Asynchronous transfer mode packet network and method for transferring packet data in the same

• US 6,801,508 B1
• Filed: 05/08/2000
• Issued: 10/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG-Ericsson Company Limited (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: LG Information & Communications Ltd. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lim, Byung Keun
• Primary Examiner(s): MARCELO, MELVIN C
• Application Number:
  US09/566,813
• Time in Patent Office: 1,611 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/338, 370/310.1, 370/401, 370/395.1, 370/310.2
• US Class Current: 370/310.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5601 Transfer mode dependent, e.g. ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5607 Radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/562 Routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5665 Interaction of ATM with other protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/36 due to handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

A cellular asynchronous transfer mode packet network and a method for transferring packet data in the same is disclosed. A virtual circuit is established between a serving radio network controller and a target radio network controller, or between the serving radio network controller and a target packet data node. Also, individual packet paths are established between the serving radio network controller and the target radio network controller or between the serving radio network controller and the target packet data node through a mobile packet router. Individual data blocks of the packet data or packet sessions are multiplexed/demultiplexed over the virtual circuit on the basis of a service specific convergence sub-layer protocol. The multiplexed/demultiplexed data blocks are routed according to authenticated destination identifiers. Therefore, one virtual circuit is established between a packet network access node and a radio network controller and packet data or packet sessions from a plurality of mobile terminals are multiplexed/demultiplexed and transferred on the established virtual circuit.

Claims

1. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, comprising:

a plurality of radio network controllers, each of said plurality of radio network controllers for performing a channel assignment function based on a service option of a source mobile station to separate packet data and circuit data service paths from each other upon interfacing with a core network;

a mobile packet router coupled in common to each of said radio network controllers for routing packet data or packet sessions from said radio network controllers to established transfer paths, respectively; and

a plurality of packet data nodes coupled in common to said mobile packet router, each of said packet data nodes routing a corresponding one of said packet data or packet sessions routed by said mobile packet router according to a destination identifier, wherein a virtual circuit is established between one of

     1) a serving one of said radio network controllers and a target one of said radio network controllers and

     2) the serving radio network controller and a target one of said packet data nodes, and wherein data blocks of said packet data or packet sessions are multiplexed/demultiplexed over said virtual circuit and transferred respectively to prescribed destinations via said mobile packet router, said serving radio network controller and one of a) said target radio network controller and b) said target packet data node being packet connection modes, wherein each of said data blocks comprises a header which includes;

a source identifier field, to identify a multiplexing source of said virtual circuit;

a destination identifier field, to identify a demultiplexing destination of said virtual circuit;

a service option field, to indicate a service type of a packet call from said source mobile station, said serving option field being used when said cellular asynchronous transfer mode packet network sets up a radio terminal connection;

a packet session identifier field, to identify a packet session with the same service option and a unique packet session identifier; and

a payload packet identifier field, to identify a received upper layer protocol identifier.

2. The network of claim 1, further comprising a packet call controller coupled in common to each of said radio network controllers in its radio service area for supporting a speech communication exchange function and location registration and mobility of said source mobile station and managing location information of said source mobile station and information of the packet connection nodes.

3. The network of claim 1, wherein said mobile packet router comprises one of an asynchronous transfer mode switch, a frame relay switch, and an Internet protocol router.

4. The network of claim 1, wherein said mobile packet router is communicatively coupled to the Internet.

5. The network of claim 2, wherein said packet call controller comprises:

a mobile switching center and a visitor location register, which interact to support said speech communication exchange function and said location registration and mobility of said source mobile station; and

a location management function unit which manages said location information of said source mobile station and said information of said packet connection nodes.

6. The network of claim 1, wherein the virtual circuit is one of a permanent virtual circuit and a switched virtual circuit.

7. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network comprising:

a plurality of radio network controllers, each of said plurality of radio network controllers for performing a channel assignment function based on a service option of a source mobile station to separate packet data and circuit data service paths from each other upon interfacing with a core network;

a mobile packet router coupled in common to each of said radio network controllers for routing packet data or packet sessions from said radio network controllers to established transfer paths, respectively; and

a plurality of packet data nodes coupled in common to said mobile packet router, each of said packet data nodes routing a corresponding one of said packet data or packet sessions routed by said mobile packet router according to a destination identifier, wherein a virtual circuit is established between one of

     1) a serving one of said radio network controllers and a target one of said radio network controllers and

     2) the serving radio network controller and a target one of said packet data nodes, and wherein data blocks of said packet data or packet sessions are multiplexed/demultiplexed over said virtual circuit and transferred respectively to prescribed destinations via said mobile packet router, said serving radio network controller and one of a) said target radio network controller and b) said target packet data node being packet connection modes,

wherein said multiplexing/demultiplexing operations are performed on the basis of a protocol provided between

     1) one of a) service specific convergence sub-layers of asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layers in said serving and target radio network controllers and b) said service specific convergence sub-layer of said asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer in said serving radio network controller, and

     2) a service specific convergence sub-layer of an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer in said target packet data node.

8. The network of claim 7, wherein said protocol includes a function of controlling node modification of said serving or target radio network controller based on said mobility of said source mobile station, a function of controlling registration to said target packet data node, and a function of controlling a cellular packet flow.

9. The network of claim 7, wherein said asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer is a fifth-type asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer, and includes said service specific convergence sub-layer, a common part convergence sub-layer and an asynchronous transfer mode segmentation and re-assembly sub-layer.

10. The network of claim 9, wherein said common part convergence sub-layer is adapted to transfer said data blocks on the basis of a protocol data unit, wherein said protocol data unit comprises:

a payload field, which contain user information;

a pad field, which adjusts a length of said payload field in such a manner that it conforms to an asynchronous transfer mode switch environment; and

a user-to-user indication field, which transparently transfers user-to-user information of said common part convergence sub-layer.

11. The network of claim 10, wherein said payload field comprises:

a source identifier field to identify a multiplexing source of said virtual circuit;

a destination identifier field to identify a demultiplexing destination of said virtual circuit;

a service option field to indicate a service type of a packet call from said source mobile station, said serving option field being used when the network establishes a radio terminal connection;

a packet session identifier field to identify a packet session with the same service option and a unique packet session identifier; and

a payload packet identifier field to identify a received upper layer protocol identifier.

12. The network of claim 11, wherein each of said source and destination identifier fields includes any one of an identifier of said source mobile station, an identifier of said destination mobile station, an identifier of said target packet data node, and a default identifier.

13. The network of claim 11, wherein said payload field further comprises a control/data field to indicate whether said payload field contains user data or a control data block from said service specific convergence sub-layer.

14. The network of claim 13, wherein said control data block comprises:

a control message header comprising a control message identifier field to identify the contents of a control message, a message sequence number field to indicate a sequence of said control message, and a request/response field to identify a request and response of said control message; and

a control message text having parameters based on a unique control message identifier.

15. The network of claim 14, wherein said control message comprises registration information of said source mobile station, location update information of said source mobile station, point-to-point protocol link data flow control information, radio connection state information of said source mobile station, Internet protocol service quality information, and billing data information.

16. A method of transferring packet data or packet sessions in an asynchronous transfer mode packet network which has one or more radio network controllers, a packet call controller, one or more packet data nodes, and a mobile packet router, comprising the steps of:

a) establishing a virtual circuit between a serving radio network controller and one of a target radio network controller and a target packet data node;

b) establishing individual packet paths between the serving radio network controller and one of the target radio network controller and the target packet data node through the mobile packet router;

c) multiplexing/demultiplexing individual data blocks of the packet data or packet sessions over said virtual circuit; and

d) routing the multiplexed/demultiplexed data blocks according to authenticated destination identifiers, wherein said step a) comprises the further step of

a-1) establishing said virtual circuit in one of a permanent virtual circuit mode and a switched virtual circuit mode based on an asynchronous transfer mode switching manner, wherein said step a-1) comprises the further step of

a-2) establishing said virtual circuit in the switched virtual circuit mode based on the asynchronous transfer mode switching manner, allowing the serving radio network controller to establish said virtual circuit according to asynchronous transfer mode signaling only when the packet data has to be transferred to the target radio network controller or packet data node, and not to establish said virtual circuit when the packet data need not be transferred, and wherein said step a-2) comprises the further step of

a-3) when the packet data has to be transferred to the target radio network controller or packet data node, allowing the serving radio network controller to retrieve a virtual circuit identifier associated with an identifier of the target radio network controller or packet data node from a virtual circuit table and establish said virtual circuit only when the virtual circuit identifier is not present in the virtual circuit table.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said step a-1) comprises the further step of a-2) establishing said virtual circuit in the permanent virtual circuit mode based on the asynchronous transfer mode switching protocol, allowing the serving radio network controller to establish said virtual circuit to all of the radio network controllers and packet data nodes and manage a node identifier of said target radio network controller or packet data node connected to said virtual circuit in a virtual circuit table.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the multiplexing/demultiplexing of step c) is performed in a service specific convergence sub-layer of an AAL protocol layer.

19. A method of transferring packet data or packet sessions in an asynchronous transfer mode packet network which has one or more radio network controllers, a packet call controller, one or more packet data nodes, and a mobile packet router, comprising the steps of:

a) establishing a virtual circuit between a serving radio network controller and one of a target radio network controller and a target packet data node;

b) establishing individual packet paths between the serving radio network controller and one of the target radio network controller and the target packet data node through the mobile packet router;

c) multiplexing/demultiplexing individual data blocks of the packet data or packet sessions over said virtual circuit;

d) routing the multiplexed/demultiplexed data blocks according to authenticated destination identifiers; and

e) allowing a source mobile station belonging to the serving radio network controller to send the packet data with a specific service option and a packet session identifier to a destination mobile station, and allowing a service specific convergence sub-layer of an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer in said serving radio network controller to store the service option, the packet session identifier, a destination mobile station identifier, and a virtual circuit identifier, create a header of a protocol data unit on the basis of the stored service option and identifiers, place user packet data or self-control data on a payload field of the protocol data unit and send the resultant protocol data unit as the packet data to the destination mobile station.

20. A method of transferring packet data or packet sessions in an asynchronous transfer mode packet network which has one or more radio network controllers, a packet call controller, one or more packet data nodes, and a mobile packet router, comprising the steps of:

a) establishing a virtual circuit between a serving radio network controller and one of a target radio network controller and a target packet data node;

b) establishing individual packet paths between the serving radio network controller and one of the target radio network controller and the target packet data node through the mobile packet router;

c) multiplexing/demultiplexing individual data blocks of the packet data or packet sessions over said virtual circuit;

d) routing the multiplexed/demultiplexed data blocks according to authenticated destination identifiers; and

e) allowing a mobile station belonging to the serving radio network controller to request an Internet/packet network connection data service with a specific service option and a packet session identifier and receive data as a result of the request.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said step e) comprises the further steps of:

e-1) allowing the serving radio network controller to determine on the basis of the specific service option and packet session identifier whether said source mobile station were pre-registered thereto;

e-2) if it is determined at said step e-1) that the source mobile station were preregistered to the serving radio network controller, allowing the serving radio network controller to transfer the packet data and an identifier of the virtual circuit connected to the target packet data node to a service specific convergence sub-layer of an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer therein to multiplex and send the packet data and, if it is determined at said step e-1) that said source mobile station were not pre-registered to the serving radio network controller, allowing the serving radio network controller to receive an identifier of the target packet data node to be routed, from the packet call controller and authenticate an identifier of the virtual circuit with the target packet data node on the basis of said identifier of the target packet data node; and

e-3) allowing the service specific convergence sub-layer to store the service option, packet session identifier, and virtual circuit identifier, create a header of a protocol data unit on the basis of the stored service option and identifiers, place user packet data or self-control data on a payload field of said protocol data unit, and send the resultant protocol data unit as the packet data.

22. A method for transferring packet data or packet session in a cellular asynchronous transfer mode packet network which has a plurality of radio network controllers, a packet call controller, a plurality of packet data nodes and a mobile packet router, comprising the steps of:

a) allowing a source mobile station belonging to a serving one of said radio network controllers to designate an identifier of a target one of said packet data nodes and send said packet data with a specific service option and a packet session identifier to said target packet data node;

b) allowing said serving radio network controller to authenticate an identifier of a virtual circuit with said target packet data node on the basis of said identifier of said target packet data node;

c) allowing a service specific convergence sub-layer of an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer in said serving radio network controller to store one or more destination mobile station identifiers, said service option, said packet session identifier, said target packet data node identifier and said virtual circuit identifier, create a header of a protocol data unit on the basis of the stored service option and identifiers and place user packet data or self-control data on a payload field of said protocol data unit to send the resultant protocol data unit as said packet data;

d) multiplexing one or more data blocks of said packet data over said virtual channel and sending the multiplexed data blocks to an asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer in said target packet data node via said mobile packet router; and

e) allowing a service specific convergence sub-layer of said asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer in said target packet data node to demultiplex the sent data blocks, authenticate said destination mobile identifiers and transfer said packet data respectively to one or more destination mobile stations.

23. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, comprising:

at least one radio network controller for communicating with a mobile terminal;

a packet call controller for receiving voice communication from the at least one radio network controller;

a mobile packet router for receiving data communication from the at least one radio network controller; and

at least one packet data node coupled to the mobile packet router, wherein the packet call controller is adapted to communicate with a Public Switched Telephone Network or an Integrated Services Digital Network, and wherein the at least one packet data node is adapted to communicate with a computer network, and wherein said data communication includes data blocks, each including a header having;

a source identifier field, to identify a multiplexing source of a virtual circuit established between the radio network controller and another radio network controller, or between the radio network controller and the packet data node;

a destination identifier field, to identify a demultiplexing destination of said virtual circuit;

a service option field to indicate a service type of a packet call from a source mobile station;

a packet session identifier field, to identify a packet session with a same service option and a unique packet session identifier; and

a payload packet identifier field, to identify a received upper layer protocol identifier.

24. The network of claim 23, further comprising a home location register, wherein the packet call controller comprises a mobile switching center, visitor location register, and a location management function unit, and wherein the home location register manages the mobility of mobile terminals, and wherein the location management function unit manages the location information of the mobile terminals and the information of the radio network controllers.

25. The network of claim 23, wherein a virtual circuit is established between the at least one radio network controller and one of a receiving radio network controller and the at least one packet data node, and wherein the virtual circuit is established through one of the packet call controller and the mobile packet router.

26. The network of claim 25, wherein the virtual circuit is one of a switched virtual circuit and a permanent virtual circuit.