SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HETEROGENEOUS CARRIER AGGREGATION

• US 20130242897A1
• Filed: 02/21/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Meylan, Arnaud, Griot, Miguel, Giaretta, Gerardo
• Granted Patent: US 9,629,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0005 Time-frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0064 Rate requirement of the data, e.g. scalable bandwidth, data priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0087 when data requirements change
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0092 Indication of how the channel is divided
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0098 Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Techniques for aggregating heterogeneous carriers in a wireless communication system are disclosed. A mobile device may receive a configuration for aggregating a plurality of component carriers including one or more cellular carriers and a wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier. The one or more cellular carriers may include LTE carriers, and aggregation may be performed at a sub-IP protocol layer of operation. In one aspect, protocol entities may be modified to perform quality of service determinations, carrier selection, traffic mapping, or the like, in view of the different capabilities and characteristics of the heterogeneous carriers in the carrier aggregation configuration.

Claims

1. A method operable by a mobile device, comprising:

receiving a configuration for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and a wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a given protocol layer of the mobile device below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

determining, at the given protocol layer, a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the WLAN carrier; and

sending an uplink transmission based at least in part on the mapping.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID) when the given protocol layer comprises a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier when the given protocol layer comprises a protocol layer above the MAC protocol layer.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining the LCID associated with data for the uplink transmission;

determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the LCID;

selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

sending the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining the bearer identifier associated with data for the uplink transmission;

determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the bearer identifier;

selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

sending the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an association of traffic types with respective ones of the plurality of component carriers based on downlink traffic received by the mobile device;

wherein the mapping of uplink traffic mirrors the association of traffic types determined based on the downlink traffic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a first traffic type is associated with the at least one cellular carrier and a second traffic type is associated with the WLAN carrier.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the given layer comprises a media access control (MAC) protocol layer, and wherein determining the mapping comprises performing carrier selection at the MAC protocol layer based on the association and a type of the uplink traffic.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an uplink grant indicating an allocation of uplink resources on a first cellular carrier in the plurality of component carriers;

identifying data for the uplink transmission on the first cellular carrier based on the mapping; and

sending the data on the first cellular carrier in accordance with the uplink grant.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the availability of data for uplink transmission;

determining, based on the mapping, a carrier in the plurality of component carriers for sending the data; and

sending the data in the uplink transmission absent an uplink grant, in response to determining that the data maps to the WLAN carrier.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping excludes predetermined types of uplink traffic from transmission on the WLAN carrier.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the uplink transmission further comprises, at the media access control (MAC) layer, selecting a given one of the plurality of component carriers and multiplexing the uplink traffic onto each carrier based at least in part on the mapping.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the mapping is based at least in part on Quality of Service (QoS) information, and wherein at least one of the selecting and the multiplexing is based at least in part on the QoS information.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregation is performed at the media access control (MAC) layer, the method further comprising:

forming MAC protocol data units (PDUs) based on the mapping; and

sending the MAC PDUs based on an uplink grant or a MAC PDU size.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping indicates that the uplink traffic may use either the at least one cellular carrier or the WLAN carrier.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the aggregation is performed at the media access control (MAC) layer, the method further comprising:

forming protocol data units (PDUs) at the radio link control (RLC) layer; and

transporting the PDUs via the at least one cellular carrier or the WLAN carrier.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising ceasing to apply the mapping in response to deactivation of at least one carrier in the plurality of component carriers.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising disabling a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) above the IP layer for the WLAN carrier in connection with the configuration for aggregating the plurality of component carriers.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining an IP address for a cellular radio module of the mobile device, and assigning the IP address to the WLAN radio module of the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising signaling a cellular-WLAN carrier aggregation capability of the mobile device to at least one network entity.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a beacon or probe response from a WLAN access point (AP), the beacon or probe response advertising support for cellular-WLAN carrier aggregation by the WLAN AP.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining security credentials from a cellular base station, and providing the security credentials to a WLAN access point (AP).

23. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the mapping comprises receiving dynamic signaling from a network entity indicating which bearers are sent over which carriers.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the signaling indicates, for each logical channel identifier (LCID) in a plurality of LCIDs, which carrier in the plurality of component carriers to use for corresponding uplink traffic.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the indication is per bearer and per direction.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a given LCID maps to the WLAN carrier for downlink traffic and to the at least one cellular carrier for the uplink traffic.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the signaling indicates a packet size threshold, a default carrier, and which carrier to use in response to the packet size exceeding the threshold.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the signaling comprises, for each logical channel identifier (LCID), a parameter indicating whether data traffic may be transmitted on the WLAN carrier in addition to the at least one cellular carrier.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping comprises a static policy.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping is based on a Quality of Service (QoS) indicator for one or more of the plurality of component carriers.

31. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a configuration for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and a wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a given protocol layer of the apparatus below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

means for determining, at the given protocol layer, a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the WLAN carrier; and

means for sending an uplink transmission based at least in part on the mapping.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID), in response to the given protocol layer comprising a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier, in response to the given protocol layer being above the MAC protocol layer.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for determining the LCID associated with data for the uplink transmission;

means for determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the LCID;

means for selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

means for sending the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for determining the bearer identifier associated with data for the uplink transmission;

means for determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the bearer identifier;

means for selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

means for sending the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

36. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:

means for determining an association of traffic types with respective ones of the plurality of component carriers based on downlink traffic received by the mobile device;

wherein the mapping of uplink traffic mirrors the association of traffic types determined based on the downlink traffic.

37. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein a first traffic type is associated with the at least one cellular carrier and a second traffic type is associated with the WLAN carrier.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the given layer comprises a media access control (MAC) protocol layer, further comprising means for performing carrier selection at the MAC protocol layer based on the association and a type of the uplink traffic.

39. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:

means for receiving an uplink grant indicating an allocation of uplink resources on a first cellular carrier in the plurality of component carriers;

means for identifying data for the uplink transmission on the first cellular carrier based on the mapping; and

means for sending the data on the first cellular carrier in accordance with the uplink grant.

40. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:

means for determining the availability of data for uplink transmission;

means for determining, based on the mapping, a carrier in the plurality of component carriers for sending the data; and

means for sending the data in the uplink transmission absent an uplink grant, in response to determining that the data maps to the WLAN carrier.

41. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the mapping excludes predetermined types of uplink traffic from transmission on the WLAN carrier.

42. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for selecting a given one of the plurality of component carriers at the media access control (MAC) layer, and means for multiplexing the uplink traffic onto each carrier based at least in part on the mapping.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the mapping is based at least in part on Quality of Service (QoS) information, and wherein at least one of the means for selecting and the means for multiplexing is based at least in part on the QoS information.

44. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the aggregation is performed at the media access control (MAC) layer, the apparatus further comprising:

means for forming MAC protocol data units (PDUs) based on the mapping; and

means for sending the MAC PDUs based on an uplink grant or a MAC PDU size.

45. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the mapping indicates that the uplink traffic may use either the at least one cellular carrier or the WLAN carrier.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the aggregation is performed at the media access control (MAC) layer, the apparatus further comprising:

means for forming protocol data units (PDUs) at the radio link control (RLC) layer; and

means for transporting the PDUs via the at least one cellular carrier or the WLAN carrier.

47. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for ceasing to apply the mapping in response to deactivation of at least one carrier in the plurality of component carriers.

48. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for disabling a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) above the IP layer for the WLAN carrier in connection with the configuration for aggregating the plurality of component carriers.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising means for determining an IP address for a cellular radio module of the mobile device, and means for assigning the IP address to the WLAN radio module of the mobile device.

50. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for signaling a cellular-WLAN carrier aggregation capability of the mobile device to at least one network entity.

51. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for receiving a beacon or probe response from a WLAN access point (AP), the beacon or probe response advertising support for cellular-WLAN carrier aggregation by the WLAN AP.

52. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for obtaining security credentials from a cellular base station, and means for providing the security credentials to a WLAN access point (AP).

53. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for receiving dynamic signaling from a network entity indicating which bearers are sent over which carriers.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the signaling indicates, for each logical channel identifier (LCID) in a plurality of LCIDs, which carrier in the plurality of component carriers to use for corresponding uplink traffic.

55. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the indication is per bearer and per direction.

56. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein a given LCID maps to the WLAN carrier for downlink traffic and to the at least one cellular carrier for the uplink traffic.

57. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the signaling indicates a packet size threshold, a default carrier, and which carrier to use in response to the packet size exceeding the threshold.

58. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the signaling comprises, for each logical channel identifier (LCID), a parameter indicating whether data traffic may be transmitted on the WLAN carrier in addition to the at least one cellular carrier.

59. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the mapping comprises a static policy.

60. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the mapping is based on a Quality of Service (QoS) indicator for one or more of the plurality of component carriers.

61. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one radio frequency (RF) transceiver configured to receive a configuration for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and a wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a given protocol layer of the apparatus below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

at least one processor configured to;

determine, at the given protocol layer, a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the WLAN carrier; and

instruct the RF transceiver to send an uplink transmission based at least in part on the mapping; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing data.

62. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier.

63. The apparatus of claim 62, wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID), in response to the given protocol layer comprising a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier, in response to the given protocol layer being above the MAC protocol layer.

64. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein:

the at least one processor is further configured to determine an association of traffic types with respective ones of the plurality of component carriers based on downlink traffic received by the mobile device; and

the mapping of uplink traffic mirrors the association of traffic types determined based on the downlink traffic.

65. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code for causing a computer to;

receive a configuration for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and a wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a given protocol layer of the apparatus below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

determine, at the given protocol layer, a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the WLAN carrier; and

send an uplink transmission based at least in part on the mapping.

66. The computer program product of claim 65, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier, and wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID), in response to the given protocol layer comprising a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier, in response to the given protocol layer being above the MAC protocol layer.

67. The computer program product of claim 65, wherein:

the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the computer to determine an association of traffic types with respective ones of the plurality of component carriers based on downlink traffic received by the mobile device; and

the mapping of uplink traffic mirrors the association of traffic types determined based on the downlink traffic.

68. A method operable by a network entity, comprising:

sending a configuration to a mobile device for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a layer of the mobile device below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

determining a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the at least one WLAN carrier; and

receiving the uplink traffic based at least in part on the mapping.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID), in response to the given protocol layer comprising a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier, in response to the given protocol layer being above the MAC protocol layer.

71. The method of claim 70, further comprising:

determining the LCID associated with data for the uplink transmission;

determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the LCID;

selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

receiving the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

72. The method of claim 70, further comprising:

determining the bearer identifier associated with data for the uplink transmission;

determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the bearer identifier;

selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

receiving the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

73. An apparatus, comprising:

means for sending a configuration to a mobile device for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a layer of the mobile device below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

means for determining a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the at least one WLAN carrier; and

means for receiving the uplink traffic based at least in part on the mapping.

74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier.

75. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID), in response to the given protocol layer comprising a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier, in response to the given protocol layer being above the MAC protocol layer.

76. The apparatus of claim 75, further comprising:

means for determining the LCID associated with data for the uplink transmission;

means for determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the LCID;

means for selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

means for receiving the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

77. The apparatus of claim 75, further comprising:

means for determining the bearer identifier associated with data for the uplink transmission;

means for determining, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the bearer identifier;

means for selecting a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions; and

means for receiving the data in the uplink transmission on the selected carrier.

78. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one radio frequency (RF) transceiver configured to send a configuration to a mobile device for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a layer of the mobile device below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

at least one processor configured to determine a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the at least one WLAN carrier; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing data;

wherein the at least one RF transceiver receives the uplink traffic based at least in part on the mapping.

79. The apparatus of claim 78, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier, wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID), in response to the given protocol layer comprising a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier, in response to the given protocol layer being above the MAC protocol layer.

80. The apparatus of claim 79, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine the LCID associated with data for the uplink transmission;

determine, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the LCID; and

select a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions.

81. The apparatus of claim 79, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine the bearer identifier associated with data for the uplink transmission;

determine, based on the mapping, one or more traffic restrictions associated with the bearer identifier; and

select a carrier from the plurality of component carriers in accordance with the one or more traffic restrictions.

82. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code for causing a computer to;

send a configuration to a mobile device for aggregating a plurality of component carriers comprising at least one cellular carrier and at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) carrier, wherein the aggregation is performed at a layer of the mobile device below an internet protocol (IP) layer;

determine a mapping of uplink traffic in relation to the at least one cellular carrier and the at least one WLAN carrier; and

receive the uplink traffic based at least in part on the mapping.

83. The computer program product of claim 82, wherein the mapping is based on a traffic flow identifier, wherein the traffic flow identifier comprises:

a logical channel identifier (LCID), in response to the given protocol layer comprising a media access control (MAC) protocol layer;

or

a bearer identifier, in response to the given protocol layer being above the MAC protocol layer.