IP based cellular communication system utilizing advanced tunnels and encapsulation methods useful in conjunction therewith

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10098053-B2
Application number	US-201715497808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2017
Priority date	Mar 10, 2011
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

A dynamic hierarchical cellular system implementing multi-hop encapsulation, wherein in at least one message destined for an individual base station functionality, the individual base station functionality's header is encapsulated within an individual mobile station functionality's header, so as to allow said message to be routed by said router to the individual base station functionality, via the individual mobile station functionality.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dynamic hierarchical cellular system implementing multi-hop encapsulation, the system comprising:
a core including a mobility management entity (MME) and an Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity gateway interfacing therewith;
at least one static base station coupled to the mobility management entity and the IP connectivity gateway in the core;
at least one individual moving relay coupled to at least one individual static base station and including an individual mobile station functionality and an individual base station functionality; and
at least one mobile station coupled to at least one of the static base station and the at least one moving relay, wherein
the core comprises an encapsulating router, whose routing operations encapsulate messages to and from the at least one mobile station, without resorting to use of a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) tunneling protocol,
the encapsulating router is coupled to the IP connectivity gateway, to the mobility management entity and to the individual static base station via which the individual moving relay connects to the core, and the router is operative for re-routing, to the gateway, at least packets designated to an IP address of one of the at least one moving relay,
the system is configured to implement multi-hop encapsulation, such that, for at least one message destined for an individual base station functionality, the individual base station functionality's header is encapsulated within the individual mobile station functionality's header, so as to allow the message to be routed by the router to the individual base station functionality, via the individual mobile station functionality,
the system is configured to support multiple relay scenarios with dynamic topology, in which relay connections vary over time, in that at least one mobile station functionality, user entity (UE), with plural potential connections to plural nodes respectively, is provided in the at least one relay, with IP level relayed information regarding various of said plural potential connections via the at least one relay that said UE is currently connected to, the plural nodes including at least one of (a) base stations and (b) relay nodes' base station functionalities, and
decision making functionality is provided to:
dynamically derive from said information, a correct IP routing over multiple relays, from among multiple alternative routes available for a one to one entity connection, which will connect said UE to a given final destination via a suitable number of available relay nodes, given a current topology of said available relay nodes, and
dynamically select a relay for the UE to be served by, from among said plural potential connections, accordingly.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the router is configured to:
if an IP address of a destination in a header of a packet indicates one of a mobile station destination and a relay destination, route the packet to the IP connectivity gateway, and
if an IP address of a destination in a header of a packet indicates a static base station, route the packet to the static base station.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one pair of IP addresses of at least one mobile station functionality and base station functionality have a common portion which is recognized by the router.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein all mobile station functionalities served by the core have IP addresses with a common portion which is recognized by the router.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the core is configured to:
assign identical IP addresses to the at least one base station functionality and the at least one mobile station functionality, and
assign different first and second ports to the respective at least one base station functionality and at least one mobile station functionality.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one pair of IP addresses of a base station functionality and a mobile station functionality respectively includes:
a first portion, common to both IP addresses in the pair, and common to the base station functionality and the mobile station functionality, and
a second portion, which differs between the IP addresses in the pair and represents uniqueness of each of the base station functionality and the mobile station functionality, respectively.

7. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising an additional router in the at least one relay that is configured to, upon receipt of a message from a co-located base station functionality, send to the additional encapsulating router in the core the message with a header indicating that the message was sent by the additional router.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one moving relay has a relay resource manager operative to, when the at least one moving relay joins a network served by the core, instruct the additional router to store an association between the at least one moving relay's individual base station functionality and the at least one moving relay's co-located mobile station functionality.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the router is operative to route information to the individual base station functionality, via the individual mobile station functionality.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the router cooperates with a logical table in the mobility management entity which indicates which base station serves each respective mobile station.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein as each individual relay of the at least one moving relay enters a network served by the core, the respective individual relay's mobile station functionality is assigned an IP address which the router is pre-configured to identify as an IP address of the individual relay's individual base station functionality.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the core includes a core network, and
all mobile station functionalities in relays served by the core form a subnet of the core network.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the core includes a core network, and
all base station functionalities in relays served by the core form a subnet of the core network.

14. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the router is operative to route Internet Protocol (IP)-packets arriving from the mobility management entity within the core.

15. The system according to claim 1 , wherein all base station functionalities' Internet Protocol (IP) addresses have a common portion which is recognized by the router.

16. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one moving relay includes a first moving relay comprising a radio manager co-located with said individual base station functionality and said individual mobile station functionality,
the individual base station functionality is operative to communicate via antennae with at least one mobile station thereby to define a first radio link therebetween,
said individual base station functionality has a physical connection to its co-located radio manager,
the individual mobile station functionality communicates via antennae with a unit which has base station functionality thereby to define a second radio link,
the radio manager comprises:
a radio resource manager; and
functionality for exchanging information with radio managers included in moving relays other than said first moving relay, and

the radio resource manager is configured to use the exchanged information to select, for at least one individual mobile station seeking to be served, one of: a static

Assignees

• Elta Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Sherman Itay

Classifications

• H04B7/15542 Primary

  Selecting at relay station its transmit and receive resources (selection of wireless resources by user or terminal H04W72/02; arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path by two-dimensional division of the resources H04L5/0003, or by allocating sub-channels H04L5/003) · CPC title

• H04W72/30

  Resource management for broadcast services · CPC title

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W40/22 Primary

  using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point · CPC title