Pre-provisioning bearer connection with target base station in response to end of call served by nearby base station of other access network
AssigneeSprint Spectrum L.P.
InventorsMaulik K. Shah, Jasinder P. Singh, Deveshkumar Rai, Naresh Madineni
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Abstract
A method and system to help manage transition of a device between wireless access networks. The device engages in a call served by a given access network and the call ends. Responsive to the call ending, (i) a determination is made as to which base station of that network last served the device, (ii) the determined base station is mapped to a proximate base station of another access network, and (iii) a bearer connection is established in the other access network with the proximate base station in anticipation of the device seeking to be served by that base station.
Claims18
In a hybrid wireless communication system comprising a first access network and a second access network, a method comprising:
- the first access network providing connectivity with at least one transport network;
- the second access network serving a wireless communication device (WCD) with a call, and the call ending;
- responsive to the call ending, (i) determining which base station of the second access network most recently served the WCD, (ii) using a location of the determined base station as a basis to identify a nearby base station of the first access network, and (iii) the first access network pre-provisioning for the WCD a bearer connection with the identified base station before the WCD then requests to be served by the identified base station, wherein pre-provisioning the bearer connection with the identified base station comprises pre-provisioning the bearer connection to be between the identified base station and a gateway of the first access network by updating a record of the bearer connection at the gateway to point to the identified base station;
- and
- thereafter wirelessly receiving into the identified base station of the first access network, from the WCD, a request for the WCD to be served by the identified base station, and granting the request, wherein the pre-provisioned bearer connection with the identified base station is then used in serving the WCD.
In a wireless communication system comprising a first radio access network (RAN) having a plurality of first base stations operating according to a first air interface protocol and a second RAN having a plurality of second base stations operating according to a second air interface protocol, a method comprising:
- the first RAN serving a wireless communication device (WCD), wherein communications flow between the WCD and a gateway of the first RAN via a given one of the first base stations and a bearer connection between that given first base station and the gateway, wherein the gateway has a record of the bearer connection pointing to the given first base station;
- while the first RAN is serving the WCD, the second RAN setting up a call for the WCD, and (i) the WCD then transitioning from being served by the first RAN to being served with the call by the second RAN and (ii) the first RAN suspending the bearer connection;
- the call then ending;
- responsive to the call then ending, (a) determining which second base station last served the WCD with the call and mapping the determined second base station to a new first base station of the first RAN based at least in part on the new first base station being located proximate to the determined second base station and (b) the first RAN updating the record of the bearer connection at the gateway to point to the new first base station instead of to the given first base station, before then receiving a request from the WCD to attach with the new first base station;
- and
- upon receiving the request from the WCD to attach with the new first base station, the first RAN provisioning the new first base station with a record of the bearer connection pointing to the gateway, the first RAN granting the request to attach, and the first RAN using the bearer connection between the new first base station and gateway in serving the WCD.
A hybrid wireless communication system comprising:
- a first radio access network (RAN) having a plurality of first base stations configured to serve wireless communication devices (WCDs) according to a first air interface protocol, the first RAN further having a serving gateway configured to exchange packet data with served WCDs over bearer connections between the gateway and the first base stations, and a first control server configured to set up the bearer connections for WCDs;
- and
- a second RAN having a plurality of second base stations configured to serve WCDs according to a second air interface protocol, the second RAN further having a second control server for controlling calls served by the second RAN,
- wherein, when the second RAN serves a given WCD with a call and the call ends, the hybrid wireless communication system responds to the ending of the call at least in part by (a) determining which second base station last served the given WCD with the call, (b) identifying a first base station based at least in part on proximity of the first base station to the determined second base station, and (c) pre-provisioning the gateway with a bearer connection to the identified first base station in anticipation of the identified first base station receiving an attach request from the given WCD, wherein pre-provisioning the bearer connection comprises updating a record of the bearer connection at the gateway to point to the identified base first station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.