Communications methods and apparatus for using a single logical link with multiple physical layer connections

• US 20070147424A1
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Anigstein, Pablo
• Granted Patent: US 8,995,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/469
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/14 Channel dividing arrangements , i.e. in which a single bit stream is divided between several baseband channels and reassembled at the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Abstract

A base station uses a common link layer controller corresponding to multiple physical attachment points, facilitating multiple concurrent wireless connections between different base station sector physical attachment points and the same wireless terminal using the same link layer link. A wireless terminal maintains multiple simultaneous wireless connections for the same link layer link. A packet of user data is fragmented into a plurality of grouping of MAC frames, thus a packet portion can be communicated over a connection. A single packet is sometimes communicated with different portions conveyed over different wireless connections. Automatic repeat request, implemented using the common link layer controller, allows for retransmission of a packet portion over a different connection than it was initially transmitted over. A wireless terminal sends connection request messages including lists of link layer identifiers associated with the wireless terminal. A base station sends response messages including an indication of whether logical link state was already present.

Claims

1. A communications apparatus comprising:

a logical link layer control module including a segmentation module for segmenting packets into frames to be transmitted; and

a plurality of physical layer connection modules coupled to said logical link layer control module, each of said physical layer connection modules supporting different physical links over which frames can be transmitted.

2. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein said logical link layer control module includes a plurality of data queues used to store data to be transmitted.

3. The communication apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a queue management module for maintaining information about the amount of data stored in said queues.

4. The communications apparatus of claim 3, wherein each of multiple ones of said physical layer connection modules can maintain a separate communications link with a first node thereby supporting multiple simultaneous communications links to the first node through different physical link layer modules.

5. The communications apparatus of claim 4, wherein said logical link layer control module includes a first set of logical link layer state, said first set of logical link layer state being used to provide common logical link layer control for each of said multiple simultaneous communications links to the first node.

6. The communications apparatus of claim 5, wherein said segmentation module segments at least some packets directed to said first node and allocates at least some frames of a packet to be transmitted over different ones of said simultaneous communications links to the first node.

7. The communications apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

memory including stored information indicating which one of said multiple simultaneous communications links was used to transmit a frame to said first node.

8. The communications apparatus of claim 7, wherein said logical link layer control module includes a frame retransmission control module for selecting which one of said simultaneous communications links is to be used for retransmission of a frame to said first node in response to a negative acknowledgment signal.

9. The communication apparatus of claim 8, wherein said retransmission control module selects a different one of said simultaneous links from the one used to initially transmit the frame which resulted in said negative acknowledgment.

10. The communications apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a retransmission control module for determining when to retransmit a frame, said segmentation module selecting any one of said multiple simultaneous links for said frame retransmission.

11. The communication apparatus of claim 5, wherein said first set of logical link layer state includes an encryption key used for encrypting frames to be sent of different ones of said multiple simultaneous links with said first node.

12. The communication apparatus of claim 11, wherein different ones of said physical layer connection modules include different connection state information for connections to said first node.

13. The communication apparatus of claim 5, wherein different ones of said physical layer connection modules include different connection state information for connections to said first node.

14. The communication apparatus of claim 13, wherein the different connection state indicates different control channel modes of operation used for different ones of said physical layer connections to said first node.

15. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said frames are one of a fixed frame size and a variable frame size;

and

wherein said frames are Medium Access Control (MAC) frames.

16. A method of operating a wireless terminal comprising:

receiving a signal from a target access node, said signal including a logical link layer identifier identifying a logical link corresponding to a physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect; and

determining if the received logical link layer identifier corresponds to a logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a corresponding connection.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said signal from the target access node is a connection request response.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

transmitting a connection request to said target base station prior to receiving said connection request response.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein said signal is a broadcast signal which is transmitted on a recurring basis.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising, prior to receiving said signal, receiving a broadcast signals from which physical attachment point identifiers can be determined.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said connection request message includes at least one logical link layer identifier identifying a logical link layer with which the wireless terminal has an existing connection.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

in response to determining that the received logical link layer identifier corresponds to a logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection, storing information associating the physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect with said logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

in response to determining that the received logical link layer identifier does not correspond to a logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection, aborting connecting to said a physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of aborting is conditional upon a determination that an indicator in said received signal indicates the target access node includes logical link layer state corresponding to said wireless terminal.

25. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining if an indicator in said received signal indicates the target access node includes logical link layer state corresponding to said wireless terminal;

in response to determining that the indicator in said received signal indicates the target access node does not include logical link layer state corresponding to said wireless terminal; and

that the received logical link layer identifier corresponds to a logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection, terminating a physical connection corresponding to said logical link layer corresponding to said physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

initializing information in memory corresponding to the logical link corresponding to said physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect as part of establishing a new connection with said logical link.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

in response to determining that the indicator in said received signal indicates the target access node does not include logical link layer state corresponding to said wireless terminal; and

that the received logical link layer identifier corresponds to a logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection, initializing information in memory corresponding to the logical link corresponding to said physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect as part of establishing a new connection with said logical link.

28. A wireless terminal comprising:

a receiver for receiving a signal from a target access node, said signal including a logical link layer identifier identifying a logical link corresponding to a physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect; and

a link determination module for determining if the received logical link layer identifier corresponds to a logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a corresponding connection.

29. The wireless terminal of claim 28, wherein said signal from the target access node is a connection request response.

30. The wireless terminal of claim 29, further comprising:

a connection request module for generating a connection request to be transmitted to said target base station prior to receiving said connection request response; and

a transmitter for transmitting said connection request.

31. The wireless terminal of claim 28, wherein said signal is a broadcast signal which is transmitted on a recurring basis.

32. The wireless terminal of claim 28, further comprising a broadcast signal detection module for detecting broadcast signals from which physical attachment point identifiers can be determined.

33. The wireless terminal of claim 30, wherein said connection request message includes at least one logical link layer identifier identifying a logical link layer with which the wireless terminal has an existing connection.

34. The wireless terminal of claim 28, further comprising:

a memory including stored information said stored information associating the physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect with said logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection.

35. The wireless terminal of claim 34, further comprising:

a memory management module for storing, in response to determining that the received logical link layer identifier corresponds to a logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection, said information associating the physical connection point to which said wireless terminal may connect with said logical link layer to which said wireless terminal already has a connection.

36. A method of operating a wireless terminal comprising:

receiving a signal, said signal indicating one or more physical attachment point identifiers which correspond to a logical link layer; and

storing information in memory associating said physical attachment point identifiers with said logical link layer during a period of time in which said wireless terminal has a connection with said logical link layer.

37. The method of claim 36, determining a physical attachment point identifier from a signal received from an access node;

and

determining from said stored information and said determined physical attachment point identifier if a physical attachment point corresponding to the determined physical attachment point identifier corresponds to the logical link layer with which said wireless terminal has a connection.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein receiving said signal indicating one or more physical attachment point identifiers which correspond to a logical link layer includes receiving said signal over a communications link corresponding to said logical link layer.

39. The method of claim 38 further comprising:

determining said logical link layer to which said one or more physical attachment point identifiers correspond based on the communication link over which said physical attachment point identifiers are communicated.

40. A method of operating a base station to service a connection request from a wireless terminal for establishing a connection with a physical attachment point of the base station, the method comprising:

receiving said connection request; and

determining if said received connection request includes a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point and said base station includes stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

when it is determined that said received connection request includes a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point and said base station includes stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier, performing the additional step of;

storing information associating said physical attachment point with said wireless terminal and said logical link layer identifier.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein said storing results in said wireless terminal identifier being associated in said base station with said logical link layer identifier and multiple physical attachment points through which said wireless terminal can communicate with a logical link layer identified by said logical link layer identifier.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

sending a connection request response to said wireless terminal indicating that logical link layer state was already present in said base station associating said wireless terminal with said link layer identifier.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein said request message may include multiple link layer identifiers and wherein said response message includes the one of the logical link layer identifiers included in said request message determined by said base station to corresponding to said physical attachment point.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein said connection request message is received from a base station with which said wireless terminal has an existing physical connection.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein said connection request message if received via a backhaul link between said base station and another base station with which said wireless terminal has an existing connection.

47. The method of claim 41, wherein the base station with which said wireless terminal has an existing physical connection, is the same as said base station, said connection request message being received through a physical attachment point which is different from said physical attachment point.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein said physical attachment point corresponds to a different carrier than the physical attachment point with which said wireless terminal has an existing physical connection.

49. The method of claim 41, when it is determined that said received connection request does not include a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point but said base station includes stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier, performing the additional step of:

removing information associating said logical link with said wireless terminal and any associated physical connection identified in said stored information; and

storing new information associating said logical link with said wireless terminal an said physical attachment point to which said wireless terminal is requesting to connect.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising:

when it is determined that said received connection request does not include a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point but said base station includes stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier, also performing the step of;

sending a connection request response message to the wireless terminal, said connection request response message indicating that information indicating an association between the wireless terminal and a logical link layer identifier, corresponding to said physical attachment point, was not determined to be present in said base station.

51. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

when it is determined that said received connection request does not include a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point and said base station does not include stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier, performing the step of;

storing new information associating said logical link with said wireless terminal an said physical attachment point to which said wireless terminal is requesting to connect.

52. The method of claim 51, further comprising:

when it is determined that said received connection request does not include a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point and said base station does not include stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier, also performing the step of;

sending a connection request response message to the wireless terminal, said connection request response message indicating that information indicating an association between the wireless terminal and a logical link layer identifier, corresponding to said physical attachment point, was not determined to be present in said base station.

53. The base station of claim 52, further comprising:

a storage device for storing information associating said physical attachment point with said wireless terminal and said logical link layer identifier when it is determined that said received connection request includes a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point and said base station includes stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier.

54. The base station of claim 53, wherein said storing results in said wireless terminal identifier being associated in said base station with said logical link layer identifier and multiple physical attachment points through which said wireless terminal can communicate with a logical link layer identified by said logical link layer identifier.

52-1. A base station to service, comprising:

a receiver for receiving a connection request from a wireless terminal seeking to establish a connection with a physical attachment point of the base station; and

a determination module for determining if said received connection request includes a logical link layer identifier corresponding to said physical attachment point and said base station includes stored state associating a wireless terminal identifier corresponding to said wireless terminal with said logical link layer identifier.