Patent ID: 7245916

Claim:
An unlicensed wireless network controller to operate in an unlicensed wireless communication system comprising a first radio access network, the unlicensed network controller comprising: a) a first network interface comprising a broadband access network; b) a second network interface via which messages are sent to and received from a mobile station via an access point communicatively coupled between the mobile station and the unlicensed network controller, the interface including a plurality of layers implemented over the broadband network interface; c) a third network interface, for connecting the unlicensed network controller to a telecommunications network employed by a licensed wireless communication system comprising a mobile switching center (MSC); d) circuits for receiving an assignment request from the MSC; and e) circuits for generating, transmitting, and processing a set of unlicensed radio resource (RR) messages transmitted over the second interface to support assigning a voice bearer channel for the mobile station to access voice bearer services of the licensed wireless communication system via the unlicensed wireless communication system, wherein the set of unlicensed RR messages comprises: an activate channel message sent from the unlicensed network controller and received by the mobile station, wherein the receipt of the activate channel message by the mobile station triggers establishment of the voice bearer channel for the mobile station.