Systems, methods, and appartatuses for bearer splitting in multi-radio HetNet
First Claim
1. An evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) Node B (eNB) operating in a radio access network (RAN) anchored multi-radio heterogeneous network, the eNB comprising:
- a link aggregation scheduler configured to;
determine a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) proportion of the data traffic to be transmitted over an LTE link and a WLAN proportion of the data traffic to be transmitted over a wireless local area network (WLAN) link;
provide instructions, to a push-based link aggregation transmitter, that includes a proportion comprising the LTE proportion or the WLAN proportion;
a push-based link aggregation transmitter forming a protocol layer within an enhanced LTE protocol stack, the push-based link aggregation transmitter configured to;
receive data traffic transmitted over a LTE bearer into a traffic packet buffer;
receive the instructions, from the link aggregation scheduler, that includes the proportion;
retrieve data from the traffic packet buffer;
provide a portion of the data to a WLAN packet buffer for transmission using a WLAN protocol stack based at least in part on the proportion; and
provide a portion of the data to a LTE packet buffer for transmission using a LTE protocol stack based at least in part on the proportion.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for bearer splitting among multiple radio links are disclosed herein. User equipment (UE) may be communicatively coupled to an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (eNB) by multiple radio links (e.g., an LTE link and a WLAN link). A transmitter may dynamically determine a splitting policy for how to split traffic among each link (e.g., what proportion to send over each link). In some embodiments, the transmitter may determine the splitting policy explicitly based on lower layer metrics. Alternatively, or in addition, each radio access interface may request data when a transmission opportunity becomes available, and the splitting policy may be determined implicitly from the data requests. For a UE, the splitting policy may be determined with network assistance, which may include a resource allocation for an LTE link, a probability of successful transmission over a WLAN link, and/or the like.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) Node B (eNB) operating in a radio access network (RAN) anchored multi-radio heterogeneous network, the eNB comprising:
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a link aggregation scheduler configured to; determine a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) proportion of the data traffic to be transmitted over an LTE link and a WLAN proportion of the data traffic to be transmitted over a wireless local area network (WLAN) link; provide instructions, to a push-based link aggregation transmitter, that includes a proportion comprising the LTE proportion or the WLAN proportion; a push-based link aggregation transmitter forming a protocol layer within an enhanced LTE protocol stack, the push-based link aggregation transmitter configured to; receive data traffic transmitted over a LTE bearer into a traffic packet buffer; receive the instructions, from the link aggregation scheduler, that includes the proportion; retrieve data from the traffic packet buffer; provide a portion of the data to a WLAN packet buffer for transmission using a WLAN protocol stack based at least in part on the proportion; and provide a portion of the data to a LTE packet buffer for transmission using a LTE protocol stack based at least in part on the proportion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for communicating using multiple radios, the method comprising:
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calculating, at a base station, a data split between a cellular proportion of the data traffic to be transmitted over a cellular link and a WLAN proportion of the data traffic to be transmitted over a wireless local area network (WLAN) link; and receiving data traffic transmitted over a cellular bearer into a traffic packet buffer; retrieving data from the traffic packet buffer; providing a portion of the data to the WLAN packet buffer for transmission using a WLAN protocol stack according to the calculated data split for transmission to a wireless communication device providing a portion of the data to the cellular packet buffer for transmission using a cellular protocol stack according to the calculated data split for transmission to a wireless communication device. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A user equipment (UE) for communicating with a base station over multiple radio links, the UE comprising:
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a scheduler configured to; determine a division of data between a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio link and a wireless local area network (WLAN) radio link, and divide data from a traffic packet buffer into a first portion in a LTE traffic buffer for the LTE radio link and a second portion in a WLAN traffic buffer for the WLAN radio link according to the determined division; a first transceiver configured to retrieve data from the LTE traffic buffer and transmit the first portion of data over the first radio link; and a second transceiver configured to retrieve data from the WLAN traffic buffer and transmit the second portion of data over the second radio link. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification