Lucent Technologies Inc.

Alcatel-lucent USA Inc.

Kannan Varadhan

Ramachandran Ramjee

Thomas F La Porta

Sandra Ramos Thuel

Kazutaka Murakami

Luca Salgarelli

Arun N Netravali

Gerard Terence Foster

Mark Haner

Portable and/or mobile IP hosts desiring to connect to the Internet can dynamically acquire a home address and other configuration information through DHCP when powering up in a foreign network. A two-stage configuration procedure is used. First, the mobile host uses the M-IP protocol to establish contact with an addressing element, referred to as a bootstrapping agent, that is usually co-located with a M-IP Home Agent, and that allocates a temporary home address for the mobile host. The temporary address is used to create a temporary tunnel. Second, this temporary tunnel is used as the communication vehicle over which standard DHCP transactions take place. The present invention is thus arranged to use a) M-IP as the signaling mechanism for reaching the home network and dynamically allocating a temporary home address for the mobile host; and b) DHCP to allocate a permanent home address and any other configuration state for the mobile host.

Transient tunneling for dynamic home addressing on mobile hosts

Local mobility within a subnet is supported by classifying wireless base stations, and the routers used to forward packets to those base stations, within defined domains. Domains are defined to incorporate a subnet having a plurality of base stations. Base stations are used by mobile devices to attach to the wired portion of a packet-based network, such as the Internet, and exchange packets thereover with a correspondent node. Packets sent from the correspondent node to the mobile device have a packet destination address corresponding to the mobile device. The mobile device retains this address for the duration of time it is powered up and attached to the Internet via any base station within a given domain. Host-based routing is utilized to update routing table entries corresponding to the mobile device at routers incorporated within a single domain. The routing table entries are established and updated via path setup schemes to convey packets destined for the mobile device along the proper established path through the domain routers and base stations, regardless of the domain base station through which the mobile device is attached. Path setup schemes utilize power up, refresh, and handoff path setup messages to maintain the proper relationship between router interfaces and packet addresses for routing table entries.

Single phase local mobility scheme for wireless access to packet-based networks

A General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Accessed Extended Mobile Internet Protocol (EMIP) [G-EMIP] network is provided for wireless mobile device access to external packet data networks. Domains are defined to incorporate a subnet of standard GPRS and EMIP network entities accessed through a Domain Router. Packet access at the radio interface is provided using the base station portion of a GPRS network. Wireless link specific processing is relegated to this potion of the G-EMIP network. EMIP is utilized as a backbone network to provide mobility and service management and interconnection to external networks. A GPRS-IP Interworking entity (GII) interworks IP and GPRS protocols between GPRS and IP addressable network entities (i.e., translates messages of each protocol to corresponding messages of the other protocol). Mobility-related functionality is handled at the IP (network) layer. Mobile IP is used to support the macro-mobility and Handoff-Aware Wireless Access Internet Infrastructure (HAWAII) is used to support micro-mobility and paging. The Domain Router provides packet service management and interacts with a Home Location Register/Authentication Center, which provides GRPS registration, authentication and encryption.

Wireless access of packet based networks

Two phase local mobility scheme for wireless access to packet based networks

Domains are defined to incorporate a subnet including a plurality of base stations and routers. Base stations are used by mobile devices to attach to the wired portion of a packet-based network, such as the Internet, and exchange packets thereover with a correspondent node. Local mobility between domain base stations is provided by including and updating routing table entries at domain routers and base stations for forwarding packets having a mobile device's address as a destination address to the mobile device. Packets are delivered to the mobile device regardless of the domain base station to which the mobile device is attached. When a mobile device is attached to a base station included within a foreign domain, a care-of address is assigned, and packets are tunneled for delivery of packets to the mobile device. Only one care-of address is required per mobile device per foreign domain. Routing table entries used for packet delivery are updated on a purely local subnet basis within domains, whether home domain or foreign domain, making handoffs between base stations substantially transparent to the home agent and the correspondent node.

Wireless access to packet-based networks

A tunneling optimization is described in which packets are forwarded from a home agent to a mobile device by co-locating a foreign agent corresponding to a mobile device at the mobile device. When a mobile device acquires a new foreign agent, the mobile device notifies the home agent as to the corresponding foreign agent address. A packet received at the home agent having the mobile device as a packet header destination address is parsed and the foreign agent address is substituted for the mobile device address, and the packet is forwarded to the foreign agent. The foreign agent, upon receiving the packet, removes the foreign agent address and replaces the mobile device address as the packet header destination address. The packet is then forwarded to the mobile device.

Growing community of inventors

Woodbridge, NJ, United States of America

Kannan Varadhan