Apparatus, and associated method, for paging a mobile station

Abstract

An apparatus, and an associated methodology, for facilitating paging of a mobile station pursuant to a two-step paging procedure. A unique identifier of the mobile station that is to be paged is hashed into a first group of hashed values and at least a second group of hashed values. The first group of hashed values are used by page message generator to generate a page on a first paging channel. And, the second group of values are used by a page message generator to generate a page on a second paging channel. All of the bits of the unique identifier are sent to page the mobile station. The mobile station determines therefrom whether the mobile station has been paged.

1 . An apparatus for facilitating mobile-station paging upon a first paging channel and a second paging channel, said apparatus comprising:
 a hasher configured to hash a unique mobile station identifier into a first group of bits and a second group of bits; and   a page message generator configured to generate a first page message that contains the first group of bits on the first paging channel and to generate a second page message that contains the second group of bits on the second paging channel.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the first group of bits and the second group of bits together comprise all bits of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the first group of bits comprises first multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the second group of bits comprises second multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the first group of bits comprises a first subgroup of the first group and a second subgroup of the first group. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the first subgroup comprises first non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier and wherein the second subgroup comprises second non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the first subgroup comprises a group identifier and wherein the second subgroup comprises a first paging channel address. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the first group of bits forms a first address. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the second group of bits comprises a second address. 
     
     
         10 . A method for facilitating mobile-station paging upon a first paging channel and a second paging channel, said method comprising:
 hashing a unique mobile station identifier into a first group of bits and a second group of bits;   generating a first page message that contains the first group of bits on the first paging channel; and   generating a second page message that contains the second group of bits on the second paging channel.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the first group of bits and the second group of bits together comprise all bits of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the first group of bits comprises first multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier and wherein the second group of bits comprises second multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus for facilitating paging of a mobile station, said apparatus comprising:
 a detector configured to detect a first group of bits communicated on a first paging channel and to detect a second group of bits communicated on a second paging channel; and   a determiner configured to determine whether the mobile station is paged responsive to determination of whether the first group of bits and the second group of bits together correspond to a unique mobile station identifier.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the first group of bits and the second group of bits together comprise all bits of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the first group of bits comprises first multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier and wherein the second group of bits comprises second multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 13  further comprising a combiner configured to combine the first group of bits and the second group of bits. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16  wherein said determiner is further configured to hash a second subgroup of the second group of bits to a second portion of the second locations of the unique mobile station identifier field. 
     
     
         18 . A method for facilitating paging of a mobile station, said method comprising:
 detecting a first group of bits communicated on a first paging channel to first locations of a unique mobile station identifier field;   detecting a second group of bits communicated on a second paging channel; and   determining whether the mobile station is paged responsive to determination of whether the first group of bits and the second group of bits together correspond to a unique mobile station identifier.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the first group of bits and the second group of bits together comprise all values of the unique mobile station identifier. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the first group of bits comprises first multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier and wherein the second group of bits comprises second multiple non-contiguous portions of the unique mobile station identifier.