Patent ID: 8559949
Filing Date: 2013-10-15
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A wireless system comprising: a host MSC/VLR of a public land mobile network (PLMN); a plurality of base station subsystems (BSSs), each BSS of the plurality of BSSs including a base station controller (BSC) and one or more base transceiver stations (BTSs); and a virtual base station controller (VBSC) communicatively coupled to the plurality of BSSs and the host MSC/VLR such that the host MSC/VLR and other devices in the PLMN communicate with the plurality of BSSs via the VBSC; wherein: the VBSC is coupled to the PLMN; the VBSC can appear, from a perspective of the host MSC/VLR, to be a local base station controller for the one or more BTSs of the plurality of BSSs; the VBSC can appear, from a perspective of the BSCs of the plurality of BSSs, to be a local MSC/VLR for the BSCs of the plurality of BSSs while the VBSC appears, from a perspective of the host MSC/VLR, to be the local base station controller for the one or more BTSs of the plurality of BSSs; the VBSC and at least one of the plurality of BSSs include functionality for locally switching telephone calls in the plurality of BSSs; the VBSC can further insert user-to-user (UUI) information into control-plane messages of mobile originated (MO) legs of the telephone calls handled by the VBSC; the VBSC can further check for the UUI information in control-plane messages of mobile terminated (MT) legs of the telephone calls handled by the VBSC; and the VBSC can further use the UUI information to match the MO and MT legs of the telephone calls in order to determine if the telephone calls should be locally switched.