Method for enabling receipt of a packet-switched page by a mobile station

Abstract

A mechanism for notifying a mobile station of receipt of a packet-switched paging message in a GSM communication system. A base station controller ( 108 ) sends the packet-switched paging message to the mobile station ( 116 ) along a main dedicated control channel in response to the mobile station being capable of operating in a dual transfer mode and being currently engaged in circuit-switch voice interchange activity, resulting in a simultaneous voice and data transmission in dual transfer mode.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for receiving notification at a dual transfer mode mobile station, having the capability to operate in circuit-switched voice interchange activity, of a packet-switched paging message, comprising: 
 engaging said mobile station in circuit-switched voice interchange activity; and    receiving a packet-switched paging notification message over a dedicated control channel, while said mobile station is engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , receiving the packet-switched paging notification message over said dedicated control channel, while said mobile station is engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity, if said mobile station is operating in dual transfer mode, and  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , receiving the packet-switched paging notification message over a paging channel, while said mobile station is engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity, if said mobile station is not operating in dual transfer mode.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said mobile station having dual transfer mode capability is at least a Class A mobile station which supports simultaneous attachment, monitoring, activation, invocation and traffic flow on both circuit-switched voice and packet-switched data services, 
 wherein said mobile station having dual transfer mode capability is a Class B mobile station which supports simultaneous attachment, monitoring and activation on both circuit-switched voice and packet-switched data services, with invocation and traffic flow possible on either service on a mutually exclusive basis, and    wherein said mobile station not having dual transfer capability is a Class C mobile station supporting only non-simultaneous attach on either circuit-switched voice or packet-switched data services.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said packet-switched paging message is received via SAPI 0 of said dedicated control channel.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising the step of creating a simultaneous voice and data transmission in dual transfer mode in response to said mobile station being capable of operating in a dual transfer mode and being currently engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity.  
     
     
         7  The method of  claim 6 , wherein the simultaneous voice and data transmission occurs along a channel that includes a one-half traffic channel and a one-half packet data channel.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the simultaneous voice and data transmission occurs along a channel that includes a full traffic channel and one or more contiguous packet data channels.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein upon being notified of the packet-data, the mobile station is assigned the dedicated control channel as an access channel.  
     
     
         10 . A method of notifying a mobile station of a packet-switched page, comprising: 
 determining whether the mobile station is capable of operating in a dual transfer mode;    determining whether the mobile station is currently engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity; and    sending a packet-switched paging message on a dedicated control channel if the mobile station is capable of operating in a dual transfer mode and being currently engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the packet-switched paging message is sent via SAPI 0 on said dedicated control channel.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the step of creating a simultaneous voice and data transmission in dual transfer mode.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the simultaneous voice and data transmission occurs along a channel that includes a one-half traffic channel and a one-half packet data channel.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the simultaneous voice and data transmission occurs along a channel that includes a full traffic channel and one or more contiguous data channels.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the steps of: 
 sending the packet-switched paging message along a dedicated control channel in response to the mobile station being capable of operating in a dual transfer mode; and    sending the packet-switched paging message along the paging channel in response to the mobile station not being currently engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity.    
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said mobile station having dual transfer mode capability is a Class A mobile station which supports simultaneous attachment, monitoring, activation, invocation and traffic flow on both circuit-switched voice and packet-switched data services, 
 wherein said mobile station having dual transfer mode capability is a Class B mobile station which supports simultaneous attachment, monitoring and activation on both circuit-switched voice and packet-switched data services, with invocation and traffic flow possible on either service on a mutually exclusive basis, and    wherein said mobile station not having dual transfer capability is a Class C mobile station supporting only non-simultaneous attach on either circuit-switched voice or packet-switched data services.    
     
     
         17 . A method in a portable wireless communication device comprising: 
 communicating over a traffic channel in a dedicated circuit-switched mode; and    receiving a packet-switched paging message at the device over a dedicated control channel (DCCH) while communicating over said traffic channel.    
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , communicating by conducting voice interchange activity over said traffic channel in said dedicated circuit-switched mode.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , transmitting an indication that said device is in dual transfer mode.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , transmitting a device capability message, said capability message comprising an indication that said device is a Class A mobile station, Class B Mobile Station or a Class C mobile station to said remote station.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , receiving a packet-switched paging notification message at said device over said DCCH only if said device is a Class A mobile station or a Class B Mobile Station.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , receiving a packet-switched paging notification message at said device via Service Access Point Identifier Zero (SAPI 0) over said DCCH only if said device is a Class A mobile station or a Class B Mobile Station.  
     
     
         23  The method of  claim 22 , communicating by conducting voice interchange activity over said traffic channel in said dedicated circuit-switched mode.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , requesting a channel for receiving packet data in response to said paging massage.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , receiving packet data while communicating over said traffic channel.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 23 , receiving packet data over said dedicated control channel in response to said paging message, while communicating over said traffic channel.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 17 , requesting a channel for receiving packet data in response to said paging message.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , receiving packet data while communicating over said traffic channel.  
     
     
         29 . A method in a portable wireless communication device comprising: 
 communicating voice interchange activity over a traffic channel in a dedicated circuit-switched mode; and    receiving packet data at the device over a packet data channel while concurrently communicating voice interchange activity over said traffic channel.    
     
     
         30 . A method for receiving notification at a dual transfer mode mobile station, having the capability to operate in circuit-switched voice interchange activity, of a packet-switched paging message, comprising: 
 engaging said mobile station in circuit-switched voice interchange activity,    wherein said mobile station having dual transfer mode capability is at least a Class A mobile station which supports simultaneous attachment, monitoring, activation, invocation and traffic flow on both circuit-switched voice and packet-switched data services;    receiving a packet-switched paging notification message over said dedicated control channel, while said mobile station is engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity, if said mobile station is operating in dual transfer mode; and    receiving the packet-switched paging notification message over a paging channel, while said mobile station is engaged in circuit-switched voice interchange activity, if said mobile station is not operating in dual transfer mode.    
     
     
         31 . A method for a single-transceiver mobile station to receive a notification of a paging message arriving from the packet-switched domain while a dedicated traffic channel (TCH) is set up and operational for the interchange of voice data comprising: 
 engaging said mobile station in voice data interchange;    establishing a signaling path over a control channel, that can be monitored while said mobile station is engaged in said voice data interchange; and    receiving notification of a paging message over said signaling path arriving from a packet-switched domain, while said mobile station is engaged in said voice data interchange.    
     
     
         32 . A method for reducing the steps to notify and establish in a single transceiver mobile station a channel assignment for a packet-switched paging message while the mobile station is in circuit-switched data interchange comprising: 
 receiving a packet-switched paging message notification over a main dedicated control channel while said mobile station is engaged in circuit-switched data interchange; and    assigning automatically said mobile station to said main dedicated control channel as an access channel for said packet-switched paging message.    
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising: 
 transferring said packet-switched paging message simultaneously along with said circuit-switched data of said circuit-switched data interchange resulting in a simultaneous voice and data transmission.    
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33  further comprising: 
 transferring said packet-switched paging message simultaneously along with said circuit-switched data along a channel that includes a one-half traffic channel and a one-half packet data channel.  
 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising: 
 transferring said packet-switched paging message simultaneously along with said circuit-switched data along a channel that includes a full traffic channel and one or more contiguous data channels.