CONCENTRATOR FOR MULTIPLEXING ACCESS POINT TO WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTIONS

• US 20090316657A1
• Filed: 06/18/2009
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Song, Osok, Tinnakornsrisuphap, Peerapol, Gupta, Rajarshi, Singh, Damanjit, Horn, Gavin B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,161,378 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0005 Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/12 between access points and access point controllers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate multiplexing communications from multiple downstream access points to one or more mobility management entities (MME). In particular, a concentrator component is provided that can establish a single transport layer connection with an MME along with multiple application layer connections over the single transport layer connection for each of multiple downstream access points and/or related mobile devices. The downstream access points and/or mobile devices can provide identifiers to the concentrator component, which can utilize the identifiers to track communications with the MME. In this regard, the MME can additionally include identifiers received from the concentrator component in subsequent communications to facilitate identifying the appropriate downstream access point and/or mobile device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a downlink packet from a mobility management entity (MME);

determining an access point related to the downlink packet based at least in part on a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlink packet; and

transmitting the downlink packet to the access point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the locally unique identifier relates to an identifier received from the access point during connection establishment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a mobile device related to the downlink packet based at least in part on the locally unique identifier; and

replacing the locally unique identifier with an identifier of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the locally unique identifier in a routing table with the identifier of the mobile device and an identifier of the access point.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an uplink packet from the access point;

determining an association between the uplink packet and the MME based at least in part on an MME identifier; and

transmitting the uplink packet to the MME.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the uplink packet is associated with the MME based at least in part on an address over which the uplink packet is received from the access point.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising maintaining a routing table of access point identifiers to MME identifiers, wherein the association between the uplink packet and the MME is determined based at least in part on a routing table entry related to the access point.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the access point identifiers relate to small scale access points.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising adding an entry to the routing table based at least in part on a request received from the access point for association with the MME.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

extracting a mobile device identifier and an access point identifier from the uplink packet;

determining the locally unique identifier as related to the mobile device identifier and the access point identifier; and

replacing the mobile device identifier in the uplink packet with the locally unique identifier.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the mobile device identifier and the access point identifier are application level identifiers.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the locally unique identifier as related to the mobile device identifier and the access point identifier includes locating the locally unique identifier in a routing table that maps locally unique identifiers to received mobile device identifiers and serving access point identifiers.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a transport layer connection with the MME.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising establishing application layer connections with the MME over the transport layer connection for the access point or additional access points associated with the MME.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a handover request message related to a target access point from a source access point;

determining that the source access point and the target access point are associated with the MME based at least in part on one or more identifiers in the handover request message; and

transmitting the handover request message to the target access point.

16. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

obtain a downlink packet from a mobility management entity (MME);

discern at least one access point related to the downlink packet based at least in part on a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlink packet; and

transmit the downlink packet to the at least one access point; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

17. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive an access point identifier from the at least one access point during connection establishment and the locally unique identifier relates to the access point identifier.

18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to discern a mobile device related to the downlink packet based at least in part on the locally unique identifier and replace the locally unique identifier with an identifier of the mobile device.

19. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

obtain an uplink packet from the at least one access point;

discern an association between the uplink packet and the MME based at least in part on an MME identifier; and

transmit the uplink packet to the MME.

20. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to maintain a routing table of access point identifiers to MME identifiers, wherein the association between the uplink packet and the MME is discerned based at least in part on a routing table entry related to the at least one access point.

21. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to insert an entry to the routing table based at least in part on a request received from the at least one access point for association with the MME.

22. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

discern a mobile device identifier and an access point identifier from the uplink packet;

generate the locally unique identifier as related to the mobile device identifier and the access point identifier; and

replace the mobile device identifier in the uplink packet with the locally unique identifier.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a downlink packet from a mobility management entity (MME);

means for determining an access point related to the downlink packet based at least in part on a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlink packet; and

means for transmitting the downlink packet to the access point.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the locally unique identifier relates to an identifier received from the access point during connection establishment.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising means for determining a mobile device related to the downlink packet based at least in part on the locally unique identifier, wherein the means for transmitting the downlink packet replaces the locally unique identifier with an identifier of the mobile device.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the means for determining the mobile device related to the downlink packet stores the locally unique identifier in a routing table with the identifier of the mobile device and an identifier of the access point.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for transmitting the downlink packet further receives an uplink packet from the access point and the means for receiving the downlink packet further transmits the uplink packet to the MME, wherein the means for determining the access point related to the downlink packet additionally determines an association between the uplink packet and the MME based at least in part on an MME identifier.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the uplink packet is associated with the MME based at least in part on an address over which the uplink packet is received.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the means for determining the access point related to the downlink packet further maintains a routing table of access point identifiers to MME identifiers, wherein the association between the uplink packet and the MME is determined based at least in part on a routing table entry related to the access point.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the means for determining the access point related to the downlink packet adds an entry to the routing table based at least in part on a request received from the access point for association with the MME.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising means for extracting a mobile device identifier and an access point identifier from the uplink packet and determining the locally unique identifier as related to the mobile device identifier and the access point identifier, wherein the means for transmitting the uplink packet to the MME replaces the mobile device identifier in the uplink packet with the locally unique identifier.

32. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive a downlink packet from a mobility management entity (MME);

code for causing the at least one computer to determine an access point related to the downlink packet based at least in part on a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlink packet; and

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit the downlink packet to the access point.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to receive an access point identifier from the access point during connection establishment and the locally unique identifier relates to the access point.

34. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to determine a mobile device related to the downlink packet based at least in part on the locally unique identifier and replace the locally unique identifier with an identifier of the mobile device.

35. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the at least one computer to receive an uplink packet from the access point;

code for causing the at least one computer to determine an association between the uplink packet and the MME based at least in part on an MME identifier; and

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit the uplink packet to the MME.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to maintain a routing table of access point identifiers to MME identifiers, wherein the association between the uplink packet and the MME is determined based at least in part on a routing table entry related to the access point.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to insert an entry to the routing table based at least in part on a request received from the access point for association with the MME.

38. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the at least one computer to determine a mobile device identifier and an access point identifier from the uplink packet;

code for causing the at least one computer to select the locally unique identifier as related to the mobile device identifier and the access point identifier; and

code for causing the at least one computer to replace the mobile device identifier in the uplink packet with the locally unique identifier.

39. An apparatus, comprising:

an upstream connection component that receives a downlink packet from a mobility management entity (MME);

an access point routing component that determines an access point related to the downlink packet based at least in part on a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlink packet; and

a downstream connection component that transmits the downlink packet to the access point.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the locally unique identifier relates to an identifier received from the access point during connection establishment.

41. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising a mobile device routing component that determines a mobile device related to the downlink packet based at least in part on the locally unique identifier, wherein the downstream connection component replaces the locally unique identifier with an identifier of the mobile device.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the mobile device routing component stores the locally unique identifier in a routing table with the identifier of the mobile device and an identifier of the access point.

43. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the downstream connection component receives an uplink packet from the access point and the upstream connection component transmits the uplink packet to the MME and the access point routing component additionally determines an association between the uplink packet and the MME based at least in part on an MME identifier.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the uplink packet is associated with the MME based at least in part on an address over which the uplink packet is received.

45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the access point routing component further maintains a routing table of access point identifiers to MME identifiers and the association between the uplink packet and the MME is determined based at least in part on a routing table entry related to the access point.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the access point routing component adds an entry to the routing table based at least in part on a request received from the access point for association with the MME.

47. A method, comprising:

receiving a unique identifier in an uplink message related to an access point;

inserting the unique identifier in an application layer downlink message to facilitate determining the access point related to the uplink message; and

transmitting the application layer downlink message to a network component.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the unique identifier is globally unique to a wireless communications network.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising including the unique identifier in substantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages related to the access point transmitted to the network component.

50. The method of claim 47, further comprising multiplexing the application layer downlink message with disparate application layer downlink messages related to disparate access points over a single transport layer association to the network component.

51. The method of claim 47, further comprising receiving a handover request message from the network component related to the access point and a target access point.

52. The method of claim 51, further comprising:

inserting a unique identifier related to the target access point in the handover request message; and

forwarding the handover request message to the network component or one or more disparate network components.

53. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

retrieve a unique identifier in an uplink message related to an access point;

insert the unique identifier in an application layer downlink message to facilitate determining the access point related to the uplink message; and

transmit the application layer downlink message to a network component; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

54. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 53, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to include the unique identifier in substantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages related to the access point transmitted to the network component.

55. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 53, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to multiplex the application layer downlink message with disparate application layer downlink messages related to disparate access points over a single transport layer association to the network component.

56. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a unique identifier in an uplink message related to an access point; and

means for inserting the unique identifier in an application layer downlink message to facilitate determining the access point related to the uplink message and transmitting the application layer downlink message to a network component.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the unique identifier is globally unique to a wireless communications network.

58. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the means for inserting the unique identifier includes the unique identifier in substantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages related to the access point transmitted to the network component.

59. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive a unique identifier in an uplink message related to an access point;

code for causing the at least one computer to insert the unique identifier in an application layer downlink message to facilitate determining the access point related to the uplink message; and

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit the application layer downlink message to a network component.

60. The computer program product of claim 59, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to include the unique identifier in substantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages related to the access point transmitted to the network component.

61. An apparatus, comprising:

an access point identifier component that receives a unique identifier in an uplink message related to an access point; and

a downlink transmitting component that inserts the unique identifier in an application layer downlink message to facilitate determining the access point related to the uplink message and transmits the application layer downlink message to a network component.

62. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein the unique identifier is globally unique to a wireless communications network.

63. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein the downlink transmitting component includes the unique identifier in substantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages related to the access point transmitted to the network component.