Restoration of user equipment control in the presence of communication link failure between packet switched and circuit switched controlling nodes

摘要

User equipment control is restored in the presence of communication link failure between a network node that provides control of packet switched connections and a network node that provides control of circuit switched connections. A communication service is provided to a UE by a Serving MME and a Serving MSC in a communication system. Upon detecting that one or more links that enable communication between the Serving MME and the Serving MSC have failed, another MME and/or MSC are/is identified within the network that have/has fully operational links with the Serving MSC and/or Serving MME. The identified MME and/or MSC are/is established as a Relaying MME and/or Relaying MSC. Control of the UE continues with MME/MSC messaging being directed to the Relaying node(s), and the Relaying node(s) relaying the messages to their serving counterparts (Relaying MME relays to Serving MME, Relaying MSC relays to Serving MSC).

主权项

1. A method of restoring user equipment control in the presence of communication link failure between a network node that provides control of packet switched connections and a network node that provides control of circuit switched connections, the method comprising:
using a serving node of a first type in communication with a node of a second type to provide a communication service to a user equipment, wherein the serving node of the first type controls one of packet switched connections and circuit switched connections, and the node of the second type controls a different one of packet switched connections and circuit switched connections; detecting a failure of one or more links that enable communication between the serving node of the first type and the node of the second type; identifying another node, wherein the identified node is to be used as a first relaying node and is one of:
another node of the first type that has fully operational links with the node of the second type; andanother node of the second type that has fully operational links with the serving node of the first type; performing signaling to establish the identified node as the first relaying node; and continuing to provide the communication service to the user equipment by using the first relaying node to communicate one or more messages between the serving node of the first type and the node of the second type.