Registration of a wlan as a umts routing area for wlan-umts interworking

摘要

A system for employing a wireless local area network (WLAN) as a cellular network routing area includes a cellular network, which is capable of determining a location where a service request is made. The cellular network includes a packet-based support node B, which determines if the request can be serviced through a WLAN, which is identified in the cellular network as a routing area. Packet data protocol context is maintained while servicing the request using the WLAN to provide smooth interworking between the WLAN and the cellular network.