Method and apparatus for setup and release of user equipment context identifiers in a home node b system

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 61/046,401, entitled “Mechanisms to Relay or Transfer RANAP Messages between 3 G Home Node-B and the Core Network via the Home Node-B Gateway”, filed Apr. 18, 2008; U.S. Provisional Application 61/055,961, entitled “Mechanisms to Transport RANAP Messages between 3 G Home Node-B and the Core Network via the Home Node-B Gateway”, filed May 23, 2008; U.S. Provisional Application 61/058,912, entitled “Transport of RANAP Messages over the Iuh Interface”, filed Jun. 4, 2008; U.S. Provisional Application 61/080,227, entitled “HNB System Architecture”, filed Jul. 11, 2008; and U.S. Provisional Application 61/101,148, entitled, “Support for Closer Subscriber Group (CSG) in Femtocell System”, filed Sep. 29, 2008. The contents of Provisional Applications 61/046,401, 61/055,961, 61/058,912, 61/080,227, and 61/101,148 are hereby incorporated by reference.

The invention relates to telecommunication. More particularly, this invention relates to a Home Node-B system architecture.

Licensed wireless systems provide mobile wireless communications to individuals using wireless transceivers. Licensed wireless systems refer to public cellular telephone systems and/or Personal Communication Services (PCS) telephone systems. Wireless transceivers, also referred to as user equipment (UE), include cellular telephones, PCS telephones, wireless-enabled personal digital assistants, wireless modems, and the like.

Licensed wireless systems utilize wireless signal frequencies that are licensed from governments. Large fees are paid for access to these frequencies. Expensive base station (BS) equipment is used to support communications on licensed frequencies. Base stations are typically installed approximately a mile apart from one another (e.g., cellular towers in a cellular network). In a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), these base stations are system provider controlled and include Node-Bs which are high power and long range radio frequency transmitters and receivers used to directly connect with the user equipment. The wireless transport mechanisms and frequencies employed by typical licensed wireless systems limit both data transfer rates and range.

Licensed wireless systems continually upgrade their networks and equipment in an effort to deliver greater data transfer rates and range. However, with each upgrade iteration (e.g., 3 G to 4 G), the licensed wireless system providers incur substantial costs from licensing additional bandwidth spectrum to upgrading the existing radio network equipment or core network equipment. To offset these costs, the licensed wireless system providers pass down the costs to the user through the licensed wireless service fees. Users also incur equipment costs with each iterative upgrade of the licensed wireless network as new user equipment is needed to take advantage of the new services or improved services of the upgraded network.

Landline (wired) connections are extensively deployed and generally perform at a lower cost with higher quality voice and higher speed data services than the licensed wireless systems. The problem with landline connections is that they constrain the mobility of a user. Traditionally, a physical connection to the landline was required.

Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) emerged as one solution to lower costs associated with the licensed wireless systems while maintaining user wireless mobility and taking advantage of the higher quality voice and higher speed data services of the landline connections. UMA allowed users the ability to seamlessly and wirelessly roam in and out of licensed wireless systems and unlicensed wireless systems where the unlicensed wireless systems facilitate mobile access to the landline-based networks. Such unlicensed wireless systems support wireless communication based on the IEEE 802.11a, b or g standards (WiFi), or the Bluetooth® standard. The mobility range associated with such unlicensed wireless systems is typically on the order of 100 meters or less. A typical unlicensed wireless communication system includes a base station comprising a wireless access point (AP) with a physical connection (e.g., coaxial, twisted pair, or optical cable) to a landline-based network. The AP has a RF transceiver to facilitate communication with a wireless handset that is operative within a modest distance of the AP, wherein the data transport rates supported by the WiFi and Bluetooth® standards are much higher than those supported by the aforementioned licensed wireless systems.

UMA allowed users to purchase ordinary off-the-shelf access points in order to deploy a UMA service region that allowed for access to UMA service. In this manner, UMA was able to provide higher quality services at a lower cost than the licensed wireless systems. However, other UMA associated costs remained an obstacle to the large scale adoption of UMA.

With the emergence of UMA and licensed devices equipped with unlicensed radios that bypass the mobile operators\' network/service, mobile operators sought to provide an equivalent solution using their licensed spectrum. Home Node Bs (HNBs) are low cost versions of the expensive Base Stations that comprise the mobile network that still use the operator\'s licensed spectrum for communication with licensed devices. The HNBs employ similar techniques as unlicensed access points such as the support of lower transmission power and range, integrated design, and use of regular landlines to communicate with the mobile operators\' network to be cost and performance competitive with UMA. The use of regular landlines required the HNBs to adopt proprietary messaging and signaling standards that were different than those used by the licensed wireless systems for the expensive Base Stations.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art to develop a simplified integrated system that leverages the mobility provided by licensed wireless systems while maintaining the quality of service and data transfer rates of landline connections. Such a simplified integrated system needs to reduce adoption costs for both the individual user and the system provider that deploys such a system.

Some embodiments provide methods and systems for integrating a first communication system with a core network of a second communication system that has a licensed wireless radio access network. In some embodiments, the first communication system includes one or more user hosted access points that operate using short range licensed wireless frequencies in order to establish service regions of the first communication system and a network controller for communicatively coupling the service regions associated with the access points to the core network.

The first communication system of some embodiments includes a Home Node-B (HNB) Access Network (HNB-AN) where the access points are Home Node-Bs and the network controller is a HNB Gateway (HNB-GW). The licensed wireless radio access network of the second communication system of some embodiments includes a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) and the core network of the second communication system includes a core network of the UMTS.

The network controller of some embodiments seamlessly integrates each of the short range licensed wireless service regions with the core network. In some such embodiments, the network controller seamlessly integrates with the core network by using existing Iu interfaces of the core network to communicatively couple each of the service regions to the core network. Accordingly, the network controller of some embodiments uses standardized messaging and protocols to communicate with the core network while utilizing HNB-AN messaging and protocols to communicate with each of the service regions. In this manner, the network controller of some embodiments reduces deployment costs of the HNB-AN within the UMTS core network. Specifically, deployment of the network controller of some embodiments requires no change to the UMTS core network while still providing HNB wireless service that combines the mobility of licensed wireless networks with the quality and speed of landline/broadband services. In some embodiments, the network controllers take on some of the functionality of a traditional Radio Network Controller (RNC).

Additionally, the access points of some embodiments seamlessly integrate with existing user equipment (UE) of the licensed wireless radio access networks of the second communication system. In this manner, the access points reduce deployment costs of the HNB-AN, as users are able to utilize existing UE in order to wirelessly communicate through either the first communication system or the second communication system where the first communication system combines the wireless mobility afforded by the licensed wireless radio access network of the second communication system with the speed and quality of service afforded by landline/broadband services. In some embodiments, the access points are functionally equivalent to a Node-B of the UTRAN while having the flexibility and lower deployment costs associated with an ad-hoc and user hosted service region. In some embodiments, the access points take on some the functionality of a traditional Radio Network Controller (RNC).

Some embodiments define multi-layered protocol stacks for implementing management functionality within the access points and the network controller of the first communication system. In some embodiments, the protocol stacks include a management layer that performs functionality of the HNB Application Part (HNBAP) protocol. The protocol stacks of some embodiments implement management functionality that includes a registration procedure for registering a particular access point with the network controller. Specifically, the protocol stacks enable a registration procedure that allows a service region associated with a particular access point to access services of the core network through the network controller. Additional management functionality implemented by the protocol stacks of some embodiments include discovery procedures for identifying a network controller with which the particular access point is to register.

Some embodiments define multi-layered protocol stacks for implementing control plane functionality within the access points and the network controller of the first communication system. In some embodiments, the protocol stacks include a Radio Access Network Application Part (RANAP) user adaptation (RUA) layer that enables a method for transparently passing RANAP messages between the access points and the network controller over a reliable transport connection. The method receives a RANAP message and encapsulates the message with a RUA header. The method then passes the encapsulated message to a receiving endpoint within the first communication system. In this manner, the RANAP message is passed from a first endpoint of the first communication system to a second endpoint of the first communication system. Additionally, in some embodiments, the network controller decodes and processes only the RUA header before relaying the RANAP message to the core network operating within a service region of the first communication system. In some embodiments, an access point performs the RANAP encapsulation and the receiving endpoint is a network controller. In some embodiments, the network controller performs the RANAP encapsulation and the receiving endpoint is an access point. The receiving endpoint need only decode and process the RUA header. Note that RANAP is only used to communicate with core network. The communication with UE (e.g. by the HNB) uses the RRC protocol as per 3GPP 25.331 specifications, “Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification”, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference, hereinafter referred to as TS 25.331. The HNB on the receiving end processes the RUA as well as the entire RANAP message. The content of the RANAP messages are extracted by the HNB and converted to appropriate RRC messages.

Some embodiments define messaging formats to be used in conjunction with the various protocol stacks. Some embodiments provide a message that when sent from a particular access point to the network controller explicitly indicates the start of a communication session between the particular access point and the network controller. In some embodiments, the contents of the message are used to route the establishment of a signaling connection from the network controller to a core network node within a core network domain identified by the message.