Abstract:
In a communication network ( 400 ), wireless access points ( 300 ) utilize one or more agents ( 302, 306 ) to support the operating needs of corresponding mobile stations. Pursuant to one approach, the agent supports translation of the mobile station&#39;s end-to-end protocol-based messages to Internet Protocol-based messages that are readily ported through an Internet Protocol-friendly communication system infrastructure that preferably eschews the use of network elements that rely upon unique and/or proprietary non-Internet Protocol interfaces. Pursuant to another approach the wireless access point is able to interact on a peer-to-peer basis with other wireless access points in order to facilitate, for example, handovers and other mobility management tasks.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application relates to the following patent applications as were filed on even date herewith (wherein the contents of such patent applications are incorporated herein by this reference): 
     METHOD AND APPARATUS TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATIONS USING SURROGATE AND CARE-OF INTERNET PROTOCOL ADDRESSES, application Ser. No. 11/913,939, filed Nov. 9, 2007; 
     METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING LATENCY DURING WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY CHANGES, application Ser. No. 11/913,936, field Nov. 9, 2007; 
     ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL-BASED WIRELESS ACCESS POINT METHOD AND APPARATUS, application Ser. No. 11/913,940, filed Nov. 9, 2007 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,160,067); 
     METHOD, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEM FOR ESTABLISHING A DIRECT ROUTE BETWEEN AGENTS OF A SENDER NODE AND A RECEIVER NODE application Ser. No. 11/913,935, filed Nov. 9, 2007 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,144,687); 
     SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A DISTRIBUTED VIRTUAL MOBILITY AGENT, application Ser. No. 11/913,937, filed Nov. 9, 2007 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,195,807); and 
     SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PAGING AND LOCATION UPDATE IN A NETWORK, application Ser. No. 11/913,942, filed Nov. 9, 2007. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates generally to communications networks and more particularly to wireless communications. 
     BACKGROUND 
     One-way and two-way wireless communications are a relatively well-understood area of endeavor. In many cases, various network elements comprise an infrastructure that support the communications needs of one or more mobile stations. These communications needs can comprise voice calls, data communications, and so forth. In many cases, modern communications networks comprise a large number of geographically differentiated wireless access points that essentially define the network&#39;s edge. Such geographic differentiation, in turn, facilitates significant reuse of various network resources such as radio frequency bearer channels, control channels, time slots, spreading codes, and so forth. Aggressive reuse of such resources then facilitates viably supporting a relatively large user population. 
     Such communication networks, however, have become ever more complex. Geographically parsed points of access, coupled with ever growing functionality and capability, has driven increasingly complex corresponding network architecture and internal operations. As a result, a typical communication network having geographically differentiated wireless access points also usually hosts a plurality of network elements that are hierarchically differentiated from those wireless access points. (Hierarchical differentiation, in part, permits a given network element to service the needs of a corresponding plurality of wireless access points.) 
     Such hierarchically differentiated network elements serve a variety of important and/or necessary functions. Some illustrative examples include:
         Connected mode mobility (for example, handover of a presently communicating mobile station from one wireless access point to another);   Idle mode mobility (for example, supporting and effecting location updates for and/or paging of supported mobile stations);   Subscriber and call session management (for example, authentication, authorization, and accounting services, policy administration, and so forth);   Radio frequency resource management (for example, resource scheduling, admission control, dynamic quality of service management, load balancing, and so forth);
 
to name but a few.
       

     Unfortunately, while such an architectural approach indeed successfully supports the intended service capability, there are issues of concern. Network elements capable of successfully operating in a given network are typically large centralized special purpose platforms bearing a relatively high cost. (Relevant examples include Packet Data Serving Nodes, Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Nodes, Gateway General Packet Radio Service Support Nodes, and so forth.) 
     Furthermore, in many cases, these network elements use relatively unique end-to-end protocols in order to permit useful communications between themselves and all necessary counterpart network elements as well as mobile stations. (Relevant examples include Radio Resource Control protocols, Non-Access Stratum protocols, CDMA 1X air interface protocols, and so forth.) 
     In combination, the above considerations tend to present scaling difficulties and barriers to feature growth and expansion. The end result represents increased costs (both for service providers and for subscribers) as pertain both to the infrastructure and to the mobile stations themselves, rapid obsolescence, and/or delayed expansion or upgrades with respect to capacity and/or features. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above needs are at least partially met through provision of the method and apparatus to facilitate mobile station communications using Internet Protocol-based communications described in the following detailed description, particularly when studied in conjunction with the drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  comprises a block diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; 
         FIG. 4  comprises a block diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; 
         FIG. 5  comprises a signal flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; 
         FIG. 6  comprises a signal flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; and 
         FIG. 7  comprises a signal flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
    
     Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the arts will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Generally speaking, these embodiments are suitable for use with a communication network having a plurality of geographically differentiated wireless access points and which communication network supports, for example, handovers of mobile stations from one wireless access point to another wireless access point during both idle and connected modes of operation in order to support mobile station mobility. More particularly, these embodiments are useful when applied in a setting where one or more mobile stations use a plurality of wireless protocols and wherein at least one of these comprises an end-to-end protocol originally intended to facilitate and support communicating directly with a counterpart network element that is hierarchically differentiated from the wireless access points. 
     In general, these embodiments preferably support reception, at such a wireless access point, of a communication from a mobile station that uses an end-to-end protocol and conversion (preferably at that wireless access point) of that communication from the end-to-end protocol to an Internet Protocol-based communication (such as, but not limited to, an IPv4 or IPv6-based communication) to provide a resultant converted communication. The latter, in turn, can then be subsequently transmitted to, for example, a hierarchically differentiated network element using an Internet Protocol. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that network elements using an Internet Protocol-compatible communications interface are considerably more available, are often less expensive, and tend to have far more open architectures, than the existing wireless technology specific network elements that presently serve communication network needs. 
     In a preferred approach, such a wireless access point has an ability and opportunity to conduct peer-to-peer communications with other wireless access points. This capability, in turn, preferably serves to facilitate such services as location updating (as corresponds to individual mobile stations as are served by the network, mobile station paging, and even handover effectuation) without additional need for network elements hierarchically differentiated from the access points. 
     So configured, a communication network can be largely configured using relatively inexpensive and readily available network element components. These teachings are readily scalable and will accommodate a wide variety of user base sizes, coverage areas, and present and future features and functionality. Furthermore, these teachings, when deployed, permit continued compatible operation with legacy mobile stations with essentially no change or modification to the functionality or operation of the mobile station being required. In effect, the mobile stations are able to continue to function as though the communication network remained configured in a pre-deployment architectural state. 
     These and other benefits may become clearer upon making a thorough review and study of the following detailed description. Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIG. 1 , a wireless access point as comprises a part of a communication network, such as, but not limited to, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network, a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) network, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, any I.E.E.E. 802.xx-compatible network, or indeed any number of other wireless communication networks, and wherein the communication network itself comprises a plurality of geographically differentiated wireless access points and which communication network supports handovers of mobile stations from one wireless access point to another wireless access point during both idle and connected modes of operation in order to support mobile station mobility. Each wireless access point of the plurality of wireless access points can effect a process  100  wherein, upon receiving  101  a communication from one of the mobile stations that uses an end-to-end protocol as described above, the wireless access point can optionally select  102  an appropriate responsive action as selected from an optional plurality of potentially available responsive actions. 
     These responsive actions may comprise local communication processing  103  (when, for example, the wireless access point has sufficient native capability and information to permit a local response), peer-to-peer communications  104  with one or more other wireless access points of the communication network (to facilitate, for example, effecting location updating as corresponds to a mobile station, mobile station paging (to facilitate, for example, locating or confirming a present location of a mobile station within the communication network), and/or a handover of a given mobile station from one wireless access point to another wireless access point, to name a few), and forwarding of at least a portion of the communication to a generic wireless agnostic network element (including but not limited to a router) within the communication network. 
     When the communication uses an end-to-end protocol, such as a Radio Resource Control (RRC)-compatible protocol or a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) (such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or 802.xx) compatible protocol as are known in the art, this forwarding preferably comprises converting  105  the communication from the end-to-end protocol to an Internet Protocol-based communication (using, for example, Internet protocol version 4) to provide a converted communication that is then optionally but preferably transmitted  106  to a generic wireless agnostic network element for appropriate processing and resultant action. The details with respect to such conversion will of course vary from one wireless protocol to another but will typically comprise unpacking and/or parsing of the contents of the original communication and repacking that content into one or more corresponding data packets having the selected Internet Protocol format. As such conversions are well within the expertise of those skilled in the art, and further as these teachings are not overly dependent upon the preferential use of any particular conversion technique, additional details regarding such conversion will not be provided here for the sake of brevity and the preservation of narrative focus. 
     So configured, a wireless access point can either locally handle a communication from a mobile station, cooperate directly with a peer wireless access point to facilitate any requirements necessitated by the communication, or forward the substance of the communication on within the network to an alternative hierarchical level using a familiar and nearly ubiquitous communication protocol regardless of having received that communication from the mobile station in a wireless protocol originally intended for use with a given corresponding dedicated purpose network element that may no longer even be available within the communication network. 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , a similar conversion process can be used when the wireless access point receives a communication that is directed to the mobile station, which communication derives from a network element that uses an Internet Protocol to effect the communication. In particular, pursuant to a preferred approach  200 , upon receiving  201  such a communication, the wireless access point can convert  202  the communication from an Internet Protocol to a communication that uses an end-to-end protocol as may be expected by the mobile station. The wireless access point can then transmit  203  this converted end-to-end protocol-based communication to the mobile station using the supported wireless link. 
     For example, the mobile station may have used a given end-to-end protocol to source a communication to a given network element to seek a specific kind of functional authorization. As per the above teachings, the wireless access point will have converted that communication from the end-to-end protocol to an Internet Protocol-based communication and then transmitted that converted communication to a corresponding network element for appropriate handling. The latter, upon providing the requested authorization, will provide that authorization using, again, the Internet Protocol of choice. Upon receiving this response, the wireless access point will then convert the authorization message from an Internet Protocol format to the end-to-end protocol used by the mobile station when making the original request. So configured, the mobile station receives desired or necessary services in a manner that requires no alteration or modification of the mobile station notwithstanding that the sought after network element may no longer even be a part of the communication network and the end-to-end protocol may no longer be otherwise supported within the communication network. 
     Those skilled in the art will recognize and understand that the processes described above with respect to  FIGS. 1 and 2  are applicable with respect to reverse communication flows. For example, as described and for the purpose of illustration, the options and responses set forth in  FIG. 1  are potentially set in motion by receipt of a mobile station communication. Much the same can result, however, upon receipt of a communication intended for the mobile station. As one specific example, a given network element may transmit a page intended for a given mobile station. The peer-to-peer communication  104  described in  FIG. 1  can serve to facilitate this page. In a similar fashion, such peer-to-peer communications can also be used as appropriate to supplement the process set forth in  FIG. 2 . 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that such a wireless access point can be realized in any of a wide variety of ways (including through use of physically distributed configurations, centralized and integrated platforms, and so forth). As an illustrative example only and without intending to limit the solution space, a given wireless access point  300  will now be described with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
     Pursuant to a preferred configuration, the wireless access point  300  comprises a wireless mobile station interface  301  that operably couples to at least one agent  302  (and optionally up to any number of agents as represented by an Nth agent  306  in the illustration). The wireless mobile station interface  301  supports the wireless link between the communication network and the mobile stations. Accordingly, the wireless mobile station interface  301  will itself vary considerably from system to system with respect to radio frequency usage and allocation, modulation, supported protocols, power control, encryption, error coding, and so forth. Such characteristics and their supporting components are well understood in the art and require no further elaboration here. 
     The agent  302  (or agents  306 ) operably couples to the wireless mobile station interface  301  as mentioned above and also operably couples to a network interface  303 . The network interface  303  preferably has an Internet Protocol-compatible output that operably couples to the communication network  304  (or, possibly, multiple networks as represented by the Nth network  305  depicted in the illustration). As alluded to earlier, this network interface  303  serves as a mechanism to facilitate the transmission of converted-protocol communication to generic network elements using an Internet Protocol, and peer-to-peer interaction with other access points. In a similar fashion, the network interface  303  also preferably serves as a mechanism for receiving an Internet Protocol-based communication from a network element, wherein the communication is directed to a mobile station that is linked to the communication network via the wireless access point  300 . 
     The agents identified above can be configured as desired to support any of a variety of appropriate functions. For example, pursuant to one approach, at least one such agent can comprise a mobility agent having, for example, network-side data-rerouting programming, wireless access point peer-to-peer mobility support programming, and so forth. So configured, the mobility agent can readily serve to facilitate, for example, mobile station location updates and/or mobile station paging. More particularly, in a preferred approach, these capabilities are based, at least in part, on peer-to-peer interactions between this wireless access point  300  and at least one other wireless access point (not shown). In a similar vein, if desired, one such agent can comprise a handover agent to facilitate a handover of a mobile station to another wireless access point (or to accept a handover of a mobile station from another wireless access point) via, again, peer-to-peer interaction with a counterpart wireless access point. 
     As another example of the flexibility and breadth of these teachings, if desired, one such agent can comprise a voice call agent having, for example, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) voice call setup programming, Session Initiation Protocol-to-over-the-air conversion of voice call control messages programming, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) voice frame packing programming, Voice over Internet Protocol voice frame unpacking programming, and so forth as may be appropriate to the needs of a given application. For example, in a preferred approach a Voice over Internet Protocol gateway may use Session Initiation Protocol to seek to set up a Voice Over Internet Protocol voice call session (using an Internet Address for the mobile station as may be used, in a surrogate manner, by a corresponding wireless access point). In this case, the wireless access point agent can serve as a Session Initiation Protocol client that translates the Session Initiation Protocol call requests from the Voice over Internet Protocol gateway into over-the-air call setup messages that are understandable to the targeted mobile station. 
     In general, and in a preferred approach, the access points can employ a variety of techniques, including Mobile Internet Protocol-based tunneling techniques, to effect provision of Internet Protocol packets directed to a given Internet Protocol address to an appropriate wireless access point. 
     So configured, the agent (or agents) as are deployed with respect to a given wireless access point  300  can serve, for example, as mechanisms to convert communications received from or to be forwarded to a given mobile station to or from an Internet Protocol that is otherwise used for data transport within the communication network itself. This approach supports great flexibility and permits compatibility at the wireless access edge of the communication network for legacy and/or a wide variety of differently configured mobile stations. 
     To further illustrate these points, and referring now to  FIG. 4 , the wireless access edge of a given communication system  400  can comprise a plurality of wireless access points (represented here by a first wireless access point  300 A and an Nth wireless access point  300 B). These wireless access points will typically be geographically distributed and serve different (though possibly overlapping) service coverage areas. Groups of these wireless access points are preferably operably coupled to an Internet Protocol-based local area network  401  in accordance with well understood prior art practice. 
     It is possible that, in a given communication network, only one such local area network  401  will be necessary but in many instances a given communication network will comprise a plurality of such local area networks (typically separated, in at least most cases, by some geographic distance). When multiple local area networks are provided, each will typically preferably serve a corresponding plurality of wireless access points. In some cases, when possible, it may be useful to connect a given wireless access point to more than one such local area network (to provide, for example, redundancy with respect to interaction between the communication network and that wireless access point). 
     In a preferred deployment, each such Internet Protocol-based local area network will itself operably couple to a router  402 . Just as there may be multiple independent local area networks in a given communication system, there will also likely be multiple routers as represented in the illustration by an Nth router  404 . These routers in turn couple, in a preferred configuration, to an Internet Protocol-based intranet  403  as is maintained by, for example, the communication network service provider and as are generally well understood in the art. In certain deployments, these routers  402  and  404 , as well as additional routers on the intranet (not shown) may have Mobile Internet Protocol functionality that can be used to facilitate routing of Internet Protocol packets to the appropriate access points. This intranet  403  preferably serves, at least in part, to provide access to one or more network elements  405  (such as, for example, an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) server or a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), to name a few). This intranet  403  also preferably serves to provide access to one or more gateways  406  (such as a gateway to an extranet  407  such as the Internet as illustrated, a Voice over Internet Protocol gateway to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) (not shown) (wherein the Voice over Internet Protocol gateway would serve, for example, to provide the vocoding and decoding requirements of the VoIP process), a Signaling System (SS) 7 gateway to facilitate a link to a Home Location Register (HLR) (using, for example, Mobile Application Part (MAP)—a real time communication protocol often employed, for example, to transfer location information from a Visitor Location Register (VLR) to a Home Location Register) when an Internet Protocol-capable Home Subscriber Server is not otherwise available, and so forth. 
     Such a configuration can readily support the process steps described earlier. In particular, wireless access points can readily effect peer-to-peer communications and interactions via, for example, their local area network  401  and/or the communication network intranet  403  when necessary. This peer-to-peer relationship is preferably applied to handle essentially all wireless-specific functions including, for example, mobility management, handovers, paging, and so forth using peer-to-peer messaging (more particularly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that no Mobile Switch Center or Visitor Location Register support of mobility-related functionality is required given the described peer-to-peer approach). The wireless access points, upon converting an inbound message from a mobile station to an Internet Protocol-based communication, can similarly readily forward that communication on via the Internet Protocol-based architecture described. Importantly, these configurations are based upon liberal (or even exclusive) use of what essentially amount to standard off-the-shelf Internet Protocol network elements. This, in turn, greatly improves the outlook for reduced infrastructure costs while also tending to ease the way for future improvements and embellishments. 
     Those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that the above teachings can be readily configured to support a wide variety of useful functions and features. A few illustrative examples will now be provided (with it being clearly understood that these examples comprise only a small non-exhaustive set of possibilities). 
     EXAMPLE 1 
     In this first example, a mobile station is engaged in a data call. With reference to  FIG. 5 , this data call comprises a first portion  501  that uses a wireless link of choice between the mobile station and a first wireless access point. The latter then converts that data call into an Internet Protocol-based call as per the above description and forwards  502  the resultant Internet Protocol-based data call to a router within the communication network which then routes  503  the Internet Protocol-based data call to a gateway as per the above description. From there the data proceeds to its ultimate destination as determined by the mobile station. 
     In this example, the mobile station is moving during the call, and an in-call handover becomes necessary in order to maintain the call. The mobile station and the first wireless access point exchange communications  504  regarding the need and/or opportunity for a handover (depending upon the particular mode of handover being applied, the mobile station may also be independently communicating with a second wireless access point regarding the possibility of a handover as well). The first wireless access point then communicates  505  with a second wireless access point regarding the logistics of supporting the handover, with this peer-to-peer interaction being readily supported by the above-described embodiments. 
     Upon completing the handover, in part through the above-described facilitated peer-to-peer interaction between the wireless access points, the mobile station can continue its data call with the wireless portion  506  of the communication now being handled by the second wireless access point. The latter, in turn, works  507  in conjunction with the router to forward  508  the mobile station&#39;s data to the gateway and beyond. 
     EXAMPLE 2 
     Referring now to  FIG. 6 , in this example the mobile station is making a voice call using a corresponding end-to-end protocol  601 . The receiving wireless access point converts  602  this communication from an end-to-end protocol-based communication to an Internet Protocol-based communication and sends a corresponding Internet Protocol transmission  603  to an available network router. The latter then further forwards the converted Internet Protocol-based data  604  to a Voice over Internet Protocol gateway where, for example, a connection to a Public Switched Telephone Network can be made in accordance with well understood prior art technique. 
     In this example it can be seen that a mobile station that is otherwise not capable of Voice over Internet Protocol calls is nevertheless able to effect exactly such a call. To achieve such a result, the wireless access point will preferably make use of a surrogate Internet Protocol address that corresponds to the mobile station, notwithstanding that the mobile station itself has no native use for such an address. This Internet Protocol address can be used (transparent to the mobile station) to facilitate, for example, the routing of Session Initiation Protocol call setup messages and Voice over Internet Protocol packets through the network to and from the wireless access point using, for example, known Mobile Internet Protocol techniques. 
     EXAMPLE 3 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , in this last example a network element sends an Internet Protocol-based message  701  addressed to a mobile station (or, more accurately, to an Internet Protocol address held and retained by a first wireless access point on behalf of that mobile station). A network router forwards a corresponding Internet Protocol-based message  702  to the first wireless access point, possibly using a variety of techniques including Mobile-Internet Protocol based techniques. The latter uses the target Internet Protocol address to ascertain that the message is intended for the mobile station and then converts  703  that Internet Protocol-based message into a suitable end-to-end protocol-based message  704  which the wireless access point then transmits to the mobile station. 
     This illustrates the ease by which various network elements, programmed to support the functional needs of a mobile station population but not necessarily all of the unique protocol requirements of that group, are readily able to communicate their updates, responses, and other messages to a given mobile station via the specific and flexible operation of the wireless access points as described. 
     Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of modifications, alterations, and combinations can be made with respect to the above described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, and combinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventive concept.