METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING DUAL CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT

• US 20150282239A1
• Filed: 10/08/2012
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Han, Jing, Bai, Wei, Pirskanen, Juho Mikko Oskari, Sun, Pengfei, Zhang, Lili, Wang, Haiming, Gao, Xinying
• Granted Patent: US 9,839,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/36 for reassigning the resources associated with the released connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided to manage the establishment of a dual connection. A method according to an example embodiment may include causing a dual connection setup request message to be transmitted to a local area access point (LAAP) and causing a dual connection command to be transmitted to a user equipment (UE). The method further includes receiving a dual connection establishment complete message and causing resources associated with one or more split bearers to be released or suspended.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

causing a dual connection setup message to be transmitted;

causing a dual connection command to be transmitted to a user equipment (UE);

receiving a dual connection establishment complete message; and

causing resources associated with one or more split bearers to be released or suspended.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before causing the dual connection setup message to be transmitted :

causing a measurement configuration indication to be transmitted to the UE,

receiving one or more measurement reports from the UE, and

determining, based at least on the one or more received measurement reports, whether a dual connection should be established.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more measurement reports comprise information regarding measurements performed on a plurality of local area (LA) cells being respectively served by a plurality of local area access points (LAAPs), further wherein determining whether a dual connection should be established comprises selecting, based on the one or more measurement reports, one of the plurality of LAAPs to establish the dual connection with, the dual connection setup message being transmitted to the selected LAAP.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dual connection setup message includes bearer split information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the bearer split information includes one or more Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer ids or one or more radio bearer ids.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the bearer split information includes or further includes information regarding which one or more bearers are to be moved or created by an LAAP.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the dual connection command comprises a DualConnectionControlInfo information element (TE).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the dual connection command is included in an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a dual connection setup request acknowledgement message from an LAAP.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing downlink (DL) data to be transmitted to the UE for the one or more split bearers until it is determined that all DL data for the one or more split bearers have been correctly transmitted to the UE.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the resources comprise radio and C-plane related resources.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message from the UE.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the dual connection establishment complete message is received from the LAAP via an X2/X3 interface.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the dual connection establishment complete message is received from a mobility management entity (MME) via an S1 interface.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the dual connection setup message to be transmitted comprises causing the dual connection setup message to be transmitted to a LAAP.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the dual connection setup message to be transmitted comprises causing the dual connection setup message to be transmitted to a macro access point (MAP).

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an end marker from a serving gateway (SGW), wherein causing the resources associated with the one or more split bearers to be released or suspended comprises causing the resources associated with the one or more split bearers to be released or suspended in response to receiving the end marker from the SGW.

18. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing program code instructions, the memory and program code instructions being configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

cause a dual connection setup message to be transmitted;

cause a dual connection command to be transmitted to a user equipment (UE);

receive a dual connection establishment complete message; and

cause resources associated with one or more split bearers to be released or suspended.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the apparatus is further caused to, before causing the dual connection setup message to be transmitted:

cause a measurement configuration indication to be transmitted to the UE,

receive one or more measurement reports from the UE, and

determine, based at least on the one or more received measurement reports, whether a dual connection should be established.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more measurement reports comprise information regarding measurements performed on a plurality of local area (LA) cells being respectively served by a plurality of local area access points (LAAPs), further wherein the apparatus being caused to determine whether a dual connection should be established comprises being caused to select, based on the one or more measurement reports, one of the plurality of LAAPs to establish the dual connection with, the dual connection setup message being transmitted to the selected LAAP.

21-51. -51. (canceled)