Concept for load balancing in a radio access network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10595260-B2
Application number	US-201214111386-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2012
Priority date	Apr 12, 2011
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

A concept for balancing a load in a mobile communication network, comprising receiving 130 receive data from a radio transceiver using a first interface and determining 140 a first receive data packet and a second receive data packet from the receive data, the first receive data packet and the second receive data packet being associated to different services. The concept comprises forwarding 150 the first receive data packet to a first processing unit using a second interface, and forwarding the second receive data packet to a second processing unit using the second interface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for balancing a load in a mobile communication network, comprising:
a first interface configured to communicate with a radio transceiver;
a second interface configured to communicate with a first processing unit and configured to communicate with a second processing unit;
a baseband receiver configured to receive a multiplexed or demultiplexed baseband receive signal from the radio transceiver using the first interface;
a determiner configured to determine a first receive data packet and a second receive data packet from the multiplexed or demultiplexed baseband receive signal, the first receive data packet and the second receive data packet being associated to different services; and
a forwarder configured to forward the first receive data packet to the first processing unit using the second interface, and configured to forward the second receive data packet to the second processing unit using the second interface, wherein the radio transceiver corresponds to a remote radio head of the mobile communication network;
wherein the first and the second receive data packets refer to different radio bearers, a radio bearer being a protocol context for a data service of a user;
wherein the forwarder is configured to forward data packets of different radio bearers received from the radio transceiver to at least two different processing units from a plurality of processing units based on a load balancing criterion; and
wherein a processing unit of the plurality of processing units is configured to be switched off for as long as other processing units can handle the load.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first transmit data packet receiver configured to receive a first transmit data packet from the first processing unit using the second interface,
a second transmit data packet receiver configured to receive a second transmit data packet from the second processing unit using the second interface, the first transmit data packet and the second transmit data packet being associated to different services,
a composer configured to compose a baseband transmit signal based on the first transmit data packet and based on the second transmit data packet; and
a forwarder configured to forward the baseband transmit signal to the radio transceiver using the first interface.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the composer is configured to compose the baseband transmit signal by multiplexing the first transmit data packet and the second transmit data packet, the first transmit data packet and the second transmit data packet being associated to different services provided by the mobile communication network in a coverage area of the radio transceiver.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the determiner is configured to demultiplex the first and the second receive data packet from the received data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio transceiver corresponds to a transceiver for a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication), an EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution), a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), an LTE (Long Term Evolution), or an LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) mobile communication system.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first interface corresponds to a common public radio interface (CPRI) and/or the first processing unit and the second processing unit corresponds to baseband units of a mobile communication system, a baseband unit being a processing unit for processing baseband signals of radio signals to be transmitted or having been received in a transmission-band.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first interface is configured to exchange complex valued digital baseband data with the radio transceiver and wherein the second interface is configured to exchange complex valued digital baseband data with the first and the second processing unit and/or wherein the apparatus further comprises a third interface for communicating with another apparatus for exchanging control information.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first interface corresponds to an optical interface for optical communication with the radio transceiver, and/or wherein the second interface corresponds to an optical interface for optical communication with the first or the second processing unit.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further configured to perform load balancing, routing, O&M (Operation and Maintenance), cell broadcast functions (Layer 3), call processing for the RRC protocol (Radio Resource Control), and/or multi cell packet scheduling.

10. A system for cloud computing in a mobile communication network, the system comprising at least one of an apparatus for balancing a load according to claim 1 ,
a remote radio head comprising a receiver configured to receive a receive signal in a transmission-band, a converter configured to convert the receive signal from the transmission-band to a baseband to obtain a baseband receive signal, a determiner configured to determine a first receive data packet and a second receive data packet from the baseband receive signal, the first receive data packet and the second receive data packet being associated to different services, an interface configured to communicate with a load balancing entity, a forwarder configured to forward the first and the second receive data packet to the load balancing entity using the interface, and a composer configured to multiplex or demultiplex the first and the second receive data packet, and,
a baseband processing unit comprising an interface for receiving the baseband receive signal from a load balancing entity, a determiner configured to determine a first receive data packet and a second receive data packet from the baseband receive signal, the first receive data packet and the second receive data packet being associated to different services, and a processor configured to process the first receive data packet and configured to process the second receive data packet.

11. A remote radio head for communicating radio signals, a radio signal being received or transmitted from or to a plurality of transceivers, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a receive signal in a transmission-band;
a converter configured to convert the receive signal from the transmission-band to a baseband to obtain a baseband receive signal;
a determiner configured to determine a first receive data packet and a second receive data packet from the baseband receive signal, the first receive data packet and the second receive data packet being associated to different services;
an interface configured to communicate with a load balancing entity;
a composer configured to multiplex or demultiplex the first receive data packet and the second receive data packet; and
a forwarder configured to forward the first and the second receive data packet to the load balancing entity using the interface;
wherein the first and the second receive data packets refer to different radio bearers, a radio bearer being a protocol context for a data service of a user;
wherein the forwarder is configured to forward data packets of different radio bearers received from the radio transceiver to at least two different processing units from a plurality of processing units based on a load balancing criterion; and
wherein a processing unit of the plurality of processing units is configured to be switched off for as long as other processing units can handle a load.

12. The remote radio head of claim 11 , further comprising:
an obtainer configured to obtain a first transmit data packet and a second transmit data packet from the load balancing entity using the interface;
a second com

Assignees

• Haberland Bernd
• Rehm Werner
• Alcatel Lucent

Inventors

• Haberland Bernd
• Rehm Werner

Classifications

• H04W92/20

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W76/27

  Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states · CPC title

• H02J1/14

  Balancing load and power generation in DC networks · CPC title

• H04W52/265

  taking into account the quality of service QoS · CPC title

• H04W40/04 Primary

  based on wireless node resources · CPC title