METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MULTI-RAT TRANSMISSION

• US 20130329694A1
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Vrzic, Sophie, Choi, Noun
• Granted Patent: US 10,560,882 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• 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 36/247 by using coverage extension
• 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 mobility management 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, the method comprising:

detecting, by the first radio access technology node, that a handover for a user equipment to a new node is required;

providing, by the first radio access technology node, handover information to the second radio access technology node over the backhaul interface; and

performing, by the first radio access technology node, the handover of the user equipment to the new node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first radio access technology node routes the data packets to the second radio access technology node during the handover of the first radio access technology node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing the handover comprises:

sending a handover request message, which includes context information of the user equipment, to the new node;

sending a handover command to the user equipment;

forwarding any data to the new node;

receiving a handover complete message from the new node; and

detaching the backhaul interface with the second radio access technology node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the new node is of the same radio access technology as the first radio access technology node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first radio access technology node includes an interface to a core network for the user equipment.

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

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the performing the handover does not change the tunnel to the core network.

8. A method at a network node targeted for a handover of a user equipment from a first radio access technology node, the user equipment communicating with both the first radio access technology node and with a second radio access technology node, the method comprising:

receiving, from the first radio access technology node, a handover request message including context information for the user equipment; and

establishing a backhaul interface with the second radio access technology node; and

connecting to the user equipment.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving data for the user equipment from the first radio access technology node.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising, after the connecting:

detecting, at the network node, that a handover from the second radio access technology node is required;

establishing, between the network node and a target second radio access technology node, a backhaul interface; and

providing, from the network node to the user equipment, information for synchronization with the target second radio access technology node.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the establishing includes determining whether the target second radio access technology node can support the user equipment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining includes receiving capability information from a measurement report from the user equipment of whether the target second radio access technology node supports multi-radio access technology carrier aggregation.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining includes receiving capacity information for the target second radio access technology node over the backhaul interface.

14. A method for mobility management in a mobile network having a first radio access technology node and a second radio access technology node each communicating with a user equipment, the first radio access technology node and the second radio access technology node communicating over a backhaul interface, the method comprising:

receiving, at the second radio access technology node, handover information indicating the user equipment is being handed over to a new network node; and

establishing, from the second radio access technology node, a backhaul interface to the new network node.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein data for the user equipment from the new node is routed over the backhaul interface between the second radio access technology node and the new node.

16. A method for mobility management 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, the method comprising:

detecting, by the first radio access technology node, that a handover for a user equipment is required;

providing, by the first radio access technology node, a handover request to the second radio access technology node over the backhaul interface; and

sending, by the first radio access technology node, a handover command to the user equipment.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving an end marker from a serving gateway;

forwarding the end marker to the second radio access technology node; and

detaching the backhaul interface between the first radio access technology node and the second radio access technology node.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving a UE context release message from the second radio access technology node.

19. A method at a first node of a first radio access technology for communicating data received from a second node having a second radio access technology to a user equipment, the method comprising:

receiving the data, the data being a protocol layer packet of the second radio access technology;

adding a sequence number to the protocol layer packet;

adding a multi-radio access technology header to the protocol layer packet; and

forwarding the packet to the user equipment.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the adding the multi-radio access technology header skips other protocol layer functionality for a protocol layer.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the protocol layer packet is a packet data convergence protocol layer packet.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising adding a protocol layer header after the adding the multi-radio access technology header.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the receiving is over a multi-radio access technology backhaul interface.