Enhanced Features for a Gateway Coordinating Multiple Small Cell Radio Access Networks

• US 20160262063A1
• Filed: 03/25/2016
• Published: 09/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: SpiderCloud Wireless, Inc. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chen, Tsung-Yi, Singh, Jaspreet, Worters, Peter J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,349,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0022 for transferring data sessions between adjacent core network technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0058 Transmission of hand-off measurement information, e.g. measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A method of coordinating a plurality of radio access networks (RANs) includes aggregating, with a gateway, communications interfaces between a plurality of RANs and a packet core network through the gateway. A plurality of radio nodes (RNs) in each of the RANs is communicatively coupled to the gateway and to user equipment (UE) devices associated with the RNs in each of the RANs. The gateway also controls and coordinates mobility of the UE devices within and among the RANs.

Claims

1. A method of coordinating a plurality of radio access networks (RANs), comprising:

aggregating, with a gateway, communications interfaces between a plurality of RANs and a packet core network through the gateway, a plurality of radio nodes (RNs) in each of the RANs communicatively coupled to the gateway and to user equipment (UE) devices associated with the RNs in each of the RANs; and

controlling and coordinating, with the gateway, mobility of the UE devices within and among the RANs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway comprises a plurality of access controller instances

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising assigning each of the RANs to a single one of the access controller instances so that each access controller instance controls the respective RAN to which it is assigned.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a join request from a RN and/or a RAN;

authenticating, with a cluster manager included in the gateway, the RN and/or RAN that sends the join request.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a join request from a plurality of RNs;

authenticating, with a cluster manager included in the gateway, the plurality of RNs that send the join request; and

selecting, with the cluster manager, which access controller instance each of the RNs is to be assigned.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein selecting which access controller instance each of the RNs is to be assigned is based at least in part on a signature of the RNs and a current load of the access controller instances.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising redirecting, with a cluster manager, one of the RANs from a first access controller instance to a second access controller instance in the event of a failure associated with first access controller instance or for the purposes of load balancing.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising, launching, with a cluster manager, a new access controller instance to perform load balancing based at least in part on a current load of remaining ones of the access controller instances.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising launching the new access controller instance in response to receiving a join request from an RN and/or a RAN;

and assigning the RN and/or a RAN from which the join request was received to the new access controller instance.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising at least one access controller located external to the gateway.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the access controller instances includes a distributed SON (d-SON) module for provisioning RNs assigned to the respective access controller instances in accordance with self-configuration, self-optimization and self-healing (SON) functionality.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, coordinating, with an aggregated SON (A-SON) module, activity performed by each of the d-SON modules in each of the access controller instances.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising assigning, with a cluster manager operating in coordination with the A-SON module, a newly added RN to one of the RANs.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein coordinating the activity performed by each of the d-SON modules includes determining that two or more selected ones of the d-SON modules can conduct SON functionality simultaneously with one another.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising, with the A-SON module, allocating physical cell identifiers (PCIs) and/or primary scrambling codes (PSCs) across RANs assigned to different ones of the access controller instances.

16. The method of claim 2, further comprising conducting handover events between RNs associated with the same or a different access controller instances without signaling the packet core network.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of access controller instances and the hardware platform hosting the plurality of access controller has an NFV architecture.

18. The method of claim 3, further comprising using a single interface for all communication between the plurality of access controller instances and the packet core network.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating, with the gateway, communications interfaces between at least two of the plurality of RANs that operate in accordance with different protocols.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein one of the two RANs operates in accordance with an LTE standard and the other of the two RANs operates in accordance with a UMTS standard.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the single interface is provided by a mobility anchor module at which all data plane traffic between UEs and the packet core network terminate.

22. The method of claim 6, wherein the signature includes a geographic location of the RNs.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the geographic location of the RNs is specified by a location identifier selected from the group consisting of a GPS coordinate, physical address, RF topology and IP address.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising responding, with the gateway, to an RRC connection reestablishment request by performing an RRC Reestablishment Procedure across RNs from the same or different RANs.

25. The method of claim 2, further comprising conducting a hand-in or hand-out event between a macro cell and one of the access controller instances without signaling the core network.

26. The method of claim 2, further comprising reducing call setup times by combining a plurality of control plane messages between one of the RNs and the SN instance to which the RN is respectively assigned.

27. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the access controller instances perform logical open systems interconnection (OSI) layer L3 processing.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein each of the access controller instances perform at least a portion of logical open systems interconnection (OSI) layer L2 processing.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the Layer L2 processing performed by each of the access controller instances includes Packet Data Control Protocol (PDCP) processing.

31. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving at the gateway user traffic destined for one of the plurality of RNs;

determining that selected content in the user traffic is likely to be requested by one or more UEs on multiple occasions from the destination RN; and

causing the selected content to be cached at the gateway or at the destination RN.

32. The method of claim 18 wherein the single interface is included in a core network (CN) aggregator module and further comprising:

receiving at the gateway user traffic destined for one of the plurality of RNs;

determining that selected content in the user traffic is likely to be requested by one or more UEs on multiple occasions from the destination RN; and

causing the selected content to be cached at the CN aggregator, the access controller instance that controls and coordinates the destination RN, or the destination RN.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein a first set of selected content items that are more likely to be requested on multiple occasions are cached at the destination RN and a second set of selected content items that are less likely to be requested on multiple occasions than the first set of selected content items are stored at the gateway.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein a first set of selected content items that are more likely to be requested on multiple occasions are cached at the destination RN and a second set of selected content items that are less likely to be requested on multiple occasions than the first set of selected content items are stored at the access controller instance and a third set of selected content items that are less likely to be requested on multiple occasions than the second set of content items are cached at the CN aggregator module.

35. The method of claim 31 wherein determining that selected content in the user traffic is likely to be requested by one or more UEs on multiple occasions from the destination RN is based at least in part on historical information concerning content that has been previously retrieved on multiple occasions.

36. The method of claim 31 wherein determining that selected content in the user traffic is likely to be requested by one or more UEs on multiple occasions from the destination RN is based at least in part on a date, day and/or time of day that the selected content is received.

37. The method of claim 31 wherein determining that selected content in the user traffic is likely to be requested by one or more UEs on multiple occasions from the destination RN is based at least in part on a geographic location of the destination RN.

38. The method of claim 31 wherein determining that selected content in the user traffic is likely to be requested by one or more UEs on multiple occasions from the destination RN is based at least in part on a content type.

39. The method of claim 31 wherein how likely selected content is to be requested on multiple occasions is based how frequently that the selected content is likely to be requested over a prescribed period of time.

40. The method of claim 31 wherein how likely selected content is to be requested on multiple occasions is based on a total number of times that the selected content is likely to be requested over a prescribed period of time.

41. The method of claim 1 further comprising causing at least some user traffic to avoid traversing the core network in accordance with Local IP Access (LIPA) and/or Selected Internet IP Traffic Offload (SIPTO) techniques.

42. The gateway of claim 41 wherein the core network aggregator module includes a Local Gateway (L-GW) for implementing the LIPA technique.

43. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving at the gateway user traffic destined for one of the plurality of RNs;

determining that selected content in the user traffic is to be cached at the gateway or at the destination RN; and

causing the selected content to be cached at the gateway or at the destination RN.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the selected content is cached in accordance with an agreement with the content provider of the selected content.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprising providing the content provider with information concerning user traffic that is used at least in part to determine the selected content that is to be cached.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the agreement is arranged in an auction process.

47. The method of claim 44 wherein the agreement includes a tiered pricing scheme in which a cost for caching the selected content increases as a response time from a cache resource that is caching the selected content to a UE that is to receive the selected traffic decreases.

48. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving at the gateway over a control plane input data from the RNs, the input data specifying values for input variables that reflect operating conditions of the RNs;

identifying one or more patterns arising in the values of the input variables; and

based at least in part on the patterns that are identified, generating an output indicator identifying an environment in which a cluster of the RNs is located or indicating that a potential anomalous or other event has occurred.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein the input data is received only from one or more of the RNs that have evaluated the input data and determined that an anomalous or other event is likely to have occurred with a probably greater than a threshold value.

50. The method of claim 48 wherein the potential anomalous or other event is an event that occurs across multiple RNs in a cluster of RNs.

51. The method of claim 48 wherein the input data include KPI data.

52. The method of claim 48 wherein the input data is a type of data selected from the group consisting of RF signatures, channel quality indicator (CQI) feedback and PRS reports.

53. The method of claim 48 further comprising comparing the one or more patterns to predefined patterns, wherein generating the output indicator includes generating the output indicator when the one or more patterns matches at least one of the predefined patterns to within a prescribed degree.

54. The method of claim 48 further comprising comparing the one or more patterns to predefined patterns, wherein generating the output indicator includes generating the output indicator when the one or more patterns deviates from at least one of the predefined patterns by more than a prescribed amount.

55. The method of claim 48 wherein identifying the one or more patterns includes identifying the one or more patterns using a learning function.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the learning function is selected from the group consisting of logical regression functions, artificial/convoluted neural networks and k-mean clustering.

57. The method of claim 28 wherein the output indicator identifying the environment is received by the gateway in a periodic status update.

58. The method of claim 28 wherein the gateway includes a plurality of access controller instances that each coordinate and control a plurality of the RNs that define an RN cluster, wherein identifying one or more patterns arising in the values of the input variables is performed by the access controller instance that controls and coordinates the RNs from which values of the input variables are received.

59. The method of claim 58 further comprising providing the values of the input variables to a centralized gateway module that communicates with each of the plurality of access controller instances, the centralized gateway module generating a second output indicator indicating that a potential anomalous or other event has occurred across different ones of the access controller instances.

60. The method of claim 59 further comprising providing the output indicator and the second output indicator from one or more of the access controller instances to the centralized gateway module.

65. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, with the gateway, that IP connectivity to a first of the RNs over a wired management interface has been lost;

causing at least a second one of the RNs to transmit an over-the-air diagnostic signal to the first RN and, in response thereto, receiving a diagnostic results signal from the second RN, the diagnostic results signal including diagnostic results from the first RN.

66. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

determining, with one of the access controller instances controlling a first of the RANs in which a first of the RNs is located, that IP connectivity to the first RN has been lost;

causing at least a second one of the RNs to transmit an over-the-air diagnostic signal to the first RN and, in response thereto, receiving a diagnostic results signal from the second RN, the diagnostic results signal including diagnostic results from the first RN.

68. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, with the gateway, that IP connectivity to a first of the RNs has been lost;

causing the first RN to transmit to the gateway a wireless diagnostic results signal conforming to UE transmission protocols, the diagnostic results signal including diagnostic results from the first RN.

69. The method of claim 18 wherein the single interface is included in a core network (CN) aggregator module and further comprising compressing, at the CN aggregator module, data packets in downstream user traffic destined for a common one of the access controller instances.

70. The method of claim 69 wherein compressing data packets includes compressing packet header information in at least some of the data packets.

71. The method of claim 70 wherein compressing the packet header information is based at least in part on exploiting temporal correlations among consecutive ones of the data packets, the compressing including a differential encoding operation performed on data packets destined for the same UE or different ones of the UEs.

72. The method of claim 69 further comprising decompressing the data packets at the common access controller instances.

73. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

examining, at the gateway, data packets in downstream user traffic destined for UEs attached to a given one of the RNs for reducing redundancies among packets;

compressing, at the gateway, at least some of the data packets to remove at least some of the redundancies; and

transmitting the data packets to the given RN.

74. The method of claim 73 wherein compressing at least some of the data packets includes compressing packet header information in at least some of the data packets.

75. The method of claim 73 wherein compressing at least some of the data packets includes jointly compressing and encoding at least some of the data packets.

76. The method of claim 1 wherein a cluster of RNs includes a master RN that communicates with every other RN in the cluster and further comprising:

examining multicast/broadcast data packets in downstream user traffic to identify, with the gateway, data packets that are destined for RNs in the cluster; and

transmitting the identified data packets only to the master RN along with information specifying the RNs in the cluster to which the identified data packets are to be forwarded by the master RN.

77. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

examining, at a first of the access controller instances, data packets in downstream user traffic destined for UEs attached to a given one of the RNs assigned to the first access controller instance for reducing redundancies among packets;

compressing, at the first access controller instance, at least some of the data packets to remove at least some of the redundancies; and

transmitting the data packets to the given RN.

78. The method of claim 18 wherein the single interface is included in a core network (CN) aggregator module and further comprising compressing, at one of the access controller instances, data packets in upstream user traffic to be forwarded to the CN aggregator module, wherein compressing data packets includes jointly compressing and encoding at least some of the data packets.

79. The method of claim 78 wherein compressing data packets in the upstream user traffic includes compressing payload data in the data packets of the upstream user traffic, wherein the payload data in some of the data packets being compressed is correlated with the payload data in others of the data packets being compressed.

30. A gateway through which a plurality of RANs communicate with a packet core network, comprising:

a plurality of access controller modules to which as least one RAN is assigned, each of the access controller modules being configured to control the respective RAN assigned thereto;

a core network aggregator module configured as single interface for all communication between the plurality of access controller modules and the packet core network;

a mobility anchor module at which all data plane traffic between UEs attached to one of the RANs and the packet core network terminate; and

a cluster manager module for assigning RNs to the access controller modules and transferring RN assignments from one access controller module to a different access controller module under specified circumstances.

61. The gateway of claim 30 wherein each of the access controller modules further includes an event detector configured to monitor for and detect anomalous and other events that occur across different ones of the RNs, the detecting being based at least in part on input data received by the access controllers from the respective RNs that they control and coordinate, the input data specifying values for input variables that reflect operating conditions of the RNs.

62. The gateway of claim 61 wherein the event detectors are further configured to receive from one or more of the RNs that they respectively control and coordinate an indication that an anomalous or other event has potentially occurred.

63. The gateway of claim 61 further comprising a centralized gateway module configured to receive the input data from the access controller modules and to monitor for and detect anomalous and other events that occur across different ones of the access controller modules.

64. The gateway of claim 63 wherein the centralized gateway module is further configured to receive from one or more of the access controller modules an indication that an anomalous or other event has potentially occurred.

67. The gateway of claim 30 wherein at least one of the access controller instances controlling a first of the RANs in which a first of the RNs is located is configured such that when IP connectivity to the first RN has been lost the access controller instance causes at least a second one of the RNs to transmit an over-the-air diagnostic signal to the first RN and, in response thereto, receive a diagnostic results signal from the second RN, the diagnostic results signal including diagnostic results from the first RN.

80. The gateway of claim 30 wherein the CN aggregator module includes an encoder for compressing data packets in downstream user traffic destined for a common one of the access controller modules and the common access controller modules includes a decoder for decompressing the compressed data packets.

81. The gateway of claim 80 wherein the encoder is configured to compress packet header information in at least some of the data packets based at least in part on temporal correlations among consecutive ones of the data packets.

82. The gateway of claim 30 wherein at least one of the access controller modules includes an encoder for compressing data packets in upstream user traffic to remove redundancies therein and the CN aggregator module includes a decoder for decompressing the data packets.