WLAN AS A LOGICAL SUPPORT NODE FOR HYBRID COUPLING IN AN INTERWORKING BETWEEN WLAN AND A MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

摘要

THERE IS PROVIDED A METHOD FOR SUPPORTING AN INTERWORKING BETWEEN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK (WLAN) AND A MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. THE MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK, FOR EXAMPLE UMTS NETWORK, HAS A GATEWAY GENERAL PACKET RADIO SERVICE (GPRS) SUPPORT NODE (GGSN) AND A SERVING GPRS SUPPORT NODE (SGSN). THE INTERWORKING IS FACILITATED BY AN INTERWORKING FUNCTION (IWF). THE METHOD COMPRISES THE STEPS OF ESTABLISHING (199) AT LEAST ONE GPRS TUNNELING PROTOCOL - USER PLANE (GTP-U) TUNNEL BETWEEN THE IWF AND THE GGSN FOR TRANSFERRING DATA SIGNALS, AND ESTABLISHING (198) AT LEAST ONE GPRS TUNNELING PROTOCOL - CONTROL PLANE (GTP-C) TUNNEL BETWEEN THE GGSN AND THE SGSN FOR TRANSFERRING CONTROL SIGNALS.