Networks and methods for paging message control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9480045-B2
Application number	US-201113272842-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2011
Priority date	Oct 13, 2011
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

At least one example embodiment discloses a paging message controller. The paging message controller includes a processor and an associated memory. The processor is configured to obtain an indication of a paging message for a user equipment (UE), the indication indicating that a paging message is to be forwarded to at least one destination cell of a first set of cells for paging the UE, and forward the paging message for paging the UE to at least one destination cell of a second set of cells in response to the indication.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A paging message controller, the paging message controller including a processor and an associated memory, the processor configured to:
obtain an indication of a paging message for a particular user equipment (UE), the indication indicating that a paging message is to be forwarded to at least one destination cell of a first set of cells for paging the particular UE;
modify the paging message with location information for a representative UE of a second set of cells to which the particular UE belongs, the representative UE being a UE, within the second set of cells, that is different than the particular UE; and
forward the modified paging message to the second set of cells for paging the particular UE.

2. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein the first set of cells consists of all cells of a routing area or a tracking area.

3. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein the second set of cells is smaller than the first set of cells, a subset of the first set of cells, or a subset of and smaller than the first set of cells.

4. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein the paging message controller is configured to receive the second set of cells from a tracking application server.

5. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein the second set of cells is for identifying a group of cells visited by the particular UE in a time period.

6. The paging message controller of claim 5 , wherein the time period is a time since the particular UE was last connected to a radio access network (RAN).

7. The paging message controller of claim 1 , further comprising:
an associated tracking application server (T-AS), the associated T-AS configured to receive cell level location information, wherein the cell level location information identifies a user equipment-to-cell identifier (UE-to-cell identifier) mapping for the particular UE, and configured to update the second set of cells for the particular UE based on a cell identifier of the UE-to-cell identifier mapping.

8. The paging message controller of claim 7 , wherein the associated T-AS is configured to receive the cell level location information over at least one of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) interface, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network interface, and a IEEE 802.11 network interface.

9. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein the indication indicates that the paging message is to be forwarded to a list of cells in a routing area or a tracking area, and
the processor is configured to modify the indication, the modified indication indicating that the paging message is to be forwarded to the second set of cells.

10. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein the indication indicates that the paging message is to be forwarded to a first cell of the first set of cells, and
the processor is configured to filter the paging message for paging the particular UE based on whether the first cell of the first set of cells is also a member of the second set of cells.

11. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein the indication is a paging message for a first cell, and
the processor is configured to forward the paging message when the first cell is a member of the second set of cells.

12. The paging message controller of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to suppress the paging message when the first cell is not a member of the second set of cells.

13. The paging message controller of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to:
determine if the particular UE received at least one forwarded paging message; and
transmit at least one paging message that was suppressed when the determining determines the particular UE did not receive at least one forwarded paging message.

14. The paging message controller of claim 1 , wherein,
the processor is configured to forward the modified paging message to the representative UE using a primary radio interface which is different from a secondary radio interface,
the second radio interface for communications between the particular UE and the representative UE for verifying that both the particular UE and the representative UE belong to the second set of cells.

15. A method of controlling paging in a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising:
obtaining at a paging controller an indication of a paging message for a particular user equipment (UE), the indication indicating that at least one paging message is to be forwarded to at least one destination cell of a first set of cells for paging the particular UE;
modifying at the paging controller the paging message with location information for a representative UE of a second set of cells to which the particular UE belongs, the representative UE being a UE, within the second set of cells, that is different than the particular UE; and
forwarding by the paging controller the modified paging message to the second set of cells for paging the particular UE.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first set of cells consists of all cells of a routing area or a tracking area.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second set of cells is smaller than the first set of cells, a subset of the first set of cells, or a subset of and smaller than the first set of cells.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second set of cells is received from a tracking application server and identifies a group of cells visited by the particular UE in a time period.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
receiving cell level location information at a tracking application server (T-AS), wherein the cell level location information identifies a user equipment-to-cell identifier (UE-to-cell identifier) mapping for the particular UE; and
updating at the T-AS the second set of cells for the particular UE based on a cell identifier of the UE-to-cell identifier mapping.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the cell level location information is received over at least one of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) interface, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network interface, and a IEEE 802.11 network interface.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein the indication indicates that the paging message is to be forwarded to a list of cells in a routing area or a tracking area, and the forwarding includes,
modifying the indication, the modified indication indicating that the paging message is to be forwarded to the second set of cells.

22. The method of claim 15 , wherein the indication is a paging message for a first cell, and the forwarding includes,
forwarding the paging message when the first cell is a member of the second set of cells.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the forwarding comprises suppressing the paging message when the first cell is not a member of the second set of cells.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
determining if the particular UE received at least one forwarded paging message; and
transmitting at least one paging message that was suppressed when the determining determines the particular UE did not receive at least one forwarded paging message.

25. The method of claim 15 , wherein,
the forwarding of the modified paging message to the representative UE is accomplished using a primary radio interface which is different from a secondary radio interface,
the second rad

Assignees

• Bejerano Yigal
• Guo Katherine
• Nandagopal Thyagarajan
• Alcatel Lucent

Inventors

• Bejerano Yigal
• Guo Katherine
• Nandagopal Thyagarajan

Classifications

• H04W68/02 Primary

  Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel · CPC title