System and method for efficient use of radio resources in multicast services in mobile wireless communications systems
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, by a wireless gateway of a communications network, a message packet from a host terminal, wherein the message packet is destined for a multicast control node of the communications network, and the message packet includes a multicast session identifier that identifies a multicast session being joined by the host terminal;
encapsulating the message packet as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of the host terminal and at least one destination identifier of the multicast control node; and
transmitting the transport layer unicast tunnel packet to the multicast control node, wherein the transport layer unicast tunnel packet is configured to direct the multicast control node to bind to a multicast distribution tree associated with the multicast session.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Approaches for resource efficient multicast communications in mobile satellite systems are provided. A wireless gateway is configured to encapsulate multicast signaling messages received from participating remote terminals. The encapsulation is compatible with the core network of the system, whereby the signaling is passed through the core network undetected. The signaling is received by a multicast gateway, and provides necessary IP and port addressing information for the multicast gateway to encapsulate the multicast session data in a manner compatible with the core network. Upon receiving multicast session data from a multicast server, the multicast gateway replicates and encapsulates each data packet with IP and port addressing for each participating remote terminal, which is also passed through the core network undetected. The wireless gateway receives the replicated data packets, and based on the encapsulation information, transmits each data packet via a broadcast transmission to each cell wherein participating terminals are located.
24 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, by a wireless gateway of a communications network, a message packet from a host terminal, wherein the message packet is destined for a multicast control node of the communications network, and the message packet includes a multicast session identifier that identifies a multicast session being joined by the host terminal; encapsulating the message packet as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of the host terminal and at least one destination identifier of the multicast control node; and transmitting the transport layer unicast tunnel packet to the multicast control node, wherein the transport layer unicast tunnel packet is configured to direct the multicast control node to bind to a multicast distribution tree associated with the multicast session. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method comprising:
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receiving, by a multicast control node of a communications network, a multicast control message packet that originated from a host terminal, wherein the multicast control message packet includes a multicast session identifier that identifies a multicast session being joined by the host terminal, and wherein the multicast control message is encapsulated as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of the host terminal and at least one destination identifier of the multicast control node; and upon receipt of the transport layer tunnel packet by the multicast control node, binding the multicast control node to a multicast distribution tree associated with the multicast session. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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receiving, by a multicast control node of a communications network, a multicast data packet of a multicast data stream, wherein the multicast data packet includes session data of a multicast session, at least one source identifier of a multicast server and at least one destination identifier of the multicast session; replicating the multicast data packet for transmission as an individual unicast transmission, via a core network of the communications network, to each of a plurality of host terminals participating in the multicast session; encapsulating each replication of the multicast data packet as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of the multicast control node and at least one destination identifier of a respective one of the host terminals participating in the multicast session; and transmitting each encapsulated replication packet, via a core network of the communications network, for delivery to the respective host terminal. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising:
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receiving, by a wireless gateway of a communications network, a plurality of encapsulated multicast data packets, wherein each of the multicast data packets comprises a replication of a data packet of a multicast data stream of a multicast session, including at least one source identifier of a multicast server and at least one destination identifier of an associated multicast session; and
wherein each of the multicast data packets is encapsulated as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of a multicast control node of the communications network and at least one destination identifier of a respective one of a plurality of host terminals participating in the multicast session; andde-encapsulating the multicast data packets to obtain the data packet of the multicast data stream, including the session data, the source identifiers of the multicast server and the destination identifiers of the multicast session; transmitting the de-encapsulated multicast data packet as a wireless broadcast transmission to each of a plurality of wireless coverage cells within which at least one of the host terminals participating in the multicast session is located. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. An apparatus of a communications network, comprising:
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a receiver configured to receive wireless communications from remote terminals; a processor configured to encapsulate a message packet received by the receiver from a host remote terminal, wherein the message packet is destined for a multicast control node of the communications network, and the message packet includes a multicast session identifier that identifies a multicast session being joined by the host remote terminal, and wherein the encapsulation of the message comprises encapsulation as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of the host terminal and at least one destination identifier of the multicast control node; and a transmitter configured to transmit the transport layer unicast tunnel packet to the multicast control node, wherein the transport layer unicast tunnel packet is configured to direct the multicast control node to bind to a multicast distribution tree associated with the multicast session. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. An apparatus of a communications network, comprising:
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a receiver configured to receive terrestrial communications from a core network of the communications network; a processor configured to process a multicast control message packet received by the receiver and originating from a host remote terminal, wherein the multicast control message packet includes a multicast session identifier that identifies a multicast session being joined by the host terminal, and wherein the multicast control message is encapsulated as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of the host terminal and at least one destination identifier of the multicast control node; and based on the processing of the multicast control message packet, the processor is further configured to bind the apparatus to a multicast distribution tree associated with the multicast session. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. An apparatus of a communications network, comprising:
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a receiver configured to receive terrestrial communications destined for the communications network; a processor configured to process a multicast data packet of a multicast data stream received by the receiver, wherein the multicast data packet includes session data of a multicast session, at least one source identifier of a multicast server and at least one destination identifier of the multicast session, wherein the processing of the multicast data packet comprises;
replicating the data packet for transmission as an individual unicast transmission, via a core network of the communications network, to each of a plurality of host terminals participating in the multicast session; and
encapsulating each replication of the packet as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of the multicast control node and at least one destination identifier of a respective one of the host terminals participating in the multicast session; anda transmitter configured to transmit each encapsulated replication packet, via a core network of the communications network, for delivery to the respective host terminal. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. An apparatus of a communications network, comprising:
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a receiver configured to receive terrestrial communications from a core network of the communications network; a processor configured to process a plurality of multicast data packets received by the receiver from the core network, wherein each of the multicast data packets comprises a replication of a data packet of a multicast data stream of a multicast session, including at least one source identifier of a multicast server and at least one destination identifier of an associated multicast session; and
wherein each of the multicast data packets is encapsulated as a transport layer unicast tunnel packet, including at least one source identifier of a multicast control node of the communications network and at least one destination identifier of a respective one of a plurality of host terminals participating in the multicast session, wherein the processing of the multicast data packets comprises de-encapsulating the multicast data packets to obtain the data packet of the multicast data stream, including the session data, the source identifiers of the multicast server and the destination identifiers of the multicast session; anda wireless transmitter configured to transmit the de-encapsulated multicast data packet as a wireless broadcast transmission to each of a plurality of wireless coverage cells within which at least one of the host terminals participating in the multicast session is located. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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Specification