System and method for managing terminal units in a wireless system

Abstract

A communications system includes a base station operable to communicate with a terminal unit over a wireless interface and a packet network coupled to the base station and operable to communicate with the base station. The system also includes a network management system coupled to the packet network. The network management system is operable to generate a management message to manage the terminal unit. The network management system is also operable to transparently communicate the management message to the terminal unit and to transparently receive a response to the management message from the terminal unit.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A method for managing terminal units in a wireless system, comprising: 
       generating a management message for the terminal unit;  
       transparently communicating the management message from a network management system to the terminal unit; and  
       transparently receiving a response to the management message at the network management system from the terminal unit.  
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein communicating the message to the terminal unit comprises communicating the message to a router coupled to a packet network. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein communicating the message to the terminal unit further comprises: 
       communicating the management message from the router to a base station coupled to the packet network; and  
       communicating the management message from the base station to the terminal unit over a wireless interface.  
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein communicating the message to the terminal unit comprises communicating the message to the terminal unit using an Internet Protocol address of the terminal unit. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein communicating the message to the terminal unit comprises multicasting the message to a plurality of terminal units. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising receiving an Internet Group Membership Protocol (IGMP) message from each terminal unit, and wherein multicasting the message to the plurality of terminal units comprises multicasting the messages to the plurality of terminal units using the IGMP messages from the terminal units. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving a response to the management message from the terminal unit comprises transparently receiving a response to the management message from each of the plurality of terminal units. 
     
     
       8. A communications system, comprising: 
       a base station operable to communicate with a terminal unit over a wireless interface;  
       a packet network coupled to the base station and operable to communicate with the base station; and  
       a network management system coupled to the packet network, the network management system operable to generate a management message to manage the terminal unit, the network management system also operable to transparently communicate the management message to the terminal unit and to transparently receive a response to the management message from the terminal unit.  
     
     
       9. The communications system of  claim 8 , wherein the packet network comprises an Internet Protocol network. 
     
     
       10. The communications system of  claim 8 , wherein the network management system comprises: 
       a gateway management platform operable to manage a circuit-switched gateway coupled to the packet network;  
       a router management platform operable to manage a router coupled to the packet network; and  
       a wireless management platform operable to manage the base station and the terminal unit.  
     
     
       11. The communications system of  claim 8 , further comprising a router coupled to the network management system and the packet network, the router operable to communicate the management message to the terminal unit through the base station and to receive the response from the terminal unit through the base station. 
     
     
       12. The communications system of  claim 11 , wherein the terminal unit comprises a first terminal unit; 
       further comprising a second terminal unit operable to communicate with the base station over the wireless interface; and  
       wherein the router comprises a multicast router operable to communicate the management message to the first and second terminal units.  
     
     
       13. The communications system of  claim 12 , wherein the network management system is operable to transparently receive a response to the management message from the first and second terminal units. 
     
     
       14. The communications system of  claim 8 , further comprising: 
       a circuit-switched gateway coupled to the packet network and operable to communicate with a circuit-switched network; and  
       a packet-switched gateway coupled to the packet network and operable to communicate with another packet network.  
     
     
       15. A network management system for managing terminal units in a wireless system, comprising: 
       a router operable to communicate with a base station through a packet network, the base station operable to communicate with the terminal unit over a wireless interface; and  
       a wireless management platform coupled to the router, the wireless management platform operable to generate a management message to manage the terminal unit, the wireless management platform also operable to transparently communicate the management message to the terminal unit and to transparently receive a response to the management message from the terminal unit.  
     
     
       16. The network management system of  claim 15 , further comprising a local area network coupled to the router and the wireless management platform, the local area network operable to transfer the management message and the response between the wireless management platform and the router. 
     
     
       17. The network management system of  claim 15 , wherein the router communicates the message to the terminal unit using an Internet Protocol address of the terminal unit. 
     
     
       18. The network management system of  claim 15 , wherein the router comprises a multicast router operable to multicast the management message to a plurality of terminal units. 
     
     
       19. The network management system of  claim 18 , wherein the wireless management platform is operable to transparently receive a response to the management message from each of the plurality of terminal units. 
     
     
       20. The network management system of  claim 15 , further comprising: 
       a router management platform coupled to the router and operable to manage the router; and  
       a gateway management platform coupled to the router and operable to manage a circuit-switched gateway coupled to the packet network.