Location updating in a mobile communication system

A location updating method in a mobile communication system having a plurality of mobile stations, a plurality of base stations, a plurality of base station controllers, a plurality of mobile exchanges, and a plurality of visitor location registers for respective service areas which are divided into location areas, each of said visitor location registers maintaining subscriber and location data of mobile subscribers visiting its respective service area, and at least one sub-location register for a particular sub-area in a respective said service area of at least one respective said visitor location register, said method comprising the steps of:

• performing by a said mobile station of a location updating when moving from one said location area into another said location area;
• directing location updatings arriving from said particular sub-area to the respective said sub-location register;
• forwarding a first location updating of said mobile station in said particular sub-area further to the respective said visitor location register to the respective said service area to which said sub-area belongs;
• updating the respective said visitor location register and copying at least some subscriber data from the respective said visitor location register to said sub-location register;
• and
• handling subsequent location updatings of said mobile station in said sub-area in such a manner that the location of said mobile station is updated only in said sub-location register.

A mobile communication system, comprising:

• a plurality of mobile stations;
• a plurality of base stations;
• a plurality of base station controllers;
• a plurality of mobile exchanges;
• a plurality of visitor location registers for respective service areas which are divided into location areas;
• each of said visitor location registers maintaining subscriber and location data of mobile subscribers visiting its respective service area;
• a plurality of mobile stations arranged to perform a location updating when moving from any one location area into another location area, of said location areas,
• at least one sub-location register for a particular sub-area in the service area of at least one said visitor location register;
• said sub-location register being connected to a said base station controller via a first interface and to said visitor location register via a second interface;
• said sub-location register being arranged to forward a first location updating of a said mobile station, made upon arriving into said sub-area, to the visitor location register of the service area of which said sub-area belongs, in order to update location data in the respective visitor location register and to copy at least some subscriber data from the respective visitor location register to said sub-location register;
• and
• said sub-location register being arranged to independently handle the location updatings of the respective mobile station within said sub-area subsequent to said first location updating, in such a manner that the location of the respective mobile station is updated only in said sub-location register.

A location updating method in a mobile communication system having a plurality of mobile stations, a plurality of base stations, a plurality of base station controllers, a plurality of mobile exchanges, and a plurality of visitor location registers for respective service areas which are divided into location areas, each of said visitor location registers maintaining subscriber and location data of mobile subscribers visiting its respective service area, and at least one sub-location register for a particular sub-area in a respective said service area of at least one respective said visitor location register, said sub-location register being connected to a respective said base station controller via a first interface and to a respective said visitor location register via a second interface, said method comprising the steps of:

• performing by a said mobile station of a location updating when moving from one said location area into another said location area;
• directing location updatings arriving from said particular sub-area to the respective said sub-location register;
• forwarding a first location updating of said mobile station in said particular sub-area further to the respective said visitor location register to the respective said service area to which said sub-area belongs;
• updating the respective said visitor location register and copying at least some subscriber data from the respective said visitor location register to said sub-location register;
• and
• handling subsequent location updatings of said mobile station in said sub-area in such a manner that the location of said mobile station is updated only in said sub-location register.