BEARER MOBILITY AND SPLITTING IN A RADIO ACCESS NETWORK-BASED, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT NETWORK HAVING AN INTEGRATED WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK

• US 20150264726A1
• Filed: 12/25/2014
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Alexandre S. Stojanovski
• Inventors: Zhu, Jing, Himayat, Nageen, Sirotkin, Alexander, Stojanovski, Alexandre S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,596,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/065 using assembly or disassembly of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/22 Manipulation of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/10 between terminal device and access point, i.e. wireless air interface

Abstract

A wireless local area network (WLAN) point-to-point communications link between an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network node B (eNB) and a user equipment device (or simply UE) is identified by UE/eNB media access control (MAC) identifiers on a per UE or per data radio bearer (DRB) basis for offloading cellular data from a long term evolution (LTE) link to the WLAN point-to-point communications link. A wireless local area network tunneling protocol (WLTP) includes packet formats and network protocol stack arrangements to support functions facilitated by the WLAN point-to-point communications link, such as, for example, identification of control and data traffic messages, DRB identification for WLTP packets, quality of service (QoS) delay and packet loss measurement, support of bearer splitting, and support of a general framework for offloading cellular traffic at different depths of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network protocol stack.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE) for communicating cellular data and control traffic, the UE comprising:

circuitry configured to;

communicate cellular control traffic with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network node B (eNB) through an air interface of a long term evolution (LTE) wireless network;

establish in a wireless local area network (WLAN) a WLAN point-to-point communication link with the eNB for communication of cellular data traffic with the eNB through the WLAN point-to-point communication link; and

communicate the cellular data traffic to the eNB through the WLAN point-to-point communication link.

2. The UE of claim 1, in which the WLAN point-to-point communication link comprises a set of WLAN point-to-point communication links, each member of the set of WLAN point-to-point communication links being identified by a data radio bearer (DRB) identifier received in a control message from the eNB.

3. The UE of claim 1, in which the circuitry is further configured to communicate the cellular data traffic according to a layer one and layer two packet format for encapsulating internet protocol (IP) packets of an IP layer present in a network protocol stack of the WLAN.

4. The UE of claim 1, in which the circuitry is further configured to communicate the cellular data traffic according to a WLAN tunneling protocol (WLTP) packet format for encapsulating internet protocol (IP) packets of an IP layer present in a network protocol stack of the WLAN.

5. The UE of claim 1, in which the circuitry is further configured to communicate the cellular data traffic according to a WLAN tunneling protocol (WLTP) packet format encapsulating packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packets of a PDCP layer present in a network protocol stack of the WLAN.

6. The UE of claim 1, in which the circuitry is further configured to communicate the cellular data traffic according to a WLAN tunneling protocol (WLTP) packet format encapsulating radio link control (RLC) packets of an RLC layer present in a network protocol stack of the WLAN.

7. The UE of claim 1, in which the circuitry is further configured to communicate the cellular data traffic in WLAN tunneling protocol (WLTP) tunneling layers defined below an internet protocol (IP) layer or below a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the WLTP tunneling layers including a WLTP transport layer encapsulated by a WLTP encapsulation layer.

8. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication in a cellular network, the UE comprising:

a radio frequency receiver to receive, through a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network node B (eNB), user- and control-plane cellular packets; and

a baseband controller to identify a WLAN tunneling protocol (WLTP) packet format in the user- and control-plane cellular packets received over the WLAN connection, in which the WLTP packet format includes a WLTP packet header and a WLTP payload.

9. The UE of claim 8, in which the WLTP packet format is included in a user datagram protocol (UDP)/internet protocol (IP) frame having a predetermined UDP port value indicating that the UDP/IP frame includes the WLTP payload.

10. The UE of claim 8, in which the WLTP packet format is included in an Ethernet frame identified by a predefined value of an EtherType field included in an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.2 standard frame packet header.

11. The UE of claim 8, in which the WLTP payload may be in the form of an internet protocol (IP) packet, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packet, a radio resource control (RRC) packet, or a control message exchanged between the UE and eNB via the WLAN connection.

12. The UE of claim 8, in which the WLTP packet header includes a sequence number to establish a sequential order of cellular packets.

13. The UE of claim 8, in which the WLTP packet header identifies the WLTP payload as including information representing a quality of service (QoS) of the WLAN connection.

14. The UE of claim 8, in which the WLTP packet header identifies the WLTP payload as including an identifier of a data radio bearer for the WLTP payload.

15. A method of establishing a wireless local area network (WLAN) point-to-point communication link defined by a Yy interface of a client and a base station, the method comprising:

receiving from the base station a first control message through a Uu interface of the client and the base station;

determining from the first control message an first identifier provided by the base station for identifying the WLAN point-to-point communication link; and

sending to the base station a second control message providing a second identifier provided by the client for identifying the WLAN point-to-point communication link, the first identifier and the second identifier collectively identifying the WLAN point-to-point communication link defined by the Yy interface of the client and the base station.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving a media access control (MAC) address of the base station as the first identifier for establishing the WLAN point-to-point communication link on a per user equipment (UE) basis.

17. The method of claim 15, in which the WLAN point-to-point communication link comprises multiple WLAN point-to-point links corresponding to multiple data radio bearers (DRBs) of the client.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising communicating data radio bearer (DRB) information in packet header information communicated from the client to allow the base station to map cellular traffic received through the WLAN point-to-point communication link to corresponding DRBs for application of predetermined quality of service (QoS) parameters associated with the DRBs.

19. The method of claim 15, in which the first control message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message indicating a number of data radio bearers (DRBs) supported at the eNB.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending a third control message through the Yy interface.