BASE-STATION-TO-BASE-STATION GATEWAY AND RELATED DEVICES, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS

• US 20160205060A1
• Filed: 03/22/2016
• Published: 07/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Gunnarsson, Fredrik, Engstrm, Stefan, Masini, Gino Luca, Norrman, Karl
• Granted Patent: US 9,980,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/33 containing protocol addresses or telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/182 Network node acting on behalf of an other network entity, e.g. proxy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/00 Technologies for an efficient end-user side electric power management and consumption
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a base-station-to-base-station (BS-BS) gateway in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular communication network and methods of operation thereof. In one embodiment, the BS-BS gateway receives information from a first base station which includes a hostname and a network address of the first base station. The BS-BS gateway then stores a mapping between the hostname and the network address. Thereafter, in one embodiment, the BS-BS gateway enables a second base station to address messages to the first base station using the hostname of the first base station. In this manner, changes in the network address of the first base station will not affect the ability of the second base station to address messages to the first base station. In some embodiments, the first base station is a low-power base station (LP-BS) and the second base station is a high-power base station (HP-BS).

Claims

1. A method of operation of a base-station-to-base-station gateway between a first base station and a second base station in a cellular communication network, the method comprising:

receiving information from the first base station comprising;

a hostname of the first base station; and

a network address of the first base station; and

storing a mapping between the hostname and the network address.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first base station is a low-power base station and the second base station is a high-power base station.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the cellular communication network is a Long Term Evolution cellular communication network and the base-station-to-base-station gateway is an X2-GW, and further wherein:

receiving the information from the first base station comprises receiving the information via a Stream Control Transmission Protocol INIT message from the first base station.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the SCTP INIT message comprises the hostname of the first base station and the network address of the first base station.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the SCTP INIT message comprises the hostname of the first base station, and the network address of the first base station is determined from a sender Internet Protocol, IP, address included in a header of an IP packet in which the SCTP INIT message is contained.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the first base station is a low-power base station and the second base station is a high-power base station.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the high-power base station is an eNB and the low-power base station is selected from the group consisting of a microcell eNB, a picocell eNB, a femtocell eNB, and a Home eNB.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a connection initiation from the second base station to initiate a connection to the first base station; and

informing the second base station that the base-station-to-base-station gateway is a base-station-to-base-station gateway.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the first base station is a low-power base station and the second base station is a high-power base station.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the cellular communication network is a Long Term Evolution cellular communication network and the base-station-to-base-station gateway is an X2-GW, and further wherein:

receiving the connection initiation comprises receiving a Stream Control Transmission Protocol INIT message from the high-power base station; and

informing the high-power base station comprises sending a Stream Control Transmission Protocol ERROR message to the high-power base station with an error code that indicates to the high-power base station that the X2-GW is an X2-GW.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a message from the second base station wherein a destination of the message is identified as the hostname of the first base station;

obtaining the network address of the first base station from the mapping between the hostname and the network address of the first base station; and

sending the message to the first base station using the network address.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the first base station is a low-power base station and the second base station is a high-power base station.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the cellular communication network is a Long Term Evolution cellular communication network and the base-station-to-base-station gateway is an X2-GW, and further wherein:

receiving the message comprises receiving the message from the high-power base station via a first X2 connection between the high-power base station and the X2-GW; and

sending the message further comprises sending the message to the low-power base station via a second X2 connection between the X2-GW and the low-power base station.

14. A base-station-to-base-station gateway configured for use between a first base station and a second base station in a cellular communication network comprising:

a storage unit;

a communication subsystem configured to communicatively couple base-station-to-base-station gateway to one or more of the first base station and the second base station; and

a processing subsystem associated with the communication subsystem and the storage unit configured to;

receive information from the first base station via the communication subsystem, the information comprising;

a hostname of the first base station; and

a network address of the first base station; and

store a mapping between the hostname and the network address in the storage unit.

15. The base-station-to-base-station gateway of claim 14 wherein the first base station is a low-power base station and the second base station is a high-power base station.

16. The base-station-to-base-station gateway of claim 15 wherein:

the cellular communication network is a Long Term Evolution cellular communication network;

the base-station-to-base-station gateway is an X2-GW; and

in order to receive the information from the low-power base station, the processing subsystem is further configured to receive the information via a Stream Control Transmission Protocol INIT message from the low-power base station.

17. The X2-GW of claim 16 wherein the high-power base station is an eNB and the low-power base station is selected from the group consisting of a microcell eNB, a picocell eNB, a femtocell eNB, and a Home eNB.

18. The base-station-to-base-station gateway of claim 15 wherein the processing subsystem is further configured to:

receive, via the communication subsystem, a connection initiation from the high-power base station to initiate a connection to the low-power base station; and

inform, via the communication subsystem, the high-power base station that the base-station-to-base-station gateway is a base-station-to-base-station gateway.

19. The base-station-to-base-station gateway of claim 18 wherein the base-station-to-base-station gateway is an X2-GW, and:

in order to receive the connection initiation, the processing subsystem is further configured to receive a Stream Control Transmission Protocol INIT message from the high-power base station to initiate the connection to the low-power base station; and

in order to inform the high-power base station, the processing subsystem is further configured to send a Stream Control Transmission Protocol ERROR message to the high-power base station with an error code that indicates to the high-power base station that the X2-GW is an X2-GW.

20. The base-station-to-base-station gateway of claim 18:

in order to receive the connection initiation, the processing subsystem is further configured to receive a Stream Control Transmission Protocol INIT message from the high-power base station to initiate the connection to the low-power base station; and

in order to inform the high-power base station, the processing subsystem is further configured to send a Stream Control Transmission Protocol ERROR message to the high-power base station with an error code that indicates to the high-power base station that the base-station-to-base-station gateway is a base-station-to-base-station gateway.