TRANSPORT OF CONTROL PROTOCOL FOR TRUSTED WLAN (TWAN) OFFLOAD

• US 20140086226A1
• Filed: 09/20/2013
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Zhao, Suli, Balasubramanian, Srinivasan, Giaretta, Gerardo, Mahendran, Arungundram Chandrasekaran, Payyappilly, Ajith Tom, Babbar, Uppinder Singh
• Granted Patent: US 10,638,526 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0027 for a plurality of data sessions of end-to-end connections, e.g. multi-call or multi-bearer end-to-end data connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1446 wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for utilizing a control protocol to establish multiple packet data network (PDN) connections through a trusted wide area network (TWAN). Techniques are provided for expanding mobile network capacity by offloading traffic from wireless wide area networks (WWAN) to other types of networks, including wireless local area networks (WLAN).

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

providing an indication, when the UE decides to connect to a network via a wireless area network (WLAN), that the UE is capable of supporting multiple packet data network (PDN) connections; and

utilizing a control protocol for management functions over the WLAN to establish multiple PDN connections through the WLAN, wherein the WLAN is a trusted WLAN (TWAN) with respect to a wireless wide area network (WWAN) operator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the management functions comprise at least one of bearer setup, bearer modification or bearer release procedures.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing the control protocol to exchange IP-flow mobility filters for providing IP-flow mobility functionality between the WLAN and the WWAN.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the management functions comprise creation of bearers with a quality of service (QoS).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the control protocol utilizes one or more link layer or network layer tunnels.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the control protocol utilizes at least one of generic routing encapsulation (GRE) or virtual local area network (VLAN) for link layer tunneling.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising obtaining one or more keys to identify a link layer tunnel carrying the control protocol via at least one of:

an extensible authorization protocol (EAP), a static configuration of the UE, or a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) procedure.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the control protocol utilizes internet protocol (IP).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the UE utilizes at least one of link local addresses or an non-seamless WLAN offload (NSWO) address for tunneling of control protocol messages over IP.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the link local addresses comprise at least one of IPv4 or IPv6 link local addresses.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising obtaining an IP address for the TWAN via at least one of extensible authorization protocol (EAP), dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), or through multicast discovery.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the control protocol utilizes generic advertisement services (GAS).

13. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

providing an indication, when the UE decides to connect to a network via a wireless local area network (WLAN), that the UE is capable of supporting multiple packet data network (PDN) connections;

receiving an indication as a response from the network that the WLAN supports multiple PDN connections with or without non-seamless wireless offload (NSWO) for the UE; and

establishing one or more PDN connections through the WLAN via one or more PDN connectivity establishment procedures in a manner that preserves IP continuity of the one or more PDN connections.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the established one or more PDN connections utilize one or more link layer or network layer tunnels.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein signaling for each PDN connectivity establishment procedure comprises sufficient information to comprise a PDN identifier, wherein the PDN identifier uniquely identifies the one or more PDN connections.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the signaling for each PDN connectivity establishment procedure indicates at least an access point name (APN).

17. The method of claim 15, wherein each PDN connectivity complete message from the network indicates an PDN identifier and optionally IP address(es) assigned to the UE for the corresponding PDN connection, and wherein if generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunneling is used to identify or separate PDN connections, the PDN identifier is a GRE key.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein if the UE does not receive the IP address(es) from the network through the PDN connectivity establishment procedure, the UE triggers dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and/or router solicitation/router authentication (RS/RA) to acquire the IP address(es) for the one or more PDN connections.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunneling is used for each PDN connection, and further comprising receiving a PDN connectivity complete message from the network, wherein each PDN connectivity complete message indicates a PDN ID, a combination of the UE medium access control (MAC) address and a UE IP address to uniquely identify the one or more PDN connections at the TWAN.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication from the network indicates the WLAN supports multiple PDN connections with NSWO, and further comprising establishing a NSWO connection.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the NSWO connection is established prior to establishing the one or more PDN connections.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of current dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and router solicitation/router authentication (RS/RA) procedures are used to acquire local IP address(es) for the NSWO connection.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the WLAN comprises a WiFi hot spot operated by a wireless wide area network (WWAN) operator.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the multiple PDN connections are established via a protocol implemented in a modem processor.

25. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

providing an indication, when the UE decides to connect to a network via a wireless local area network (WLAN), that the UE is capable of supporting multiple packet data network (PDN) connections or capable of supporting single connection (PDN or NSWO connection);

receiving an indication as a response from the network that the WLAN supports single packet data network (PDN) or nonseamless wireless offload (NSWO) connection for the UE; and

establishing at least one of a PDN or NSWO connection through the WLAN based on the response from the network via extensible authentication protocol (EAP) authentication procedures in a manner that preserves internet protocol (IP) continuity of the PDN or NSWO connection.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising establishing only a single connection through the WLAN if the UE does not indicate capability of multiple PDN connections or single connection.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising establishing only a single connection through the WLAN if a response indicating the WLAN supports multiple PDN connections is not received by the UE.

28. A method for wireless communications by a wireless local area network (WLAN) entity, comprising:

receiving an indication, when a user equipment (UE) decides to connect to a network via the WLAN, that the UE is capable of supporting multiple packet data network (PDN) connections; and

establishing multiple PDN connections through the WLAN via one or more PDN connectivity establishment procedures in a manner that preserves internet protocol (IP) continuity of the multiple PDN connections as before the UE decides to connect.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the multiple PDN connections utilize one or more link layer or network layer tunnels.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein signaling for each PDN connectivity establishment procedure comprises sufficient information to a PDN ID, where in the PDN ID uniquely identifies the one or more PDN connections.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the signaling for each PDN connectivity establishment procedure indicates at least an access point name (APN).

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising receiving PDN connectivity complete messages from the network, wherein the PDN connectivity complete messages indicate a PDN ID for a corresponding PDN connection.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein:

generic routing encapsulation tunneling is used for each PDN connection; and

the PDN connectivity complete messages indicate a PDN ID, a combination of the UE medium access control (MAC) address, and UE IP address to uniquely identify the one or more PDN connections.

34. The method of claim 28, further comprising, if allowed by the WLAN operator, establishing a non-seamless wireless offload (NSWO) connection.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the NSWO connection is established prior to establishing the one or more PDN connections.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein at least one of current dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and router solicitation/router authentication (RS/RA) procedures are used to acquire local IP address(es).

37. The method of claim 28, further comprising, if NSWO is not allowed by the WLAN operator, establishing PDN connections only.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising skipping current dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and router solicitation/router authentication (RS/RA) procedures for acquiring local IP address(es).

39. The method of claim 28, wherein the WLAN comprises a WiFi hot spot operated by a wireless wide area network (WWAN) operator.

40. The method of claim 31, further comprising, if the UE does not indicate capability of multiple PDN connections, establishing only a single PDN connection through the WLAN.