Data offloading method, user equipment, macro base station, and small node

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9485700-B2
Application number	US-201514603745-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2015
Priority date	Jul 23, 2012
Publication date	Nov 1, 2016
Grant date	Nov 1, 2016

Abstract

A data offloading method includes: receiving, by a macro base station, a measurement report sent by a user equipment; sending, by the macro base station according to the measurement report, an RRC connection reconfiguration message and an offloading configuration message to the user equipment and a small node respectively, so as to configure a user plane data transmission link between the macro base station and the user equipment, where the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes indication information that indicates that one direction of a duplex direction of a current transmission link is kept, and resource configuration information in the other direction; and performing, by the macro base station, user plane data transmission with the user equipment over the configured transmission link. The embodiments of the present invention are applicable to the field of communications technologies.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A data offloading method in a scenario in which coverage of a small node is overlaid with coverage of a macro base station, wherein the method comprises:
receiving, by the macro base station, a measurement report sent by a user equipment;
sending, by the macro base station according to the measurement report, an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the user equipment and an offloading configuration message to the small node, so that a user plane data transmission link configured between the macro base station and the user equipment is different when the user equipment moves to an edge area of the small node than when the user equipment moves from the edge area of the small node to the coverage of the small node, the RRC connection reconfiguration message including indication information that indicates configuration in one direction of a duplex direction of a current transmission link is kept, and resource configuration information in the other direction; and
performing, by the macro base station, user plane data transmission with the user equipment over the configured transmission link.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein during a process in which the macro base station performs user plane data transmission with the user equipment over the configured transmission link, a control plane connection is kept to a direct path between the macro base station and the user equipment.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user plane data transmission link that is between the macro base station and the user equipment and is configured by the macro base station according to the measurement report comprises:
determining, by the macro base station, an area range of the user equipment according to the measurement report;
wherein if the macro base station determines that the user equipment is within a first area, the transmission link configured by the macro base station is a first transmission link, wherein the first transmission link is a direct path between the macro base station and the user equipment;
if the macro base station determines that the area range of the user equipment is a second area, the transmission link configured by the macro base station is a second transmission link, wherein the second transmission link comprises an uplink over which the user equipment performs uplink user plane data transmission with the macro base station through the small node, and a downlink over which the macro base station performs downlink user plane data transmission over the direct path between the macro base station and the user equipment; and
if the macro base station determines that the area range of the user equipment is a third area, the transmission link configured by the macro base station is a third transmission link, wherein the third transmission link is a link over which the user equipment performs uplink and downlink user plane data transmission with the macro base station through the small node; wherein
the first area is a coverage range of the macro base station except the second area and the third area, the second area is an extended area of the small node, and the third area is a coverage range of the small node.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the sending, by the macro base station according to the measurement report, comprises:
if the macro base station determines that the user equipment moves from the first area to the second area, sending a first RRC connection reconfiguration message to the user equipment, and sending a first uplink offloading configuration message to the small node, wherein the first RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises an uplink resource for establishing an uplink user plane connection to the small node, and the first uplink offloading configuration message comprises an uplink resource for establishing an uplink user plane connection to the user equipment;
if the macro base station determines that the user equipment moves from the second area to the third area, sending a second RRC connection reconfiguration message to the user equipment, and sending a second downlink offloading configuration message to the small node, wherein the second RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a downlink resource for establishing a downlink user plane connection to the small node, and the second downlink offloading configuration message comprises a downlink resource for establishing a downlink user plane connection to the user equipment;
if the macro base station determines that the user equipment moves from the third area to the second area, sending a third RRC connection reconfiguration message to the user equipment, wherein the third RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a downlink resource for establishing a downlink user plane connection to the macro base station; and
if the macro base station determines that the user equipment moves from the second area to the first area, sending a fourth RRC connection reconfiguration message to the user equipment, wherein the fourth RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises an uplink resource for establishing an uplink user plane connection to the macro base station.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first RRC connection reconfiguration message further comprises a downlink resource for establishing a downlink user plane connection to the small node,
sending, by the macro base station, the second downlink offloading configuration message to the small node if the macro base station determines that an area range of the user equipment is the third area, wherein the second downlink offloading configuration message comprises a downlink resource for establishing a downlink user plane connection to the user equipment, so as to configure the downlink resource that is used by the small node and the user equipment to establish the downlink user plane connection; and
sending, by the macro base station, downlink scheduling information to the user equipment, wherein the downlink scheduling information instructs the user equipment to receive downlink user plane data sent by the small node.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the third RRC connection reconfiguration message further comprises an uplink resource for establishing an uplink user plane connection to the macro base station,
sending, by the macro base station, uplink scheduling information to the user equipment if the macro base station determines that the area range of the user equipment is the first area, wherein the uplink scheduling information instructs the user equipment to send uplink user plane data to the macro base station over the direct path between the user equipment and the macro base station.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein sending the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes sending a first RRC connection reconfiguration message and a second RRC connection reconfiguration message:
wherein the first RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises: a physical cell identifier of the small node, an uplink frequency used by the small node, an uplink radio bearer, information about a logical channel, a transmission channel, and a physical channel, and indication information that indicates that a downlink direction of the current link is kept;
the second RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises: a physical cell identifier of the small node, a downlink frequency used by the small node, a downlink radio bearer, information about a logical channel, a transmission channel, and a physical channel, and indication information that indicates that an uplink direction of the current link is kept;
the uplink offloading configuration message comprises uplink configuration information of a PDCP, RLC, MAC, and a PHY of the small node; an

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Xiong Xin
• Song Weiwei

Classifications

• Y02B60/50

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H04W76/02

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W76/04

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W24/10

  Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports} · CPC title

• H04W84/045

  using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B · CPC title