Method and apparatus for MAC layer inverse multiplexing in a third generation radio access network
DCFirst Claim
1. A radio network element for communicating to a mobile user equipment a higher rate data flow received from a core network entity, the higher rate data flow being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than user equipment can accept on a single channel, the radio network element comprising:
- a) a radio link control sublayer including a radio bearer service, responsive to the higher rate data flow, to provide a corresponding radio link control data flow for downlink to the user equipment;
b) a media access control sublayer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, to provide a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment;
c) a framing protocol layer, responsive to the media access control data flows, to provide corresponding transport network layer data flows; and
d) an admission control, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by the core network entity, to provide commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the higher rate data flow to the user equipment;
wherein the media access control sublayer in the radio network element comprises a channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, to provide the plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment, and to include with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the lower rate flows are to be combined by the user equipment, the lower rate data flows being suitable for transmission by the framing protocol layer according to a standard protocol not taking into account that the lower rate data flows are in combination the radio link control data flow corresponding to the higher rate data flow.
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Abstract
A channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer (IMUX/MUX) (14a) of a MAC sublayer (14) of a UTRAN RNC (11) for providing to a UE (18) traffic (communication signals including in general both control and user data) at a higher rate than the UE can accept over a single channel. The channel IMUX/MUX performs inverse multiplexing of traffic for downlink, and multiplexing of traffic on uplink, and does so in a way that is transparent to all other layers/entities of the UTRAN (11-17) and to the UE (18).
42 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A radio network element for communicating to a mobile user equipment a higher rate data flow received from a core network entity, the higher rate data flow being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than user equipment can accept on a single channel, the radio network element comprising:
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a) a radio link control sublayer including a radio bearer service, responsive to the higher rate data flow, to provide a corresponding radio link control data flow for downlink to the user equipment; b) a media access control sublayer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, to provide a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment; c) a framing protocol layer, responsive to the media access control data flows, to provide corresponding transport network layer data flows; and d) an admission control, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by the core network entity, to provide commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the higher rate data flow to the user equipment; wherein the media access control sublayer in the radio network element comprises a channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, to provide the plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment, and to include with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the lower rate flows are to be combined by the user equipment, the lower rate data flows being suitable for transmission by the framing protocol layer according to a standard protocol not taking into account that the lower rate data flows are in combination the radio link control data flow corresponding to the higher rate data flow. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method by which a radio network element communicates to a mobile user equipment a higher rate data flow received from a core network entity, the higher rate data flow being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than the user equipment can accept on a single channel, the method comprising:
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a) a radio link control sublayer including a radio bearer service, responsive to the higher rate data flow, providing a corresponding radio link control data flow for downlink to the user equipment; b) a media access control sublayer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, providing a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment; c) a framing protocol layer, responsive to the media access control data flows, providing corresponding transport network layer data flows; and d) an admission control, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by the core network entity, providing commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the higher rate data flow to the user equipment; wherein the media access control sublayer in the radio network element performs a channel inverse multiplexing/multiplexing using a channel inverse multiplexer/multiplexer, responsive to the radio link control data flow, and in so doing provides the plurality of corresponding media access control data flows at a rate low enough to be acceptable to the user equipment, and includes with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the lower rate flows are to be combined by the user equipment, the lower rate data flows being suitable for transmission by the framing protocol layer according to a standard protocol not taking into account that the lower rate data flows are in combination the radio link control data flow corresponding to the higher rate data flow. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. A radio access network element for supporting communications to a mobile user equipment at a first data flow rate received from a core network entity, the first data flow rate being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than user equipment can accept on a single channel, the radio network element comprising:
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a media access control sublayer, responsive to a radio link control data flow from the core network entity at the first rate, to provide a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows, each at a lower rate than the first rate, for communication to the user equipment, and responsive to commands specifying how to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment, and for including with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the corresponding media access control data flows are to be combined by the user equipment; and an admission control, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by the core network entity, to provide the commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 16)
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12. A radio access network element for supporting communications to a mobile user equipment at a first data flow rate received from a core network entity, the first data flow rate being provided to the radio network element at a higher rate than user equipment can accept on a single channel, the radio network element, comprising:
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media access control sublayer means, responsive to a radio link control data flow from a core network entity at the first rate, for providing a plurality of corresponding media access control data flows, each at a lower rate than the first rate, for communication to the user equipment, and responsive to commands specifying how to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment, and for including with each lower rate data flow information indicating how the corresponding media access control data flows are to be combined by the user equipment; and admission control means, responsive to radio access bearer parameters provided by a core network entity, for providing the commands to the media access control sublayer specifying how the media access control sublayer is to allocate resources so as to communicate the radio link control data flow to the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (13, 17)
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14. A method, comprising
receiving a radio link control data flow at a first rate from a core network for communication to a user equipment; -
preparing a plurality of media access control data flows, at a media access sublayer, each of a lower rate than said first rate, so as to convey the radio link control data flow to the user equipment; including with the plurality of media access control data flows information indicating how the media access control data flows are to be combined by the user equipment into the radio link control data flow; and providing the plurality of media access control data flows for communication to the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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Specification