Radio resource control (RRC) protocol for integrated WLAN/3GPP radio access technologies

• US 9,609,566 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2014
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Himayat, Nageen, Sirotkin, Alexander, Zhu, Jing, Stojanovski, Alexandre, Fong, Mo-han, Gupta, Vivek G., Niu, Huaning, Zong, Pingping, Dimou, Konstantinos, Yeh, Shu-Ping, Talwar, Shilpa, Venkatachalam, Muthaiah
• Primary Examiner(s): Alia, Curtis A
• Application Number:
  US14/583,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350988A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/041 Key generation or derivation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0072 of resource information of target access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0083 Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 Transfer of terminal data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

An integrated WLAN/WWAN Radio Access Technology (RAT) architecture is described in which signaling used to control the integration of the WLAN/WWAN architecture is performed over the Radio Resource Control (RRC) plane. The integrated architecture may provide a network-controlled framework for performing traffic steering and radio resource management.

Claims

1. User Equipment (UE) comprising:

a wireless wide area network (WWAN) component to connect to a wireless network using licensed frequency spectrum;

a wireless local area network (WLAN) component to connect to a wireless access point (AP) using unlicensed frequency spectrum; and

processing circuitry to;

receive, from the WWAN component and via a radio resource control (RRC) layer, information identifying carriers associated with the wireless AP; and

receive, from the WWAN component and via the RRC layer, an indication to connect to the wireless AP using one of the identified carriers, the indication to connect to the wireless AP including at least a WLAN AP identifier and a WLAN security key;

receive, via the WWAN and as part of an RRC UE Capability Enquiry message, a query for capabilities of the WLAN component;

transmit, in response to the RRC UE Capability Enquiry message, an indication of a media access control (MAC) address associated with the WLAN and an indication of one or more of;

information regarding carrier frequency support provided by the UE;

a number of channels associated with the WLAN component;

information regarding capability of the UE with respect to Multiple-input and Multiple-output (MIMO) of the WLAN component;

or

whether the UE supports an integrated WLAN carrier; and

connect to the wireless AP, based on the received WLAN AP identifier and the WLAN security key, to establish a bearer channel over which data is offloaded from the WWAN to the WLAN.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

receive, from the WWAN component and via the RRC layer, a request for a measurement report, relating to the connection to the wireless AP; and

transmit, to the WLAN and via the RRC layer, one or more measured metrics relating to the connection to the wireless AP.

3. The UE of claim 2, wherein the one or more measured metrics include one or more of:

a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Received Channel Power Indicator (RCPI), or Received Signal-to-Noise Indicator (RSNI), associated with the connection to the wireless AP;

error statistics associated with the connection to the wireless AP;

throughput measurements associated with the connection to the wireless AP;

access delay measurements associated with the connection to the wireless AP;

or

interference statistics associated with the connection to the wireless AP.

4. The UE of claim 2, wherein the request for the measurement report is included within an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

receive, from the WWAN component and via the RRC layer, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message that includes at least one parameter relating to a dedicated radio bearer; and

create, based on the received at least one parameter, the dedicated radio bearer, over the connection with the wireless AP.

6. The UE of claim 5, wherein the at least one parameter includes:

the MAC identifier;

a WLAN Quality of Service (QoS) access class;

or

a probability value relating to a probability that a particular bearer will be allowed to access the WLAN link.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

establish a signaling bearer, over the WLAN, to carry RRC signaling information.

8. The UE of claim 7, wherein the signaling bearer to carry the RRC signaling information over the WLAN is implemented in response to a deep sleep state for the WWAN.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, by User Equipment (UE) and from a base station, a first radio resource control (RRC) layer message indicating that the UE should connect to a wireless access point (AP), the RRC layer message including an AP identifier to which the UE should connect;

connecting, by the UE, to the wireless AP, based on the AP identifier;

receiving, by the UE and from the base station, a second Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer message that includes at least one parameter relating to a dedicated radio bearer;

creating, based on the received at least one parameter, the dedicated radio bearer, over the connection with the wireless AP;

receiving, from the base station and as part of a RRC UE Capability Enquiry message, a query for capabilities of the UE with respect to an ability of the UE to communicate with wireless local area networks (WLANs);

responding to the RRC UE Capability Enquiry message by transmitting, to the base station, an indication of a media access control (MAC) address associated with the WLAN access circuitry associated with the UE; and

using the dedicated radio bearer, over the connection with the wireless AP, to offload data from a wireless wide area network (WWAN) associated with the base station.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first RRC layer message includes security keys associated with the wireless AP.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and second RRC layer messages include RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

switching, in response to one or more RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages received from the base station, between using the dedicated radio bearer over the connection with the wireless AP and between a dedicated radio bearer supported by the base station.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a request for a measurement report, relating to the connection with the wireless AP; and

transmitting, based on the received request, one or more measured metrics relating to the connection with the wireless AP.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more measured metrics include at least one of:

a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Received Channel Power Indicator (RCPI), or Received Signal-to-Noise Indicator (RSNI), associated with the connection with the wireless AP;

error statistics associated with the connection with the wireless AP;

throughput measurements associated with the connection with the wireless AP;

access delay measurements associated with the connection with the wireless AP;

or

interference statistics associated with the connection with the wireless AP.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the request for the measurement report is included within an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the response to the RRC UE Capability Enquiry message additionally includes one or more of:

information regarding carrier frequency support provided by the UE;

a number of channels associated with the WLAN component;

information regarding capability of the UE with respect to Multiple-input and Multiple-output (MIMO) of the WLAN component;

or

an indication of whether the UE supports an integrated WLAN carrier.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

establishing a signaling bearer, over the WLAN, to carry RRC signaling information.

17. The method of 9, wherein the at least one parameter includes:

the MAC address;

a WLAN Quality of Service (QoS) access class;

or

a probability value relating to a probability that a particular bearer will be allowed to access the WLAN link.

19. An integrated access point including:

a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point; and

an evolved NodeB (eNB) that provides an air interface for an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, the eNB being coupled to the WLAN access point via a low latency link, the eNB including processing circuitry to;

determine whether User Equipment (UE), connected to the eNB, is to use the WLAN access point to implement a dedicated radio bearer to offload data traffic from the eNB;

transmit one or more radio resource control (RRC) Connection Reconfiguration messages to the UE, the one or more RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages including an identifier associated with the WLAN access point and one or more parameters associated with the dedicated radio bearer, wherein the one or more parameters include a virtual media access control (MAC) identifier that is used to implement a tunnel over the WLAN;

transmit, to the WLAN access point and via the link between the WLAN access point and the eNB, the one or more parameters associated with the dedicated radio bearer; and

control switching, using RRC layer signaling, between using the dedicated radio bearer, implemented via the WLAN access point, and a dedicated radio bearer implemented via the air interface of the eNB, to transmit data.

20. The integrated access point of claim 19, wherein the one or more parameters include a WLAN Quality of Service (QoS) access class.

21. The integrated access point of claim 19, wherein the one or more RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages additionally include WLAN security keys.

22. The integrated access point of claim 19, wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

transmit, to the UE, a request for a report relating to the connection of the UE with the WLAN access point; and

receive, based on the request for the report, metrics that include at least one of;

a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Received Channel Power Indicator (RCPI), or Received Signal-to-Noise Indicator (RSNI), associated with the connection of the UE with the WLAN access point;

error statistics associated with the connection of the UE with the WLAN access point;

throughput measurements associated with the connection of the UE with the WLAN access point;

access delay measurements associated with the connection of the UE with the WLAN access point;

or

interference statistics associated with the connection of the UE with the WLAN access point.

23. The integrated access point of claim 19, wherein the link includes a dedicated link between the WLAN access point and the eNB.

24. The integrated access point of claim 19, wherein a handover to and from an integrated eNB is based on measurements on the primary cell, using handover signaling associated with the primary radio access technology (RAT), the eNB further includes processing circuitry to:

exchange, during a handoff procedure of the UE with another eNB, context information relating to the WLAN access point.

25. The integrated access point of claim 19, wherein the one or more parameters include a probability value relating to a probability that a particular bearer will be allowed to access the WLAN link.