Method and apparatus for multi-rat transmission

• US 10,560,882 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Vrzic, Sophie, Choi, Noun
• Primary Examiner(s): Ulysse, Jael M
• Application Number:
  US13/780,674
• Publication Number:
  US 20130329694A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,539 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0066 of control information between different types of networks in order to establish a new radio link in the target network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/165 for reducing network power consumption H04W36/18 - H04W36/22 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points

Abstract

A method and apparatus for mobility management, load management, sharing management and configuration update and setup in a mobile network having a first radio access technology node and a second radio access technology node, the first radio access technology node and the second radio access technology node communicating over a backhaul interface. In one aspect the method detects, at the first radio access technology node, that a handover for a user equipment to a new node is required; provides, from the first radio access technology node, handover information to the second radio access technology node over the backhaul interface; and performs the handover of the user equipment from the first radio access technology node to the new node.

Claims

1. A method for multi-radio access technology (RAT) carrier aggregation in a mobile network having a user equipment connected to a first node and a second node, the first node operating a first radio access technology and the second node operating a second radio access technology, the method comprising:

determining the user equipment'"'"'s capability to handle multi-RAT carrier aggregation, the determining comprising receiving a message from the user equipment indicating the user equipment is capable of multi-RAT carrier aggregation;

establishing a backhaul interface between the first node and the second node;

receiving, at the first node from a core network, a packet for the user equipment;

determining, after the receiving, to offload the packet to the second node, the determining being based on a required bandwidth for the user equipment;

sending a request from the first node to the user equipment for a measurement report of the second node by the user equipment;

receiving, at the first node, the measurement report from the user equipment;

determining that a quality of the measurement report is above a threshold;

adapting, at the first node, the packet at the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer for transmission using the second radio access technology, the adapting comprising adding a multi-RAT header to the packet at the PDCP layer;

forwarding the packet to the second node using the backhaul interface, for delivery to the user equipment;

starting a timer; and

when the timer expires prior to receiving an acknowledgement for the packet, sending the packet to the user equipment from the first node using the first radio access technology;

wherein the first radio access technology is different from the second radio access technology; and

wherein multi-RAT carrier aggregation allows for concurrent utilization of radio resources on multiple RATs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node includes an interface to the core network for the user equipment.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, at the first node, an uplink packet from the second node over the backhaul interface, the uplink packet originating from the user equipment; and

forwarding the uplink packet from the first node to the core network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second node includes a tunnel to the core network for the user equipment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment is configured to use radio resources of the first node aggregated with radio resources of the second node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the aggregated radio resources are uplink radio resources, or downlink radio resources, or both of uplink and downlink radio resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first radio access technology is Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the second radio access technology is High Speed Packet Access (HSPA).

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, at the first node, an amount of available resources of the second node.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the backhaul interface is over any one of a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, or an internet protocol (IP) layer.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, sending the packet to the user equipment from the first node using a first radio access interface.

11. A network node operating a first radio access technology (RAT) in a network allowing multi-RAT carrier aggregation, comprising:

a processor; and

a communications subsystem;

wherein the processor and the communications subsystem cooperate to;

establish a backhaul interface with a second node, the second node operating a second radio access technology distinct from the first radio access technology;

receive, from a core network, a packet for a user equipment, the user equipment being connected to the network node and the second node;

determine, when the user equipment is connected to the network node and the second node, a capability of the user equipment to handle multi-RAT carrier aggregation, the determining comprising receiving a message from the user equipment indicating the user equipment is capable of multi-RAT carrier aggregation;

determine, after receiving the packet and according to the user equipment capability to handle multi-RAT carrier aggregation, to offload the packet to the second node, the determining being based on a required bandwidth for the user equipment;

send a request to the user equipment for a measurement report of the second node by the user equipment;

receive the measurement report from the user equipment;

determine that a quality of the measurement report is above a threshold;

adapting the packet at the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer for transmission using the second radio access technology, the adapting comprising adding a multi-RAT header to the packet at the PDCP layer;

forward the packet to the second node using the backhaul interface, for delivery to the user equipment;

start a timer; and

when the timer expires prior to receiving an acknowledgement for the packet, send the packet to the user equipment from the first node using the first radio access technology;

wherein multi-RAT carrier aggregation allows for concurrent utilization of radio resources on multiple RATs.

12. The network node of claim 11, further including an interface to the core network for the user equipment.

13. The network node of claim 12 wherein the processor and the communications subsystem are further configured to:

receive an uplink packet from the second node over the backhaul interface, the uplink packet originating from the user equipment; and

forward the uplink packet to the core network.

14. The network node of claim 11, wherein the user equipment is configured to use radio resources of the first node aggregated with radio resources of the second node.

15. The network node of claim 14, wherein the aggregated radio resources are uplink radio resources, or downlink radio resources, or both of uplink and downlink radio resources.

16. The network node of claim 11, wherein the first radio access technology is Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the second radio access technology is High Speed Packet Access (HSPA).

17. The network node of claim 11, wherein the processor and the communications subsystem are further configured to determine an amount of available resources of the second node.

18. The network node of claim 11, wherein the backhaul interface is over any one of a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, or an internet protocol (IP) layer.

19. The network node of claim 11, wherein the processor and the communications subsystem are further configured to send the packet to the user equipment using a first radio access interface.