Base station, user equipment and method for TCP transmission with dynamic TDD reconfiguration

• US 9,838,331 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2012
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Fan, Rui
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Latorre, Ivan O
• Application Number:
  US14/646,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20150288611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,834 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1835 Buffer management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1848 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1874 Buffer management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/266 Stopping or restarting the source, e.g. X-on or X-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/283 in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/56 implementing delay-aware scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0273 adapting protocols for flow control or congestion control to wireless environment, e.g. adapting transmission control protocol [TCP] wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation, e.g. wireless application protocol H04W80/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/00 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/06 Transport layer protocols, e.g. TCP [Transport Control Protocol] over wireless transmission control protocol/Internet protocol [TCP/IP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/182 Network node acting on behalf of an other network entity, e.g. proxy

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for forwarding to a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) receiver a TCP transmission sent from a TCP sender. The method includes: determining Time Division Duplex (TDD) reconfiguration time required for a TDD reconfiguration; comparing the TDD reconfiguration time with a predetermined threshold; suspending the forwarding of the TCP transmission to the TCP receiver during the TDD reconfiguration time if the TDD reconfiguration time is larger than the predetermined threshold; and resuming the suspended forwarding of the TCP transmission after the TDD reconfiguration time has lapsed. The present disclosure also provides a method for transmitting a TCP transmission to a TCP receiver, a base station and a user equipment.

Claims

1. A method for forwarding to a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) receiver a TCP transmission sent from a TCP sender, the method comprising:

determining, by a base station, Time Division Duplex (TDD) reconfiguration time required for a TDD reconfiguration that includes allocating a number of subframes, wherein the determination is based on a higher value between a first TDD reconfiguration time required by the base station and a second TDD reconfiguration time required by a user equipment (UE);

comparing, by the base station, the TDD reconfiguration time with a predetermined threshold;

suspending, by the base station, the forwarding of the TCP transmission to the TCP receiver during the TDD reconfiguration time if the TDD reconfiguration time is larger than the predetermined threshold; and

resuming, by the base station, the suspended forwarding of the TCP transmission after the TDD reconfiguration time has lapsed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the TDD reconfiguration,

delaying the forwarding of the TCP transmission for a time period dependent on the TDD reconfiguration time, such that an expiration value of a TCP timeout timer at the TCP sender is increased to a value that does not cause the TCP timeout timer to expire due to the suspension.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the TDD reconfiguration, transmitting to the TCP sender a first TCP Acknowledge (ACK) packet to disable the TCP sender from sending any further TCP packet, wherein the first TCP ACK packet is intercepted and a receive window field is overwritten to be zero; and

after the TDD reconfiguration time has lapsed, transmitting to the TCP sender a second TCP ACK packet to enable the TCP sender to send any further TCP packet.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first TCP ACK packet has a receive window field of a zero value, and the second TCP ACK packet has a receive window field of a non-zero value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the TCP receiver is the user equipment served by the base station.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the TCP transmission comprises a first TCP transmission from the TCP sender to a proxy and a second TCP transmission from the proxy to the TCP receiver, and wherein the method further comprises:

prior to the TDD reconfiguration, instructing the proxy to transmit to the TCP sender a first TCP Acknowledge (ACK) packet to disable the TCP sender from sending any further TCP packet; and

after the TDD reconfiguration time has lapsed, instructing the proxy to transmit to the TCP sender a second TCP ACK packet to enable the TCP sender to send any further TCP packet.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method is applicable on the base station, the TCP receiver is the user equipment served by the base station, and the proxy is located between the TCP sender and the base station.

8. A method for transmitting a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) transmission to a TCP receiver, the method comprising:

obtaining, by a user equipment, Time Division Duplex (TDD) reconfiguration time required for a TDD reconfiguration that includes allocating a number of subframes, wherein the obtainment is based on a higher value between a first TDD reconfiguration time required by a base station and a second TDD reconfiguration time required by the user equipment (UE);

suspending, by the user equipment, transmission of TCP packets to the TCP receiver during the TDD reconfiguration time if the TDD reconfiguration time is larger than a predetermined threshold; and

resuming, by the user equipment the suspended transmission of TCP packets after the TDD reconfiguration time has lapsed.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

comparing the TDD reconfiguration time with the predetermined threshold to determine if the TDD reconfiguration time is larger than the predetermined threshold.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

prior to the TDD reconfiguration,

delaying, at a lower layer than a TCP layer, transmission of TCP packets for a time period dependent on the TDD reconfiguration time, such that an expiration value of a TCP timeout timer at a user equipment (UE) is increased to a value that does not cause the TCP timeout timer to expire due to the suspension.