Handoff of a mobile station between packet-switched and circuit-switched wireless domains

Abstract

A first mobility management entity (MME) is configured to cooperate with a first access network controller to provide a circuit switched service to a mobile station while the mobile station is attached to a packet switched wireless access network in a first coverage area. A second MME is configured to cooperate with the first access network controller to provide a circuit switched service to the mobile station when the mobile station has moved from the first coverage area to the second coverage area. A home subscriber system is operated to provide, to the second MME, information identifying the first access network controller as serving the mobile station to enable the second MME to initiate handoff of the mobile station from the packet switched wireless access network to the circuit switched wireless access network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . At least one non-transitory processor-readable medium carrying instructions for execution by at least one processor of a first mobility management entity associated with a packet-switched wireless access network, the instructions comprising:
 instructions executable by the at least one processor to receive information associated with a mobile station being served by the first mobility management entity, wherein the information identifies a serving generic access network controller for the mobile station, the serving generic access network controller being used to provide a circuit-switched service to the mobile station while the mobile station is attached to the packet-switched wireless access network;   instructions executable by the at least one processor to initiate a handoff of the mobile stations from the packet-switched wireless access network to a circuit-switched wireless access network, the circuit-switched wireless access network being in a region served by a second generic access network controller different from the serving generic access network controller; and   instructions executable by the at least one processor in performing the handoff to use the information to identify the serving generic access network controller to communicate handoff-related messaging to the serving generic access network controller to cause provision of the circuit-switched service to be handed off from the serving generic access network controller to the second generic access network controller.   
     
     
         2 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable by the at least one processor to receive the information comprise instructions executable to receive the information sent by a home subscriber server for the mobile station. 
     
     
         3 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the instructions executable to receive the information comprise instructions executable to receive the information forwarded by a second mobility management entity to the first nobility management entity, where the information was sent from the home subscriber server to the second mobility management entity. 
     
     
         4 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the instructions executable to receive the information by the first mobility management entity from the second mobility management entity are instructions executable in response to a transition of the mobile station from the second mobility management entity to the first mobility management entity. 
     
     
         5 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to receive the information comprise instructions executable to receive the information provided in response to an authentication procedure performed by the mobile station in connection with a registration procedure performed by the mobile station with the serving generic access network controller. 
     
     
         6 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to initiate the handoff to the circuit-switched wireless access network comprise instructions executable to initiate the handoff to the circuit-switched wireless access network in which the mobile station is provided with the circuit-switched service via the circuit-switched wireless access network instead of via the packet-switched wireless access network. 
     
     
         7 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , for use in a mobility management entity in a packet-switched wireless access network which is an EUTRA (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access) network. 
     
     
         8 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the information identifies a serving generic access network controller for the mobile station, the serving generic access network controller being used to provide a circuit-switched voice service to the mobile station while the mobile station is attached to the packet-switched wireless access network. 
     
     
         9 . At least one non-transitory processor-readable medium carrying instructions for execution by at least one processor of a mobile station, the instructions comprising:
 instructions executable by the at least one processor to perform, in a mobile station, a registration procedure with a serving generic access network controller;   instructions executable by the at least one processor to perform an authentication procedure in connection with the registration procedure, the authentication procedure causing an identity of the serving generic access network controller to be provided to a home subscriber server of the mobile station; and   instructions executable by the at least one processor to perform a handoff from a packet-switched domain to a circuit-switched domain, the mobile station being provided with a circuit-switched service while attached to the packet-switched domain, and the mobile station continuing to be provided with the circuit-switched service after handoff to the circuit-switched domain, and the handoff involving an entity in the packet-switched domain using the identity of the serving generic access network controller to send a relocation request to the serving generic access network controller to cause handoff from the serving generic access network controller to a target generic access network controller.   
     
     
         10 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions executable by the at least processor to detect movement of the mobile station that satisfies a predefined criterion, wherein the instructions executable to perform the registration procedure and the authentication procedure are executed in response o detecting the movement that satisfies a predefined criterion. 
     
     
         11 . The at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 9 , for use in a mobile station in an EUTRA (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access) domain.