Method and transition device for enabling communication of data in a wireless network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11902834-B2
Application number	US-202217726616-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2022
Priority date	Aug 17, 2017
Publication date	Feb 13, 2024
Grant date	Feb 13, 2024

Abstract

A method and transition device for enabling communication of data between a remote radio unit and a central baseband unit in a wireless network. When detecting a first interface configuration used by the remote radio unit and a second interface configuration used by the baseband unit, the transition device configures interface functions, based on the first and second interface configurations. The interface functions are selected from a set of predefined interface functions associated with different interface configurations. The transition device then establishes a data flow between the remote radio unit and the central baseband unit over the transition device, and performs conversion between the first interface configuration and the second interface configuration for data communicated in the data flow, using the selected interface functions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method performed by a transition device enabling communication of data in a wireless network between a remote radio unit and a central baseband unit, the method comprising:
configuring one or more interface functions based on both a first interface configuration of the remote radio unit and a second interface configuration of the central baseband unit, the one or more interface functions being selected from a set of predefined interface functions associated with different interface configurations;
establishing at least one data flow between the remote radio unit and the central baseband unit over the transition device; and
performing conversion between the first interface configuration and the second interface configuration for data communicated in the at least one data flow, using the selected one or more interface functions, wherein
conversion is between the first interface configuration and an intermediate interface configuration adapted for a packet network,
conversion is between the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration, and
the data is transported over the packet network using the intermediate interface configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein
conversion between the first interface configuration and the intermediate interface configuration is performed by a first part of the transition device, and
conversion between the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration is performed by a second part of the transition device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
the intermediate interface configuration comprises an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
the intermediate interface configuration comprises an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate interface configuration comprises any of an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data and an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
at least one of the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration comprises an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
at least one of the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration comprises an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data; and
at least one of the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration comprises an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more interface functions are configured as Virtualized Network Functions VNFs.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, by an interface/protocol detector, the first interface configuration and the second interface configuration.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein
the first part of the transition device is implemented at the remote radio unit, and the second part of the transition device is implemented at the central baseband unit.

12. A transition device enabling communication of data in a wireless network between a remote radio unit and a central baseband unit, the transition device comprising:
one or more processors that:
configure one or more interface functions based on both a first interface configuration of the remote radio unit and a second interface configuration of the central baseband unit, the one or more interface functions being selected from a set of predefined interface functions associated with different interface configurations;
establish at least one data flow between the remote radio unit and the central baseband unit over the transition device; and
perform conversion between the first interface configuration and the second interface configuration for data communicated in the at least one data flow, using the selected one or more interface functions, wherein
the one or more processors perform conversion by converting between the first interface configuration and an intermediate interface configuration adapted for a packet network,
the one or more processors perform conversion by converting between the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration, and
the one or more processors transport the data over the packet network using the intermediate interface configuration.

13. The transition device of claim 12 , further comprising:
a first part of the transition device configured to perform the converting between the first interface configuration and the intermediate interface configuration; and
a second part of the transition device configured to perform the converting between the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration.

14. The transition device of claim 12 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
the intermediate interface configuration comprises an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data.

15. The transition device of claim 12 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
the intermediate interface configuration comprises an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

16. The transition device of claim 12 , wherein the intermediate interface configuration comprises any of an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data and an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

17. The transition device of claim 12 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
at least one of the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration comprises an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data.

18. The transition device of claim 12 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), and
at least one of the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration comprises an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

19. The transition device of claim 12 , wherein
the first interface configuration comprises an interface (C1) for conveying compressed data; and
at least one of the intermediate interface configuration and the second interface configuration comprises an intra-physical layer split interface (C2).

20. The transition device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more interface functions are configured as Virtualized Network Functions VNFs.

21. The transition device of claim 12 , further comprising an interface/protocol detector detecting the first interface configuration and the second interface configuration.

22. The transition device of claim 13 , wherein
the first part of the transition device is implemented at the remote radio unit, and the second part of the transition device is implemented at the central baseband unit.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Berg Miguel
• Eriksson Per-Erik
• Lu Chenguang
• Österling Jacob
• Trojer Elmar

Classifications

• H04W28/10 Primary

  Flow control {between communication endpoints} · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04L27/2636

  with FFT or DFT modulators, e.g. standard single-carrier frequency-division multiple access [SC-FDMA] transmitter or DFT spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing [DFT-SOFDM] · CPC title

• H04W28/06

  Optimizing {the usage of the radio link}, e.g. header compression, information sizing {, discarding information (system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365)} · CPC title

• H04W80/02

  Data link layer protocols · CPC title