Multicast and Broadcast Services Over a Mesh Network

• US 20150098385A1
• Filed: 10/03/2014
• Published: 04/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Parallel Wireless, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Parallel Wireless, Inc.
• Inventors: Mishra, Rajesh Kumar, Agarwal, Kaitki, Rao, Prashanth, Navalekar, Abhijit
• Granted Patent: US 9,807,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/00 Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received correcting synchronisation H04L7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/004 by using forward error control H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0097 Relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0022 for transferring data sessions between adjacent core network technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1443 between licensed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A system is disclosed for providing multicast services to mobile devices, comprising a first network node providing a radio access network to a mobile device; a second network node coupled to the first network node and providing backhaul routing for the first network node; a controller node, coupled to both the first and the second network node and to a multicast packet gateway, wherein the controller node provides a virtualized interface of a single network node to the multicast packet gateway, thereby virtualizing the first and second network nodes to the multicast packet gateway such that the multicast packet gateway may be enabled to send a multicast data stream to the first and the second network nodes via the controller node.

Claims

1. A system for providing multicast services to mobile devices, comprising:

a first network node providing a radio access network to a mobile device;

a second network node coupled to the first network node and providing backhaul routing for the first network node;

a controller node, coupled to both the first and the second network node and to a multicast packet gateway,

wherein the controller node provides a virtualized interface of a single network node to the multicast packet gateway, thereby virtualizing the first and second network nodes to the multicast packet gateway such that the multicast packet gateway is enabled to send a multicast data stream to the first and the second network nodes via the controller node.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller node is configured to receive link quality indication messages from the first and the second network nodes.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the controller node is configured to construct a multicast route at the controller node based on the link quality indication messages.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the controller node is configured to send the multicast route to the first and the second network nodes.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller node is configured to select a radio resource to be shared by the first and the second network nodes.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of mesh network nodes, wherein the first and the second network nodes are mesh network nodes.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller node performs radio resource control for enabling the first and the second network nodes to form a single frequency network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller node performs the functions of at least one of a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) and a multicast coordination entity (MCE), according to the evolved multimedia broadcast multicast services (eMBMS) standard.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and the second network nodes may be coupled to each other via an intermediate mesh network node, and wherein the intermediate mesh network node is intermittently coupled to either the first or the second network nodes.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and the second network nodes are eNodeBs.

11. A method for providing multicast services to mobile devices, comprising:

providing, at a controller node, an interface representing a single network node to a multicast server node;

receiving, at the controller node, link status messages from a first and a second network node;

constructing, at the controller node, a multicast route at the controller node based on the received link status messages;

receiving, at the controller node, a multicast data stream from the multicast server node; and

sending the multicast data stream to at least two mobile devices via the constructed multicast route.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining if either the first or the second network node should be placed on a reserve list.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising buffering the multicast data stream at an anchor node, the anchor node being either the first or the second network node.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and the second network nodes are base stations in a radio access network.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising performing radio resource control for the first and the second network nodes to cause the first and the second network nodes to create a single frequency network domain.

16. A multicast network control node, comprising:

a controller node, coupled to both a first and a second radio access base station and to a multicast packet gateway,

wherein the controller node provides a virtualized interface of a single network node to the multicast packet gateway, thereby virtualizing the first and second radio access base stations to the multicast packet gateway such that the multicast packet gateway is enabled to send a multicast data stream to the first and the second radio access base stations via the controller node.

17. A non-transient computer-readable medium comprising code that, when executed, performs functions comprising:

providing, at a controller node, an interface representing a single network node to a multicast server node;

receiving, at the controller node, link status messages from a first and a second network node;

constructing, at the controller node, a multicast route at the controller node based on the received link status messages;

receiving, at the controller node, a multicast data stream from the multicast server node; and

sending the multicast data stream to at least two mobile devices via the constructed multicast route.