Systems and methods for distributed data routing in a wireless network

• US 8,787,250 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2009
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aviat U.S., Inc. (Aviat Networks Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Telsima Corp. (Aviat Networks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Beser, Nurettin Burcak
• Primary Examiner(s): Kao, Jutai
• Application Number:
  US12/466,998
• Publication Number:
  US 20090310582A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,894 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/29 between an access point and the access point controlling device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

In various embodiments, the data plane may be abstracted from a control plane in a wireless network such as WiMax, WiFi, LTE or the like. In some embodiments, a routing device comprises a control module, a service module, and a router module. The control module may be configured to receive communication instructions from a control server. The service module may be configured to process the communication instructions and provide data path instructions based on the communication instructions. The router module may be configured to receive data from a source device and route the processed data to a target device based on the data path instructions. The control server may comprise a WiMax server such as an ASN server or a CSN server.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a base station configured to receive source data from a mobile device, the source data including a routing device address to send the source data to, and to generate, in a control plane protocol, control data based on the source data, the control data including a control server address to send the control data to;

a control server for performing control plane functions, the control server configured to receive the control data from the base station and generate communication instructions, for carrying out data path functions, based on the control data; and

a routing device for performing data plane functions, the routing device separate from the control server and comprising;

a control module configured to receive the communication instructions from the control server;

a service module configured to generate, in a protocol that can be read by a router module, data path instructions for the source data based on the communication instructions; and

the router module configured to receive the source data from the base station and route the source data to a target device based on the data path instructions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control server is a WiMAX server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the control server is an LTE server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control server is an access server network (ASN) server and the routing device communicates with the ASN server over an R7 interface.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to tunnel the received data using one of a plurality of generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunnels.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to tunnel the received data using one of a plurality of IP tunnels.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to tunnel the received data using one of a plurality of IP tunnels and wherein the target device comprises a connectivity service network (CSN) server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to process the received data using a virtual local area network (VLAN) protocol.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein a connectivity service network (CSN) server comprises the routing device.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by a base station, source data from a mobile device, the source data including a routing device address to send the source data to;

generating, by the base station in a control plane protocol, control data based on the source data, the control data including a control server address to send the control data to;

generating, by a control server configured to perform control plane functions, communication instructions, for carrying out data path functions, based on the control data received from the base station;

receiving, by a routing device separate from the control server and configured to perform data plane functions, the communication instructions from the control server;

generating, by the routing device in a protocol that can be read by a router module, data path instructions for the source data based on the communication instructions;

receiving, by the router module, the source data from the base station; and

routing, by the router module, the source data to a target device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the control server is a WiMAX server.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the control server is an LTE server.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the control server is an access server network (ASN) server and wherein receiving communication instructions comprises receiving communication instructions from the ASN server over an R7 interface.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to tunnel the received data using one of a plurality of generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunnels.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to tunnel the received data using one of a plurality of IP tunnels.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to tunnel the received data using one of a plurality of IP tunnels and wherein the target device comprises a connectivity service network (CSN) server.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication instructions comprise instructions to route the source data using a virtual local area network (VLAN) protocol.