Bearer mobility and splitting in a radio access network-based, 3rd generation partnership project network having an integrated wireless local area network
First Claim
1. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE) configured to receive a wireless local area network (WLAN) packet formed according to a network protocol stack and including user data offloaded from a cellular base station, the apparatus comprising:
- a memory configured to store a data radio bearer identifier (DRBID) of a data radio bearer associated with an upper layer of the network protocol stack to which the user data should be delivered based on the DRBID; and
baseband processing circuitry configured to;
process a first data unit of the WLAN packet to identify the data radio bearer, the first data unit associated with a lower layer of the network protocol stack and including a header and a data field, the header having the DRBID, and the data field having a second data unit including the user data;
generate the second data unit without the DRBID and the header from the first data unit; and
deliver for the data radio bearer the second data unit including the user data.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless local area network (WLAN) point-to-point communications link between an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network node B (eNB) and a user equipment device (or simply UE) is identified by UE/eNB media access control (MAC) identifiers on a per UE or per data radio bearer (DRB) basis for offloading cellular data from a long term evolution (LTE) link to the WLAN point-to-point communications link. A wireless local area network tunneling protocol (WLTP) includes packet formats and network protocol stack arrangements to support functions facilitated by the WLAN point-to-point communications link, such as, for example, identification of control and data traffic messages, DRB identification for WLTP packets, quality of service (QoS) delay and packet loss measurement, support of bearer splitting, and support of a general framework for offloading cellular traffic at different depths of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network protocol stack.
17 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE) configured to receive a wireless local area network (WLAN) packet formed according to a network protocol stack and including user data offloaded from a cellular base station, the apparatus comprising:
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a memory configured to store a data radio bearer identifier (DRBID) of a data radio bearer associated with an upper layer of the network protocol stack to which the user data should be delivered based on the DRBID; and baseband processing circuitry configured to; process a first data unit of the WLAN packet to identify the data radio bearer, the first data unit associated with a lower layer of the network protocol stack and including a header and a data field, the header having the DRBID, and the data field having a second data unit including the user data; generate the second data unit without the DRBID and the header from the first data unit; and deliver for the data radio bearer the second data unit including the user data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:
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a memory configured to store a first data unit that includes a data radio bearer identifier (DRBID) and user data; and a processor configured to; process, from a wireless local area network (WLAN) layer, the first data unit to identify a data radio bearer associated with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer to which the user data should be delivered based on the DRBID; generate a second data unit including the user data by removal of the DRBID and associated header information from the first data unit; and deliver the second data unit for the data radio bearer associated with the PDCP layer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a cellular base station, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
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process a first packet from a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer; generate a second packet that includes the first packet and a data radio bearer identifier (DRBID) identifying a data radio bearer to which the first packet is associated with; and provide the second packet to a lower layer for transmission to a user equipment (UE) over a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection between the UE and the cellular base station. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification