System and method for communicating in a wireless communications system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9210579-B2
Application number	US-90293610-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2010
Priority date	Oct 14, 2009
Publication date	Dec 8, 2015
Grant date	Dec 8, 2015

Abstract

A system and method for communicating in a wireless communications system are provided. A communications system includes a macro subnet, and a macro subnet controller coupled to a core network and to the macro subnet. The macro subnet provides a hierarchical topology for a subset of communications devices in the communications system that are in the macro subnet, and the macro subnet controller manages connections of communications devices in the macro subnet, manages network topology, manages data delivery, and manages security in the macro subnet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communications system comprising:
a subnet configured to provide a hierarchical topology for a subset of communications devices in the communications system that are in the subnet; and
an enhanced NodeB (eNB) coupled to a core network and to the subnet, the eNB configured to:
execute a wireless network-aware communications protocol comprising a wireless network-aware tunneling protocol (WN-TP) having a header including a service flow non-global local identifier (ID) sufficient for identifying an associated tunnel;
manage connections of the subset of communications devices in the subnet,
wherein the subset of communications devices include a serving relay, which serves user equipment, and an intermediate relay coupled between the eNB and the serving relay,
wherein the eNB and the serving relay utilize the WN-TP above a wireless network-aware radio link control (WN-RLC) protocol,
wherein the intermediate relay utilizes the WN-RLC protocol, without utilizing the WN-TP for communications between the serving relay and the eNB,
wherein a first protocol stack comprising the WN-TP of the eNB is different from a second protocol stack comprising the WN-RLC protocol of the intermediate relay, and
wherein a third protocol stack comprising the WN-TP of the serving relay is different from the second protocol stack comprising the WN-RLC protocol of the intermediate relay;

manage a network topology of the subnet;
manage data delivery in and out of the subnet,
manage a coordination of nodes within the subnet for performance optimization; and
manage security in the subnet.

2. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network-aware communications protocol is configured to reduce communications overhead in a wireless portion of the communications system.

3. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the eNB is further configured to act as an operations, administration, and maintenance agent for the subnet, to manage communications device mobility in the subnet, to act as a data gateway agent for the subnet, and to manage interference in the subnet.

4. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the subnet comprises a super subnet controller coupled to the eNB and to at least one node, the super subnet controller configured to manage connections of one communications device of the subset of communications devices coupled to the at least one node.

5. The communications system of claim 4 , wherein the subnet comprises a plurality of subnet controllers, with a first subset of the plurality of subnet controllers being coupled to the super subnet controller.

6. The communications system of claim 5 , wherein there is a plurality of subsets of the plurality of subnet controllers, and each subset in the plurality of subsets is coupled to a subnet controller in the first subset of the plurality of subnet controllers.

7. An enhanced NobeB (eNB) comprising:
a receiver configured to receive communications;
a transmitter configured to transmit communications; and
a communications unit coupled to the receiver and the transmitter, and configured to:
utilize a wireless network-aware communications protocol to process communications intended for or received from a communications device coupled to the eNB,
manage connections of a subset of communications devices in a subnet,
manage a network topology of the subnet;
manage data delivery in and out of the subnet,
manage a coordination of nodes within the subnet for performance optimization; and
manage security in the subnet;
wherein the wireless network-aware communications protocol comprises a wireless network-aware tunneling protocol (WN-TP) having a header including a service flow non-global local identifier (ID) sufficient for identifying an associated tunnel,
wherein the wireless network-aware communications protocol provides communication between a serving relay, which serves user equipment, and the eNB via an intermediate relay,
wherein the eNB and the serving relay utilize the WN-TP above a wireless network-aware radio link control (WN-RLC) protocol,
wherein the intermediate relay utilizes the WN-RLC protocol, without utilizing the WN-TP for communications between the serving relay and the eNB,
wherein a first protocol stack of the eNB comprising the WN-TP of the eNB is different from a second protocol stack comprising the WN-RLC protocol of the intermediate relay, and
wherein a third protocol stack of the serving relay comprising the WN-TP of the serving relay is different from the second protocol stack comprising the WN-RLC protocol of the intermediate relay.

8. The eNB of claim 7 , wherein the WN-TP is configured to provide in-order delivery of information and service flow identification of the communications intended for or received from the communications device.

9. The eNB of claim 7 , wherein the wireless network-aware communications protocol is configured to provide quality of service delivery and connectionless data delivery of the communications intended for or received from the communications device.

10. The eNB of claim 7 , wherein the wireless network-aware communications protocol comprises a wireless network-aware packet data convergence protocol configured to provide a mapping of individual flow tunnels with same class identifier and same or different serving node identifier to a single radio bearer of the communications intended for or received from the communications device.

11. The eNB of claim 7 , wherein the WN-RLC protocol is configured to use a packet's identifier and offset information to uniquely identify a fragment of a flow of the communications intended for or received from the communications device.

12. The eNB of claim 7 , wherein the communications unit comprises:
the first protocol stack, configured to implement the wireless network-aware communications protocol;
a memory coupled to the first protocol stack, the memory to store the communications intended for or received from the communications device; and
a controller coupled to the memory and the first protocol stack, the controller configured to execute programs and applications.

13. The eNB of claim 12 , wherein the second protocol stack comprises and a wireless network-aware packet data convergence protocol.

14. The eNB of claim 12 , wherein the second protocol stack comprises the WN-RLC protocol and a wireless network-aware media access control protocol.

15. The eNB of claim 14 , wherein the WN-RLC protocol is positioned above the wireless network-aware media access control protocol.

16. The eNB of claim 12 , wherein the second protocol stack comprises a wireless network-aware media access control protocol.

17. The eNB of claim 7 , wherein the first or third protocol stack further comprises a wireless network-aware packet data convergence protocol.

18. The eNB of claim 17 , wherein the wireless network-aware packet data convergence protocol is positioned in between the WN-TP and the WN-RLC protocol.

19. The eNB of claim 17 , wherein the first or third protocol stack further comprises a wireless network-aware media access control protocol.

20. The eNB of claim 19 , wherein the wireless network-aware packet data convergence protocol is positioned between the WN-TP and the WN-RLC protocol, and the WN-RLC protocol is positioned between the wireless network-aware packet data convergence protocol and the wireless network-aware media access control protocol.

21. The eNB of claim 7 , wherein the third protocol s

Assignees

• Zhang Hang
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Hang

Classifications

• H04W84/02

  Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop] · CPC title

• H04W16/00 Primary

  Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures · CPC title