Method and system enabling communications between a switched telephone network and a wireless network

DETAILED DESCRIPTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for enabling communications between a switched telephone network and a wireless telephone network in which inbound calls can be routed to the wireless network through any one of a plurality of gateways.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for enabling communications between a switched telephone network and a wireless network, in which an inbound call entering the wireless network through an inbound gateway is trunked through a broadband packet network and an outbound gateway to a specific MSC controlling wireless communications with a destination wireless transceiver.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a system for enabling communications between a switched telephone network and a wireless network comprising a plurality of Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs).
Each MSC is connected by respective gateways to a broadband packet network used for the transfer of bearer traffic between the MSCs, and controls wireless communications with a respective plurality of wireless transceivers (cellular phones, personal computer with wireless communication capability, etc).
The switched telephone network is interconnected by at least one gateway to the broadband packet network for conveying bearer traffic between the wireline network and the broadband packet network.
The system comprises a location register and a call manager.
The location register is adapted to store, in respect of each wireless transceiver, information identifying the MSC currently controlling communications with the wireless transceiver.
The call manager is adapted to query the location register to retrieve the information identifying the MSC currently serving a selected wireless transceiver.
The call manager enables a communications path across the broadband packet network between a selected gateway and the MSC.
The invention also provides a method of enabling communications between a switched telephone network and a wireless telephone network comprising a plurality of mobile switching centers (MSCs)