Reduction of packet retransmissions in dual connectivity systems

• US 9,462,629 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2014
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Vannithamby, Rath, Koc, Ali, Sivanesan, Kathiravetpillai
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, PHUC H
• Application Number:
  US14/317,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20150085646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• Field of Search: 370331-336
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/12 by using return channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/03 Reselecting a link using a direct mode connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 : Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 : Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 : by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 : Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 : Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/18 : Management of setup rejection or failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 : Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/38 : triggered by timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 : Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 : between access points
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Technology for reducing packet transmissions is disclosed. A master evolved node B (MeNB) configured for dual connectivity can receive one or more acknowledgements (ACKs) from a user equipment (UE) indicating packets that were successfully received at the UE from a secondary evolved node B (SeNB). The MeNB can receive, from the SeNB, packet delivery information for the SeNB. The MeNB can receive an indication from the SeNB of an air-interface connection loss between the SeNB and the UE. The MeNB can identify remaining packets that were not sent from the SeNB to the UE based, in part, on the ACKs received from the UE and the packet delivery information received from the SeNB, wherein the remaining packets are not sent to the UE due to the connection loss between the SeNB and the UE. The MeNB can send the remaining packets from the MeNB to the UE.

Claims

1. A master evolved node B (MeNB) configured for dual connectivity that is operable to reduce packet retransmissions, the MeNB having computer circuitry configured to:

receive one or more acknowledgements (ACKs) from a user equipment (UE) indicating packets that were successfully received at the UE from a secondary evolved node B (SeNB);

receive, from the SeNB, packet delivery information for the SeNB;

receive an indication from the SeNB of an air-interface connection loss between the SeNB and the UE;

identify remaining packets that were not sent from the SeNB to the UE based, in part, on the ACKs received from the UE and the packet delivery information received from the SeNB, wherein the remaining packets are not sent to the UE due to the connection loss between the SeNB and the UE; and

send the remaining packets from the MeNB to the UE.

2. The computer circuitry of claim 1, wherein the packet delivery information includes packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)/radio link control (RLC) packet delivery status information for the SeNB and RLC segmentation information, the PDCP/RLC packet delivery status information and the RLC segmentation information being received at the MeNB from the SeNB via an X2 interface.

3. The computer circuitry of claim 1, further configured to:

detect the connection loss between the UE and the SeNB; and

allocate resources for the UE to send the ACKs to the MeNB.

4. The computer circuitry of claim 1, further configured to grant a request for resources received from the UE, via a random access channel (RACH), to enable the UE to periodically send the ACKs to the MeNB.

5. The computer circuitry of claim 1, further configured to grant a request for resources, received with uplink data from the UE, to enable the UE to periodically send the ACKs to the MeNB.

6. The computer circuitry of claim 1, further configured to receive the ACKs from the UE over an air-interface signaling channel.

7. The computer circuitry of claim 1, wherein the RLC segmentation information describes a segmentation of PDCP packets into RLC packets at the SeNB.

8. The computer circuitry of claim 1, wherein the packets include RLC packets.

9. A user equipment (UE) operable to support dual connectivity, the UE having computer circuitry configured to:

receive one or more packets from a secondary evolved node B (SeNB);

send one or more acknowledgements (ACKs) to a master evolved node B (MeNB) indicating the packets that were successfully received from the SeNB; and

receive remaining packets from the MeNB when an air-interface connection loss occurs between the UE and the SeNB, wherein the SeNB sends an indication to the MeNB of an air-interface connection loss between the SeNB and the UE and the MeNB sends the remaining packets to the UE based in part on the ACKs received from the UE and packet delivery information received at the MeNB from the SeNB.

10. The computer circuitry of claim 9, wherein the packet delivery information includes packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packet delivery status information for the SeNB and radio link control (RLC) segmentation information.

11. The computer circuitry of claim 9, wherein the UE supports dual connectivity with the SeNB and the MeNB.

12. The computer circuitry of claim 9, further configured to send one or more negative acknowledgements (NACKs) to the MeNB indicating packets that were not successfully received from the SeNB.

13. The computer circuitry of claim 9, further configured to store an RLC packet reception event after the air-interface connection loss occurs between the UE and the SeNB.

14. The computer circuitry of claim 9, wherein the air-interface connection loss between the UE and the SeNB occurs due to mobility of the UE or channel variation.

15. The computer circuitry of claim 9, further configured to send a request for resources to the MeNB, the resources enabling the UE to send the ACKs to the MeNB.

16. The computer circuitry of claim 15, wherein the request for resources is sent to the MeNB via a random access channel (RACH) or along with uplink data.

17. The computer circuitry of claim 9, wherein the UE includes an antenna, a touch sensitive display screen, a speaker, a microphone, a graphics processor, an application processor, an internal memory, or a non-volatile memory port.

18. A method for reducing packet retransmissions in a dual connectivity system, the method comprising:

receiving one or more acknowledgements (ACKs) from a user equipment (UE) indicating packets that were successfully received at the UE from a secondary evolved node B (SeNB);

receiving one or more negative acknowledgements (NACKs) from the UE indicating packets that were not successfully received at the UE from the SeNB;

receiving packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)/radio link control (RLC) packet delivery status information for the SeNB and RLC segmentation information for the SeNB;

receiving an indication from the SeNB of an air-interface connection loss between the SeNB and the UE;

identifying remaining packets that were not sent from the SeNB to the UE based, in part, on the ACKs/NACKs received from the UE, the PDCP/RLC packet delivery status information and the RLC segmentation information, the remaining packets not being sent from the SeNB to the UE due to the air-interface connection loss between the SeNB and the UE; and

sending the remaining packets from the MeNB to the UE.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising receiving the PDCP/RLC packet delivery status information and the RLC segmentation information from the SeNB via an X2 interface.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a request for resources from the UE, via a random access channel (RACH), to enable the UE to send the ACKs to the MeNB;

or

receiving a request for resources along with uplink data from the UE, the resources enabling the UE to send the ACKs to the MeNB.

21. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions adapted to be executed to implement the method of claim 18.