Bearer QoS mapping for cell relays

• US 9,088,939 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2009
• Issued: 07/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Ulupinar, Fatih, Horn, Gavin B., Agashe, Parag A., Tenny, Nathan E., Shi, Yongsheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Fan
• Application Number:
  US12/604,205
• Publication Number:
  US 20100103863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,098 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2212/00 Encapsulation of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/50 Address allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0072 of resource information of target access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate mapping multiple evolved packet system (EPS) bearers to a single relay eNB radio bearer. In particular, an upstream eNB can select a radio bearer of a downstream eNB for association to an EPS bearer; the selection can be based on a best effort match or substantially any logic. The upstream eNB can store an association between the radio bearer and EPS bearer for subsequent downstream packet routing. The upstream eNB can also provide an indication of the selected radio bearer to the downstream relay eNB to facilitate upstream packet routing therefrom. The upstream eNB can alternatively select the radio bearer of the downstream eNB for association to the EPS bearer based on a quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) of the EPS bearer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer and a portion of an identifier related to the EPS bearer from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB);

storing, at the cell relay, the association and the portion of the identifier with an index of the local radio bearer in a routing table; and

receiving, at the cell relay, data related to the EPS bearer from the upstream eNB over the local radio bearer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the association from the upstream eNB includes receiving the association in an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) related to the EPS bearer, wherein the receiving the association includes determining the association based at least in part on the QCI of the EPS bearer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a radio bearer of a downstream eNB for association to the EPS bearer.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

associating the EPS bearer to a radio bearer of a directly connected user equipment (UE), wherein the receiving the association between the EPS bearer and the local radio bearer is based at least in part on a request received from the directly connected UE;

storing, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table; and

receiving, at the cell relay, data related to the EPS bearer from the upstream evolved Node B (eNB) over the local radio bearer.

6. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

obtain, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer and a portion of an identifier related to the EPS bearer from an upstream evolved e Node B (eNB);

store, at the cell relay, the association and the identifier with an index of the local radio bearer in a routing table for subsequent packet routing; and

receive, at the cell relay, data from the upstream eNB related to the EPS bearer over the local radio bearer; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

7. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor receives the association in an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message from the upstream eNB.

9. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to select a radio bearer of a downstream eNB for association to the EPS bearer.

8. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

obtain, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

receive a quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) of the EPS bearer, wherein the association is obtained based at least in part on determining the local radio bearer relating to the QCI in a static mapping of QCIs to local radio bearers;

store, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table for subsequent packet routing; and

receive, at the cell relay, data from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB) related to the EPS bearer over the local radio bearer; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

10. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

obtain, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

associate the EPS bearer to a radio bearer of a directly connected user equipment (UE), wherein the association is obtained based at least in part on a request from the directly connected UE;

store, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table for subsequent packet routing; and

receive, at the cell relay, data from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB) related to the EPS bearer over the local radio bearer; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer and a portion of an identifier related to the EPS bearer from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB);

means for storing, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table, wherein the storing includes storing the portion of the identifier with an index of the local radio bearer; and

means for receiving, at the cell relay, data related to the EPS bearer from the upstream eNB over the local radio bearer.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for receiving the association receives the association in an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for receiving the association determines the association based on a received (QoS) class identifier (QCI) related to the EPS bearer.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising means for selecting a radio bearer of a downstream eNB for association to the EPS bearer.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for receiving the association receives the association based at least in part on a request from a user equipment (UE) directly communicating with the apparatus.

16. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer and a portion of an identifier related to the EPS bearer from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB);

code for causing the at least one computer to store, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table, wherein the storing includes storing the portion of the identifier with an index of the local radio bearer; and

code for causing the at least one computer to receive, at the cell relay, data related to the EPS bearer from the upstream eNB over the local radio bearer.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the code for causing the at least one computer to receive the association from the upstream eNB receives the association in an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to receive a quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) related to the EPS bearer, and the code for causing the at least one computer to receive the association determines the association based at least in part on the QCI of the EPS bearer.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to select a radio bearer of a downstream eNB for association to the EPS bearer.

20. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

code for causing the at least one computer to associate the EPS bearer to a radio bearer of a directly connected user equipment (UE), wherein the association between the EPS bearer and the local radio bearer is received based at least in part on a request received from the directly connected UE;

code for causing the at least one computer to store, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table; and

code for causing the at least one computer to receive, at the cell relay data related to the EPS bearer from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB) over the local radio bearer.

21. A hardware apparatus, comprising:

a bearer select receiving component, at a cell relay, that receives an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer and an identifier related to the EPS bearer from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB);

an EPS bearer mapping component, at the cell relay, that stores the association and the identifier related to the EPS bearer in a routing table; and

a bearer communicating component, at the cell relay, that receives data related to the EPS bearer from the upstream eNB over the local radio bearer.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the bearer select receiving component receives the association in an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the bearer select receiving component is an EPS class determining component that discerns the association based on a received (QoS) class identifier (QCI) related to the EPS bearer.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a relay bearer selecting component that selects a radio bearer of a downstream eNB for association to the EPS bearer.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the bearer communicating component receives the association based at least in part on a request from a user equipment (UE) directly communicating with the apparatus.

26. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

means for associating the EPS bearer to a radio bearer of a directly connected user equipment (UE), wherein the receiving the association between the EPS bearer and the local radio bearer is based at least in part on a request received from the directly connected UE;

means for storing, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table; and

means for receiving, at the cell relay, data related to the EPS bearer from the upstream evolved Node B (eNB) over the local radio bearer.

27. A wireless communications method, comprising:

obtaining, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

receiving a quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) of the EPS bearer, wherein the association is obtained based at least in part on determining the local radio bearer relating to the QCI in a static mapping of QCIs to local radio bearers;

storing, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table for subsequent packet routing; and

receiving, at the cell relay, data from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB) related to the EPS bearer over the local radio bearer.

28. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

means for receiving a quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) of the EPS bearer, wherein the association is obtained based at least in part on determining the local radio bearer relating to the QCI in a static mapping of QCIs to local radio bearers;

means for storing, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table for subsequent packet routing; and

means for receiving, at the cell relay, data from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB) related to the EPS bearer over the local radio bearer.

29. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

code for obtaining, at a cell relay, an association of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer to a local radio bearer;

code for receiving a quality of service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) of the EPS bearer, wherein the association is obtained based at least in part on determining the local radio bearer relating to the QCI in a static mapping of QCIs to local radio bearers;

code for storing, at the cell relay, the association in a routing table for subsequent packet routing; and

code for receiving, at the cell relay, data from an upstream evolved Node B (eNB) related to the EPS bearer over the local radio bearer.