System and method for information delivery with multiple point transmission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10257103-B2
Application number	US-201615255870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2016
Priority date	Oct 7, 2011
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

A system and method for information delivery with multiple point transmission are provided. A method for detecting lost packets is provided. The method includes initiating a timer for a received packet at a receiving transmission point, where the timer is set according to a time value associated with the received packet. The method also includes determining that a delivery of the received packet has failed according to the timer elapsing, and transmitting a lost packet report to a primary transmission point that distributed the received packet to the receiving transmission point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a user equipment, the method comprising:
wirelessly receiving from multiple transmission points, by the user equipment, a plurality of convergence protocol packets of a single bearer, each of the convergence protocol packets comprising a respective convergence protocol sequencing number,
a first group of the convergence protocol packets being received by the user equipment from a first radio or link control protocol entity on a first transmission point, and
a second group of the convergence protocol packets being received by the user equipment from a second radio or link control protocol entity on a second transmission point;

ordering, by the user equipment, the first and second groups of convergence protocol packets according to the respective convergence protocol sequencing numbers of the convergence protocol packets;
providing the ordered convergence protocol packets to a higher network layer entity of the user equipment; and
wirelessly transmitting, by the user equipment, a convergence protocol status report indicating whether one or more packets of the first and second groups of the convergence protocol packets of the single bearer are lost.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a convergence protocol packet associated with a missing convergence protocol sequencing number in a sequence of the convergence protocol sequencing numbers of the ordered convergence protocol packets as an out-of-order convergence protocol packet;
repeatedly evaluating whether a lost convergence protocol packet threshold is met for the out-of-order convergence protocol packet; and
determining the out-of-order convergence protocol packet is a lost convergence protocol packet when the lost convergence protocol packet threshold is met.

3. The method of claim 2 , the lost convergence protocol packet threshold comprising a time threshold, the repeatedly evaluating whether the lost convergence protocol packet threshold is met for the out-of-order convergence protocol packet comprises starting a timer with a timer value equal to the time threshold, and the start of the timer being triggered by the user equipment receiving a convergence protocol packet associated with a convergence protocol sequencing number larger than a convergence protocol sequencing number associated with the out-of-order convergence protocol packet.

4. The method of claim 3 , the determining the out-of-order convergence protocol packet as the lost convergence protocol packet comprising stopping evaluating the out-of-order convergence protocol packet for ordering when the timer is expired before receiving another convergence protocol packet with another convergence protocol sequencing number corresponding to the missing convergence protocol sequencing number in the sequence of convergence protocol sequencing numbers.

5. The method of claim 2 , the lost convergence protocol packet threshold comprising a number threshold, and the lost convergence protocol packet threshold being met when a count of received convergence protocol packets after identifying the out-of-order convergence protocol packet is larger than the number threshold.

6. The method of claim 2 , the lost convergence protocol packet threshold comprising a number of received convergence protocol packets threshold, and the determining the out-of-order convergence protocol packet is the lost convergence protocol packet comprising stopping further evaluating the out-of-order convergence protocol packet for ordering when a first count of convergence protocol packets received since the convergence protocol packet identified as the out-of-order convergence protocol packet meets the number of received convergence protocol packets threshold before receiving another convergence protocol packet with another convergence protocol sequencing number corresponding to the missing convergence protocol sequencing number in the sequence of convergence protocol sequencing numbers.

7. The method of claim 1 , the convergence protocol sequencing numbers being COUNT values associated with a packet data convergence protocol.

8. The method of claim 1 , the convergence protocol packets being packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packets.

9. The method of claim 1 , the radio or link control protocol being a radio link control (RLC) protocol.

10. The method of claim 1 , at least one of the convergence protocol packets being received out-of-sequence according to the convergence protocol sequencing numbers.

11. The method of claim 1 , the transmitting the convergence protocol status report comprising directly transmitting the convergence protocol status report to the first transmission point.

12. The method of claim 1 , the transmitting the convergence protocol status report comprising transmitting the convergence protocol status report to the second transmission point for relaying to the first transmission point.

13. A user equipment comprising:
a non-transitory memory storage, in the user equipment, comprising instructions; and
one or more processors, in the user equipment and in communication with the memory storage, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to:
wirelessly receive, from multiple transmission points, a plurality of convergence protocol packets of a single bearer, each of the convergence protocol packets comprising a respective convergence protocol sequencing number,
a first group of the convergence protocol packets being received by the user equipment from a first radio or link control protocol entity on a first transmission point; and
a second group of the convergence protocol packets being received by the user equipment from a second radio or link control protocol entity on a second transmission point;

order, by the user equipment, the first and second groups of convergence protocol packets according to the respective convergence protocol sequencing numbers of the convergence protocol packets;
provide the ordered convergence protocol packets to a higher network layer entity of the user equipment; and
wirelessly transmit a convergence protocol status report indicating whether one or more packets of the first and second groups of the convergence protocol packets of the single bearer are lost.

14. The user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to:
identify a convergence protocol packet associated with a missing convergence protocol sequencing number in a sequence of the convergence protocol sequencing numbers of the ordered convergence protocol packets as an out-of-order convergence protocol packet;
repeatedly evaluate whether a lost convergence protocol packet threshold is met for the out-of-order convergence protocol packet; and
determine the out-of-order convergence protocol packet is a lost convergence protocol packet when the lost convergence protocol packet threshold is met.

15. The user equipment of claim 14 , wherein the lost convergence protocol packet threshold comprises a time threshold, wherein repeatedly evaluating whether the lost convergence protocol packet threshold is met for the out-of-order convergence protocol packet comprises starting a timer with a timer value equal to the time threshold, and wherein the start of the timer is triggered by the user equipment receiving a convergence protocol packet associated with a convergence protocol sequencing number larger than a convergence protocol sequencing number associated with the out-of-order convergence protocol packet.

16. The user equipment of claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors exe

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Bi Hao
• Sun Yishen

Classifications

• H04L1/188

  Time-out mechanisms · CPC title

• H04L1/1896

  ARQ related signaling · CPC title

• H04L45/16

  Multipoint routing · CPC title

• H04W24/08

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic · CPC title

• H04L1/1874

  Buffer management · CPC title