Method for assigning a terminal to an access network of a wireless communication system

1. A method for associating a terminal to a base station of an access network of a wireless communication system, the access network comprising a plurality of base stations, wherein in response to a receipt of a message from the terminal by a base station, the method comprises steps of:

updating, by the base station, of a local association table of the base station by storing an identifier of the terminal in the local association table of the base station as a terminal associated with the service base station;

evaluating, by the access network, of a predetermined mobility criterion of the terminal; and

in response to verification of the predetermined mobility criterion of the terminal, updating, by a neighbouring base station that has not received the message from the terminal, of a local association table of the neighbouring base station by storing the identifier of the terminal in the local association table of the neighbouring base station as a terminal associated with the neighbouring base station.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of removing the identifier of the terminal from the local association table of the base station of the access network in response to a verification of a predetermined removal criterion.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, for each message received from the terminal by the base station, a step of at least one of measuring a physical characteristic of the message and extracting an item of information included in the message; and wherein the predetermined mobility criterion is evaluated using at least one of the following: at least one measurement of physical characteristic and at least one extracted item of information.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, for each message received from the terminal by the base station, a step of estimating quality of a channel between the terminal and the base station; and wherein the predetermined mobility criterion is evaluated using at least one value of the quality of the channel.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the step of evaluating the predetermined mobility criterion further comprises a step of calculating a magnitude representative of a variation of said at least one value of the quality of the channel for a plurality of messages received from the terminal, the predetermined mobility criterion being verified in response to a verification of the calculated magnitude to a predetermined criterion of variation of the quality of the channel.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, for a message received from the terminal by at least two base stations, a step of determining at least one of a reception frequency and a reception date of the message by said at least two service base stations; and wherein the evaluation of the predetermined mobility criterion comprises comparing at least one of the reception frequencies and the reception dates determined by said at least two service base stations.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of determining a service class associated with the terminal, and wherein the step of updating of the local association table comprises a step of storing the service class associated with the terminal in the local association table of the base station.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the step of determining the service class of the terminal comprises steps of:

transmitting, by the base station, a notification to an association server;

determining, by the association server, the service class associated with the terminal; and

transmitting, by the association server, the service class associated with the terminal to the base station.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a plurality of communication protocols is utilized in the access network to exchange data between the base station and a data server, the service class associated with the terminal comprises a list of communication protocols authorized for retransmitting data included in the message received from the terminal by the data server.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the data exchanges between the base station and the data server are performed utilizing a communication protocol providing different service quality levels; and wherein the service class associated with the terminal comprises a list of service quality levels authorized for retransmitting data included in the message received from the terminal by the data server.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, each base station is configured to retransmit data included in each message received to a data server of the access network, the method further comprising, for each base station, a step of allocating communication resources between said each base station and the data server based on the local association table of said each base station.

12. An access network of a wireless communication system, the access network comprising a plurality of base stations, each base station comprising a processor and at least one base station configured to receive a message from a terminal being defined as a service base station, in response to a reception of the message from the terminal by the service base station, the processor of the service base station is configured to:

update a local association table of the service base station by storing an identifier of the terminal in the local association table of the service base station as a terminal associated with the service base station;

evaluate a mobility criterion of the terminal; and

update a local association table of a base station neighbouring the service base station and not having received the message from the terminal by storing the identifier of the terminal in the local association table of the neighbouring base station by the processor of the neighbouring base station as a terminal associated with the neighbouring base station in response to the verification of the mobility criterion.

13. The access network according to claim 12 , wherein the processor of each base station is configured to remove the identifier of the terminal from the local association table of said each base station in response to a verification of a predetermined removal criterion.

14. The access network according to claim 12 , wherein the processor of the service base station is configured to perform at least one of measuring a physical characteristic of each message received from the terminal and extracting an item of information included in said each message received from the terminal; and configured to evaluate the mobility criterion using at least one of the following: at least one measurement of physical characteristic and at least one item of information extracted.

15. The access network according to claim 12 , wherein the processor of the service base station is configured to estimate quality of a channel between the terminal and the service base station; and configured to evaluate the mobility criterion using the values of the quality of the channel estimated for a plurality of messages received from the terminal.

16. The access network according to claim 12 , wherein the processor of the service base station is configured to determine at least one of a reception frequency and a reception date of each message received from the terminal; and configured to evaluate the mobility criterion by comparing at least one of the reception frequencies and reception dates determined for a same message by at least two service base stations.

17. The access network according to claim 12 , wherein each base station is configured to retransmit data included in each message received to a data server of the access network; and wherein each base station is allocated communication resources between said each base station and the data server based on the local association table of said each base station.

18. Access network according to claim 12 , wherein:

the service base station comprises a transmitter configured to transmit a notification to an association server of the access network;

the association server comprises a processor configured to determine a service class associated with the terminal;

the association server comprises a transmitter configured to transmit the service class associated with the terminal to the service base station; and

the processor of the service base station is configured to update the local association table by storing the service class associated with the terminal.

19. An access network of a wireless communication system, the access network comprising an association server and a plurality of base stations, each base station comprising a processor and at least one base station configured to receive a message from a terminal being defined as a service base station, in response to a reception of the message from the terminal by the service base station, a processor of the association server is configured to:

update a local association table of the service base station by storing an identifier of the terminal in the local association table of the service base station as a terminal associated with the service base station;

evaluate a mobility criterion of the terminal; and

update a local association table of a base station neighbouring the service base station and not having received the message from the terminal by storing the identifier of the terminal in the local association table of the neighbouring base station as a terminal associated with the neighbouring base station in response to the verification of the mobility criterion.