Ims femtocell for voice, data and video

Abstract

An Internet Protocol Multimedia System (IMS) femtocell serves as a base station and base station controller in a wireless/wireline service provider's macro network and a Wi-Fi access point to seamlessly support cellular and packet user devices and deliver both circuit switched and packet switched services inside a building.

1 . A method of operating an internet protocol multimedia system femtocell, comprising:
 supporting circuit switched domain communication sessions and internet protocol multimedia system communication sessions to and from a plurality of user devices communicatively attached to the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell;   supporting packet switched communication sessions to and from the plurality of user devices communicatively attached to the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell;   monitoring spectrum usage in a location of the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell and controlling spectrum usage by the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell to reduce a probability of interference with other service transmissions; and   coordinating session handoff between a wireless session controller and a Wi-Fi access point based at least in part on the monitoring and controlling of spectrum usage.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining geographical location coordinates of the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell using a global positioning system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the global positioning system is an assisted global positioning system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising providing the geographical coordinates to an emergency 911 system in response to an emergency 911 call launched by a user device attached to the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising supporting a backhaul interface connecting to a backhaul connection, wherein the backhaul interface is an Ethernet interface that supports a connection to an Ethernet backbone. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising providing operating power to the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell using power over Ethernet. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing a media gateway function. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing authentication, authorization and accounting services to the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell and to the plurality of user devices that request attachment to the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing a circuit switched-to-internet protocol multimedia system interworking function and serving as an internet protocol multimedia system service endpoint in an internet protocol multimedia system network to which the internet protocol multimedia system femtocell is communicatively connected. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless session controller is a base station.