CONTROL AND DATA PLANE SOLUTIONS FOR CARRIER-AGGREGATION BASED WLAN OFFLOAD
First Claim
1. A method performed by a evolved Node B (eNB) base station for offloading data flows from a primary network to a secondary network, the method comprising:
- providing an aggregation function configured to transfer data between a primary network interface and a secondary network interface;
offloading data from a primary data flow within the primary network interface based on network condition measurements in the primary network, by transferring the data to a secondary data flow within the secondary network interface using the aggregation function; and
tunneling data with the secondary data flow over the secondary network at a Layer 2 level using the secondary network interface;
wherein the tunneled data is identifiable as offloaded from the primary network.
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Abstract
Systems and methods for controlling data traffic offload to a WLAN (e.g., a Wi-Fi network) from a WWAN (e.g., a 4G LTE network) are generally disclosed herein. One embodiment includes data traffic offload techniques managed by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) in a networked device including offloading data at the IP, PDCP, RLC, or MAC layers; another embodiment includes data traffic offload techniques managed by a MAC Scheduler with RRC control. Configurations for multimode user equipment (UE) and multimode base stations are also described herein, including configurations for implementing a Multiple Radio Access Technology (Multi-RAT) aggregation function to offload data from a WWAN to a WLAN and transmit the data via the WLAN using a Layer 2 transport.
29 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method performed by a evolved Node B (eNB) base station for offloading data flows from a primary network to a secondary network, the method comprising:
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providing an aggregation function configured to transfer data between a primary network interface and a secondary network interface; offloading data from a primary data flow within the primary network interface based on network condition measurements in the primary network, by transferring the data to a secondary data flow within the secondary network interface using the aggregation function; and tunneling data with the secondary data flow over the secondary network at a Layer 2 level using the secondary network interface; wherein the tunneled data is identifiable as offloaded from the primary network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An evolved Node B (eNB) base station, comprising:
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physical-layer circuitry providing a primary network interface for communicating with a primary network in accordance with a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) standard, the primary network interface providing a Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol layer; physical-layer circuitry providing a secondary network interface for communicating with a secondary network; and physical-layer circuitry configured to offload data flows from the primary network to the secondary network using an aggregation function, the aggregation function configured for transferring data in the data flows by; offloading data from the primary network interface to a data flow within the secondary network interface based on network condition measurements in the primary network; and tunneling the data at a Layer 2 level of the secondary network using the secondary network interface; wherein the tunneled data on the secondary network is identifiable as offloaded from the primary network. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification