Methods of incorporating an ad hoc cellular network into a fixed cellular network

• US 10,021,706 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2016
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Parallel Wireless, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Parallel Wireless, Inc.
• Inventors: Mishra, Rajesh Kumar, Papa, Steven Paul, Agarwal, Kaitki, Donepudi, Sridhar
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Brenda H
• Application Number:
  US14/988,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20160135204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 917 Days
• Field of Search: 370400, 3703102, 370328, 370331, 370332, 370333, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/00 Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/302 due to low signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/04 based on wireless node resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/02 Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

In this invention, we disclose methods of establishing a cellular network having backhaul flexibility, comprising, establishing, at a first cellular base station, a first connection with a core cellular network; establishing, at the first cellular base station, an inter-base station connection with a second cellular base station for relaying traffic from the first and the second cellular base stations to the core cellular network, the second cellular base station having a second connection with the core cellular network; determining, at the first cellular base station, if the quality of the first connection falls below a threshold parameter; and terminating, at the first cellular base station, the first connection in favor of the second connection if the quality of the first connection falls below the threshold parameter.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a cellular network having backhaul flexibility, comprising:

establishing, at a first cellular base station, a first connection with a core cellular network;

establishing, at the first cellular base station, an inter-base station connection with a second cellular base station for relaying traffic from the first and the second cellular base stations to the core cellular network, the second cellular base station having a second connection with the core cellular network;

determining, at the first cellular base station, if the quality of the first connection falls below a threshold parameter;

terminating, at the first cellular base station, the first connection in favor of the second connection when the quality of the first connection falls below the threshold parameter; and

providing, at the first cellular base station, a local limited core network when a quality of a backhaul connection falls below the threshold parameter, wherein the first and the second connection with the core cellular network are backhaul connections.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold parameter is determined by aggregating more than one threshold parameter and averaging the aggregated threshold parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold parameter is one of a received signal power, a frequency error, a time alignment, a signal-to-noise ratio, a fraction of maximum throughput for a given signal-to-noise ratio, a number of hybrid automatic retransmission request retransmissions, a data rate, an interference level, a network load level, a congestion level, and a latency.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold parameter is or is derived from a received signal strength indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-base station connection is established using a cellular protocol or Wi-Fi protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising terminating, at the second cellular base station, the second connection in favor of the first connection when the quality of the first connection falls below the threshold parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining if either the first or the second connection should be given priority treatment based on the threshold parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing the inter-base station connection while measuring and analyzing operational parameters of an existing cellular network.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing the inter-base station connection while analyzing a speed of the second cellular base station.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing the inter-base station connection while querying a local or remote cache of a backhaul or access configuration of the second cellular base station.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining if a backhaul or access configuration of one of the first or the second cellular base station should be updated.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a local limited core network when both the first and the second connection to the core cellular network fall below the threshold parameter.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein providing a local limited core network further comprises providing authentication and packet gateway functionality.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein providing a local limited core network further comprises receiving authentication information from a core network database having core authentication information stored therein;

storing the authentication information in a memory; and

using the authentication information to authenticate a user equipment.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving the authentication information from a home subscriber server HSS in the core cellular network, and wherein the authentication information is one of a service set identifier and an international mobile equipment identifier.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising synchronizing updated authentication information with the HSS upon restoration of a connection to the core cellular network.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing ad hoc networking capability to each of a plurality of radio access technologies at the first cellular base station.