Communication system and method

50:

• A mobile network base station controller comprising a central gateway and a physically separate remote gateway, in which:
• the remote gateway communicates with cell equipment via a standard protocol for a remote mobile network cell, the central gateway communicates via a standard protocol with a mobile network node, and
• the gateways perform internal base station controller communication between each other using a remote communication link.

51:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote communication link is a satellite link.

52:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote communication link is a satellite link;
• and wherein the remote communication link is a craft-to-ground communication link.

53:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote communication link is terrestrial based radio, microwave, cable or optical fibre.

54:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein at least one gateway terminates some signalling received from an external entity to minimise internal traffic on the remote communication link.

55:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 54, wherein the remote gateway terminates “heartbeat” signalling from remote network nodes.

56:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 54, wherein the remote gateway terminates radio measurement signalling.

57:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 54, wherein the remote gateway terminates link measurement signalling.

58:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 54, wherein the central gateway terminates link management signalling.

59:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 54, wherein the central gateway terminates “heartbeat” signalling from a mobile network node.

60:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein each gateway dynamically chooses an appropriate carrier on the remote link according to nature of the signals to optimise bandwidth usage.

61:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 60, wherein each gateway dynamically switches between use of data and voice channels of the remote link.

62:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein each gateway dynamically maps external interface data to lower-bandwidth data for transmission on the remote link.

63:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 62, wherein the remote gateway extracts a dialled number from multiple messages, and transmits only the dialled number data from said multiple messages.

64:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 62, wherein the remote gateway extracts a dialled number from multiple messages, and transmits only the dialled number data from said multiple messages;
• and wherein the remote gateway adds additional data to the dialled number data, and the central gateway interprets the additional data to generate mobile network signals for the mobile network node.

65:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 62, wherein the remote gateway uses an ISDN user-to-user signalling field to transfer the additional data.

66:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 62, wherein remote gateway uses DTMF to transmit additional data, and the DTMF is terminated at the central gateway.

67:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote gateway batches location update requests according to the nature of the remote link.

68:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote gateway batches text or multi-media messages according to the nature of the remote link.

69:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein authentication related information exchanged between the central gateway and a network node is batched for transmission to and from the remote gateway which handles authentication of individual mobile subscribers.

70:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the gateways use compression for at least some internal communication on the remote link.

71:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the gateways use compression for at least some internal communication on the remote link;
• and wherein each gateway buffers speech packets and combines a plurality of buffered speech packets into a single transmission packet.

72:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the gateways use compression for at least some internal communication on the remote link;
• and wherein each gateway buffers speech packets and combines a plurality of buffered speech packets into a single transmission packet;
• and wherein the transmission packet is an RTP packet.

73:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the gateways perform transcoding and rate adaptation at the most appropriate gateway according to the nature of the remote link.

74:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the central gateway comprises an operations and maintenance function for both gateways.

75:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote gateway comprises an operations and maintenance function for itself and the remote mobile network cell.

76:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the central gateway comprises an operations and maintenance function for both gateways;
• and wherein the operations and maintenance function downloads updates to the remote gateway.

77:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the central gateway comprises an operations and maintenance function for both gateways;
• and wherein the operations and maintenance function uploads fault information, status information and statistics from the remote gateway

78:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the central gateway maintains a database of data pertaining to remote gateways with which it communicates.

79:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote gateway maintains a database of registered subscribers for the remote cell.

80:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote gateway is linked to an entertainment or public announcement system.

81:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 80, wherein the remote gateway allows calls to be interrupted by the public announcement or entertainment system.

82:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote gateway determines if a locally-initiated call or message is to a person located in its cell, and avoids use of the remote link if this is the case.

83:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the remote gateway is configurable to handle text message traffic only

84:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 83, wherein the remote gateway rejects outgoing voice and data calls from subscribers registered in the remote mobile network cell when the system is operating in text message only mode.

85:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 83, wherein the central gateway sends a signal to the HLR of a registered subscriber to divert incoming calls when the system is operating in text message only mode

86:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein the central gateway detects Ocean Region changes from a remote gateway logon message and from the full address of the remote craft, builds a full correct dialled number including the Ocean region that will be used to terminate voice calls to each subscriber

87:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 50, wherein at least one of the gateways automatically generates a response to a network node without using the remote link.

88:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 87, wherein the gateway automatically generates the response within a timeout period set by the network node to which it is responding.

89:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 87, wherein the gateway is pre-configured with rules to automatically generate said responses.

90:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 87, wherein said gateway is the central gateway.

91:

• The mobile network base station controller as claimed in claim 90, wherein the central gateway automatically generates a response to an MSC class mark enquiry.

92:

• The mobile network cell comprising a base station controller as claimed in claim 50, and a base station transceiver.

93:

• The method of communication between a remote mobile network cell and a central mobile network node, the method comprising a base station transceiver of the remote cell communicating with a remote gateway of a base station controller of claim 50, the remote gateway processing signals received from the transceiver and transmitting internal base station controller signals to the central gateway via a remote link.