Scheme to discard an erroneous PDU received in a wireless communication system

• US 7,269,760 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2003
• Issued: 09/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innovative Sonic Limited
• Original Assignee: Innovative Sonic Limited
• Inventors: Wu, Frank Chih-Hsiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman; Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOHN, JOSHUA A
• Application Number:
  US10/358,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20040153852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: 714/43, 370/282, 370/466, 370/467, 370/469
• US Class Current: 714/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1838 for semi-reliable protocols, e.g. for less sensitive applications such as streaming video buffer level management for video bitstream receiver H04N21/44004

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for specifying actions that a receiver takes upon receiving an AM or UM PDU with an error indication. Currently, for RLC acknowledged mode (AM) and unacknowledged mode (UM), upon receiving an AM or UM PDU with an error indication, actions that the receiver takes are not specified. Inappropriate actions that the receiver takes can cause serious problems. For example, unnecessary reset procedures are initiated, unnecessary retransmissions are made, data is lost, or synchronization between the sender and receiver can be lost. In an embodiment of the present invention, for RLC AM, upon receiving an AM PDU with an error indication, the receiver discards this PDU. In another embodiment of the present invention, for RLC UM, upon receiving an UM PDU with an error indication, the receiver discards this PDU. In another embodiment, MAC discards a MAC SDU that is to be delivered to an AM or a UM RLC entity, if an error indication for this SDU has been received from the lower layer. As a result, radio resources are not wasted, unnecessary retransmissions are avoided, synchronization is maintained, and data loss is prevented. Therefore, by utilizing the present invention, wireless communication system performance is improved.

Claims

1. A method for error handling in a receiver of a wireless communication system, wherein the receiver contains at least a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a lower layer, an upper layer, and a configurable setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs, the RLC layer containing at least a transparent mode (TM) entity and an acknowledged mode (AM) entity, the method comprising:

the MAC layer delivering MAC SDUs, which are also called RLC PDUs, to the RLC layer with an error indication if an error indication for the MAC SDU has been received from the lower layer;

if the setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured as no, the TM RLC entity only delivering RLC SDUs reassembling from RLC PDUs received without error indication to the upper layer;

if the setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured as yes, the TM RLC entity delivering all RLC SDUs reassembling from RLC PDUs to the upper layer, and/or an error indication being provided for each SDU reassembling from at least one RLC PDU that was received with the error indication;

if the setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured as No detect, the TM RLC entity delivering all RLC SDUs reassembling from received RLC PDUs to upper layers;

the AM RLC entity receiving an RLC PDU with the error indication from the MAC layer; and

upon receiving the RLC PDU with the error indication, the AM RLC entity discarding the RLC PDU.

2. The method for error handling of claim 1 wherein the configurable setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured by the upper layer.

3. A method for error handling in a receiver of a wireless communication system, wherein the receiver contains at least a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a lower layer, an upper layer, and a configurable setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs, the RLC layer containing at least a transparent mode (TM) entity and an unacknowledged mode (UM) entity, the method comprising:

the MAC layer delivering MAC SDUs, which are also called RLC PDUs, to the RLC layer with an error indication if an error indication for the MAC SDU has been received from the lower layer;

if the setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured as no, the TM RLC entity only delivering RLC SDUs reassembling from RLC PDUs received without error indication to the upper layer;

if the setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured as yes, the TM RLC entity delivering all RLC SDUs reassembling from RLC PDUs to the upper layer, and/or an error indication being provided for each SDU reassembling from at least one RLC PDU that was received with the error indication;

if the setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured as No detect, the TM RLC entity delivering all RLC SDUs reassembling from received RLC PDUs to upper layers;

the UM RLC entity receiving an RLC PDU with the error indication from the MAC layer; and

upon receiving the RLC PDU with the error indication, the UM RLC entity discarding the RLC PDU.

4. The method for error handling of claim 3 wherein the configurable setting for Delivery of Erroneous SDUs is configured by the upper layer.