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US6731944B1 Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Apparatus and method for automatically controlling the forwarding of low priority page requests

Assignee: Unwired Planet LLC
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Filing: 2000-05-17
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Granted: 2004-05-04
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Expires: 2020-05-17
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Abstract

Abstract An apparatus and method are provided that can effectively improve a paging scheme of a traditional cellular system. Basically, the apparatus includes a controller (cell load monitor) which operates to determine when a paging distribution handler should forward a low priority page request to a mobile station in order to decrease a processing (blind) load on a processor and to decrease a load on the air interface resources. The controller utilizes a current paging load (first embodiment) and/or a current traffic load (second embodiment) as a factor to help determine when the low priority page request should be forwarded to the mobile station.

Inventors

  • 👤 Peter Östrup
  • 👤 Sinead McAllister

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-01 12:47
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04W; H04W68/00

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim 144 words
An apparatus comprising: a paging handler for handling high priority page requests and low priority page requests; a controller for determining when said paging handler should forward a low priority page request to a mobile station in order to decrease a processing load on a processor and to decrease a load on air interface resources; a low priority queue and a high priority queue both of which are connected to said paging handler and controlled by said controller such that when a high priority request is present within the high priority queue then said paging handler is prevented from receiving the low priority page request from the low priority queue; and a queue within a paging function capable of interacting with the low priority queue using a handshaking mode which is triggered when the low priority queue is congested with low priority page requests.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 144 words
An apparatus comprising: a paging handler for handling high priority page requests and low priority page requests; a controller for determining when said paging handler should forward a low priority page request to a mobile station in order to decrease a processing load on a processor and to decrease a load on air interface resources; a low priority queue and a high priority queue both of which are connected to said paging handler and controlled by said controller such that when a high priority request is present within the high priority queue then said paging handler is prevented from receiving the low priority page request from the low priority queue; and a queue within a paging function capable of interacting with the low priority queue using a handshaking mode which is triggered when the low priority queue is congested with low priority page requests.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 26 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said controller further includes a monitor capable of determining a traffic load within a cell serving the mobile station.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 35 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein said monitor is further capable of preventing said paging handler from forwarding the low priority page request whenever the traffic load within the cell exceeds a predetermined threshold.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 28 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein said monitor further includes a cell traffic load monitor capable of measuring the traffic load on at least one traffic channel.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 29 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said controller further includes means for limiting a number of resources said paging handler can reserve to handle low priority page requests.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 91 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said handshaking mode when triggered includes the following steps: storing all new low priority page requests within the queue of the paging function; sending a page request from the paging function to the low priority queue; receiving, at the paging function, a response signal indicating how many low priority page requests can now be handled by the low priority queue; and forwarding, to the low priority queue, the indicated number of low priority page requests currently stored in the queue of the paging function.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 28 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said low priority page request further includes a page request that is repeatable in accordance with a mobile station probe function.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 19 words
The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein said mobile station probe function is used by a short message service.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 17 words
The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said short message service only uses low priority page requests.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 20 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said processing load further includes a blind load attributable to incomplete call set-ups.
Claim 12
Independent Claim 150 words
A method for decreasing a processing load within a processor of a mobile communications network, said method comprising the steps of: initiating a low priority page request; and determining when the low priority page request can be effectively forwarded by a paging handler in order to decrease the processing load on the processor that is attributable to incomplete call set-ups, said step of determining further comprises controlling a low priority queue and a high priority queue both of which are connected to the paging handler such that when a high priority page request is present within the high priority queue then the paging handler is prevented from receiving the low priority page request from the low priority queue; and connecting the low priority queue to a queue within a paging function using a handshaking mode which is triggered when the low priority queue is congested with low priority page requests.
Claim 13
Independent Claim 150 words
A method for decreasing a processing load within a processor of a mobile communications network, said method comprising the steps of: initiating a low priority page request; and determining when the low priority page request can be effectively forwarded by a paging handler in order to decrease the processing load on the processor that is attributable to incomplete call set-ups, said step of determining further comprises controlling a low priority queue and a high priority queue both of which are connected to the paging handler such that when a high priority page request is present within the high priority queue then the paging handler is prevented from receiving the low priority page request from the low priority queue; and connecting the low priority queue to a queue within a paging function using a handshaking mode which is triggered when the low priority queue is congested with low priority page requests.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 46 words
The method of claim 11 , wherein said step of determining further includes the steps of: determining a traffic load within a cell; and preventing the paging handler from forwarding the low priority page request whenever the traffic load within the cell exceeds a predetermined threshold.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 29 words
The method of claim 12 , wherein said step of determining a traffic load within a cell further includes measuring the traffic load on at least one traffic channel.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 40 words
The method of claim 11 , wherein said step of determining further includes limiting a number of low priority page requests with respect to a number of high priority page requests that the paging handler can accommodate at one time.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 24 words
The method of claim 11 , wherein said step of determining further includes forwarding only low priority page requests for a short message service.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 91 words
The method of claim 11 , wherein said handshaking mode when triggered includes the following steps: storing all new low priority page requests within the queue of the paging function; sending a page request from the paging function to the low priority queue; receiving, at the paging function, a response signal indicating how many low priority page requests can now be handled by the low priority queue; and forwarding, to the low priority queue, the indicated number of low priority page requests currently stored in the queue of the paging function.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 127 words
A mobile switching center comprising: a paging handler; and a controller for determining when said paging handler can effectively forward a low priority page request in order to decrease a blind load within a processor; a low priority queue and a high priority queue both of which are connected to said paging handler and controlled by said controller such that when a high priority page request is present within the high priority queue then said paging handler is prevented from receiving the low priority page request from the low priority queue; and a queue within a mobile station probe function capable of interacting with the low priority queue using a handshaking mode which is triggered when the low priority queue becomes congested with low priority page requests.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 127 words
A mobile switching center comprising: a paging handler; and a controller for determining when said paging handler can effectively forward a low priority page request in order to decrease a blind load within a processor; a low priority queue and a high priority queue both of which are connected to said paging handler and controlled by said controller such that when a high priority page request is present within the high priority queue then said paging handler is prevented from receiving the low priority page request from the low priority queue; and a queue within a mobile station probe function capable of interacting with the low priority queue using a handshaking mode which is triggered when the low priority queue becomes congested with low priority page requests.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 102 words
The mobile switching center of claim 17 , wherein said handshaking mode when triggered includes the following steps: storing all new low priority page requests within the queue of the mobile station probe function; sending a page request from the mobile station probe function to the low priority queue; receiving, at the mobile station probe function, a response signal indicating how many low priority page requests can now be handled by the low priority queue; and forwarding, to the low priority queue, the indicated number of low priority page requests that are stored in the queue of the mobile station probe function.

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2007-05-04 2007-11-03 2008-05-04 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2011-05-04 2011-11-03 2012-05-04 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2015-05-04 2015-11-03 2016-05-04 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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