Flexible radio access and resource allocation in a universal mobile telephone system

• US 6,374,112 B1
• Filed: 04/01/1999
• Issued: 04/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Willars, Per H. A., Widegren, Ina, Wallentin, Bo S. P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US09/283,248
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 455/452, 455/453, 455/451, 455/426, 455/442, 455/509, 455/511, 455/63, 455/67.1, 370/329, 370/331, 370/335, 370/341, 370/342, 370/352, 370/353
• US Class Current: 455/452.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 13/16 Code allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

The present invention provides flexible radio access and resource allocation in a Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS). A UMTS Terrestrial access network (UTRAN) in response to a radio access bearer service request, flexibly and efficiently allocates resources necessary to support a communication with a mobile radio. The UTRAN includes plural base stations for communicating with mobile radios over a radio/air interface using radio channel resources allocated by a radio network controller connected to the base stations. External network service nodes interfacing with external networks communicate with the UTRAN over a radio access network interface. The UTRAN provides a radio access bearer service to the external network service nodes, and radio access bearers are dynamically assigned to radio channel resources by the UTRAN. When establishing each bearer, the UTRAN flexibly maps or allocates the radio access bearer to physical transport resources through the UTRAN and radio channel resources over the radio/air interface. In an example embodiment, the transport between nodes and the UTRAN includes an ATM connection, and a radio channel over the air interface includes one or more CDMA spreading codes. The mapping is based on one or more parameters including for example one or more quality of service parameters and/or current traffic conditions. In addition, if the one or more parameters changes during the life of the connection, the connection may be switched to a more appropriate channel type.

Claims

1. For use in a universal mobile telephone system (UMTS) providing communications with mobile radios, a radio access network (RAN) comprising:

plural base stations for communicating with mobile radios over an air interface using allocated radio resources, and

a radio network controller coupled to the plural base stations, and

first and second service nodes that interface with first and second external networks, respectively, connected to the radio network controller over a RAN interface,

where in response to a radio access bearer request from one of the first and second service nodes, the RAN is configured to provide a radio access bearer service to the one service node including;

(1) establishing a logical connection between the one service node through the RAN to the mobile radio and (2) mapping the logical connection to one of plural, different types of channels, based on a UMTS traffic parameter, and where the plural, different channel types include a dedicated channel type and a common channel type,

wherein the UMTS traffic parameter includes an availability of dedicated channels, and the RAN is configured to map the logical connection to a common channel when the availability of dedicated channels is low.

2. For use in a universal mobile telephone system (UMTS) providing communications with mobile radios, a radio access network (RAN) comprising:

plural base stations for communicating with mobile radios over an air interface using allocated radio resources, and

a radio network controller coupled to the plural base stations, and

first and second service nodes that interface with first and second external networks, respectively, connected to the radio network controller over a RAN interface,

where in response to a radio access bearer request from one of the first and second service nodes, the RAN is configured to provide a radio access bearer service to the one service node including;

(1) establishing a logical connection between the one service node through the RAN to the mobile radio and (2) mapping the logical connection to one of plural, different types of channels, based on a UMTS traffic parameter, and where the plural, different channel types include a dedicated channel type and a common channel type,

wherein the UMTS traffic parameter includes congestion on the common channel, and the RAN is configured to map the logical connection to a dedicated channel when the congestion is high on the common channel.

3. For use in a universal mobile telephone system (UMTS) providing communications with mobile radios, a radio access network (IRAN) comprising:

plural base stations for communicating with mobile radios over an air interface using allocated radio resources, and

a radio network controller coupled to the plural base stations, and

first and second service nodes that interface with first and second external networks, respectively, connected to the radio network controller over a RAN interface,

where in response to a radio access bearer request from one of the first and second service nodes, the RAN is configured to provide a radio access bearer service to the one service node including;

(1) establishing a logical connection between the one service node through the RAN to the mobile radio and (2) mapping the logical connection to one of plural, different types of channels, based on a UMTS traffic parameter, and where the plural, different channel types include a dedicated channel type and a common channel type,

wherein when a dedicated channel already exists between the RAN and the mobile radio, the RAN is configured to map the logical connection to the already-existing dedicated channel.

4. For use in a universal mobile telephone system (UMTS) providing communications with mobile radios, a radio access network (RAN) comprising:

plural base stations for communicating with mobile radios over an air interface using allocated radio resources, and

a radio network controller coupled to the plural base stations, and

first and second service nodes that interface with first and second external networks, respectively, connected to the radio network controller over a RAN interface,

where in response to a radio access bearer request from one of the first and second service nodes, the RAN is configured to provide a radio access bearer service to the one service node including;

(1) establishing a logical connection between the one service node through the RAN to the mobile radio and (2) mapping the logical connection to one of plural, different types of channels, based on a UMTS traffic parameter, and where the plural, different channel types include a dedicated channel type and a common channel type,

wherein the RAN is configured to map control signaling associated with the logical connection mapped to a dedicated channel to the same dedicated channel.

5. For use in a universal mobile telephone system (UMTS) providing communications with mobile radios, a radio access network (RAN) comprising:

plural base stations for communicating with mobile radios over an air interface using allocated radio resources, and

a radio network controller coupled to the plural base stations, and

first and second service nodes that interface with first and second external networks, respectively, connected to the radio network controller over a RAN interface,

where in response to a radio access bearer request from one of the first and second service nodes, the RAN is configured to provide a radio access bearer service to the one service node including;

(1) establishing a logical connection between the one service node through the RAN to the mobile radio and (2) mapping the logical connection to one of plural, different types of channels, based on a UMTS traffic parameter including a radio interference condition, and where the plural, different channel types include a dedicated channel type and a common channel type, and

where the RAN is configured to map the logical connection to a dedicated channel when the radio interference is greater than or equal to a threshold and to a common channel when the radio interference is less than the threshold.

6. The RAN in claim 5, wherein a dedicated channel uses a frame streaming transfer service provided by the RAN and a common channel uses a scheduled transport service provided by the RAN.

7. The RAN in claim 5, wherein the UMTS uses code division multiple access, and wherein the dedicated channel includes a spreading code that is assigned to and used only by the mobile station during the logical connection, and the common channel includes another spreading code that is provided to and may be shared by plural mobile stations during the logical connection.

8. The RAN in claim 5, wherein the RAN is configured to map the logical connection to one of plural, different types of channels based on plural UMTS traffic parameters.

9. The RAN in claim 8, wherein if one of the UMTS traffic parameters relates to soft or softer handover, the RAN is configured to map the logical connection to a dedicated channel.

10. The RAN in claim 8, wherein one of the UMTS traffic parameters is a characteristic of the radio access service, and the RAN is configured to map a logical connection that requests a real time service to a dedicated channel.

11. The RAN in claim 8, wherein one of the UMTS traffic parameters is a characteristic of the radio access service, and the RAN is configured to map a logical connection that requests a speech service to a dedicated channel.

12. The RAN in claim 8, wherein one of the UMTS traffic parameters is a characteristic of the radio access service, and the RAN is configured to map a logical connection that requests bulk data transfer service to a dedicated channel.

13. The RAN in claim 8, wherein one of the UMTS traffic parameters is a characteristic of the radio access service, and the RAN is configured to map a logical connection that requests a synchronized service to a dedicated channel.

14. The RAN in claim 8, wherein the RAN is configured to map a logical connection that requests a high quality of service to a dedicated channel.

15. The RAN in claim 8, wherein the plural UMTS traffic parameters include plural quality of service parameters associated with the logical connection.

16. The RAN in claim 15, wherein the plural UMTS traffic parameters include a quality of service parameter associated with the logical connection and a current traffic condition.

17. The RAN in claim 5, wherein the logical connection may be configured to transport one of four traffic classes:

constant bit rate traffic, unspecified bit rate traffic, available bit rate traffic, and variable bit rate traffic, and wherein the RAN is configured to map the logical connection of a channel based on a bit rate requested for one of the four traffic classes associated with the logical connection.

18. The RAN in claim 5, wherein the RAN includes:

a speech coder/decoder for coding and decoding speech frames transmitted and received over the air interface.

19. The RAN in claim 5, wherein the RAN is configured to multiplex different logical connections associated with the mobile station onto one of the dedicated channels with the RAN handling the different logical connections as one channel.

20. In a universal mobile telephone system that provides multimedia communications with mobile radios including a radio access network (RAN) having plural base stations coupled to a radio network controller for communicating over an air interface with mobile radios using allocated channel resources and a service node coupled to the RAN, a method comprising:

providing a RAN interface between the RAN and the service node;

setting up a logical connection between the service node and one of the mobile radios in response to a request to the RAN for a radio access bearer service;

establishing a transport path for the logical connection through the RAN; and

mapping the logical connection to one of plural different types of radio channels, including a dedicated radio channel type and a common radio channel type, based on a quality of service parameter associated with the logical connection and a traffic condition monitored in the RAN.

21. The method in claim 20, wherein the traffic condition includes an interference value at a cell in which the mobile station is currently located such that for a high interference level, the logical connection is mapped to a dedicated radio channel.

22. The method in claim 20, wherein if the quality of service includes a speech service, the logical connection is mapped to a dedicated radio channel.

23. The method in claim 20, wherein if the quality of service includes a synchronized service, the logical connection is mapped to a dedicated channel.

24. The method in claim 20, wherein if the quality of service tolerates delay and an interference level in a cell where the mobile radio is currently located is below a threshold, the logical connection is mapped to the common radio channel.

25. The method in claim 20, wherein if the quality of service tolerates delay and a congestion level on the common channel is below a threshold, the logical connection is mapped to the common radio channel.

26. The method in claim 20, wherein if the quality of service tolerates delay and a number of available dedicated radio channels is below a threshold, the logical connection is mapped to the common radio channel.

27. The method in claim 20, further comprising:

determining if a dedicated channel currently exists for the mobile radio, and

if so, mapping the logical connection to the same dedicated radio channel.

28. The method in claim 20, further comprising:

determining if a dedicated channel currently exists for the mobile radio, and

if so, mapping a signaling connection associated with the logical connection to the same dedicated radio channel.

29. The method in claim 20, wherein the quality of service parameter is soft or softer handover, and the radio channel is a dedicated channel.

31. The method in claim 20, wherein the parameter includes data traffic intensity.

32. The method in claim 20, wherein the dedicated radio channel delivers frames of information as received without substantial delay, and the common radio channel delivers frames of information in a scheduled manner.

30. In a universal mobile telephone system that provides multimedia communications with mobile radios including a radio access network (RAN) having plural base stations coupled to a radio network controller for communicating over an air interface with mobile radios using allocated channel resources and a service node coupled to the RAN, a method comprising:

providing a RAN interface between the RAN and the service node;

setting up a logical connection between the service node and one of the mobile radios in response to a request to the RAN for a radio access bearer service;

establishing a transport path for the logical connection through the RAN; and

mapping the logical connection to one of plural different types of radio channels, including a dedicated radio channel type and a common radio channel type, based on a quality of service parameter associated with the logical connection and a traffic condition monitored in the RAN,

detecting a change in the quality of service parameter associated with the logical connection or in the traffic condition in the RAN, and

switching the type of radio channel associated with the logical connection based on the detected change.

33. The method in claim 30, wherein the data traffic intensity parameter is determined using the interference level in a geographic location area in which the mobile radio is currently operating.

34. The method in claim 30, further comprising:

determining another parameter associated with the radio access service request,

wherein the parameter is the quality of service associated with the radio access service request.

35. The method in claim 30, further comprising:

determining another parameter associated with the radio access service request,

wherein the parameter is a current level of congestion on the common radio channel.

36. The method in claim 30, further comprising:

determining another parameter associated with the radio access service request,

wherein the parameter includes plural parameters.

37. The method in claim 30, further comprising:

determining another parameter associated with the radio access service request,

wherein the parameter is a current availability of dedicated radio channels.

38. The method in claim 30, wherein a common radio channel is initially established for the connection, the method further comprising:

detecting that a quality of service associated with the connection has increased, and

switching the connection to a dedicated radio channel.

39. The method in claim 30, wherein a dedicated radio channel is initially established for the connection, the method further comprising:

detecting that a quality of service associated with the connection has decreased, and

switching the connection to the common radio channel.

40. The method in claim 30, wherein a common radio channel is initially established for the connection, the method further comprising.

detecting that an interference level in a cell in which the mobile radio is located has increased, and

switching the connection to a dedicated radio channel.

41. The method in claim 30, wherein a common radio channel is initially established for the connection, the method further comprising:

detecting that a congestion level on the common radio channel has increased, and

switching the connection to a dedicated radio channel.

42. The method in claim 30, further comprising:

determining another parameter associated with the radio access service request,

wherein the parameter is the radio access service.

43. The method in claim 30, further comprising:

determining another parameter associated with the radio access service request,

wherein the parameter is the type of data to be transferred.