Apparatus and method for delivering paging messages

1. A radio system, comprising:

a switching and management infrastructure configured to deliver voice and data between a plurality of communicating parties;

a mobile station; and

a multiplicity of traffic channels,

wherein each traffic channel is associated with a unique coding scheme,

wherein the switching and management infrastructure is configured to receive a plurality of paging messages from a plurality of communicating parties to a plurality of paged parties,

wherein the switching and management infrastructure is configured to combine the paging messages received during a pre-defined time period into a paging frame, said paging frame also comprising a multiplicity of address data blocks for identifying the plurality of paged parties to whom the paging messages in the paging frame are addressed,

wherein the switching and management infrastructure is configured to encode information in the paging frame with the coding scheme of the dedicated traffic channel, and to transmit the encoded paging frame over the air interface in the dedicated traffic channel, and

wherein the mobile station is configured to receive data on said at least one traffic channel, and to extract information addressed to it based on the address blocks of the paging frame.

2. The radio system according to claim 1 , wherein the address data blocks of the paging frame are consecutively arranged into one subframe of the paging frame.

3. The radio system according to claim 1 , wherein said address data block is configured to be able to comprise at least one of an individual address of a subscriber or a group address of a group of individual subscribers.

4. The radio system according to claim 1 , wherein the frame address of said address data block in the paging frame is configured to indicate the frame address of the corresponding paging message.

5. The radio system according to claim 1 , wherein said radio system is a terrestrial trunked radio system and the traffic channel configured to be used in the paging mode is a terrestrial trunked radio traffic channel TCH/2.4 N=8.

6. The radio system according to claim 1 , wherein the paging frame is of constant length.

7. The radio system according to claim 6 , wherein the length of the paging frame is a multiple of a terrestrial trunked radio multiframe.

8. The radio system according to claim 1 , wherein the paging frame comprises cell re-selection data for cell re-selection of the mobile station in the paging mode.

9. The radio system according to claim 1 , wherein one paging message is configured to be repeated in at least two consecutive paging frames.

10. A mobile station, comprising:

a delivery unit configured to deliver voice and data traffic from and to a switching and management infrastructure using a multiplicity of traffic channels, each traffic channel being associated with a unique coding scheme; and

a receiver unit configured to receive a paging frame on a traffic channel, wherein the traffic channel is dedicated to delivery of downlink paging messages, and is associated with a coding scheme that comprises at least one error protection algorithm for controlling errors in the delivered paging messages, and wherein the paging frame comprises a plurality of paging messages from a plurality of paging parties to a plurality of paged parties received in the switching and management infrastructure during a pre-defined time period, and combined into the paging frame, and a plurality of address data blocks for identifying the plurality of paged parties to whom the paging messages in the paging frame are addressed,

a decoder unit configured to decode the paging frame with the coding scheme of the dedicated traffic channel;

a detector unit configured to detect that the decoded data of the paging frame comprises an address data block relevant to the mobile station; and

an extractor unit configured to extract a paging message addressed to the mobile station from the paging frame.

11. The mobile station according to claim 10 , wherein the address block comprises at least one of the individual address of the mobile station, or the address of a group of which the mobile station is a member.

12. The mobile station according to claim 10 , further comprising:

a monitor unit configured to monitor a subframe of the paging frame comprising the consecutively arranged address data blocks; and

a switcher configured to switch to a power saving sleep mode as a response to not detecting an address relevant to the mobile station in said subframe.

13. A method, comprising:

dedicating at least one traffic channel of a radio system to delivery of downlink paging messages, said traffic channel being associated with a coding scheme that comprises at least one error protection algorithm for controlling errors in the delivered paging message, wherein said radio system comprises a switching and management infrastructure configured to deliver voice and data between a plurality of communicating parties, a mobile station, and a multiplicity of traffic channels, each traffic channel being associated with a unique coding scheme;

receiving a plurality of paging messages from a plurality of paging parties to a plurality of paged parties;

combining the paging messages received during a pre-defined time period into a paging frame, said paging frame also comprising a multiplicity of address data blocks for identifying the plurality of paged parties to whom the paging messages in the paging frame are addressed;

encoding information of the paging frame with the coding scheme of the dedicated traffic channel; and

transmitting the coded paging frame over the air interface in the dedicated traffic channel.

14. A switching and management infrastructure element, configured to:

deliver voice and data between a plurality of mobile stations in a radio system over a multiplicity of traffic channels, wherein each traffic channel is associated with a unique coding scheme;

dedicate at least one traffic channel to delivery of downlink paging messages, said at least one traffic channel associated with a coding scheme that comprises at least one error protection algorithm;

receive a plurality of paging messages from a plurality of communicating parties to a plurality of paged parties;

combine the paging messages received during a pre-defined time period into a paging frame, said paging frame also comprising a multiplicity of address data blocks for identifying the plurality of paged parties to whom the paging messages in the paging frame are addressed;

encode information in the paging frame with the coding scheme of the dedicated traffic channel; and

transmit the encoded paging frame over the air interface in the dedicated traffic channel.

15. A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium encoding a computer process of instructions for executing a computer process comprising:

dedicating at least one traffic channel to delivery of downlink paging messages, said traffic channel being associated with a coding scheme that comprises at least one error protection algorithm for controlling errors in the delivered paging message;

receiving a plurality of paging messages from a plurality of paging parties to a plurality of paged parties;

combining the paging messages received during a pre-defined time period into a paging frame, said paging frame also comprising a multiplicity of address data blocks for identifying the plurality of paged parties to whom the paging messages in the paging frame are addressed;

encoding information of the paging frame with the coding scheme of the dedicated traffic channel; and

transmitting the coded paging frame over the air interface in the dedicated traffic channel.

16. A mobile station, comprising:

means for delivering voice and data traffic from and to a switching and management infrastructure using a multiplicity of traffic channels, each traffic channel being associated with a unique coding scheme;

means for receiving a paging frame on a traffic channel, wherein the traffic channel is dedicated to delivery of downlink paging messages and associated with a coding scheme that comprises at least one error protection algorithm for controlling errors in the delivered paging messages, and wherein the paging frame comprises a plurality of paging messages from a plurality of paging parties to a plurality of paged parties, received in the switching and management infrastructure during a pre-defined time period and combined into the paging frame, and a plurality of address data blocks for identifying the plurality of paged parties to whom the paging messages in the paging frame are addressed;

means for decoding the paging frame with the coding scheme of the dedicated traffic channel;

means for detecting that the decoded data of the paging frame comprises an address data block relevant to the mobile station; and

means for extracting a paging message addressed to the mobile station from the paging frame.