US 2004/0105428 A1 · System for establishing and maintaining a connection

Abstract

The invention relates to an arrangement and method for establishing and maintaining a connection between users' communication devices via a public data network. Communication devices (MSA, MSB) belonging to users of a system are terminals of a telecommunicationnetwork, say mobile phones, and, in addition, they are adapted to make a link to a data network (210) via a wireless transfer system. Interfaced with the data network there is at least one server (220) that keeps a register of communication devices. A communication device brought near a data network terminal (DTA, BTB) reports itself to the server using a device-specific identifier. This reporting message also contains network address of said terminal. When a connect request arrives from a communication device via a terminal, the server provides for necessary network connection if the called device specified in the connect request can be reached. The connection may be a speech connection, for example. The server also draws conclusions about relative locations of terminals. On the basis of such “mapping” it makes, if possible, a handover from a terminal on the connection route, if the communication device moves during a connection so that the quality of the link between it and the terminal becomes significantly worse. The telecommunication network, the terminals of which the communication devices are, can also be used in the arrangement of a data network connection and also as a spare route for connections.

Claims23

Dependent claims

An arrangement for establishing and maintaining a connection between communication devices via a data network, comprising at least one server interfaced with the data network and data network terminals having network addresses, said server keeping a communication device register, a communication device and a terminal being arranged to establish a data transfer link between each other, wherein

each communication device is arranged to report itself by sending via said data link a certain identifier, as well as to send a call via said data link,
each terminal is arranged to send to the server an identifier received from a communication device and at the same time its own network address, and to notify a communication device about a call received from the server,
the server has a register for storing identifiers of reported communication devices and network addresses of terminals for the purpose of finding out the reachability of communication devices,
the server is arranged to send network address of a terminal to another terminal in order to establish a network connection between the terminals, and
the server is arranged to draw conclusions about relative locations of terminals for making a handover between terminals during a connection between communication devices.

2 more elements

A method for establishing and maintaining a connection between a first and second communication device via a data network interfaced with at least one server keeping a register of communication devices, and data network terminals having network addresses, which first communication device has a data link to a first terminal, and in which method identifiers sent by terminals, referring to users of communication devices, and network addresses of terminals are stored in the server's register, the method further comprising steps;

a call addressed to the second communication device is sent from the first communication device to the first terminal,
a connect request is sent from the first terminal to the server on the basis of said call,
reachability of the second communication device is examined on the basis of information stored in the register of the server,
it is arranged so that the first and second terminals get each other's network addresses if the second communication device can be reached through said second terminal,
the call addressed to the second communication device is sent from the server to the second terminal,
said call is further sent from the second terminal to the second communication device,
an answer to the call is transferred from the second communication device to the first communication device via the route:
second terminal, data network, first terminal, first communication device, and
conclusions are drawn about relative locations of terminals for making a handover between terminals during a connection between communication devices.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System for establishing and maintaining a connection

Life of this patent

System for establishing and maintaining a connection

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims23