Patent ID: 7797002

Claim:
A paging control method executed by a radio network controller in a mobile network including a core network, a radio access network, and a mobile communication terminal, wherein the radio access network includes a plurality of base stations, and the radio network controller, the radio network controller including at least two controllers, one of the at least two controllers being a first controller processing a paging message transmitted from the core network to the radio access network, and wherein the mobile communication terminal performs communication with at least one of the base stations via a radio interface, the paging control method comprising: receiving at the first controller in the radio network controller the paging message transmitted from the core network to the radio access network; judging at the first controller a transmission destination of the paging message by: determining whether an active signal connection currently exists between the mobile communication terminal and the radio access network or the core network, said active signal connection comprising a dedicated channel between the mobile communication terminal and the radio access network or the core network for signal communications, said determining being executed by referring to signal connection information registered within the first controller using an identifier assigned to the mobile communication terminal by the radio access network, when the active signal connection is determined to currently exist, judging the transmission destination to be one of the at least two controllers in the radio network controller that controls the signal connection, and when the active signal connection is not determined to currently exist, judging the transmission destination to be one of the at least two controllers that controls a predetermined base station of the base stations or one of the base stations that is identified from the paging message; and transmitting from the first controller the paging message to the transmission destination, wherein a function of the radio network controller of controlling communications between the core network and the base stations is distributed among the at least two controllers in the radio network controller.