set of a plurality of conventional location information corresponding to a plurality of areas included in the above particular area. Further, in an embodiment, the core network side connected to the mobile communication network can comprises a mobile machine location information managing unit for managing the locations of mobile machines using the above particular location information, corresponding to the location registration to the base station conducted by the mobile machine 2. Further, the core network side can comprises a location information correspondence managing unit for managing the correspondence between the particular location information and a plurality of the conventional location information.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a radio network controller connecting the mobile communication network side and core network side can comprises a location information correspondence managing unit for managing the correspondence between the particular location information and a plurality of the conventional location information.
As described above, according to the present invention, location of each mobile machine is managed by using the particular location information defined as the set of a plurality of the conventional location information corresponding to the particular area, for example.
In
The moving network (MN) device 12 comprises, as an indispensable function thereof, a function to report the system information about the moving network. Further, the moving network device 12 comprises a function just to transmit a physical channel transmitted from the node B11 side, and a function to add information as occasion demands. Also, the moving network device 12 comprises a reporting function of a pilot channel for notifying to the UE 10 the update of the information reported from the MN device 12 as described later, and a function to receive the report information from the node B11 and update a system information or the like as an optional function.
In an embodiment of the present invention, by defining a special location information with respect to the moving network, the UEs 10 conduct location registration using the special location information at a time when the UEs 10 joins in the moving network. Location information in UTRAN (Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) in 3GPP is defined by location areas LA with respect to a circuit switch or by routing areas RA with respect to a packet switch. The location information is managed by the core network and paging request is issued for the RNC 13 together with the location information managed in the core network side when a transmission is conducted to an UE 10, for example. The RNC 13 obtains the area to be reported about the request for receiving, corresponding to the paging request and conducts paging on the area.
In the present embodiment, the explanation below will be made based on an assumption that location areas LA and routing areas RA correspond to each other, for the sake of a simplicity, however, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.
In
LAMN/RAMN=ΣLAi/RAi, where LA=RA
In the core network side in
Next, the processings by the UEs at the time of the joining in the moving network will be explained, referring to
To join in the moving network, it is needed that the UE detects that the moving network exists around the current location of the UE, i.e. the UE is in a location near the set of the crosshatched circles as explained in
As described above, the information needed for joining in the moving network is basically supplied from the RNC 13 side of
As for a format of the system information supplied from the RNC 13 side via a node B11, the UE 10 is reported about the system information in which a common downstream channel for the report information transmission PCCPCH (Primary Common Control Physical Channel) is as a physical channel, in a format including a MIB (Master Information Block) and SIB (System Information Block) in the logical channel BCCH (Broad Cast Control Channel). In the present embodiment, information concerning the moving network is included in SIBs conventionally existing in plural. The information includes such information as scrambling code for obtaining the information reported by the moving network device 12.
A flow chart of the existence confirming processing of moving network of
In
There is a great difference between a configuration in which such GPS information specifying the area which should join in the moving network or the moving network joining continuation area for detection of the leaving from the moving network is supplied to the UE 10 by the system information added by the moving network device 12 and a configuration in which such GPS information is notified to the UE 10 by the joining/leaving point information notifying device installed at the ticket gate of station for example. Therefore, hereinafter, the case where the GPS information is notified as the system information added by the moving network device 12 is explained as a first example, and the case where the GPS information is notified at the ticket gate of station for example is explained as a second example.
Before the explanation of the first embodiment, joining conditions for the moving network of the present embodiment will be explained further. First, there are two preconditions about these joining conditions. The first precondition is that the UE 10 receives the information indicating the existence of the moving network around the UE 10 as the system information from the node B11 side. The second precondition is that the UE 10 can receive the system information added by the moving network device 12 or the information of a pilot channel transmitted from the moving network device 12 by using the contents of the above system information. In the present embodiment, just a satisfaction of these two preconditions satisfies the joining conditions for the moving network.
Further, as for the joining conditions for the moving network, individual conditions can be added to these preconditions. The first individual condition is that the UE 10 receives the GPS information specifying the point of joining in the moving network or the point of leaving from the moving network as the system information added by the moving network device 12 or as contents of a pilot channel transmitted from the moving network device 12 separately from the system information, and the UE 10 detects the correspondence between the GPS information included in the UE 10 itself and the GPS information from the moving network device 12 i.e. the UE exists at the joining point. A configuration can be employed in which a satisfaction of this individual condition along with the satisfaction of the above described two preconditions satisfies the joining conditions.
The second individual condition can be that UE 10 receives the GPS information specifying the joining point from the joining point information notifying device installed at ticket gate of station for example instead of the moving network device 12 side and the received GPS information corresponds to the GPS information included in the UE 10 itself and pilot pattern information from the moving network device 12 e.g. a pilot channel signal can be received, for example, with a receiving level exceeding a predetermined threshold value, as described later. A configuration can be employed in which a satisfaction of this individual condition along with the satisfaction of the above described two preconditions satisfies the joining conditions.
Also, in the first individual condition, the GPS information is to be received from the moving network device 12 and in the second individual condition, the information is to be received from the joining point information at ticket gate of station, however, the difference of the receiving ways is not essential condition and the correspondence of the GPS information to each other is the essential condition. For example, upon the determination of the second individual condition, the UE 10 can receive the GPS information from the moving network device.
The first embodiment will be explained, referring to
In this first embodiment, the GPS information or the like especially as the joining/leaving point is notified to the UE 10 among the moving network related information, being added to the system information or the like by the moving network device 12. To the contrary, in the second embodiment described later, for example, this GPS information is notified to the UE from the joining/leaving point information notifying device installed at the ticket gate of the station or without the concernment of the moving network device 12. However, the method of notification to the UE 10 from the moving network device 12 in the first embodiment is not limited to the method in which the GPS information is added to the system information to be notified. The GPS information can be notified to the UE 10 being stored in separate pilot channel, for example, naturally.
The system information block SIB included in a common down stream channel for the report information transmission PCCPCH includes n blocks such as blocks of SIB#1 to SIB#n at a time when it is transmitted from the node B11 to the moving network device 12. The SIB#n includes, as the moving network related information to be reported from the node B11 side to the UE 10, existence/in existence of the moving network, n+1th block added by the moving network device 12 as a system information block, i.e. scrambling code for the decode of a common downstream channel for the report information transmission PCCPCH including the SIB#n+1, time offset information, information of pilot pattern and the like.
The moving network related information added by the moving network device 12 i.e. SIB#n+1 includes LAMN/RAMN of the moving network (LAi/RAi may be listed for this), type of the moving network i.e. the information about which way is used the GPS information or the pilot channel, or whether or not both of the above ways are used for the determination of the leaving from the moving network, the GPS information of the leaving point, notifying signal used in a case of the change of the leaving point which will be described later, and the like.
In
The UE 10 does not conduct location registration while it is in a area defined as the moving network e.g. while the user thereof is moving on the train, after the location registration using the location information of the moving network is conducted i.e. while it is in the moving network. Further, the moving network device 12 in
In
In the second paging example explained in
Next, the updating of the system information while the UE 10 joins in a moving network will be explained, referring to
In a case where the system is based on 3GPP as explained in
Next, the way of notifying of the joining/leaving point information of the moving network to the UE 10 will be explained.
After joining of the UE 10 in the moving network, leaving point information has to be notified to the UE 10 in order to determine the leaving from the moving network. Also in the notification of such joining/leaving information to the UE 10, there are two possible cases i.e. the case where the moving network device 12 has a concernment and the case where the moving network does not. In the first embodiment, the way of the notification is explained assuming that the moving network device 12 has a concernment.
Also when the moving network device 12 concerns the notification of the joining/leaving point information, there are two possible cases i.e. the case where, upon joining in the moving network, the location information with respect to the all of the leaving points from the moving network is notified and the case where, upon joining, the location information of all of the leaving points is not notified and the information of the leaving point near the current location of the UE 10 is notified being accompanied with the movement of the UE 10.
When the location information with respect to the all of the leaving points from the moving network is notified upon joining, the GPS information of all of the leaving points are stored in the SIB#n+1 to be transmitted to the UE 10, as shown in
When the location information with respect to the all of the leaving points from the moving network is not notified upon joining, the UE 10 has to receive the leaving point information near the current location of the UE 10 by keeping on receiving the information from the moving network device 12. Accordingly, the moving network device 12 updates the leaving point information as the train travels. One of the possible method thereof is that the leaving point information is updated at the time of the communication with the node B11 nearby, assuming that the moving network device 12 can have communications with the nodes B11.
For example, firstly, leaving point information 15, 1F, 3F and 4B for the cell#AB covered by a node B is transmitted to the UE 10 from the moving network device 12 as report information. In this example, accompanied with the travel of the train to the area of cell#57, the cell information is received from the corresponding node B and the leaving point information is updated to 5A, 5E, 66, 71 and 7E.
The way in which the UE 10 receives this information when the moving network device 12 reports the update to the UE 10, while the moving network device 12 is updating the leaving point information will be explained, referring to
Further, in
Next the second embodiment will be explained. As described above, the second embodiment is basically different from the first embodiment in that the UEs 10 do not receive the GPS information of joining/leaving point in a way concerned by the moving network device 12 but it receives the GPS information at ticket gates of the stations or the like. And only the correspondence between the received GPS information and the GPS information of the UE itself can be added to the conditions for joining in the moving network in addition to the above described two preconditions. Also, the condition that a receiving level of a pilot channel from the moving network device 12 exceeds a predetermined threshold value can be added to the condition in addition to the above conditions. However, the second embodiment will be explained by using the conditions with the added condition of the receiving level of the pilot channel.
As above, in the second embodiment, the condition that a receiving level from the pilot channel transmitted from the moving network 12 exceeds a predetermined threshold value is used for the joining/leaving of the moving network. For example, as the condition of leaving from the moving network, the condition of the comparison result between the leaving point GPS information transmitted from the moving network device 12 and the GPS information included in the UE 10 itself can be used, as explained in the first embodiment. Also, the condition that a report information transmitted from the moving network device 12 such as SIB#n+1 or a pilot channel including report information change occurrence notification as shown in
In the second embodiment, determination about leaving from the moving network is conducted by the comparison between leaving point GPS information obtained at the ticket gate or the like and GPS information included in the UE 10. In this case, the joining area in the moving network and a moving network joining continuation area can be identical to each other and they can be different from each other. The case where they are different from each other will be explained, referring to
In a case where the joining/leaving point information is notified to UE 10 at a gate like a ticket gate as described above, the joining point information can be notified at gates at which joining in the moving network and the moving over the two moving networks are expected and leaving point information can be notified at gates at which leaving from the moving network is expected.
In
When the it is determined that the UE 10 is in the leaving area, it is determined whether or not the pilot channel can be received and whether or not its receiving level exceeds a predetermined threshold value. When the pilot channel cannot be received, the leaving from the moving network is conducted, i.e. location registration using conventional location information is conducted. When the pilot channel can be received, the state is hold as it is.
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